After Life

There are some times in life when you just wish you’d been warned beforehand about something major that’s about to happen; that you were told at least a day or two in advance so you could be prepared. Like going to work and to find out that you’ve been fired or coming home from work to find out that there’s a family reunion and now, you’re going to have to spend a whole day with all those relatives you tried so hard to ignore. Or the fact that on one fine morning you’re going to come face to face with the Grim Reaper who’s come to take your soul away. Yeah, sometimes you just wished you’d at least gotten a sliver of a warning.

For instance, if I’d known that I was going to die today, I would have at least tried to make my last days with my family a little more memorable. I would have not taken my sister’s clothes and we wouldn’t have been fighting over whose face is more pretty. I wouldn’t have ignored my best friend like I did and we could have gone shopping. But was I warned? No. I woke up to a lovely morning, not knowing the fact that I was going to die, got ready for school and, well, met my end.

There. No dramatic scene where I scream. “Et tu .. (Insert traitor’s name)!” Just a boring death where I tripped and fell in front of a bus.

Yes, it had been a normal Monday morning. There was nothing unusual that screamed, “You’re going to die today!” I was munching on an apple while walking to school when my clumsy- self had to take over. I tripped over something which sent me flying to the middle of the road, where unfortunately a bus had to run over me. And I died.

The worst part being, I died of my clumsiness. If anyone could be ashamed of their death, it would be me. I could just imagine people talking about my death: “Poor girl died by tripping over a stone. “

I could even imagine the words written over my headstone:” R.I.P. Katherine. Had she watched the road instead of the apple..”

I know what you must be wondering. If I was dead, then who’s narrating this story right? Well, I was equally confused at first. But now, I’m all clear. Here, I’ll explain everything:

After the incident

I woke to a dull throbbing on the side of my head. I looked around and saw many people huddled around me. I sat up straight and an immediate feeling of nausea swept through me. Nobody rushed to my aid. They simply stood, gasping and muttering amongst themselves.

What bunch of sadists.

“Excuse me. Can you help me up please?” I asked a nearby fellow as I found myself swaying. The guy didn’t even have the courtesy to look at me. “Um hello? I’m talking to you!”

Nothing. They’re oozing with generosity, I’ll say.

Fine. I got up without anyone’s help. As I dusted myself, I noticed the crowd hadn’t still dispersed. Instead, they were still gasping and muttering.

Weird.

Then, from inside the crowd, somebody yelled, “Hey! Stop gawking and call the ambulance!”

Ambulance? I was about to shout back that I was fine and that I didn’t need any ambulance when I noticed that people were not looking at me, but at something behind me, on the ground.

I turned to look and froze.

I was looking at..me? It was a bloody and more gruesome version of me. Was this some kind of sick joke? Then from the crowd a young lad came up to Gruesome Me and started checking for my pulse. I moved forward to stop him when he turned and said, “She’s dead.”

WHAT?

I finally found my voice and screamed, “No! I’m not dead. See? I’m very much alive! Have you people lost it?!”

But nobody even looked at me. It was like I was invisible. I jumped up and down in front of the young lad who’d checked my pulse, screaming, “Do I look dead to you fellow? How dare you declare me dead?”

But of course, he acted like I wasn’t there.

I stopped and thought for a minute. What day was today? It definitely wasn’t the first day of April so I didn’t see why people would choose such an ordinary day to play a prank.

“They can’t hear you,” said a voice from behind me.

I turned and saw an odd sight. The boy to whom the voice belonged to did not look normal at all.

“Um are you okay? You look kind of pale,” I said feeling concern for this boy I barely knew.

He laughed, like what I said was funny and said, “You look just like me.”

What? I looked down at myself and for the first time I realized that I was transparent. TRANSPARENT?!

“What’s going on? Why can I see things through my body? Is this some kind of sick joke?” I was in hysterics.

The boy started inspecting his nails, like what I said wasn’t something abnormal at all and said, “ Stage one: Denial.”

What was he saying?

I stared at him and he sighed, finally done with his nails.

