That Night By The Shore

5. The Final Chapter

"Recap"

""Well now that you already have the clue of who am I...there is no need for us to go to the hotel anymore...let's head out for where I came to take you to with me."

"But where is it-"

Aadriti was still smiling...but this time her smile had a mysterious touch to itself."

-

Her every word by now seemed to be strangely oblivious...eh I don't think she was like this before when we were children...she was utmost straight forward with her words...guess time does influence people a lot...nothing can be done here I guess.

I was about to ask her something...but I suddenly was interrupted by a notification in my phone. I read that silently...

"I think I left something back in my hospital...guess it is my backpack"

"Well we can go their together...can't we?"

"Sure why not?"

She tagged along me on my way back to the hospital.

I reached the gate...stepped inside for the 2nd time inside the hospital after I just managed to escape to my near death.

I, tagged along with Aadriti, and we moved, all out of nowhere, towards the room where the dead bodies are kept for perseverance.

The notification that hit me earlier was about that train accident I escaped earlier.

The notification read:

"The scene of accident presented a horrible sight. There were cries and noise. Some people were crying for help. Some were crying at the suffering and pain caused by the accidents. The accident was so severe that the engine of the Jagannath Express, after getting de-railed, was almost thrown out of the track. The driver of the train had died on the spot. Many people had died due to serious inquiries, while several passengers were sandwiched in the windows of the train. Some passengers had lost their legs and arms while others were bleeding profusely. The piercing cry of the kith and kin of the deceased was heart breaking. There was blood everywhere. The luggage lay broken and scattered. The belongings of the passengers were lying around the site of the accident.

The administration soon became active. Medical aid was immediately rushed to the spot to help the injured and the trapped passengers. There were ambulances and teams of doctors with all arrangement of first aid and emergency treatment. Those who had minor injuries were given first aid while the seriously injured were carried to the hospitals in ambulances. The villagers were active with food and medicine to help the passengers of the ill-fated train. The sight was heart rending as there were piles of dead bodies. Relatives and friends of the deceased were coming from far off places to identify the dead and claim the bodies. The whole area was crowded by the doctors, nurses, victims, social workers and villagers."

The news was followed by the list of the people who suffered inevitable death, and by now that all of you have surely guessed, yes...at the very thirteenth bulletin...there was my name on that list. I soon reached the room with Aadriti.

After a brief search, I found my body. It was lying with immense peace. There were bandages around my head. You guys by now are randomly guessing by the nature of the wounds...that the injury around my head is the reason towards my death...but to be precise...earlier while climbing down the stairs of the train when I fell down due to the sudden crash...I directly hit the beam of the chair with my medulla in the contact of injury...for which my death became irreversible.

I could not get anything what was happening that time. If I was really dead, how even I am standing out here on my feet?! Aadriti replied to me all of a sudden

"Did u really think like in some movies, the people who are alleged to be dead, return out of nowhere after some years completely alive, and the same way I was left alive as well?? Well if you really thought so...then you idiot...for your kind information...I too met death with the same condition as yours. My back of the neck as well hid the front seat in the crash hard...for which I died on spot."

I looked at her out of immense confusion. All of it seemed to me as if it was some kind of Déjà vu. But I slowly came to my conscious. Now that I was dead...nothing could be really done to reverse that fact. Knowing that...I took a long breath to calm my mind. I knew that it is what it is...and I had to abide by that. That is the law of nature itself...everyone has to die one day, unluckily of which, my days for improvement in my life had been seized way too early.

"Well, so that by now you are completely aware of your surroundings....shall not we already head to our destination?"- said Aadriti again.

This time, I did not ask her for further details anymore.

We held hands.

Then slowly, in form of some twinkly golden glitter...we started disappearing in the thin air, little by little, until nothing was left except that suitcase and my phone by that dead mortal body of mine.

"At least I have you by my side in this end journey of this little life of mine's"

- I said with a delicate smile on our way disappearing, heading towards that destination Aadriti was speaking of...maybe it was what you people call after life?

-The End...?