[ WP ] After dying , the words `` New High Score ! '' flash across your vision

Forward, forward, falling forward, then a pause. 
 
 More of an *abrupt stop* than a pause, but something lingered. 
 
 Loitered, lingered, lollygagged—how could you tell. How could *I* tell? I couldn ’ t; words lost their meaning in very much the same way a weary cloud parts with water. Again, why that seemed to make sense in the moment escaped me—but it did. 
 
 I *was* escaping though. At least, something told me that ’ s what I had been doing. A valiant effort on my part! Could that be trusted? Yes? No? 
 
 I probed outwards. 
 
 Darkness responded. 
 
 I shrugged it aside, blinking. *Politely*, of course. Two could play this game. 
 
 One of our gestures might have seemed more fitting for the moment, but I ’ d at least like to reserve the thought that I ’ d taken a certain openness to the grave. I welcomed fate. 
 
 How brave. 
 
 Was this the grave though? Surely that had to be a sign. 
 
 Yes! 
 
 No. 
 
 I hit the ground running. Some thing were just going to have to be accepted here. 
 
 Death already had its way with me, *it* must have seen it coming. I had a right to ask some questions for once. Yeah! 
 
 A renewed sense of pride swelled again for the first time. 
 
 If there were tables to be turned here—and I meant that metaphorically, of course; no telling what else was bound to saunter my way in this realm—I was determined to sort that all out at the first opportunity. 
 
 I probed again. 
 
 “ One moment please! ” Came a disembodied voice. A polite one at that. I felt bad about the earlier remark. I jumped to conclusions. 
 
 And so I waited. 
 
 “ Still loading. ” 
 
 The voice again. Very polite. 
 
 The horizon was milky now. Lucid. Changing. 
 
 Milky. 
 
 Yes, that was the best way to put it. Several questions remained though. I simply had to ask. 
 
 “ How much longer do you think it would—? ” A crack of thunder cut me off before I could finish. 
 
 I looked forwards as much as I could. Nothing moved; my attention, if anything, was the only one doing the *moving*. 
 
 Words appeared on the horizon. Plainly, I might add. No fanfare, no buildup beyond that little bit of milkiness I picked up on earlier. Nothing. 
 
 *How droll. * 
 
 The words read, “ NEW HIGH SCORE! ” 
 
 I groaned, yet a part of me respected the sheer *bluntness* of it all. Very to the point. I was dead after all. The all caps did seem like a poor choice though. Not a whole lot added with something like that. 
 
 I knocked it down a letter grade. 
 
 NEW HIGH SCORE! 
 
 The voice had left me entirely at this point. I think it assumed this message left in its absence would suffice. Yet, at that moment of time, that blink of existence, I felt wholly unsatisfied in a situation where most would revel. The wording might be to blame here. Foreign translators and all that business. It happens. I wasn ’ t in a position to judge. 
 
 At least I made the grade. 
 
 But something like that left *vague* just did n't cut it; it was n't enough, no matter how many times I mulled it over. I needed closure. 
 
 Because, In that moment, all I wanted to know was if I had set the new *lap* record.