“Look,” he started, “I’ll make this short and sweet. You’re dead. Deal with it and move on.” And with that, he motioned me to follow him and floated forward. Wait-Floated?! He really was floating. He was gliding. Yes, gliding was the word. I quickly recovered from my shock and chased after him.

“What did you say?” I asked, anger lacing every word. “Did you just say I was dead? Well, then you’re rotten mister! You can’t just come along and call strangers dead, you hear me?”

He stopped and turned to look at me. “Look,” he said, “I know this is tough for you but you are dead. But don’t you worry. In a few days, the Guardians to the Other World will be on their way to take you there.”

Whoa.

“What? Soul? Realm? Hold your horses there boy, and start from the beginning,” I said.

“There’s nothing much to explain. YOU ARE DEAD. D-E-A-D. End of story.”

“End of story? If I died then how am I still here talking to you huh?” I asked feeling victorious at my discovery.

“It’s not you-you, it’s just your soul.”

“Wait? So I’m a ghost? But you said I was dead.”

“Yes, Ms. Obvious, you’re dead and now you’re a soul roaming this realm till the Guardians find you. If you don’t believe me, then follow me.” He walked back toward the crowd and I tagged along. As we reached closer, I heard a very familiar voice calling my name over and over again. It was my mom. I rushed forward, walking through everybody (literally), and stopped when I saw her. My mom was holding Gruesome Me and was wailing. My sister was right next to her clutching Gruesome Me’s hand and crying as well. I walked closer and inspected Gruesome Me and I almost gagged. Gruesome Me’s dress was stained in blood, her head was covered in blood; her arms were all twisted in the wrong way.

I swallowed. I was dead. I was really dead. And now I was a ghost. I floated to a group of people who like gossip mongers.

“… She tripped over something and that’s how she was thrown in front of the bus. Get your facts straight,” the first female was saying.

“No, no, I swear. Listen to me, she was pushed! I saw it with my own eyes! Someone pushed her!” the second one said.

“Oh yeah? Did you see who pushed her?” The first one asked.

“No, I didn’t see who pushed her,” the second one said meekly.

Soon an argument broke out between them. I was getting irritated by the minute. Was I murdered or not?

I heard a chuckle behind me. It was the boy.

“Don’t worry, you weren’t murdered. If you were, The Guardians to the Other World would have come to take you already,” he said smiling.

“Was that supposed to make me feel better?” I snapped, feeling ashamed that I died by tripping over something as trivial as a stone.

His face became soft at once and he said softly, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said it like that. Don’t worry, we’ll figure out a way to cross you safely to the Other World, okay?”

I nodded. “Wait, what is this 'Other World'? Is it Heaven?"

He nodded," Heaven, Other World. Same thing."

I eyed him. "Wait. Did you say 'We'?"

“I sure did. You didn't think you could do it alone, did you? You’re going to need help. And I've helped many people cross safely to the Other World. I can help you too.”

I eyed him suspiciously and said, “Fine.”

He smiled and stretched out his hand. “I’m Raghu, by the way.”

I looked unsurely at his hand. Could ghosts shake hands?

He laughed at my uncertainty and said, “Don’t worry. Souls can touch each other. It’s only when we touch stuff form this realm that our body goes right through it.”

I shook his hand and said,” I’m Katherine.”

I looked back and saw the ambulance arrive to take my body. I floated to my mother’s side and watched her cry as my body was being carried away. I couldn’t help it, but I was soon crying along with her.

Raghu placed a hand on my transparent shoulder and I started crying harder. “It’s not..sniff..fair! I had so many things I wanted to do! What did I ever do to deserve this?”

Raghu didn’t say anything. I looked up to see him lost in his thoughts. Only then, did it strike me that he was a ghost just like me. He looked roughly my age. He was deprived of a wonderful life too. I felt really bad for him.

“Raghu?” I called, softly. He shook himself out his reverie and smiled sadly, “Sorry, I was just thinking.”

“I hope I don’t sound rude but, how did you..you know..” I trailed off hoping he’d understand. I wasn’t really comfortable at using the word ‘death’ yet.

“I drowned. My family and I were out boating and suddenly the boat capsized. I was the only one who drowned.”

