Chapter 1 : Arrival

Alex heard it before he saw it. The squeal of tires, the crunch of metal, splintering of glass. It all unfolded with an unstoppable inevitability. He had been halfway across the bridge traveling at the speed limit ... The semi-trailer ahead was braking, He was braking. The distance between the huge vehicle and his own closed rapidly. A quick glance to the side and he changed to the outside lane. The semi jack-knifed, the gap between the trailer narrowing.

He was screaming “Oh Fuuu...” when the semi hit the pileup and his car shot into the gap between the trailer and the railing. Alex closed his eyes as the car body crumpled and the windows shattered, glass raining down on him. He was thrown forward against his seat belt, hitting his head against the steering wheel.

Alex’s right side ached and burned, his legs were pinned, his cheek was wet with blood. The moan and snap of tortured metal reached his ear and the car tipped. Turning his head to his left, he could see that his crushed car was being pushed partially off the bridge though the warped and buckled bridge railing. The glittering water was a gut wrenching distance below.

Another vehicle slammed into the back of Alex’s car, whipping him back and then forward driving his head into the steering wheel for the second time. There was a loud snap and everything tilted as he lost consciousness.

Alex woke up with his heart beating so frantically that it threatened to escape his chest. That was the most realistic nightmare he had ever had. He scrambled out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom splashing water on his face.

He wandered back into the bedroom, noticed the time on the bedside clock, and rushed to get ready for work.

Work dragged on and on. It felt as if the morning lasted days. Alex seemed to be having the same conversations over and over again. The junior team members had problems with the domain and some of the technology. It seemed he was always having to help out someone else. He continually argued with the project manager (PM), who wanted to delay working on defects and design changes generated by testing. He felt tired every time he talked to the PM. It was as if the PM was draining the energy out of him.

Alex took a break for lunch. He wasn’t hungry, but he needed some time to think. Something was very wrong. The energy and enthusiasm that marked the beginning of a project was missing as was a sense of progress.

Alex took a bite out of his sandwich and jotted down some notes on index cards. He had a mental block and could not remember the goal of the project. He pulled up the project wiki on his tablet. It was an online betting website. How could he have forgotten that? Hang on! Hadn’t the questions the juniors asked him been about a point of sale system?

Alex twirled his fork and slurped up another mouthful of noodles. He looked at the bowl of noodles in confusion. His memory was playing tricks on him. Perhaps it was only exhaustion. He hoped it was only exhaustion, however he was starting to think that the thing that was wrong was him.

The project manager wandered into the break room. “Alex! When do you think you will finished with work item #417?” he asked.

Alex felt the now familiar drain of energy. The PM’s claw wrapped around Alex’s upper arm. The talons dug in with a cold burning sensation. The PM gave a wide predatory smile. The eyes bore into him with a hungry desire. With a jolt of adrenaline he caught a glimpse of something else, something non-human hiding behind the mask of the PM’s face. The PM lent forward opening its muzzle, breathing in a wisp of something that it drew from Alex. It felt as if the creature were consuming his very life blood.

Grabbing the claw that was piercing his arm, Alex twisted throwing the creature over his hip. It flew into the bench with a crash and toppled to the floor. He spun around and ran.

“The rabbit has teeth,” the creature giggled and grabbed his foot as he ran pass. Alex arrested his fall by catching hold of the bench. He yanked his foot out of the creature’s grasp and kicking at the thing, connecting weakly with its forehead. He scrambled through the door and continued through to reception and out of the office.

Alex ran to the lifts, hitting the down button several times. Hearing the bang of a door coming from reception, he ceased waiting for the lifts and bolted for the stairwell. Pulling the door open, he descended the stairs as fast as he could. On the last flight he tripped, smashing heavily against the landing and the wall. His right side hurt with a sharp throbbing pain, but he could hear rapid footfalls echoing through the stairwell. He gritted his teeth and used the wall to haul himself upright. He hobbled out of the stairwell, with a quick glance at the front entrance, he headed in the opposite direction. He had just made it around the first corner when the stair door opened with a crash. Alex continued to the back door, exiting the building.

The pain from Alex’s fall faded slowly. He ran through lanes and streets turning at each corner and crossroad. He slowed down, wandering past shops and restaurants, making his way through pedestrians. Only then did he ask himself why he did not call for help.

‘Yeh, right. Like I am going to tell everyone, that I am being chased by a demon that is sucking out my life force, ‘ he thought. ‘What would it be called; an incubus or a succubus?’

Alex had trouble remembering whether the project manager was male or female. There was something wrong with him, he knew. There was definitely something wrong with his memory. He sat down on a bench and rested his face in his hands. Was he suffering from a psychotic break? Delusions? Was it just an overactive imagination? What did he see, after all? It wasn’t very supernatural, it was more of a feeling. Then he remembered the smile, the pointy teeth, the hungry penetrating eyes, and the sense that there was something else under the skin, something he never wanted to see. He had never been more frightened in his life. The experience seemed more real than anything else on this strange day.

Alex looked up, taking stock of his surroundings. There was a girl waving at him from across the road. She was sitting at a table outside a cafe. Black hair and tanned skin; she was wearing a red dress. She was looking straight at him. Hesitantly he pointed at himself and raised his eyebrows.

She nodded. He turned to check if there was someone behind him. ‘Yes, you, ‘ she mouthed, beckoning.

Checking for cars, Alex crossed the road. “Have we met?” he asked.

“It’s hard to say in this place,” she responded, with graceful flowing Mediterranean accent. “You are the first person I have seen in a while. Sit down please.”

Startled Alex glanced around at the passing pedestrians and her fellow cafe customers. He wondered if she was crazy, but decided that he was in no position to throw stones. Besides, what else was he going to do? There was no way he was going back to work. He didn’t like going home to an empty house. He imagined rocking up to a hospital and telling them he was suffering from delusions or confessing to the police that he had assaulted a co-worker. Neither scenario was appealing. He sat down. It didn’t hurt that she was beautiful.

“I am Cassandra Silva. Cassie for short.”

“Alex Bentley.”

“How did you die?”

“I am pretty sure I am still alive.”

“Really! What make you think that?” she asked after taking a sip from her cappuccino.

“I feel alive, plus I am an atheist and I don’t believe in an afterlife.”

“I am a deist myself.”

“You believe in a creator, but don’t believe he or she interferes with his creation?”

“Yes,”

“Then you shouldn’t believe in supernatural phenomena, such as the afterlife either.”

“It’s hard for a dead person to argue against the afterlife,” she stated. “Where do you think you are?”

“The city. Where do you think we are?”

“Purgatory. The coffee wouldn’t be this good in Hell and the creature wouldn’t be allowed into Heaven.”

“The creature?” he asked, already certain what she was talking about.

“You have met it. I can see its marks on you.” Cassie pushed a shot glass with a finger of whiskey toward him. “This will make you feel better.”

“Where did this come from?”

“I made it. You should be able to do things like this as well. If you don’t like whiskey, I can change it to any other drink.”

“No, whiskey is fine.” Alex sniffed the drink. It smelled wonderful. Cassie’s sleight of hand trick was impressive, but he wasn’t ready to buy into the whole afterlife story she was trying to sell. He took a small sip. It was fabulous, Warmth and energy flowed into him. “What is this?”

“I added some of my chi. At least that’s what I call it. You were drained by the creature. It stole chi from you, that is your life energy and your memories, though according to my friend, life energy and memories are the same thing here. According to them, everything in this realm is made out of memories.”