The Afterlife

(Flash Narrative)

The last thing I remember was being hauled into the operating room then
everything went blank. I heard the monitors go from steadily beeping to completely
flatlining and I wasn’t sure what was going on. The next thing I knew, I awoke to a bright
light, I felt like I had just walked out of a dark movie theater on a bright summer's day. It
took awhile for my eyes to adjust and for me to realise I was in some sort of glowing
room. I heard footsteps nearby and saw two doors right in front of me. They were both
painted colors unlike anything I had ever seen before. Soon, a person walked out of
each door and over towards me. Each was carrying a huge file in their hands. I was
never really religious on Earth but I had somewhat heard of the whole heaven and hell
thing and I figured this must be it.
I sat there watching them, expecting them to walk towards me; but they just kept
walking past. I looked behind me to find rows upon rows of chairs, just like the one I was
sitting on. Suddenly this whole dying thing was about as exciting as a trip to the DMV.
They each went up to one of the people sitting in the other chairs, handed them a
clipboard with some paperwork and a pen, and walked back to their mysterious rooms. I
watched as people filled out their paperwork to see what they would do next. One
person seemed to have finished his and as he stood up, he vanished into thin air. All
around me there were people appearing, filling out paperwork, then disappearing.
After waiting for what felt like an eternity without anyone giving me any kind of
answers, I decided to get up and try to find out what was happening for myself. There
was a moment where I felt like I was everywhere and nowhere all at the same time. I
eventually found myself in a small room sitting at a desk across from a mean looking
middle aged lady. Her presence alone frightened me as I felt her staring me down.
“I’ve been expecting you,.” she said.
“Oh,” I awkwardly replied.
“Hudson Burgon, right?”
“Umm yeah, that’s me.”
Something about this whole thing didn’t feel quite right.
“You’re not supposed to be here.”
What is that supposed to mean? I thought to myself. It’s not like I meant to come
here or anything anyways; if I knew how, I’d gladly go back.
“Let me explain, walk with me please.”
She gestured towards a tall red door to my left so I stood up and followed her
through it.
 As we walked through, I saw the most amazing place I could have imagined.
There was a beautiful black sand beach to my left and tall-standing mountains to my
right. She began to explain the situation I was in.
She said, “As you know, at around 10 am this morning, you went in for a major
life-saving brain surgery. While you were unconscious, they had to kill you temporarily in
order to remove the tumor you had. This happens quite frequently here so don’t worry
about it too much. There’s just one small problem, time runs a bit differently here. Every
10 seconds on Earth is approximately 10 days here. We’re guessing you’ll be
unconscious for about 5-10 minutes while they complete your surgery so you should
plan on staying here for 300-600 days. You’ll have free range to do whatever you want
and explore while you’re here but once it’s over you’ll instantly forget everything you
experienced.” We came to a stop at a huge mansion towering over the beach.
“This is where you’ll be staying here in the afterlife. Everything you could ever
need or want is here. Enjoy your stay.” Then she was gone.
The first couple weeks I spent familiarizing myself with my surroundings. I began
to adapt to this huge change and I never wanted to leave the paradise I was in. The
only problem I had with it was that I was the only person here. The mysterious lady I
met at the beginning of my journey had explained that until I actually died, I couldn’t
technically be around anyone else or I could accidentally alter their experience. I didn’t
let that stop me from making the most of the time I had. I spent weeks doing all the
things I’d always dreamed of doing. I went cliff diving into the deep blue ocean, I
befriended wild tigers, but most of all, I took a lot of time figuring out who I really was.
To be completely honest, I guess I had never really known for myself before. It’s hard
trying to figure out who you are when you’re constantly focused on other’s opinions of
you. Here, I never had that problem. I was completely alone and I could do whatever
made me happy.
It got to the point where I began losing track of time but I knew it would probably
be over soon. I felt ready to return to Earth with all my family and friends. I fell asleep on
what had become a normal night for me and then the next morning I woke up without
any memory of what had happened after they put me under for surgery. I was
surrounded by my family, excited to see I had woken up. My doctor explained to me
how the surgery went and I was free to return home after a few days of recovery.
The next few weeks after I returned home, I felt more calm than I’d ever felt
before. I tried telling people but they just said it was because of my tumor being
removed. I felt like it was something else. I started seeing a therapist during my
recovery process and she said many others that had been killed temporarily during
surgery had felt the same way. A few months later, I started having dreams about dying
and seeing the afterlife. This story what I could piece together of my dreams to make
sense of my experience.
 Revision
The last thing I remember was being hauled into the operating room then
everything went blank. I heard the monitors go from steadily beeping to completely
flatlining and I wasn’t sure what was going on. The next thing I knew, I awoke to a bright
light, I felt like I had just walked out of a dark movie theater on a bright summer's day. It
took awhile for my eyes to adjust and for me to realise I was in some sort of glowing
room. I heard footsteps nearby and saw two doors right in front of me. They were both
painted colors unlike anything I had ever seen before. Soon, a person walked out of
each door and over towards me. Each was carrying a huge file in their hands. I was
never really religious on Earth but I had somewhat heard of the whole heaven and hell
thing and I figured this must be it.
I sat there watching them, expecting them to walk towards me; but they just kept
walking past. I looked behind me to find rows upon rows of chairs, just like the one I was
sitting on. Suddenly this whole dying thing was about as exciting as a trip to the DMV.
They each went up to one of the people sitting in the other chairs, handed them a
clipboard with some paperwork and a pen, and walked back to their mysterious rooms. I
watched as people filled out their paperwork to see what they would do next. One
person seemed to have finished his and as he stood up, he vanished into thin air. All
around me there were people appearing, filling out paperwork, then disappearing.
