Joseph was dead. He knew it because he was alone. Alone in a way he had never been in life. Before he could even look to see if he was in heaven or hell he was overwhelmed by a loneliness that he knew would never end. When he recovered, or to be more exact when he passed beyond that feeling, he looked about to see where he was. Would this to be his eternity? There was nothing to see, no clouds of heavenly peace but no lake of fire either. There was nothing, just loneliness. So was this to be his eternity or just the slow end of physical consciousness?

For awhile he did have memory. Somewhere deep in his childhood he had been here before. Well not exactly here. Here there was no dimension at all. Perhaps he was within a white cloud or mist. Joseph knew the horror of white for In his childhood he had dreamed of being alone in a long white corridor, a corridor without end with nondescript doors spaced evenly on either side. When he came to one just like all the others he had somehow known that this one was his. He had opened the door. Inside there was nothing but an empty room with white walls, white floor, and white ceiling. There was not even a window or a lamp. The room was its own eternal white light, Here he would spend eternity, an eternity without distraction, without things.

That dream had been the great loneliness. Now at the other end of life he was there again. There would be no future, only an eternal now. His only thought was that there was nothing to think about. Even his memories were beginning to slip away. Everything he had known a few moments before was slipping away. Or was that a few moments ago, or a month, a year, ever? Had anything ever happened.

Joseph was alone without past or future, or purpose or dreams.