Death After Life
C.W.
Jason
turned onto the highway thinking of nothing but the day to come. It was Friday night and tomorrow was
his son’s sixth birthday. There
would be a party, presents, and a bunch of screaming kids. His wife would make him clean up the
cake that would inevitably be thrown everywhere. There would be conversations with other parents, and various
observations made about how someone’s kid had grown so much since the last time
they got together.
His wife would make him participate in inane discussions about peewee
sports and the first grade teacher.
It was all a routine at this point, one weekend just like any other.
In
fact, his entire life was a routine at this point. He worked from eight to five on Monday through Friday. On Tuesdays, he would get a sandwich
from Sammy’s Sammies. On Mondays,
Wednesdays, and Thursdays he would go to the gym where he would work out for an hour and
fifteen minutes. He
would run on the treadmill for fifteen minutes, lift weights for thirty minutes,
and then ride the stationary bike for another thirty minutes. He was not even sure if ‘ride’ was the
correct verb for using a bike that took you nowhere. Then, there were the weekends. Kid’s soccer games, birthday parties and animated movies;
each event was by now reduced to simple formulas. By this point his life was not just predictable but
seemingly untenable.
Music
drifted through the radio waves; the soothing cool of Creedence Clearwater
Revival’s “Pagan Baby” emanated throughout the car. He rolled down the window and let the breeze blow through
his hair. It was a pleasant
sixty-five degrees. The Sun had
just set and the Earth was wrapped in its warm afterglow. He put his foot on the gas and let the car
accelerate; the speed of the car catching up with the thoughts racing through
his mind. It was a two-lane
highway. On either side of the
road were dense groves of hard Oak trees.
He let his focus drift from the path he was driving to the invigoration he
experienced as the notes caressed his eardrum.
Out
in the distance he saw a semi-truck barreling down the oncoming lane. The truck was black and could not be made out against the darkness, but its headlights shined brightly on the road ahead. All of a sudden, another pair of
headlights appeared in front of him. This time they were in his lane and they were rapidly coming closer. By the time he recognized the danger he
had only seconds to react. He
turned the wheel to the right and the car careened off the road. He thrust his foot onto the brake but
it was too late. The trunk of the
tree was right in front of him. He
had time for one last thought, “My God, I am not wearing my seat belt.”
The car
slammed into the tree, but the oak was thick and took the full force of
the blow without breaking. A sickening crunch could be heard as the front of
the car crumpled like a piece of paper.
The glass shattered. He was
thrown forward, the last thing he remembered seeing was the steering wheel
flying towards his forehead. He
felt the blow to his head but before his brain could register the pain
everything went black, and then there was silence.
He
was unsure how long he was out for.
When he came to he was standing outside the wrecked vehicle. He felt no pain, he looked fine, and
there was no blood on his clothes.
He looked around. His car
was about ten meters off the side of the road. The front of the car was demolished with the trunk of the
tree pressed into the hood practically splitting it in two. Neither the truck nor the other car had
stopped. Jason was alone. He wondered how he had ended up outside
his car completely unscathed. He
walked over to his car. When he
saw what was inside he had no clue how to react. There he saw his lifeless body laying limp, with his bloody
face smashed into the steering wheel.
He thought he would vomit but he could not. There was nothing in his body. He tried to touch his dead body but his hand passed right
through. Jason was smart and his
mind rapidly put the pieces together.
He did not try to hide from the inevitable truth. He was dead. That was his body in the destroyed car. He thought about crying but decided
against it. This was real and he
had no clue what to do now. Was he
doomed to wander this roadside as a ghost for all eternity? What about Heaven, or even Hell?
It
was at that moment that he heard a noise in the distance. It started as a low rumbling that got
louder and he heard a horn blow repeatedly. Then, he saw a solitary light far off down the road. The light got bigger and brighter as
the rumbling darkness approached rapidly along the road. As it got close, it started to slow
down. It stopped right where
Jason’s car had left the road.
Jason averted his eyes from the oppressing brightness of the light and
gazed at the monstrosity on the road.
It was a train. The steam
engine was blacker than the darkest night and it pulled wooden cars that looked
like they belonged to another century.