I felt sad for him. I didn’t say anything because I was pretty sure there wasn’t anything you could say to a dead person to console him about his own death.

“So, Guardians, huh?” I groped trying to ease the sadness that was choking me.

“Yeah. Don’t worry. They’ll be here in a few days to take you away. “

“Then how come you’re still here?” I asked. He didn’t look like he’d died yesterday. So I just assumed it must have been a while since his demise.

“I didn’t want to go,” he said and walked away. I was surprised.

“You have a choice?” I called after him.

“Of course you do,” he said, and with a smile walked away.

I stood there, on the empty road by myself. The reality of the situation dawned on me. I was dead. I was really dead. I looked at myself and saw that I was wearing my school uniform. Ugh. Why couldn’t the supernatural forces have dressed me up in something else? I was killed by a stone and I’m floating around in my uniform. What a field day.

Since I was sure going to my house would make me sadder than I was, I decided to go to my school to see how people were reacting to my demise.

I floated to my school and stopped in front of my class. Deep Breath. Wait, now that I was dead, I couldn’t really breathe right? Right, focus. I glided into the class and perched myself on top my table and observed. My best friend, Sheila was hunched over her desk, sobbing hard. Next to her, stood my teacher, who was trying to console her. The others wore expressions of shock and concern. I felt a little happy that there were people who cared about me.

I focused my attention on Sheila. I felt a pang of sadness as I saw my best friend cry for me. Then a thought ran through my mind. She’s not going to be crying forever right? At some point or the other, she’s going to have to forget about me. And the worst part was I wanted her to forget about me. I wanted her to stop crying because I knew I didn’t deserve her tears. I was a horrible friend to her. Blinded by peer pressure, I’d stopped interacting to her properly, till the point I’d started ignoring her altogether.

I placed a hand upon my head and felt the results of peer pressure in my stylishly cut hair, and I looked at Sheila, still traditional as ever and crying. For me.

I couldn’t take it anymore. I left the school and went home. At home, my mom and sister were crying. Dad sat in a corner, hands over his eyes. His shoulders were shaking in silent sobs. I thought back to yesterday, when I’d fought with my sister, which ended in me telling her that I hate her. I hadn’t talked to her since that morning. Had I know that I was going to die, I would have patched things up with her.

My heart felt heavy and the room got too suffocating for me. I went outside and cried. I didn’t deserve any of their tears. But at the same time I was secretly happy that they were crying for me.

I looked up at the sky. I couldn’t stay in this ‘realm’ anymore. If I stayed, I was pretty sure I would be dripping with guilt. And once people started forgetting me.. I didn’t even want to consider that.

****

It had been a few days since I had died and there had been no sign of the so-called ‘Guardians’. Already, people at my school had started forgetting me, including Sheila. I stopped visiting my school. At home, it was the entire opposite. Mom and my sister were going through all of my childhood photos and home videos. On certain occasions, Dad would join in too.

Raghu became my only friend since I didn’t find any other souls roaming the city.

One day, Raghu and I were floating on the terrace of my house.We were laughing at a joke when Raghu suddenly froze.

“What is it?” I asked.

He slowly looked at me, eyes gone cold, “They’re coming.”

At first I didn’t understand what he was trying to say. And then, it dawned on me. The Guardians. They were coming.

“How do you know?” I asked softly.

He smiled sadly, “I’ve helped many cross over. I can detect their presence.”

I didn’t say anything.

“Are you going to cross?” he asked and at that moment, he looked so sad that I wanted to say no. But instead, I shook my head. “Why don’t you come with me?”

“No. I don’t want to. I’m too scared to leave this realm.”

“You can’t stay here forever. Come with me.”

He contemplated this and finally nodded.

Suddenly, a bright light exploded in front of my eyes and a figure stepped out of it. The figure had no face or a body, for it was a figure made of light. The figure had come to take us away. Seeing the Light, I was filled with peace and I felt happy. Happy that Sheila had found a new friend, happy that my parents and my sister were trying so hard to not lose any memory of me. I looked at Raghu and saw him smiling too, with a dreamy expression on his face.

“Shall we?” I asked him.

He smiled and nodded. And with that, the two of us walked into the light.