So, I died. 

It wasn't violent or epic. Just a quite death at the end of full life. 

And, to my surprise, it wasn't the end. 

I opened my eyes to an endless expanse of twilight. Not empty, several structures were visible in the distance, but it was just like standing on a flat plain with nothing between you and the horizon. 

Looking up there was no Sun, Moon or cloud to interrupt the dark grey, but in some way, you knew it was the sky. 

The ground bellow my bare feet was smooth, featureless, and coated in a fine grey dust which gave it a slight granular feel. 

I squatted down and ran my fingers over the surface of the ground. 

- It's almost like corn starch spread over a smooth counter top 

I brushed my fingers off on my grey PJs, stood up and looked fully around. 

There were a couple of structures in view, and some vague shapes further off. They looked to be of similar height and general size, just all irregularly shaped. 

- Not much else around. Wait? 

I looked back at my hands. 

- They are not shaking! And the skin is smooth. 

I brought both hands up to my face and felt the smooth skin, then grabbed a strand of hair and examined the colour. 

- It's back to being black again?  

I was seized by a horrible thought. Looking quickly around to make sure no one had suddenly appeared, I then looked down the front of my pants. 

- Anatomically correct. Whew! So, I'm not an androgynous soul thing, and it looks like I'm in my 20s again. 

A few knee bends and stretches confirmed that I was no longer suffering from “Old”  

- So, I'm still male and young again. I defiantly died, and this has to be the strangest after life I've even heard of. 

I stood for a while, not moving, just watching. Nothing changed. No clouds. No electric hum. No people. 

- I've been standing here for a while and I'm not getting stiff, or tired. I don't even feel the need to pee. 

Laughing at the absurdity of me thoughts, I noticed that the air was stirring.  A slight breeze passed by, ruffling my now shoulder length hair. The breeze also seemed to move something by the nearest of the structures. 

- Nothing else to do but go check out to painfully obvious. 

So, I walked. 

Eventually I got close enough to make out, the shape, and finally details of the structure. 

It was a door. A fancy, heavily detailed vignette of gothic columns, dark paneled glass, and an old gnarled bare tree over hanging the entrance way. It looked like someone had built a movie set of just the front door of a vampire's mansion. 

- But something doesn't look like the other. 

A very plain tawny coloured rope hanging from very plain brown rods surrounded the scene. Walking around showed that the door was identical on it opposite side, and the rope had no breaks, or ties.  

- The rods are all identical, look like wood, and the rope is one continuous piece. The setup is only missing the 'Please Stay Out' sign 

The rope easily moved at my touch, swinging back and forth after I let go. 

- Its much lighter than it looks, a lot lighter. Must be what I saw moving in the breeze earlier. 

I couched down and moved under the rope, then stood and looked around. 

- No sirens, or lightening from the sky. 

I waited a moment to see if anything changed. Nothing did. 

- Ok. The creepy looking tree is the closest. 

As I walked closer to the tree, I reached out to touch the outermost branch. It didn't move at all. 

- Solid. Some how it feels, Immovable. 

The branch was incredibly detailed, looking, and feeling exactly like a branch, but it wouldn't move even the slightest. I grabbed the smallest twig I could find and pulled, hard. 

- Nothing, not even the slightest give. Hmmm? 

Looking at my hand, I rubbed my fingers together. 

- No dust. The rope and the rod had some on it, but not the tree 

I moved to the twisted trunk, ducking between the immobile branches. Gnarled bark, mossy growths, and over grown knots all had the same solid feel and were free of the fine dust. 

Avoiding the sprawling roots that looked like they heaved through the ground, I moved closer to the columned arch of the door. 

And stopped. 

I could feel something, a subtle pull towards the door. I probably wouldn't have noticed if not for my hair getting caught on one of the trees twigs, forcing me to stop. 

- It's like gravity is pulling me towards the door. I can actually see my hair leaning in the door's direction. 

Un-tangling my hair, I backed away. It was not till I reached to rope that I could no long tell if the pull was still affecting me. 

- I guess that is why the rope is here. Yep, I'm a master of the obvious. 

I gave the rope a poke, sending it swinging. 

Now that a creepy gothic door has scared you away, what next? 

Looking around, again, I could see more structures had become visible in the distance. 

Sighing, I started walking again, the occasional breeze was the only change.