a simple question; (cw: death/dying discussion)

[icanhearscreams]

[An unsigned note appears on the bulletin board, written in extremely neat handwriting. There's a few smudges on it from erased lines, as if the author wrote it over and over again.]

Is anyone else here dead?

[Just five words. No signature. He'll see how this turns out.]

Comments

[icanhearscreams]

... Are you okay with that? If you did, I mean.

[awreck]

It wasn't entirely an accident, so I'd say so. I wanted to reconnect with someone life was meaningless without... and I did. Here. It feels weird to not know for sure, but I don't really mind it because of the opportunities this place gave me.

What about you? Are you, and that's why you're asking?

[icanhearscreams]

... That's good. It's just confusing, if this place is a weird sort of afterlife... there's too many alive people here.

Yes. All of us gave our lives for our world. Most of them didn't know the cost when they signed up. I did, and did it anyway.

[awreck]

I was actually wondering if that's what this place was just the other day. But you're right; kind of hard to frame it as that if it's filled with people who know for sure they didn't die.

And, I'm sure you've already heard this before from the people here, but just in case you haven't, it sounds like what you did was pretty admirable. So, even if we're probably not from the same world, thank you.

But yeah, even if we're stuck here as Editors, I feel like I'm in the minority for not wanting to find a way to leave. For reasons you'll probably find obvious. I haven't asked around, though.

[icanhearscreams]

I mean you probably shouldn't thank me. As long as you're from Earth our worlds will probably fight eventually. That's part of the 'game'.

I haven't really asked either. But then again I'm not the most social person.

[awreck]

If my world makes it that far. A few years ago, the public was cheering for a death match like it was entertainment. It wasn't over anything important, just a new hero using a the same name as the hero who literally saved the world decades ago, and people being upset that the OG hero's merch was getting expensive. If people can cheer for that, I'm not so sure we deserve to last much longer anyway.

That aside, what's the consensus so far? Even spread of living vs probably dead? 75% vs 25% leaning one way or the other?

[icanhearscreams]

'Deserve' doesn't really enter into it, does it? The good get punished. The bad get away with it. The world isn't fair, so maybe it'll last long enough.

Not a lot of living people have responded, but there's a decent number of us dead, yeah.