A Distant Winter

The middle-aged man gazed out at the snowy expanse as if he were in a deep trance. As far as his eyes could see, there was nothing but a snow-covered landscape in front of him. Suddenly, the man snapped to reality, and his eyes widened with surprise. His eyes bounced around frantically, and he started to hyperventilate. Looking around the living room of the warm cabin, he saw a brown sofa. The man rushed over to the sofa in a frantic hurry. He continued to look around for any clues of where he was. Inside his head, his mind was running so rapidly that he could keep up with the racing thoughts, and he suddenly blacked out onto the rough brown sofa.

The man awoke on the uncomfortable sofa and sat up as he gazed around the warm and quiet cabin. He jumped to his feet but suddenly noticed how cold the cabin floor was. As he looked down at his feet, he saw that he was barefoot. Looking around the room, he noticed a pair of fur-lined boots sitting neatly beside the front door. While walking over to the front door, he noticed that his body ached with a pain he has never felt before. It wasn’t unbearable pain but rather a weak muscle soreness pain. He shrugged it off and slid both of the boots on his cold feet. After lacing up the warm boots, he opened the front door of the cabin. A strong gust of freezing wind smashed against the man’s face sending a chill through his entire body. He immediately slammed the door closed and walked over to the window where everything began.

The landscape outside was flat but completely covered in snow. The man peered out into the distance to see if he could make out anything familiar. To his frustration, there was only the snowy expanse as far as the eyes could see. The sky was clear and blue, with not a cloud in sight. The man walked to the center of the living room and stared at a painting. The painting hung over the fireplace that was opposite the sofa. As he looked at the image, he realized that it looked familiar.

“What is going on?!” the man sobbed to himself. 

The painting resembled the bare white landscape with a clear blue sky. The man tried to remember where he was before he awoke in the cabin. He could not recall one single memory. 

In a frustrated fit, the man yanked the painting off the wall and paced over to the door. As he opened the door, the freezing wind knocked him a couple of steps backward. He gathered up the strength to brave the cold as he chucked the painting out into the snow and closed the door. Looking back at the wall, he saw the picture in the same spot as if he never removed it. Completely bewildered, he slowly walked over to the artwork to examine it. 

“Ahhhhh!” he screamed. “What is going on?”

The painting showed the same landscape as before, but there was one new feature. The painting that the man had previously thrown out now showed painted into the picture.

“Where am I?!” he shouted. “Who’s here?” He stood in silence as his eyes darted around the cabin. “Is this some game?” he yelled out into the silent cabin.

“Cellphone!” the man cried out.

He dug into his pants pockets frantically but only pulled out pieces of lint from the thick blue jeans. He walked around the living room and into the small kitchen looking for any phone that he could use to call out for help. His sudden amnesia didn’t help because the only phone number he could remember was 911. Annoyed, he shook his head in defeat. He noticed a stair leading upstairs that he didn’t see before from the corner of his eye.

*

The mirror near the stairway reflected an aged and battered man. His hair was shaggy and dirty, as if he hadn’t groomed in weeks. As the man gazed into the mirror, memories of his true identity started to fill his mind. He realized that the face looking at him was not his. A spine-tingling chill flowed throughout his body, and fear crept into his mind. The faint sound of relaxing music played from a room upstairs. He ran up the stairs to investigate the sound. Once he got to the top, the music was louder and more distinguishable. It resembled the calming chime of elevator music. The music triggered more memories flooded his mind, including his name, Jonah.

“This can’t be real,” Jonah said out loud. “This must be a dream.”

Jonah walked into the small bedroom that smelled of cedar and musk. He walked over to the tiny radio and turned the dial to reach another radio station. As he turned the dial, only the elevator music played on every station. Growing frustrated, he pulled the cord out of the wall as if he were tugging for his life. While examining the room, Jonah noticed there was a chest with five drawers. He hurried over to the chest and yanked open drawer after drawer. To his surprise, they were as empty as the outside surrounding the cabin.

Jonah searched the room twice over, but he could find nothing to offer him any clues to what was going on. He settled on being inside a lucid dream. To him, that could be the only reasonable explanation. Growing increasingly frustrated, Jonah laid down on the bed and closed his eyes as he lies in peace.

A brief memory flashed through his mind. Jonah was driving fast in his new sports car before he snapped back to the reality of the cabin. Bits and pieces of his life were starting to become more explicit about who Jonah was. He remembered that he was 28 years old and was the founder of a very successful tech start-up company. Jonah lived a very lavish lifestyle so being stuck in this cabin was nothing he was used to. He wondered why he would be having this kind of dream as this kind of person. Walking back down the stairs, he looked to his left at the image in the mirror and frowned in disgust. 

After reaching the living room, Jonah walked over to the window and peered out into the Snow White landscape. This time, he noticed a figure in the distance that looked like a person. He hurried to open the door as the cold winter air brushed against his face forcefully. 

“Hello!” he yelled at the top of his lungs. “Can you hear me?”

The cold air became too much for Jonah to handle, so he closed the door slowly. As he stared out at the window, the figure didn’t seem to be moving any closer. After spending a considerable amount of time looking out the window, Jonah walked over to the sofa and sat down. He looked up at the painting and saw the shadowy figure almost directly in front of the cabin door.

*

The fear that Jonah felt was overwhelming. His skin crawled, and his body shivered as he looked at the shadowy figure standing in front of the cabin. From the window, he could only see a man dressed in black. As Jonah stood gazing at the man in black, the man stood there facing the cabin as still as a statue. Jonah walked over to the painting to look at it but was interrupted by a knock on the door. KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

“Hello?” Jonah responded nervously. “Who’s there?”

“I have information for you,” responded the man.

Jonah hesitated to open the door, but something in him compelled him to do so. He stood face-to-face with a man wearing a black cloak, and a hood pulled over his head after opening the door. The man invited himself in and walked into the living room. 

“Do I know you?” Jonah asked.

“No, but I have something to tell you,” the man replied.

“Can you tell me why I can’t wake from this dream?”

“This is not a dream. You died, and this is your afterlife.” The man said calmly. “When you die, the body emits photon energy that travels out into the universe as light data. I am the keeper of placing this data into the appropriate afterlife.”

Jonah stood there more confused than the moment when he first awoke in the cabin. 

“I don’t understand. Am I dead, or am I on another planet?” Jonah asked the man.

“You were not a good person in your last life.” the man responded. “This is your version of hell until you are reborn again in another life.”

The man slowly raised his arm and pointed to the rear door of the cabin. They both walked over to the door as Jonah placed his hand onto the cold doorknob. He opened the back door and noticed the two moons in the immense blue sky. The cabin blocked the wind coming from the front, which allowed him to step outside. After stepping out, all of his memories returned, and he realized that he had died in a car accident. The man walked up behind Jonah and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Welcome to Hell,” he said in a deep creepy voice.

Jonah walked out into the frozen expanse and let out a howling cry with tears rolling down his face.