THE AFTERLIFE

 

There was light breaching my closed eyes and consciousness filling my body. I did not know when, but I

have somehow fallen asleep. I scrutinized the atmosphere. There was light illuminating from every

place imaginable. There were trees, benches, and a playground. The place looked like a park. It looked

perfect, but there was something strange that I could not put my finger into. I thought about it long and

hard and then realization hit me. “Where are the people?” I asked myself. I was alone, no people, no

breathing organisms, and no nothing. I went to the playground and sat on one of the swings in the swing

set. I looked afar and then I saw a figure. I tried to call it, but it seemed like it did not notice me. I

watched the figure as it made way through the gate of the park. It continued to walk, until it stopped in

front of a lake that I did not notice before and then it disappeared. I ran to the lake, but stopped

midway. It suddenly felt cold; sadly I was only wearing a plain white shirt, jeans, and sneakers. I walked

slowly near the lake and noticed it had turned into ice. I looked through the ice and saw a blurred image.

It was a swing set. Someone was sitting on the swing set, someone who looked very familiar. I was about

to look closer on the image when I felt an icy hand on my shoulder. I jerked and out of pure instinct,

punched the person square on the nose. The person fell on the floor and groaned while holding his

nose. It was a guy. He stood up and glared at me. I was amazed; usually punching someone on the nose

would make it swollen or bleed, but as he removed his hand there were no traces of blood. It was not

even broken! My breathing went erratic and felt like I was going to faint. How in the world does one

person not feel hurt after being punched on the nose? My feet quivered and betrayed me, for the next

thing I knew, his hands were on my waist and his face was only a few inches away from mine. I stared at

the dark-brown orbs staring at my sapphire-blue eyes. He moved closer to my face and THEN I punched

him again, making him lose balance and making both of us fall unto the ground.

“Ouch” I said. I felt warm again. I looked at my surrounding and noticed it has turn back to the way it

was before, a grassy and warm place. I stood up and wiped the dust from my .

“How can one, weak looking girl hit so strongly?” He said, clearly not asking me. He stood up and glared

at me. He looked like a puppy, a puppy that I would gladly leave on the streets to die. Wait,

What did I just say?

Ignoring the brute comment I have made before, I looked at him and seriously growled at me.

“What are you growling at?” I asked him in a slightly cold tone. Completely Ignoring my question he

asked.

“Do you know where you at?” I looked at him with disbelief and he answered me with a raise of his

eyebrow.

“You do know it is not very polite to start a conversation with that kind of sentence. You should have

started with ‘Hi! What is your name?’ or something like that, not placing your cold, dead hands on my

shoulders. And here is another thing, it is not ‘Do you know where you at?’ it is ‘Do you know where you

are?’ and my answer is no.” I said to him. He looked at me and snickered.

“Follow me” He said and started walking. I followed him and smirked when I heard him mumbling about

me being a grammar Nazi.

“I heard that!” I yelled at him. He turned back to look at me and stuck his tongue out.

“You were supposed to hear it!” He said and then started to run. I chased after him until he came to an

abrupt stop.

“We are here” He said with a smile. He looked so familiar, but I could not remember his name or where I

have seen him before. In front of us was a silver gate. It was sparkling due to all the light. The top was

formed into the heart, which I thought was very greasy, and it was simply magnificent. We were about

to enter when I stopped him.

“First of all, who are you, second why do you seem so familiar and third where are we?” I asked him.

“All questions will be answered after the tour.” He said as he reached for my hand and pulled me inside.

What I saw was completely different from outside the gate. It too was a park, but it was diverse.

Compared to the park, this had lots of people and all of them were wearing white. The people was

either playing at the playground or strolling on the road. Children were flying there colorful kites up in

the sky. I looked at my left and then my right, he was not there anymore. I walked along the road in

search of the familiar man when I came across another lake. It was same from the other one, but it was

not frozen. I walked closer to the lake and saw nothing but my own reflection. I jolted from what I saw,

“Was that me?” was all I could ask myself. I was as white as a ghost. My hair was glistening due to the

ice on them, my lips was pale, and my skin was white, completely and utterly white. I was freaking out,

“what the heck happened to me?” “Where the heck am I?” “Who was the dude?” all of these questions

kept popping up into my mind. I pulled my knees up to my chest and started to rock back and forth. My

heart kept pounding, on and on thinking of what to do when I felt something round pokes my cheeks.

“Hey whattcha’ doing there shorty?” He said as he kept on poking me with a lollipop. I stared at him for

a long period of time until he finally spoke up.