Jason
heard the horn blow. Then a call
went out, “All aboard!” Jason
looked around but saw no one else.
He hesitated. Did he dare
board this dark mysterious train from nowhere? Who knew where it was going or where he would end up? If he truly was dead, was there
anything left to fear.”
The
horn sounded again. He heard
another cry from the train although he could not see who made it, “Last call,
all aboard!”
The
engine started to slowly inch forward.
As it began to pick up speed Jason made his decision. He started to run alongside the train. The tail end of a car was just about to
pass him. Soon, the train would be
moving to fast for him to catch.
He reached out his arms and grabbed the handrails. He jumped and pulled himself onto the
car. The horn blew a final
time. Jason gazed out at his
destroyed car until it was lost in the distance. He turned towards the car. The door to the inside was before him. He had no idea what awaited him on the
other side. He tried the handle
and it was unlocked. Jason pushed
the door open and stepped inside.
The
interior of the car was undecorated.
Black wooden seats with a thin velvet cushion flanked the isle, which
was covered with short red carpet.
Jason carefully took another step into the car. He reached out his hand to touch the
first seat he came too. The wood
felt solid, it felt real, but how could any of this be real? He sat in the seat. It was neither comfortable nor uncomfortable. The back pain he had dealt with for
years was gone. In fact, nothing
in his body hurt. He felt neither
hunger nor thirst. However, he
still had all his sensations. He
could feel the smoothness of the wood as he ran his hand along the seat in
front of him. Did it even matter
at this point whether it was real or not?
He was here on the train, although his body was back with his car. He decided against trying to process
everything and looked out the window.
The train was still accelerating.
The trees outside the train turned into a blur and it seemed that the
train was passing out of time and space.
Jason had no idea how fast they were travelling. The train appeared to reach its top
speed and when he looked outside he could decipher nothing of the outside
world. All Jason saw was a
darkness flying past.
As
he sat, drifting in and out of conscious awareness he wondered about where he
was headed and what the future held.
Could he even refer to the future now that he had passed into this other
world? Did the rules of time and
space even apply anymore? Things
seemed passably normal on the train, but they did not seem to apply to the
train as it flew through the very fabric of reality.
All
of a sudden the door opened at the other end of the car. A pale old man in a red and blue
uniform and white hat walked in.
“Tickets,” he called out as he slowly strolled own the isle. “Please have your tickets ready.”
The
old man seemed indifferent to the rows of empty seats before him and oblivious
to Jason sitting in the back. He
passed by each row as if there were passengers in them. Jason felt through his empty pockets
for a ticket and then wondered at himself. “Where in the Hell would I have gotten a ticket anyways,” he
thought.
When
the old man finally got to Jason he stared at him blankly and said, “Your
ticket please sir.”
Jason
responded, “I don’t have a ticket.”
“You
don’t have a ticket?” asked the old geezer.
“No
I do not. I don’t know where I
would have gotten one.”
“Tickets
are sold at the station.”
“Well
I got on back on the road through the woods when the train stopped.”
“I
see sir. May I ask why you boarded
the train without a ticket?”
“Well
I heard someone call out ‘All Aboard’.”
“Hmmm,
and you thought they were speaking to you.”
“I
didn’t see who else they could be talking to.”
“And
are you happy with your decision.”
“What
decision, you mean to board the train.”
“Yes
sir, are you glad that you got on.”
“That
depends on where it takes me.”
“I
see, well this presents a slight problem.
Since you don’t have a ticket I’m going to have to ask you to get out at
the next stop.”
“Ok,
where is that.”
“It
is at the end of the line sir.” With
that said the old man departed through the back of the car.
After
awhile Jason felt the train begin to slow down. He was suddenly able to pick out individual trees from the
blur that was passing him outside the train. Eventually, the train came to a stop. The horn sounded deafeningly
twice. He remembered, what the old
man said about this being the end of the line. He looked outside the train and saw a dense pine
forest. Everything was dark except
for a solitary lamppost standing outside.
At the edge of the illumination Jason could barely make out the
beginning of a path that lead through the forest.
