-success- unvoidal prompt

Darkness.

That was all they saw, day in and day out. Days flowed together into just an endless stretch of time, seemingly ebbing and weaving together with whatever they were in. Grays and blacks mixing and swirling, seeming endless. They do not even know how they got in here, what did they do wrong? Did they even do anything to begin with? This puzzled them, but they were never motivated enough to try and think about it for too long. The memory just never came to them.

They knew they used to be brown. A whole mix of browns, fudgy, decadent. And yet here they were. Gray. Dull. Lifeless. How long had it been since they had seen light? Color? They floated there, silent. As usual, time and time again.

Until now. Now things were going to change.

A small spotlight emerged in front of them. It looked almost ethereal, beautiful. Their eyes trailed down to what seemed to be the ground, where an item sat. It took their eyes a bit to adjust, questions bouncing around their mind. Nothing ever showed up here. A circular cheesecake. At first they could not even recognize it, it’s colors seeming bright against the dull void. Gently they floated down to it, taking in the first colors they had seen in probably years. Browns, reds, and a white dollop of cream sat on top. And the smell!! It was faint and hard to make out, but it had to be dark and milk chocolates, in all their glory! What a wonderful sight!

Yet they were scared to touch it. What if it disappeared? Was it just in their mind? They wouldn’t be able to bare it if it just vanished. And yet something was pulling them to it, almost like a soft voice nudging them to reach for it. Gently they stretched an arm out, a tiny claw grazing the side, leaving a gash in the soft cake. It was there, it was really there!! They scooped it up, marveling at the pretty sight, enamored by it’s presence. It looked almost too good to eat. Keyword, almost.

It was just a nibble. One tiny bite and suddenly and explosion of color surrounded them, swirling, like a violent storm. It grasped at every inch of them, streaks of their color flooding back. They had never felt so alive before. Was this how it felt? There was this much beauty in other places? And they could actually have it?

“Be free!” They heard, yet they couldn’t find where it was coming from before the colors became brighter, enveloping them whole. And there they were. A soft, warm bed. The fireplace crackled. The wafting scent of sweets baking in an oven. The chatter of others like them and roaring laughter of friends. People they even knew, yet… They could not recall the last time they saw them. But that didn’t matter, because they were here.

Yet they remembered nothing about purgatory, or whatever it was. Free at last.