Death After Life

After

I was falling. Falling into a dark abyss where I couldn't see what was up and what was down. I had no idea where I was or where I was going. I could have been falling for seconds, hours, or months. Time was hard to recognize in this impenetrable darkness.

As I fell, I felt weightless, almost like I was flying. I checked my body, seeing how broken I felt. Oddly enough, I didn't think I was bleeding. As I stretched out my limbs while I fell, there was no pain. Odd. Was this purgatory? Just a continuous fall into nothingness? I had never thought much about the afterlife during my 21 years on Earth. I figured it was a long way off and I would find out whenever it happened. Even if I had thought about it, I doubt I would have imagined whatever this was.

Suddenly, I began to gain speed plummeting downward. A hole opened up beneath me with a small amount of light being emitted from somewhere to the left of me. Directly below me, was a still lake. It looked like glass. I saw my own horrified face moments before I plunged into the water.

The impact was comparable to the car that had ended my life. It drove all the breath from my lungs and felt like I had been slammed against a brick wall.

Okay, so maybe this was hell.

As I sank further and further down into the water, I tried to swim upwards while holding what little breath was left in my lungs. In life, I had no problem swimming. Apparently in death, water was equivalent to quicksand.

I kicked harder than I ever had before. I even started trying to claw my way to the surface of this monstrous lake. No matter how much effort I put in, I kept sinking until I was at the bottom of the lake. I had sunk like a rock.

Instead of floating weightlessly in the water, it seemed as though the entire weight of it had pressed me down. The air in my lungs was quickly running out. It would only be seconds before I couldn't hold my breath any longer.

Yep. Definitely hell.

Against my will, my mouth opened up and I inhaled a lungful of water. It burned. My throat and nose were on fire. It felt like my lungs were being ripped apart in my body. The weight of the world pushed me down to the ground. I began crying, inhaling water with every hiccup. The pain continued.

Was this my fate? To relive death in the afterlife?

Seconds passed. Then minutes. Death did not come for me.

I remembered the light that I had seen when I first plummeted to the surface of the water. I still knew the direction that it had come from. Since it appeared that I wasn't going to be dying again anytime soon, I decided to try to crawl my way toward the light, thinking that there might be an end to this awful lake that had sucked me down.

I began moving my arms forward, grabbing dirt while I pulled my body along. The weight of the water was too heavy for me to stand, or even sit up. This was the only way for me to move.

The entire journey, I was breathing in this harsh liquid. I had never felt such pain before, but the thought of reaching land allowed me to focus my mind. The pain, while excruciating, became bearable in the moment. I barely even noticed my body getting cut by the sharp rocks on the ground.

As I made my way slowly across the lake, I began to see the light I had first spotted. It was subtle at first, to where I barely even noticed the change. But soon I could see my hands trudging through the grey mud in front of me as the darkness started to lift. Moments later, I saw the end of the water.

I rushed through the final stretch, suddenly feeling invigorated.

The second I broke through the surface and onto dry land, I collapsed, coughing up water.

I made it.

I had experienced the most terrible pain of my (after?)life and I survived.

Sort of.

I started crying.

I cried because I was relieved to be out of that hellish lake. I cried because I was still in pain from the whole ordeal. I cried because I had no idea where I was or if I could go back, but mostly, I cried because I was scared.

I let myself relish in my meltdown; allowing myself to get all of the emotional turmoil out of my system. Just as I was about to stand up, brush myself off, and look around to see where the hell I was, I heard the distinct *crunch* of a footstep in front of me.

I lifted my head to see who it could be.

I saw shiny, black dress shoes first. They were oddly spotless even while stepping on the grey dirt in front of me. Above them were khaki slacks held up by a leather belt, with a light blue button-up shirt loosely tucked in. The top buttons were undone, exposing a flawless pale chest, the body beneath the clothes was clearly well-built. Almost God-like.

My suspicions were confirmed when I looked at the face of the man who was standing in front of me.

He had to be a God of some sort.

His chiseled jaw had a bit of scruff on it, but in a way that seemed intentional. His skin, while pale, appeared perfectly flush with life. His nose resembled that of a greek God (maybe my parents were right) and his chin-length, blonde, wavy hair shimmered even in this low light. The only thing slightly off about the beautiful man in front of me was his blood-red eyes and they were trained on my face.

I watched as the man who I assumed was a God, or a deity, or even the Devil himself, crouched down in front of me, put his chin on his hand, and smirked.

"And just who might you be?"