Jason
gathered his courage and steadied his heart. He got up out of his seat and walked to the back of the
car. The outside air felt damp and
cool against his skin. He stepped
off the steps to the car and onto the lonely platform. He heard the engine’s whistle sound
again. Suddenly, a dense mist
floated through which Jason could not penetrate with his eyes. A breeze then came and blew the fog
away. When he could see again, the
train was gone. Jason was left
standing alone on the platform under the lamppost. He stared at the path leading into the woods. He looked around and saw that the
forest surrounded him completely.
There was no other road to take.
“Well,
there’s nothing for it,” he said to himself. With that, he started up the path into the darkness.
The
forest floor was covered with fallen leaves and pine needles. As Jason left the light of the lamppost
behind him he noticed something glowing both sides of the path. He looked closer and saw that about
every foot along the path there was a glowing mushroom. The fungi provided just enough
illumination to outline the trail through the depths of the forest. He continued along the path deeper into
the darkness.
It
was neither hot nor cold in the woods.
The air was still without a hint of any breeze. Pine needles brushed
across his face as he trod along the path. As Jason walked along he began to notice a stench. It stank of rotting fruit and
mold. At times it was so pungent
that he could barely breathe. He
tried inhaling through his mouth but the result of this was that he was able to
taste the decay that was so abundant in these woods. The canopy formed by the trees was so thick that not a hint
of starlight was able to pierce it.
Or perhaps, he thought, there were no stars to be seen in this
world. He listened carefully as he
walked but the forest was silent.
All that could be heard was his footsteps crunching on fallen needles.
As
Jason strolled through the woods time seemed to disappear. He noticed that he
was still wearing his watch and the backlight still worked. However, it was stopped on 06:23. That must have been the time of the
crash. With the backlight from his watch
he was able to examine on of the ferns that brushed his face. It was like that of no other tree he
had seen on Earth. The fern was
black with edges as sharp as a scalpel.
He cut himself as he ran his fingers along it. The underbrush was equally uninviting. It mostly consisted of some strange
species of bush that was pricklier than a cactus. Instead of green the bushes were blood red. Any thought of deviating from the
mushroom path was pushed out of his mind after this examination.
Although
he walked what seemed to be a great distance his legs did not seem to
tire. Eventually, despite all the
silence in the forest he began to believe he was not alone. The hairs on the back of his neck stood
straight up and goose bumps were raised on his arm. Out of nowhere
a fierce wind came blustering behind him.
Leaves and branches shook around him. In the howling of the wind he heard voices; screams and
moans. He quickened his pace to a
jog as he struggled to keep to the path.
Suddenly,
he thought he could make out the call of some fell beast in the wind. It was like the howl of a wolf mixed
with the roar of a lion. The
screams were drowned out by the noise it made. It grew rapidly grew louder. Whatever it was it was getting closer. He did not know what would happen if he
died in this reality, but he was not eager to find out. Things could always get worse. Jason began to sprint along the path.
Jason
found that although he ran as fast as he could, he was not out of breath. Finally, he came to a clearing. A river flowed through it. Standing on the bank he saw that the
river was approximately ten meters across. The river did not look deep. He was about to step into it when his gaze caught something
beneath the surface of the water.
It was a human faced, dead and decayed. The mouth was open agape as if it were locked in a final
scream. He stared out into the
river and saw that it was filled with these haunting spirits. He dared not enter the river and become
trapped like them.
The
cry of the forest beast rang out again as the wind blew. It was so loud now that he could barely
hear his own thinking. It was
close now. He had to cross the
river. He looked to his right and
saw that a large tree had fallen across the river. It was the only way.
Jason
climbed up onto the tree. He began
to slowly walk cross the river. It
was slippery with moss and spray from the rapids. Branches blocked his path as he struggled to maintain his
balance. He had no idea what kind
of hell awaited him were he to fall into the swirling torrent below. Could it be worse then falling victim
to the beast that stalked the forest behind him? Was all of this just his imagination? Questions without answers threatened to
distract him as he inched along the fallen tree trunk.
Just
as he was over the middle of the river he heard the sound of wood
snapping. Immediately his left
foot punched through the rotten wood.
He was just about to fall into the river when his right hand caught a
thick branch jutting out from the trunk.
