Short Story: Journey to the Afterlife

by Zoya Khare

I woke up confused. Where am I? The last thing I remember is the bus speeding towards me… I begin to furiously type a message for Emma, then realize, I have my iPad! And...it has WIFI? Who knew the— "Oh yeah," I think out loud, “Where am I?”

Then I notice a white sign that glows from the darkness proclaiming:

“YOU’RE IN THE AFTERLIFE”

“So I’m DEAD?!"

The font bubbles and melts into:

“YES, YOU’RE DEAD. GET OVER IT!”

Wait, is that sign… responding to me?

“Hey, um, sign, do you know which, uh, way to, uh, leave?”

"GO LEFT, TAKE A LEFT TURN, TAKE ANOTHER LEFT, A RIGHT, AND A STRAIGHT UNTIL YOU GO LEFT, WHICH IS WHEN YOU GO RIGHT-LEFT. GO STRAIGHT UNTIL YOU GET TO THE ARCHWAY. TURN AROUND AND BEAR—”

What? “Could you show that again, but slower?”

"NOPE!"

Then the sign fizzles out until I am surrounded by darkness again.

“Okay, calm down. What do I know? I’m probably dead, my only help is a magic sign that just fizzled out, and oh, also I have my iPad! And it has WiFi!”

I turn it on and see the battery level: 43%. I turn on the flashlight and look around for an exit. I’m in a stone room, but I can just faintly make out a break in the stone, far away from where I am standing. I cannot tell if it’s a doorway, but, having nothing better to do, I run towards it.

I can’t make any distance. If anything, it seems to get farther away the faster I run. When I call on my track skills and speed up even more, I can barely make the mysterious thing out. I decide to change strategies and slowly saunter towards it. It doesn’t move. Soon I can see that it is a door, and above it, it says, “AFTERLIFE."

When I am right in front of the door, I understand that I will never be able to talk to anyone ever again… which is what I would have said, if I hadn’t died with my iPad in my hands. Still, walking through that door would be a big change…

Should I do it?

THE END