Page 95 of Death Trap

“I am,” he replied.

“Okay, then…” So maybe not a reaper exactly? Something else. I rubbed my hand over my face, exasperated. “How do I get myself out of here?”

Hank stroked his beard, his fingernails caked with dirt. I struggled to keep my disgust from my face. Guess there were no showers in the Void, either.

“I’ve never seen anyone leave,” he said eventually.

“Have you seen anyone else here besides me? Maybe someone else I can ask?”

He held out his hands. “This place is infinite. If there were six million souls in here, you’d never know.”

And lucky me, I ran into you.

Looked like I was on my own here.

“Have you ever tried…askingto go back to wherever you come from?” he asked.

Was he joking? He had to be joking, right?

“Asking? Asking who?” I waved my hands around. “You? There’s no one else here.”

I paused, rethinking what he had said. Maybe he was offering me a way out. “Wait, do you have the power to send me back?”

“Ah, or someone else does. And they could be listening.”

Oh boy. Hank was cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

“There’s nothing wrong with asking for a little help now and again,” he said.

I smacked my lips together. Count on my luck to find the crazy in an infinite void.

“You still have a problem asking for help, don’t you?” Hank asked, his untrimmed brow raised.

Not sure how to respond to that, I didn’t.

He grinned at my silence. “Why don’t you try it out.”

I glanced around us. “Try what out, exactly?”

“Asking,” he said simply. “Ask to leave.”

“Ask who?” Frustration began to build inside me. Was I talking to a wall? “There’s no one here. You told me that yourself. Remember? Six million souls. Never ran into one.”

“Just…ask.” He continued to smile like a fool. “You could have only one try at this. And what if it works?”

“What if it doesn’t?”

“Ah, but what if it does? Doesn’t hurt to try?”

I stared at him in disbelief. But then, defeated, I sighed heavily. “Fine.”

Holding up my hands—and feeling like an idiot, I might add—I spoke as loud as the vacuumed space would allow me. “If anyone is listening…” God, this was embarrassing, even with Hank being the only one around to witness it. “Could you help a girl out and send me back? I got lots to do out there and not much time to do it. So if you don’t mind…”

Hands still up in the air, I glanced at him to see if he was satisfied with my display of craziness.

“Please,” he added.

I closed my eyes briefly to calm the anger starting to push its way to the surface. “Please.”

---