Life After Death..

LIFE AFTER DEATH

It was already getting late and Julian was hurrying home in her new Chevy Blazer. She had won the car in a popular TV game show. And ever since she had won that car, life has not been the same for her. People who had neglected her earlier, wanted to hang out with her now. And many of her long last friends wanted to renew their friendship. These budding relationships meant absolutely nothing to her. Even when they had ignored her before, she was never unhappy about it. And their sudden kindness towards her didn’t make her excited either. So this change in her life didn’t make any difference to her. She was as happy as a bird as she always was.

But now, she was starting to worry. It was getting darker and darker around her. Fear started creeping into her, making her forehead wet with tiny droplets of sweat. Darkness always scared her. It all began when her truant cousin once locked her in the basement, where she had to remain one full night screaming for help. Julian’s father had left her at her aunt’s. Joe, Julian’s mischievous cousin, always had fun seeing others cry. He loved teasing Julian especially.

Julian was 50 miles away from her house, driving all alone. She wiped off her sweat in the forehead with the back of her palm. Julian imagined how her father must be worried. He always kept worrying about her. She has wondered many times when her father would realize that she was no longer a kid and was already 19, although she liked being treated like a kid sometimes. She wished her father were with her right now.

Julian desperately wanted to distract herself from the thought that she was driving alone in the dark far far away from her home. That very thought made her panic. She decided to think of something else that would divert her from fear – something she liked – or something she hated – or something - anything other than the thought that she was alone and scared.

Julian browsed her car with her eyes to look for something that would distract her. She saw the book on the dashboard named “Life After Death”. She decided to think about it. She thought that the very idea of ‘Life’ after ‘Death’ was absurd. She has never thought of a life after death before. She was not even worried of her future life. As a matter of fact she didn’t even care about ‘tomorrow’. She loved ‘today’. She wanted to make the most of what she had in her hand – “the present”. Julian wondered why people kept worrying about their future. People who sat and brooded over their past miseries and mistakes were fools –she thought. From time, man has fascinated to travel in time – to move back to the past or to move forward to their “pre-defined” future.

The book had described how the souls were separated from the body after a person died and wandered about! Julian found it difficult to understand the concept of “soul and body” She couldn’t imagine herself as two entities – one that would decay under the ground and the other wandering in space! Julian often compares human beings with machines. She thought they were more or less analogous. A human body was a machine that could talk, walk sleep, think and do many more activities – as long as it had its proper input – food. Most of the parts can be replaced or repaired if they ever malfunctioned – by skilled technicians called doctors! She couldn’t imagine anything more about the human body. According to her, death was an irrecoverable repair after which the body has to be disposed.

As she was thinking her eyes read the milestone, which said “45 miles to New York”

All of a sudden, Julian had the strangest feeling. She felt as if she was flying in the air. She thought she was driving too fast, but at the same time she also had the feeling that she was not moving at all!

All she could see was darkness around her. Again fear tried to creep into her. “C’mon Juli, you can make it”, she said to herself. Slowly the thoughts about life after death started to occupy her mind again. Doesn’t death mean end of life? Then how could anyone have a life after death! – It was simply stupid, she thought. The book was actually about a woman, Mary, who dies of some heart disease. The story goes like this: Mary was waiting in the living room for her husband who returned from Mary’s funeral! Of course it was Mary’s spirit or to put in common man’s terms “Mary’s ghost” that was waiting in the house. She was not visible to anyone, not even to her husband. Mary’s husband, Robert was narrating the happy life Mary and he had had to his father. His father was rubbing Robert’s shoulders. He was almost crying. At that moment, Mary loved him more than she ever did when she was alive. She went near him and touched him, but he seemed to be intangible. She vainly waved her hands through empty space – “What a stupid story”, Julian said loudly. “Life after death – absurd”, she thought.

Julian was thrilled with happiness when she finally saw her father. But he didn’t seem to be happy. “I know you’re mad at me. I’m sorry dad”; she smiled sheepishly. He started crying aloud! She shouted, “Dad, what’s wrong?” “Dad?” He didn’t seem to be hearing her at all! Julian didn’t understand what was wrong with her father. It was now that she noticed some flashing lights around her – lights from the police car! She didn’t understand anything. She looked around. There was a milestone saying “45 miles to New York”. Beside that milestone was her brand new Chevy crushed by a large truck. There was a female body beneath the car, also crushed and covered with blood. And there was a book beside the body named “Life after Death”.