Melina remembered now. She had gone to the slums with orders from the government, words she hated yet spoke anyway: "Leave your homes, or you will be forcefully removed."
She remembered the first stab, the shock of steel piercing skin, the sudden warmth of blood against her hands. She had run, stumbling, broken, until she collapsed among the garbage, hiding while angry voices searched for her. She knew then she would not survive.
And yet, even as her life bled away, her only thought had been of home. If I could just see it once more that would be enough.
But they found her. The knives stabbed into her again and again, and at just twenty years old, her body gave out. She died alone in the rain.
Her last breath carried only a whisper: "I… deserve this."
______
"Am I dead?" Her own voice startled her, thin and fragile in the abyss. "Or… am I still dying?"
She waited for an answer. None came. Only shadows shifted around her, their shapes uncertain.
"Who are you?" she whispered, clutching herself as though she could still feel the stab wounds. "Are you the same as me? Or… are you waiting for me to be judged?"
Time blurred. Minutes became hours, hours into eternity. With each passing moment, Melina felt her sense of self slipping away, until she was little more than a whisper of who she once was.
"How long have I been here?" she asked, voice cracking.
The shadows stirred as though in reply, their forms twisting, swelling, reshaping.
Her hands shook as she stepped closer. "What do you all want to play?" she asked.
The shadows said nothing, but their shapes solidified into vague imitations of her companions from the orphanage. Small bodies.
Melina's breath caught. "Rock, paper, scissors, huh? Alright… one, two, three!" She lifted her fist and opened it into a rock. The shadow before her raised paper.
Her eyes widened before she burst into laughter, her voice bright and trembling. "What?! No way! You finally beat me?" She covered her mouth, still laughing. "Do you know how many times I've won in a row? Thousands! And now you beat me?"
The shadows flickered, and Melina's grin widened. For the first time in the endless void, she felt a spark of something close to contentment. She reached out to them, her hand brushing against the intangible forms, and then....
A brilliant light erupted in the distance, its radiance tearing through the shadows. Melina shielded her eyes, the warmth of the glow brushing against her skin. The shadows recoiled, writhing and stretching as if trying to stop her from going the light.