She had to be dead, and the idea gave her a sense of reluctant apathy. Her palm ran against the damp railing of the stone boardwalk, free of the gnarled knobs that had once formed around her knuckles. Eventually she turned to an old time tourist telescope, venturing to glance through the looking glass despite having no form of money, or anything else for that matter. Instead of the expected darkness though, there was a distant light, and perhaps some semblance of a very familiar building. A special building. A special place. Maybe she would go there.
With a wistful and faint suspiration of forced breath, Mary leaned against the railing with her elbows, contenting herself with slow moving memories from long, long ago. Until she happened to look down into the water below.
A loud and high pitched shriek shattered the misty silence within the park, and perhaps even beyond, with a resounding snap. Pushing hard against the railing to break herself away, her form fell back against the stone, and she scrambled backward a few feet before her hands went once more to her face. Nothing. Nothing, and yet the reflection in the water was exactly every detail she had loathed. She had been doing so well, so calm and level-headed, but just that image alone was enough to have her lose her straining composure. Her screams were repeated with her startle, though they eventually faded with her fatigued voice, giving way to bitter tears. At least those tears no longer stung and antagonized the open wounds over her skin.
Not Heaven, not Limbo. It was Hell all over again.