Chapter 2

“Helllooooooo!! Don’t you know it’s rude to not respond when someone’s calling out to you? ~”

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That is weird, I am supposed to be dead right now. How the hell can I still hear voices? Am I still alive? Just as I think of it and try to move myself, I notice that I am standing in a pitch white space, with the same clothes I was wearing before I lost consciousness. I try to search for the source of the voice, trying to comprehend the current dilemma, that’s when I feel something on my back, is that a hand?

“Gosh Oliver! You were supposed to be a nice person, but ignoring ol’ me? I guess your reports were false...” a feminine(?) voice said. I turned around to find a woman standing in front of me…… with a blank face. Yep, I am dead. Definitely.

“Huh? You are taking this very easily than anyone before. Well, that decreases half of my problems.” The blank faced lady said with a sigh. I didn’t know whether I could speak or not because for sure the being in front of me was no less than a deity, considering the fact that this is somewhere in between the afterlife and the land of living. Still, I took a shot, “I don’t know your name Ms., but could you please explain what’s going on? I understand that I have died, but this…. This isn’t something I should be facing-”, before I could complete my sentence, I felt a soft finger on my lips.

“Hush child. You are not dead yet; you’re still battling for your life. Here.”, with a snap of her fingers the whole scenario changed into an operating room. I could see myself laying down on the bed, undergoing an operation with doctors and nurses working frantically. I saw a tear falling down my face, while I felt it through my cheek, guess she is right.

I turned towards her, “Will I survive? Please tell me the truth.” The deity turned her face towards me, as if she offered an empathetic smile saying, “Do you want to continue to live in this world?”

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I couldn’t come up with a response. It wasn’t like I had a conflicting opinion; I just did not know what to do. Take this for an example, if you are a guy who has just started his prime of the life, you would want to live because you haven’t done anything with it. But here I am, at the age of 70, achieved everything that this materialistic world could offer. Everything.

“You didn’t achieve everything, did you, my child?” The blank faced deity said. I looked at her with a solemn smile, “Even if it wasn’t mine, I did achieve that too, didn’t I? Mother?”

The deity didn’t reply for a while. It was as if the world stopped, the scalpel in the doctor’s hand froze, the nurse who was narrating the readings of my vital signs halted and the tears which had reached to my chin, froze. The blank face, which didn’t dare reveal its identity – started changing, taking the face of the woman who I dearly missed since the past 25 years. “I knew it was you, mom.”

Was all I said before I walked towards the woman who had carried me for my whole life and gave her a hug, smiling silently. As if instinctively, she wrapped her arms around my back and held my close to her, as though I was running away, and she didn’t want to let me go now. I laid my chin on her head and kept her close to me, tears fell as if it was raining, all the feelings that I thought I had forgotten resurfaced at the sight of her, and they fell – threatening to fill up this room.

“You never change, and here I thought that my **** would at least make you act better. Lord, have I failed as a mother again?” I heard her murmuring as I held her. “No, you didn’t mom, your son is just too stubborn to let his personality change. Now”, I broke the hug and looked at her, wiping the tears underneath her eyes, “tell me, have you been well? And did I make you wait too long?”

And then as if nothing happened, I feel empty – the whole scenery changes as I realize I have been holding onto nothing but myself. Feeling a tear flowing down my cheeks I chuckle ruefully, speaking to no one but myself, “Thank you, for letting me meet her one last time.”

“You’re welcome” – a booming voice replies. The tremor of the sound waves flows not just through my eardrums but through each cell of my body – immediately realising that it was not a normal person speaking. I close my eyes as I smile, speaking out loud, “I guess that makes it everything I wanted to do, so where will I go? Heaven? I don’t believe I am worth the trouble”, chuckling loudly as I continued, “Hell, sounds to be the most ideal place for me. I am ready.”

I open my eyes as I notice a scenery of wild forest, green landscape filled with small flowers of various colours, scent of them filling my nostrils, making me sigh blissfully as I close my eyes again, taking it all in. Just then, as if struck by lightning I feel two soft hands wrapping around my abdomen from behind – a feeling I had not forgotten – the touch of the woman who I had just saved from her demise, leading to the current path of my remaining life. I turn around to notice her face, with a voice filled with all the feelings – love, regret, longing, everything. “Why her?”, my voice betraying my tears which filled up my eyes, threatening to cascade down my face into another event of waterfall.

“You loved her, more than your life. So, it seemed to be the most appropriate face to take up on. Take a seat child, I’ll hold you while you cry.” The booming voice continued, making me seated on the green pasture as she held me close, rubbing my back softly as I let go – crying as ugly as I could while holding onto her.

“You have suffered in a life where you could have changed everything if you wished for.”, the booming voice changing slightly into her own. The voice which cried as I passed from the waking world, Sarah’s. “So, we have decided to give you another chance.”