Nether World

Petulia descended into darkness. She knew she was dead. There were stories about people who had died. Her mother told her that she should go toward the light because it was the gate to heaven and it would be open. Jesus would be waiting for her.
  The ether of space did not have much substance to it. She could feel herself moving through it. She was traveling like a super hero on her own power.
  A bright star in the distance gave her a bearing. There were other stars, as though she were traveling through outer space. The star grew brighter as she accelerated toward it. The vast realm of the dead universe was similar to the heavens above Earth.
  The star became a flickering flame. This resolved itself into two tiny balls of light, one red, and the other a pale orange. She drove faster through clouds of dust, and then she dodged the debris of failed planets. Past asteroids and small moons, she came to the red star that grew as she sped forward with the notion to fly through it. She realized it was not the light her mother had told her to seek. It was red, and it was too late. Somehow gravity was taking hold of her. She could see other naked souls speeding towards the same destination like a hail of snowflakes inevitably falling towards destiny.
  A planet with two vast orbiting moons suddenly loomed in front of her. She could not avoid its pull, but she could avoid the moons.
  She came into the atmosphere streaking into a downward glide path without a care because she was lifeless. Whatever lay below could not hurt her. She knew she was not going to heaven. She hoped it was not the other place. Still, if she collided with the ground she surely would face the consequences.
  As she descended a strange thing happened. Everything about her slowed. She came down gently to the roof of a building without breaking it or herself. She sank downward onto the surface of a box filled with water.
  Her sight began to fail. Her awareness dimmed. She was fading away. It felt good to rest from her long journey melting into nothing. Now she believed she would have peace.
  She was gone. Then she felt sensations. Her body was in a strange stasis. She was paralyzed and warmed gradually.
  Petulia recovered nicely.
  Hands lifted her out of the slime. A warm spray of water rinsed it away. She was placed on a metal table.
  "You are coughing up fluid. That's normal."
  "Am I in a hospital?"
  "Just stay still while we get you dry. You’re at the Rebirth Center in New Islandia. It’s meaningless to you at the moment. Other facts will further confuse you."
  Warm towels were applied. Then another transference to a hospital bed. Next she was rolled along a corridor into a room.
  In the room a man advised her to rest. He gave her a pill to help her sleep.
  "I don't feel any pain. Did you have to operate? Is there some kind of new procedure to heal my burns?"
  “I have to leave for a while. You must rest. All will be explained to you eventually.”
  A nurse in white came in to open the curtains. An expansive window beheld the cityscape of the dreary overcast buildings of the complex. In Oklahoma City there were no tall buildings like that, nor air traffic of the nature.
  "It’s a wonderful day." the nurse said.
  “I’m feeling sleepy,” Petulia said.
  “That’s because the pill is going to make you rest.”
  “Could you at least tell me where I am?”
  “Why, you’re in Hell, sweetheart,” the nurse said. She smiled, then brought the covers up and tucked Petulia in.
  The more she struggled to think, the more she wriggled into sleep.