Being enveloped in biting cold was something Freda was used to, as was sleeping on a rock hard surface. For that reason, she did not sense anything strange when she woke up. It wasn't until she reached for her thermal blanket that something felt off.  

Before lying down to rest upon her cardboard box bed, Freda had wrapped herself in her blanket like a burrito—tight enough where if Old Man Johnson came to steal her blanket again, he'd end up dragging her along with it. So, when her hands met air instead of fabric, she  immediately opened her eyes. 

Instead of the smelly city alleyway’s brick building walls, Freda saw nothing but white walls. As a cloud of warm breath traveled out of her mouth, she realized those walls were not white but translucent; they were made of solid ice.

Had she been kidnapped? And thrown into a freezer? Transported to Alaska by human traffickers? If so, her kidnappers would be very disappointed; they wouldn't get any benefits from selling a plain and sickly homeless nobody. 

When she lowered her head and shook it in heartfelt pity for her abductors, her eyes caught red on the ice floor. At her feet was a pool of  bright red liquid—blood.

Being a practical woman, Freda's first instinct was to determine whether the blood was hers. 

Her body had no wounds so the blood either had already been placed there or came from someone else who had been taken away. Though, seeing the blood trail towards the wall before disappearing, Freda could not be so sure about that last theory. After all, in a room with no doors, there was no place for a body to be dragged to. But on that note, how did she even get here?

Standing up, Freda brushed the ice off her pants hoping that whatever was happening would not involve having to save anyone but herself. Following the trail of crimson, she walked up to where it disappeared into the wall. There was no gap between the wall and the floor, but at the same time, the blood did not just stop cleanly at the wall. Looking closely through the ice, Freda could see streaks of blood traveling through its cracks as if whatever had been bleeding had stepped through the ice before disappearing.

Freda nodded once. This must be a dream. Based on the logic of science, the blood trail did not make sense, and the world was governed by science; therefore, this was definitely a dream. The young woman strolled back to her resting spot and laid back down. 

Fifteen seconds after she had closed her eyes, a scream pierced the room, bringing her to shoot them open again.  

Right within her line of vision was another young woman probably somewhere in her late-twenties. The woman pressed a trembling hand against her colorless lips and her wide eyes flashed panic and fear that only intensified when Freda met her gaze. 

As if she had seen a ghost, the woman scrambled backwards, but the smooth soles of her flats slipped on the ice. Even after landing on her butt, she continued to back away towards the wall. The frightened woman pulled herself upright and pounded her palms against the ice wall.

“Help! Help! Someone get me out! Where am I?! Please!"

With each cry, she glanced back at Freda as if any moment the resting girl would come over for the attack. 

Freda glanced at the pool of blood by her feet, her situation finally clicking.

"Lady, lady,” Freda called in her lazy voice, waving her hand. "I'm not dead, I'm not dead. The blood is not mine. I just got here too."

Even though Freda said this, the woman's face was still horrified as she gaped. 

“What are you?” The woman gasped. 

How rude.

"Why did you bring me here?" she continued then began smacking the wall again and crying out for help.

Sighing heavily, Freda sat up. A few things were clear now. 

1. She was not the only person abducted. 

2. There was a way to enter the room. 

3. There was a way to exit the room because there was nobody left from the trail of blood. 

4. She was hungry.

A curse sounded from behind her and she turned to see the source: a middle-aged man with a thick beard dressed in working trousers and a plaid shirt. The panicked man continued cursing as he asked what was going on, his eyes darting from the expressionless Freda to Hysterical Woman.

“What is this place?” he demanded.

Freda momentarily considered responding, but there was no point in wasting her breath just to state the obvious. She ignored the man and moved towards a corner so she would have a full view of the ice room. She wanted to catch the next person appear. That would be her clue to getting out.

Two minutes and seven people later, Freda still couldn't tell. Everyone had appeared out of thin air. She observed the chaos, wondering where she could get a source of food.

The hysterical woman, smacking against the wall with bright red hands: “Help! Help!”

Tsk, tsk. After all this time it would be scarier if someone suddenly did show up to help.

The bearded man who had appeared second: “I asked what you were doing before you appeared! If you know something, you better speak up!”

College-aged girl being yelled at, sobbing: “I don’t know!” 

A gel-haired man had his arm up in between them, a creepy fake smile plastered on his face. “Now, now. Yelling at each other isn’t going to help.”

One young boy, probably a first year college student or senior in high school, was leaning his back against the wall, one foot propped up and arms crossed. He was muttering with a frown like some kind of anime protagonist monologuing aloud. 

Another middle aged man holding a pocket knife with a snapped blade: “It didn’t make a dent! What should I do?”

Freda sighed. If she was going to be abducted by some supernatural forces, it would've been better if she was abducted alone. 

Once a total of ten people had entered the room and fully realized their situation, the unlocatable sound of static filled the room. Everyone, from the muttering boy to the crying college girl, went silent. 

A mechanical voice much like that of a smart phone or home assistant began speaking. 

“Participants, welcome to Blessed Second Chances.”

Damn, Freda silently swore. She’d been abducted by a cult.

Cult Leader Siri continued, “Condolences on your untimely, unfair death.”

Everyone: ??!

With an artificial, insincere change in tone, the voice announced, “Congratulations on your selection to compete in the afterlife system Blessed Second Chances.”