Life After Death

Chapter 3

I have never seen the face of death until tonight.

Those ten words echoed in the plane's of my mind, bouncing and tugging at the strings of memories that replayed in my mind.

Nathaniel was seven and I was six. Our goldfish, Mr. Gold, had died and Nathaniel and I were holding hands and staring at the fish swirling down the toilet bowl.

I remember how I felt - alone, forlorn and empty inside. Mr. Gold had been the first friend I had considering how horrible kindergarten was at the time. Kids wouldn't even acknowledge me. Mr. Gold did. He'd wriggle and swim back and forth to cheer me up. I would stare at him for hours and giggle because Mr. Gold was just so fascinating and beautiful.

And then he died. I thought that this was the face of death - that, at that moment, that's how it felt to lose everything dear to you.

But I couldn't have been more wrong.

The shadowy figure stepped under the bright, white fluorescent light that illuminated from the ceiling and it flickered. Casting shadows on the planes of his face.

I imagined my heartbeat beating rapidly. I clutched onto Jack like our lives depended on it. I was afraid. So afraid of what might happen next. Because:

What if I don't end up in heaven?

I cheated on my math test maybe I would be sent to Hell because of it. Because of the other sins that I had committed - theft, when Amy and I went to Wal-Mart with Amy's baby sister we snuck a box of Oreos in her stroller and left the store. There was no alarm so we weren't caught. To my relief, but as Amy and I gobbled up those Oreos I couldn't help but feel guilty. So I went home and slept, trying to forget the stupid act I committed.

I had lied, too. A bunch of times, actually.

When I was grounded I told my parents that I was going to go to Amy's house so that we could study for the upcoming examinations but instead, I met up with David Blackburn and we watched the stars at Sumner Park. That was a couple of weeks ago. David brought a blanket and we wrapped ourselves in it and watched the sky. No words needed to be spoken. Nothing needed to be done because everything was perfect as is. Until I came home around midnight and Mom was waiting for me in the darkness of the living room.

I was grounded for an extra week.

What if I end up in Hell?

That question whirled around in my mind until Jack pulled away from me and began to walk toward the shadowy figure.

"Jack, no!"

I didn't want to lose Jack. I had lost enough already - Mr. Gold, my family and friends, David Blackburn and my life - I might have known Jack Matthews for an hour or more but he was my only connection to the outside world. The only person that knew how it felt to leave everything behind with nothing, literally. You have no soul, no purpose, nothing. And when you don't have those two things - a soul and purpose - you are nothing.

Jack looked over his shoulder at me sitting on the floor cowering back. "It's okay, Meredith. He's going to take us away. Somewhere better than here."

I wanted to ask how he knew this because to me, everything was a jumbled mess. The shadowy figure took a step toward me. I don't know what I expected. Maybe claws for fingers, sharp piranha teeth, with boils and the stench of death, maybe even a large black hood with a giant clawed spear. I didn't expect to see a eighteen - maybe nineteen - year old guy wearing a muscle t-shirt that had Guns n Roses printed on it with a black jeans ripped at the knees paired with combat boots.

He was tall, nearly a foot taller than me. Hair the color of old gold. A jaw that could cut through glass. But most alluring though was his eyes - pitch black. Like Minstrels, shiny discs of hard, dark chocolate.