It was eight years ago. Eight to a few days before actually, I’ve been counting. Ridiculous as it sounds, I had nothing better to do here. There’s actually loads of stuff here, but don’t keep track of time and you slowly fade away. You don’t even notice until you’re gone. 2919 days completed. Today was the 2920th. I’d watched a man who’d given up turn to dust and blow away in the wind. I promised I’d stay alive here until I found the one I was looking for. I remember that day like a fuzzy, static dream retaining the only clarity I needed. That’s all it was, really. A dream. A dream so good that it was cut short. I remember it well, though. The car, the flashing lights. Vegas. One of the few places where you could gamble away your life, become an alcoholic, and then get ditched twenty miles from your starting point and not actually die on your way back. That was my home. My family wasn’t the richest, but it was by no means poor. Life had been good, and then some hotshot street racer hit us head on while he was firing back at the cops. I don’t even know how it happened, but I had ended up outside the car. I was sitting on the ground, bleeding out much quicker than they would save me. Then she appeared. She had simply walked into the street, and bent down to look me straight in the eyes. She was beautiful, but it wasn’t a good kind. It was the kind of beauty that told you she could skin you alive if she wanted to. And get away with it. Then she had spoken.

“Upon day 2922, I will meet you. Just keep counting, don’t stop. It’s the mistake some people make and then they simply fade away.” She had said ominously. And then, what had surprised me most of all, she kicked me down and put a gun to my head. I wouldn’t have survived anyways, but there was no need for murder. She had leaned down one last time. “Whatever you do, NEVER stop counting. Practice your arithmetic, try calculating the seconds and minutes to the nearest five seconds. Account for the time it takes to calculate it. But never stop counting,” She’d demanded with deadly conviction. Then the gunshot declared that she was done talking. Not that I heard it. I wonder how she’s doing now. I was dead anyways, so I could care less that she had put me out of my misery early. Two more days and the blandness of this place would subside. 251,510,451 was the current number of seconds. The amount of hours was somewhere around 69,864. The number of minutes was roughly 4,191,841. I’ve been exercising every last drop of math in my memory, using all the functions and formulas I could remember, as well as physical exercise. I’d calculate circles with the number of seconds that had ticked by since I started, I’ve measured this world’s gravity with the yard length that is my fancy tie, and it’s very similar to that of the moon. I’ve been lifting random rocks although I haven’t strayed more than a few metres. I wouldn’t want to leave some form of time zone, not that it mattered since I was counting earth time.

“You’ve lasted longer than I thought you would. Impressive. What held you here?” Came a voice. I was mildly alarmed, considering I was in a vast desert of grey dust made from the dead where no one should’ve been able to hide. I looked around, seeing no speaker. “What I’m saying is, why stay here? You can leave anytime you like, you know.” The voice said, materializing from the dust in the general shape of a body A pair of purple eyes glared at me, fluctuating with the movement of its dusty body. I figured something like this would happen eventually. If everyone comes here after they die, they must have a reason to stay in this dark, cold desert. I decided not to respond. I could wait two and thirty three thousandths (roughly) more days. Besides, I was positive me staying passive to such a drastic change would piss it off if it was something normal. Maybe it wasn’t used to things like this and it would leave me alone. Hopefully. If this was the afterlife, I was pretty sure the thing in front of me didn't fit the description of god or an angel. And as far as I remember, the devil has no power unless you let him have power. I could be misinterpreting it, though. This is where I assume we go after death. “Unresponsive? You act like time has taken you, yet I know this isn’t the case…” It continued in response to my silence. I ignored it, closing my eyes and continuing to count. I felt it’s wispy body tug at my clothes, battering my eyes. It wasn’t going to leave me alone. I continued to count.

“You’re still waiting. I’m mildly surprised. I really thought you would’ve given up by now,” The voice of the girl came. I remained responseless, wondering if it was the monster in front of me. “Suit yourself, I’ll see you soon, anyways.” She finished, and the presence I had felt disappeared. The dust had stopped battering me as she’d talked, but it returned when she finished.

“Why stay? It would be so much easier if you moved on, the springs are warm there… You could wash off the dust that so permeates your body. They have medication to help you clear the dust from your lungs, to seal the hole that the bullet put in you. You could always give in, just let it take you away… The dust can be left behind if you come with me…” It whispered, voice sounding melodiously deceiving in tritone. I tightened my eyes, feeling as though the dust was attempting to scrape them open. I closed my mouth much tighter than before as well. I pinched my nose as well, not willing to risk it. I would hold my breath here. After a few minutes, I realized I wasn’t suffocating. The dust began to settle, and I felt a malicious present I hadn’t known was there dissipate.

“You win…” It sighed, disappearing entirely. I frowned in disappointment. The only stimuli I’d had for six months, two days and thirty two minutes had just dissipated into nothingness because it had gotten bored. How did it think I felt? I stared back into the emptiness of this grey world and resumed counting.

*****

“Congratulations, you’ve counted for every single day, and in the end you were off by about two minutes behind. You can stop counting now, but color me impressed!” Came the girls voice, booming over the grey desert like it was playing from an old speaker. I looked around, watching as the grey dust of the desert blew away to reveal a black and white checkerboard floor. I followed any movement with slow and accidental turns with my head, as if I was stretching to make it unclear whether or not I could tell things were moving about. I heard a snicker.

“What was that for?” I called into the new landscape, and only received another snicker. I guess I’ll receive an answer when she feels like it. I waited and continued to count. At about 100 more seconds, I heard a slow clap.

“You passed, you kept counting to eight years even though I came and told you you were done. I think you’re ready to come back.” She announced, and suddenly I felt like I was sinking. When I looked down, the white tile below me sank into the floor, taking me with it. When I looked back up, I saw the grey dust speed over the light grey sky to cover the space it had been forced from. No dust fell into the hole. I began to feel incredibly tired. “It’s okay if you sleep, you shouldn’t worry as much now.” She continued, trying to assure me. Considering she was the only thing I knew in this world, I really had no choice but to trust her. And so I began my new life by falling asleep.

*****

“Shh… I just barely got him to fall asleep.” Came a tender voice. A front door clicked shut. All of it sounded familiar, but I ignored it. I tried to open my eyes and was surprised to see a blurry figure leaning over me. I looked around, trying to sit up. My neck refused to support my body. “Now look what you did, he’s awake again!” Came the voice, and the figure leaned down to pick me up. I couldn't move my head from side to side either. As the figure brought me closer to it’s face, I was greeted with the warm smile of a mother. So that’s what was happening then, I was a baby again. I guess that meant it would be a while until I met that girl again. The woman carried me around, until eventually there was a man in sight. She handed me over and disappeared into the blurriness. I looked around a little bit more, really quite confused about why I was a baby. I looked back up and saw the man cooing at me. I didn't feel like whining like a baby, but something inside me felt like crying. I ignored it and just looked at him. He looked at me back and made a funny face. I smiled, this was actually kind of nice.

“Hey little guy, how are you?” He whispered, I tried to do a thumbs up but my hands weren’t quite that coordinated and I ended up just reaching for his face when I realized I wasn’t gonna be able to move my fingers like that. I realized that I would spend longer here on earth than I had in the desert of basically nothingness. I attempted to speak and ended up just squealing. I started to try and talk more, figuring I would have to exercise like any child would to get back to a functional state.