Under_The_Whispering_Door_by_TJ_Klune

“Obviously,” he said faintly. “I died.”
She laughed and looked shocked because of it. “Obviously. Don’t try to
force it, Wallace. It’ll come when it comes. I’ve seen it before. You’ll know
when the time is right.”
He thought she was speaking about more than the contents of their
conversation, and his mind drifted to the door upstairs. He hadn’t worked up
the courage to find it, much less ask more about it.
“Time moves a little different here,” she said. “I don’t know if you
noticed that, but there’s—”
“The clock.”
She arched an eyebrow. “The clock?”
“Last night, when we got here. The second hand was stuttering. It moved
back and forth or sometimes not at all.”
She seemed impressed. “Noticed that, huh?”
“Hard not to. Is it always like that?”
She shook her head. “Only when we have visitors like yourself, and only
on the first day. It’s meant to give you time to acclimate. To get an
understanding of the position you find yourself in. Most of the time, it means
sitting there, waiting for someone like you to speak.”
“I ran instead,” Wallace said.
“You did. And the clock began to move like it normally does the moment
you left. It happens at all places like this.”
“Nelson called it a way station.”
“That’s a good way to put it,” Mei said. “Though, I think of it more as a
waiting station.”
“What am I waiting for?” Wallace asked, aware of how monumental the
question felt.
“That’s for you to decide, Wallace. You can’t force this, and no one here
is going to try to push you into something you’re not ready for. Hope for the
best, you know?”
“That’s not very reassuring.”
“It’s worked so far. Mostly.”
Cameron. That wasn’t a topic he was prepared for. He still could hear the
wordless sound the man had made at the sight of him. If he could still dream,
he thought he’d have nightmares because of it. “Why do you do this?”
“That’s a little personal.”