Spy School: Danger is my Middle Name

Am I dead?

---POV is currently Benjamin Ripley's---

The last thing I remembered was a bright flash of light, a brief shout from Erica, then everything went directly to the color of a black hole. More like everything was sucked like a black hole, since my vision just disappeared in less than a second.

I immediately plunged into what I suspected to be a dream- though because of the fact that the last thing I had seen was a thermonuclear bomb, it was probably some sort of afterlife. Or I was just hallucinating, and I was still dangling under the helicopter with Erica.

I pinched myself and felt nothing. Which meant I wasn't sleeping, and this wasn't all a dream.

Suddenly, my vision cleared, and I was teleported to some kind of cloudy island. Below me was a giant area of fluff, and I was just barely bouncing atop the surface. I didn't see anybody within a mile of my area, so I assumed that this was an afterlife.

I pumped my fists in joy. "There's an afterlife! LET'S GOO!! I don't go to sleep forever!!"

I'm experiencing genuine emotions, which meant that I was surely still human. Good- I hadn't been reincarnated as a cloud. That thought was still haunting me.

I ran a few steps upon the fluffy thing, jumping higher than I had ever done before. The cloud's surface was both solid and flexible- something that wasn't usually on earth, since clouds are usually transparent.

It was like I had been transported to a bounce house. Each step escalated me up a few feet into the air, and I could feel my hair whipping in the slight breeze.

It wasn't long before I spotted the familiar shape of a human being in the distance. Of course, my initial reaction was to run towards them. Maybe I wasn't crazy after all. Maybe this was actually the afterlife.

The closer I got to the person, the more I found out about them. They were a boy, unless girls in the afterlife developed a fashion trend for athletic T-shirts and shorts. Their hair was also cut short, which was another giveaway.

It wasn't until I was a few steps away from the human that I actually realized who the figure was. It was relatively a big disappointment, though.

"Murray!?" I shouted, backing away a few steps from him. "What are you-why-what!?"

Murray faced me, giving me his trademark smirk. His eyes glinted with the mischief that I knew too well after being around him- the glint that meant he was up to something.

"Follow your instinct," he whispered. "When the time comes, you will have to react fast."

This statement only made the situation more confusing. "What do you mean, follow my instinct? I'm in the afterlife, right? How am I supposed to rely on my instinct when I can't be in danger?"

With a wink, he disappeared in a flash of lights. "You'll see, bud. You'll see."

I groaned. "Go die in a hole."

The second I said this phrase, I saw another body appear a few feet away from me. I immediately recognized who this was, since he was my best friend since I was young.

"Mike!" I said. "Can you please explain what's going on here? I'm flummoxed right now."

"Sorry, Ben, I can't," Mike said sadly. "You've got to figure it out yourself. Just remember to follow your instincts."

Then he disappeared.

I groaned. What did they mean by following my instincts?! This is why I would never qualify to be a detective- I would suck at guessing everything. After all, I don't even know where I am right now and what's happening.

The next thing I saw was Zoe's body, standing a few feet directly north of mine. I sprinted over to her- after all, I didn't want another person disappearing. Teleporting away in a puff of light was starting to get annoying.

"Zoe!" I shouted desperately. "Please, tell me what's going on!"

Zoe calmly took a look to her left, where I was standing. "No."

I facepalmed myself as she disappeared into a puff of smoke. Someone- or something was trolling me, but I didn't know exactly who was. And I didn't want to find out, since whoever organized this mind-visiting thing was a pro.

Or maybe this was just some sort of god that wanted me to get some sort of message. I have no idea.

The next person that appeared was someone even more familiar than the rest- and I recognized her within milliseconds of catching her sight. The familiar, soft scent of lilacs and gunpowder gave it all away. I didn't know I could smell in dreams- and I didn't know my heart could flutter in them either.

"Erica?" I said, tilting my head over to her line of sight. She calmly placed a hand on my shoulder and sighed.

"I can't explain to you what's going on right now. All you have to know is that you have to-"

"-rely on my stupid instincts! I know!" I said, unable to hide my annoyance, even if it was at Erica. "But I don't know when to rely on them, and I don't know how to either!"

Erica disappeared in a cloud of gunpowder, leaving me alone once again. This time, nobody appeared near me to aid me in any way. I was completely alone.

At least until I heard the shouting.

"Ben!" a voice was yelling, seemingly far away. "Ben! Ben!" it repeated. 

The more the shouts came, the more my vision started fading. I knew someone was shouting for my name...maybe they were a few miles away from me on the cloud...

Suddenly, I came to. The sharp whipping of the wind, the unbearable brightness of the sun, and the familiar hum of the helicopter wings all crashed upon me at the same time. It took me only a few milliseconds to adjust myself to my surroundings.

The wind seemed to be hitting me harder than usual. I was floating once again, though I didn't know how. It felt like I was almost suspended in midair, and I realized that my guess was somewhat correct.

My eyes scanned where I was. Vast expanse of land below me, familiar screams of people on roller coasters, and bright music. I was wearing a backpack- yes, the parachute was in their. I moved my hands around to inspect the air around me.

It only took me a few seconds to realize that there was nothing solid around me within my reach. Nothing solid... that meant I wasn't holding on to anything. 

Seeing that I had no grip on anything, I was...

airborne. And Erica was shouting my name from above, telling me to react with my instincts before I splattered onto the ground and became a name on a grave.