Thrown back to the centre

He was puzzled out of his wits, puzzled as to where he was, and why was it as if it didn’t happen at all? It was total solitude, now, an unnatural sort of calm which bugged him to no end. He was almost certainly sure he’d not had the boon to see before his bleary eyes met with blinding light as he tried to open them. He didn’t know what exactly he was sitting on, it was white but it didn’t feel like anything at all. A blank canvas to be rendered into something, perhaps. 

The more he shifted into whatever state this was, the more he became eerily aware of his surroundings.  The first thing he realised was that he was shamefully naked, there was not a part of him which was covered in the mildest hint of cloth. It made him woefully anxious as he tried to cover himself up with nothing but his limbs. Although, to his favour he saw clothes appear, not at much distance.

He shoved himself inside the soft, clean and warm clothes. The more he looked around the more there was to see! A great domed glass roof glittered high above him in sunlight. Mist beneath his feet, he moved forward with no sense of direction. He was walking through an unfamiliarly familiar corridor, a great sense of nostalgia thumping in his centre. It was so clean and white but there was simply no mistaking it, it was the king's cross station!

His eager feet patterned through the mist, as he looked around hopelessly. He went head on between platforms nine and ten, which, as expected, led him to platform 9¾. The Hogwarts express was at halt, and his confused footsteps led him to one of the nearest compartments. What was surprising was there was a young man with a crooked nose and a funny smile hanging out from it.

   “We’ve been expecting you, Cedric Diggory!” He greeted gleefully as if they were lifelong friends. Upon seeing the burrow of Cedric’s eyebrows, the man added, “Why don’t you come inside, yes? You must be tired from all that swish swash.” Cedric gulped and was the least eager person to hop onto the train, yet he did so anyway. 

There was no chatter, no gossip, no tales of the summer soon to be forgotten by eager students reuniting. This was not the Hogwarts express he knew. He was rather taken aback when he saw an endless corridor of the train. He sat himself in an empty corridor, looking out at the white misty platform. The man who had greeted him was now knocking on the door.

   “Come in.” Cedric said simply. The man still had his stupid smile on his face when he dropped down. The man, by merlin it was stupid to address him as ‘the man’ but it was not as if he had his name, took out a hard candy from the pocket of his oversized green coat and popped into his mouth.

   “Want one?” He offered as he took a furiously red looking candy out of his pocket, Cedric only nodded and ate it. It tasted like cherry, “You must be curious, yes?” The man said again, but didn’t let Cedric answer back “Oh, ofcourse, you are curious! Must be. I mean, you’re dead, probably weren’t expecting this, so if you have any questions…”

   “Who’re you?”

   “Oh, what — me? Oh, I’m William Owen, your humble guide.”

   “Guide? ”

   “Oh, ofcourse, I am, you bet yourself, I am. Ah, you must be confused, all the newcomers are. I’ll help you around the spirit world.”

   “Spirit World? ”

   “Yes, Cedric, the Spirit World. You’re dead and your soul is here, you know, us spirits —  we’re pure, and we ascend to the other realm. Unlike those sloppy ghosts.”

   “I…never thought of ghosts as impure?”

   “Oh, ofcourse, you haven’t,” William clicked his tongue as if he were disappointed, “Nevermind that, the spirit world has has its own developments. So, I’ll have you in track of the economy, it’s a little different from the mortal realm, mind. Now, your good deeds and you bad deeds will determine what your estate is.”

   “I thought that was just something adults threatened us with…” Cedric said awkwardly, William seemed to have gotten a loud laugh out of it, but he didn’t seem to be judging : “Don’t we all, Cedric?” 

   “How does the estate system work?”

   “Well, there are five estates. The city’s divided by —”

   “There’s a city?”

   “Of Course there’s a city! Now, the city is divided by invisible and visible walls. Visible walls prevent you from seeing, invisible walls are created by spirits. The filthier your spirit is, the lower your estate and you can travel lower than your estate but never higher…I tried once, will not recommend.” 

   “What estate are you in?”

   “Worked myself up to third.” He smiled, with a prideful look.

   “You — ?”

   “I was in fourth. I tried robbing a bank, when I was found, I shot two people to get away.” He said. Cedric suddenly felt a little uncomfortable, his skin felt scratchy and his throat went dry. The train suddenly halted and William checked his watch in confusion.

   “We can’t have already reached!” he peered out of the window and then irritably concluded, “Ah, time-warps.” Cedric looked out in sync and his mouth was agape. There were no words to explain it, it looked like some sort of purple goo floating in all directions.

   “What is that?” 

   “A time-warp. They’ve been opening up anywhere lately,” He exasperated, “It’s been sucking people up to somewhere — get this, no one knows what happens to them, just that they never come back.” William got up, adjusting his coat.

   “Where are you going?” Cedric asked, but somehow the words died in his mouth as he felt himself being pulled closer and closer to it, he felt himself go grainy. He found himself remembering his life, and it shattered right in front of him as everything around him started to fade, so quick, he felt like screaming but he couldn’t and it all faded to ink black.