After waiting for what felt like an eternity without anyone giving me any kind of
answers, I decided to get up and try to find out what was happening for myself. There
was a moment where I felt like I was everywhere and nowhere all at once. I eventually
found myself in a small room sitting at a desk across from a mean looking middle aged
lady. Her presence alone frightened me as I felt her staring me down.
“I’ve been expecting you,.” she said.
“Oh,” I awkwardly replied.
“Hudson Burgon, right?”
“Umm yeah, that’s me.”
Something about this whole thing didn’t feel quite right.
“You’re not supposed to be here.”
What is that supposed to mean? I thought to myself. It’s not like I meant to come
here or anything anyways; if I knew how, I’d gladly go back.
“Let me explain, walk with me please.”
 She gestured towards a tall red door to my left so I stood up and followed her
through it.
As we walked through, I saw the most amazing place I could have imagined.
There was a beautiful black sand beach to my left and tall blue-green mountains to my
right. She began to explain the situation I was in.
She said, “If you didn’t know, around 2 pm this afternoon, you went in for a major
life-saving brain surgery after falling and hitting your head while snowboarding. While
you were unconscious, they had to kill you temporarily in order to find out what
happened and to prevent the damage from spreading. This happens quite frequently
here so don’t worry about it too much. There’s just one small problem, time runs a bit
differently here. Every 10 seconds on Earth is approximately 10 days here. We’re
guessing you’ll be unconscious for about 5-10 minutes while they complete your surgery
so you should plan on staying here for 300-600 days. You’ll have free range to do
whatever you want and explore while you’re here but once it’s over you’ll instantly forget
everything you experienced.” We came to a stop next to the beach and there was a little
hut to my right. “This is where you’ll be staying here in the afterlife. Everything you
could ever need or want is here. Oh, and one more thing, since your stay here is only
temporary, you will have to remain alone. The afterlife is made up of a delicate and very
strategic process and you meeting anyone here could completely alter both of your
lives. You would both have to remain here forever and there would be no chance for
you to return to life on Earth. Enjoy your stay!” Then she was gone.
The first couple days I spent familiarizing myself with my surroundings. I began to
adapt to this huge change and I never wanted to leave this beautiful paradise I was in. I
spent as little time as possible at my little hut, only ever stopping by when I needed to
switch out supplies for my next great adventure. This little world of mine seemed to
stretch on forever and have everything I could’ve imagined. During my time spent here I
learned a lot. I eventually started keeping a journal about my many great adventures.
Over time it started to fill up with my stories of taming wild tigers and going cliff jumping.
I started with smaller things but then one day I realized I truly could do whatever I
wanted. I mean I was already dead. What were they going to do? Kill me?
After travelling all over my little world and doing pretty much everything I could’ve
imagined, I started to feel a little lonely. This was almost the perfect place except it was
missing everyone I loved. I finally made it to day 300, I could be going home any day
now, except it didn’t feel that way. One day past, then another, then 100 more. What
used to be the most amazing place I’d ever seen started to feel more like a prison. I
started to wonder if I would ever live again. As more time past, I began to sink into a
deep depression. I stopped exploring and closed myself off into my little hut. The sunny
skies from before became clouded over and began to rain. I closed myself off from the
world and my will to live became almost non-existent. I knew I couldn’t die as I was
already dead but I did what felt like the next best thing. I did absolutely nothing. I spent
weeks in my hut without leaving. I stopped eating and drinking and I just sat there for
what felt like an eternity.
On day 500, I realized the doctors were running out of time and I knew that even
if I survived this I would have severe brain damage back on earth and my life would
never be the same. Maybe it would be better if I just stayed here. Before leaving me
alone for what seemed like forever, the lady that brought me here told me there was
only one place I was never allowed to go here. It was deep in the rainforest and I had
only ever gotten close to it once on one of my adventures. It was dark and cold there
and even getting close to it chilled my bones. I decided it was time to do something,
even if I wasn’t quite sure what that “something” was yet. I packed my bags and headed
off into the rainforest for one last adventure. I had grown extremely weak from my lack
of nutrition and exercise and every step felt like knives digging into my skin. As I
continued to trudge on, I started regaining some of my strength.
Ten days into my trip I could feel myself getting closer to the darkness. A few
days later I found it. The trees tangled their thorny branches together trying to hide
whatever was inside. I took a deep breath and kept going. The thorns pulled at my skin
leaving cuts everywhere and sticking into my skin. It took nearly all the energy I had left
to make it through. On the other side, I saw a waterfall. It gave me hope that this place
wasn’t as bad as I thought. I jumped in and washed all my cuts from the trees. It stung a
little but I could tell it was helping. Suddenly I heard someone singing in the distance. It
felt like forever since I had heard someone else’s voice I didn’t know how to respond. I
started walking towards the sound and found a world similar to the one I had just left.
The voice got louder and I could tell I was close. I saw a field with a girl standing in the
middle of it. She began to turn around so I quickly hid behind a bush. I observed her as
she continued to sing. She seemed to feel just as alone as I did.
I knew I wasn’t supposed to meet anyone here but I just couldn’t stand the
thought of being alone anymore. I got up from the bushes and went over towards the
girl. She was pretty and seemed to be about my age. I tapped her on the shoulder and
she fearfully turned around and screamed.
Suddenly, we were transported into somewhere new. It was similar to our
personal prisons from before but double the size. We knew we’d be stuck here forever
so we began to accept our fate. After talking to her for awhile I found out she had been
in a similar situation as I was. We both figured staying here forever would be better than
life back on Earth and it was better now that we had each other. We spent the rest of
eternity on our little planet and although it was hard some days, life, or rather death,
went on and so did we.