He struggled to find a hold for his left hand to pull himself back onto
the trunk. It was too slippery for
him to regain his footing so he crawled the remaining distance to the far
shore.
When
he reached the far shore he was no longer in the forest. The howling of the beast in the wind
came to a halt. He stood up and
gazed back at the other shore. In
the darkness of the trees he could make out what appeared to be one large eye
glowing in the underbrush. He met
the creature’s stare. Their eyes
gaze became locked on one another in a battle of wills. Suddenly, the hateful glowing eye
disappeared. He breathed a sigh of
relief.
The
clearing on this side of the river stretched out before Jason filled with tall
grass that stood up to his waist.
There were no longer any mushrooms to illuminate his path but a few
stars shown brightly enough for him to see. Oddly enough, he noticed that the moon was absent. However,
he supposed, that made perfect sense if he was no longer on Earth. He began to walk through the open
field, heading in the opposite direction from where he came and the forest with
its beast. Eventually, he noticed
a solitary light in the distance.
As he got closer it appeared to be shining brighter than a star from a
window in a house. The house stood
on top of a small hill in the center of the clearing. The house was a decrepit old wooden structure that appeared
to be close to collapse. The house
was about a hundred meters off.
There was no other light in this world to guide him so he headed
straight for it.
When
Jason got closer his eyes examined the building. It was three stories tall and the light he saw was in the
highest room. Broken shingles
surrounded gaping holes in the roof.
The house was painted a hollow white that was faded and chipping. He came around to the backside of the
house where there was a porch. On
the porch was an old wooden rocking chair on it where an old black woman with
translucent white hair sat.
Jason
approached the woman. Her gaze was
distant, staring straight out to the end of the clearing. She seemed not to notice his arrival
one bit. He decided to speak. “Excuse me,” Jason said. She either ignored him or could not
hear him. “Excuse me, ma’am,” he
repeated. He walked up to her to
see if she was alive. She was
breathing, he could see her chest rise and fall. He reached out his hand and touched hers.
Suddenly,
her face turned and her eyes looked right through his. “Boy, you best get your hand off of me
if you know what’s best for you.”
He
immediately retracted his hand.
“I’m sorry, “ said Jason.
“Where am I?”
“What
do you mean ‘where are you’?
You’re right here,” she retorted.
“Yes,
but if you’ll humor me, where is here?”
“Humor
you, you humor me, not knowing where you are and everything. What kind of man walks around not
knowing where he is?”
“So
you do know where we are.”
“Oh
I know where I am. I’m sitting
right here on this porch. The
question is where are you?”
“I’m
standing on the porch,” Jason responded.
“Well
there you go, you answered your own question. Congratulations on your discovery. Is there anything else you’d like to know?”
Jason
paused before asking his next question.
“Is this your house?”
“My
house, what do you mean my house?”
“Do
you own it?”
“Would
it mean anything to you if I did?”
Jason
thought about that for a moment.
What would ownership mean in this world anyways? What did it even mean when he was
alive? “I suppose it wouldn’t
after all,” he answered.
“So
again what do you mean my house?”
“Never
mind, do you live here.”
“I’m
not sure living would be the best word to describe it. I sit here on this porch and I wait.”
“Wait
for what?”
“Why
I wait for lost souls like you.
They come by every once in awhile.”
“What
do you do when they find you?”
“I
tell them what they need to hear.”
“What’s
inside the house?”
“Do
you need me to tell you what’s inside?”
“Well
I suppose I could look for myself.”
“Then
honey, that’s what I think you should do.” With that said the old woman returned her gaze to the field.
Jason
walked over to the wooden door. He
tried the handle and it was unlocked.
He pushed and the door creaked loudly as it slowly swung open. He entered a kitchen. Pots and pans sat useless in stacks in
the sink. Empty place settings lay
forgotten on the table. Who left these dishes here? Was it the old woman?
Did someone else live here?
There was not a morsel of food in sight. He searched through
drawers. He found paper and pens. Then, he found something of use, a
Zippo lighter. He shook it and
found that it was filled with liquid.
He flicked on the flame and watched as it lit the room up with a warm orange
afterglow. The walls were the same
dull white as the exterior of the house.
