When John at last emerged from the strange room of memories, he was completely disoriented, like he had been spun around or put in a blender- listing on his feet in a comical manner as he stepped out and shut the door absentmindedly behind him, leaning against the wooden boat siding and blinking against the bright light. The strange experience of being inside the room had been quite taxing mentally and emotionally, something he wasn't too keen to admit but was true nonetheless. Seeing his whole life all over again, from the most tragic of happenings he couldn't help in the least, to the sordid mistakes that had been entirely his fault, hadn't been fun at all. It was quite literally his life flashing before his eyes, but much more drawn out, like experiencing every single mundane day in all it's glory; and now, it felt like the entire ship was spinning unrelentingly. Or maybe it was him that was spinning… or perhaps he was simply going mad.

"A bit of a trip, huh?" Larry commented bemusedly from next to John, who jumped in surprise at hearing the man's voice. He had nearly forgotten that the jolly accountant even existed. "It's normal, though, from what I hear. Really takes a toll, the Reliving does… did for me, too, so you're not alone. You know, everyone else has told me that-"

"What do you mean, everyone else?" snapped John exasperatedly, opening his eyes and blinking blearily against the sunlight. He pressed a hand against his forehead. Since when had it gotten so bright out? Just moments ago it had been stormy and grey. But was it moments, or had he been there for hours? Days, months? Or did time even have meaning in a dream?

"You should be able to see them now that you're out, if you'd just take the time to look at your surroundings for once. You have after all passed initiation, so to speak… Oh, hello Jerome! Haven't seen you in a bit!" apparently Larry had gotten sidetracked at the end with, as John saw it, yet another imaginary person. He was about to open his mouth to question Larry's sanity when to his complete shock he heard another voice.

"Yeah, it's been a few days. Haven't seen you since we stopped in Mexico, I think, or maybe Argentina even… who's your friend?" John looked up in shock and saw who appeared to be Jerome- a Hebrew man with a slight Middle East accent, looking to be somewhere in his twenties, dressed for all the world like some sort of farmer from a depression-era movie.

"I'm… ah, I'm John." Jerome shook his hand heartily and John was quite surprised to notice that he was quite solid, real as could be. A part of him had thought that he would've been transparent, like a ghost; but he tried not to let his bafflement show.

"You know who you look like?" commented Jerome, snapping his fingers and pointing at John. "That sixties fellow in that pop band, who married that weird Japanese lady! You know, the one who made all the strange music and whatnot. Grated at my ears, it did!"

John bit his lip at the description of Yoko and shortly replied with "I am that sixties fellow." He arched his eyebrows at Jerome, who immediately laughed nervously and pulled at his collar, perhaps regretting the way he had talked about the avant-garde artist and unamused guitarist.

"What? Oh… well sorry about that, ah… My, you're young aren't you?" Jerome scratched his head nervously and John couldn't help but smirk at how quickly he changed the subject away from his opinions of Yoko. Well, he was used to it. People gave Yoko flack all the time, and as much as he would defend her in real life what was the point of doing so in his subconscious?

"I'm forty," John sighed. "I'm not young." Truth be told, he felt quite the opposite.

"Well, you're young for here," replied Larry, injecting himself into the conversation once again. "I thought we went over this already, John," he said bemusedly.

"Well, I'll be darned, what happened to you anyhow? Must've been some sort of accident or something. Was it a car? I had an uncle go that way, fast and painless, but still, just so sudden! No time for preparations or-" Apparently Jerome was, like Larry, completely convinced they were all in some sort of world of the dead. And, also like Larry, prone to talking unceasingly until someone stopped him.

Larry was quick to do just that. "Shut it, Jerome! He doesn't know yet!"

"Know what?" John practically yelled. "What the bloody hell is going on here! I keep asking you knuckleheads what's going on and nobody ever tells me a bleeding thing! And unless you're going to toss out some sort of afterlife rubbish again, I'd like an explanation, please!" He looked at the two startled men standing before him like deer in headlights imploringly.

"Well, you… are… dead," Larry said slowly, with a slightly nervous overtone.

"I told you I don't want any of that crap!"

Jerome politely excused himself with a small hiccup and a mumbled excuse, leaving Larry to continue with the explanation. "Would I lie to you, John?"

"Fine," John said, playing along sarcastically. "Say I am dead, bereft of life, crossed over, lain to peace, robbed of vitality and whatever. The how did I die? I'm forty years old, I'm healthy, I don't have any diseases or whatever. If I'm dead, then how did it happen?"

"Well," Larry said. "I don't know, really."

"Ha, so then-"

"But the Observation Decks can tell you."

A/N: Well, how was it? Leave reviews (please?), PM me and Naturelover422 (resident cowriter and official awesomest person ever), whatever! Sorry the update was so long in the coming, I promise it won't happen again! This chapter written by moi, edited by Naturelover422, next one to switch roles.

:-)