“Are you just gonna sit there or are you going to stand up and take the lollipop from my hand?” He said

and seemed agitated. I stood up and took the lollipop from his hand. I started to remove the wrapper,

placing the wrapper in my pocket, and swallowed the candy. It seemed sour, but sweet at the same time

and it was lemony. He noticed the weird look on my face and spoke up.

“That’s a lemon-flavored lollipop. I’ve been eating it since I was a child. They say that yellow is the color

of honesty and my parents told me I was a very honest child and gave me one of these before. I have

always eaten every single one of these delicious, circular, plastic-wrapped candy except for that one

time. I was 5 years old and I went to a lake that was near the park in our neighborhood. There, I saw a

girl that seemed just the same age as me that sat on the lonely swing set. I walked closer to her and held

out one lemon lollipop. She looked at me and told me with her soft and fragile-like voice, “You know, a

lemon lollipop symbolizes that sometimes there are sour and sad moments and that sometimes there

are good times, but those happenings are very few. You have to fight your way to your destiny with your

own strength, not with others. After that, she left without even taking the lollipop.” After hearing the

story, everything in my mind just clicked.

“Are you Hansol?” I asked, trying not to stutter.

“what?” He asked me.

“Are you Hansol Vernon Choi?” I asked again. I could feel his uneasiness growing, but I did not care. I

just want to know about my past.

“Uhh… Yes I am and you are in heaven.” And with that answer I started running. I went through the gate

not caring about the deep voice that was trying to reach for me. I did not care where I was going; I just

had to continue running. I came into a stop when I reached the frozen lake. I looked at the clear ice and I

expected to see the boy sitting at the swing set, but instead I saw him lying on the bottom of the lake.

Lifeless and colorless.

“Just like me” I thought. I started to walk to the middle of lake, noticing how thin the layer of ice was.

The ice started to crack and before Hansol could reach me, I had already slipped into the cold abyss. I

opened my eyes and noticed that I have not died yet. I noticed that I was floating under the center of

the lake. I looked below and noticed two moving figures. One was a girl and one was a boy. First was the

girl, she was walking down what seems like a road with some other guy. She seemed like she was trying

to get away from the man. I saw that they were at a pedestrian’s lane in the middle of the road due to

the traffic light. She tried to pull her hand away from the man who gripped at her hand harshly. She

kicked the guy on his private part and ran. She stopped near a lake that glistened under the moonlight

showed. She did not know what to do until she felt a bullet pierce her heart. She fell into the cold water,

looking at the man who had just shot her. He was laughing. I wasn’t sure if eye was crying since I was

under water. As soon as I wiped my eyes, the figures were gone. I looked at the other figure which was

the boy who was much younger than the girl before and was lying on the ground. He suddenly stood up

and walked to a swing set that was made out of ice. He came face to face with a girl with short hair and

looked kind of boyish, but adorable nonetheless. They were conversing with each other and as soon as

the girl left, the boy started to skip happily to a lake. It was the same lake as the girl from the scene

before and the same lake she has fallen into. He started conversing to his own reflection. When he was

done he stood up and was about to turn around, but was suddenly pushed into the water. It was the

boyish, short haired girl. She smirked as she watched the boy struggle to breath. She stepped away from

the lake, muttering these words.

“This is the sour part of life…” and with that she left, leaving the boy dead underneath the lake in the

same position he was when I found him. I felt heart being pierced. I knew that I was the girl. I knew both

of the girls were. I knew that Hansol Vernon Choi was the boy from my past. I killed him. I killed him

when I was freaking 9 years old! I should have gone to hell! I closed my eyes and cried softly when I

suddenly felt arms circling around my waist. The next thing I knew, I was in a bedroom resting on a small

bed. I tried to remember everything which I shouldn’t have done. I remembered about my childhood

and the time that I died. I tried to stand up, but my body felt weak. The door swung open revealing a

puffy-eyed guy.

“How are you doing?” he asked me.

“Fine, but it would have been better if you had left me to die.” I said. He suddenly laughed. His laugh

seemed so true and real, I couldn’t stop myself from laughing together with him.

“You can’t die if you are already dead.” With that I became quiet. He noticed my silence and asked me

what was wrong with me.

“I’m sorry” I said as tears began to fall from my eyes. Even though I was the reason he died, he still

stayed beside me.

“its fine. “ He answered.

“How could that be fine?! I killed you! I pushed you into a lake to die!” I shouted at him. I expected him

to leave me, but was surprised at what he did. He hugged my while smiling.

“God said to forgive others. Even if you keep breaking my heart, I would always forgive you and I would

always love you.” He said, wiping the salty tears off my face.

“Just promise me one thing” He said holding my hands in between his.

“And what would that be?” I asked him

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Be with me forever"