There was no art, not a hint of decoration, or of life. He walked over
to the sink. He turned on the
faucet and a dark red liquid came spewing out. He turned off the faucet and looked at the now blood
spattered dishes.
The
glow from his lighter showed him over to another door. He pushed it open and stepped into
the adjacent room. A couch sat in
the middle covered with plastic wrapping, as did a lounge chair. There was an old radio sitting on the
far wall. He went over to it and
turned it on. The radio hummed to
life and the sorry notes of “It’s Not Unusual” drifted through the
airwaves. He tried to adjust the
tuning but the dial was locked in place.
He tried to turn it off but the radio stayed on. He tried to turn down the volume but no
matter which direction he turned the dial the volume increased. He stopped before the music became
unbearable.
Jason
walked out the door into the entryway.
This room contained the only artwork he had seen in the house; two
marble gargoyles at the bottom of a staircase. Across the room he saw another door. He decided to check that room
first. He walked over to it an
opened the door. He entered a
bedroom. The duvet was red and the
pillows were black. The walls were
the same white as the rest of the house.
A dresser sat with empty drawers.
A bookshelf stood along the wall.
On this bookshelf were three paperback books. The first was a copy of Dante’s Inferno. Next, was
Milton’s Paradise Lost. The final book was Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Next, to the bed was a nightstand. There was a lamp on it but when he
tried the switch it would not turn on.
He opened up the drawer in the nightstand. Inside was a knife.
The blade appeared to be silver (for all Jason knew) and was six inches
long. The handle was solid
ivory. It came in a black leather
sheathe. Jason took it from the
drawer and put it in the pocket of his suit pants.
Jason
returned to the entryway. The
staircase wound its way across the room to the upper floors. Jason started up the stairs. At the first landing there was a
painting. It was a portrait of a
withered old man. He was sitting
in a wicker rocking chair that Jason recognized as the chair on which the old
woman now sat outside. The man’s
eyes followed Jason as he moved past.
He continued up to the second landing. On this landing there was another painting. In this painting there was an old
wooden house on a hill in a field.
A light showed brightly from a room on the top floor. It was a painting of this house. Jason could even make out the tiny
shape of the old woman rocking back and forth on the porch. He continued up to a third
landing. The stairs seemed to
continue up without end. He passed
another landing, then another, each with its own painting. He looked up and he could see the
ceiling, but every time he came to one landing there was another.
Finally,
Jason stopped. The stairs would go
on forever he decided. There had
to be another way to reach the room where the light came from. He realized he did not have any reason
to search for the light other than that it was the brightest thing he had seen
since dying. He looked at the
painting on this landing. It was a
painting of hallway in a home. It
was huge and stretched up from the floor.
It almost appeared to be an actual hallway. Jason touched it.
He felt the painting and it was real. The wall behind it was real. Without much thought Jason took out the knife. He reached up and methodically cut the
painting out of its frame. When he
finished, the painting fell to the ground, and the actual hallway stretched out
before him.
Jason stepped through the frame and into the hallway. At the other end of the hallway was a white wooden door. Light shone out from underneath it. He walked up to it and took a deep breath. He opened the door and stepped into a brilliant white light. He took another step and shielded his eyes. In the middle of the floor was radiant pearl the size of a marble, it’s light was as beautiful as it was mesmerizing. Jason stepped closer to it. The light began to swallow him up. He reached out his hand for the pearl. Inching his fingers closer until his hand finally grasped it. As he did so the whiteness of the light engulfed Jason entirely and he was once again deported out of time and space; tossed through an endless white void.
Purchase the novella now at www.lulu.com.
Jason stepped through the frame and into the hallway. At the other end of the hallway was a white wooden door. Light shone out from underneath it. He walked up to it and took a deep breath. He opened the door and stepped into a brilliant white light. He took another step and shielded his eyes. In the middle of the floor was radiant pearl the size of a marble, it’s light was as beautiful as it was mesmerizing. Jason stepped closer to it. The light began to swallow him up. He reached out his hand for the pearl. Inching his fingers closer until his hand finally grasped it. As he did so the whiteness of the light engulfed Jason entirely and he was once again deported out of time and space; tossed through an endless white void.
Purchase the novella now at www.lulu.com.
