Custodians of Reality

Episode 1

Twelve months ago I died in a car crash, or so I thought, until this moment. You're confused right? Me too! Now, Sit tight and allow me tell you the full story.

My name is Marvelous Emeka, I am from Nigeria. Exactly today, on the sixth of April twelve months ago, I was driving home alone in my dad's car after a heartbreaking sight, when the accident that killed me happened. I saw something I shouldn't have seen.

I wish I never saw what I saw that day, because had it been I never saw what I saw that day, I wouldn't have drove home alone and in anger, and I wouldn't have crashed my dad's car, and I wouldn't have met face to face with my untimely death, but I did and here we are.

Well, long story short, I saw my girlfriend and my best friend making out, on my birthday party, in a reservation my dad paid for.

They could have literally chosen every other day and make out however they wanted, but not today.

My turning eighteen was a very big deal for my mom and dad. They invited all their friends; they rented almost seven percent of a very popular hotel in my city for two days. We're looking at thousands of dollars spent on a new adult's birthday, am sure they might have spent over a million naira in those two days.

Most of their friends came a day before from different parts of the state, and the spent a night in the rooms reserved for them. Mom is a makeup artist, she runs a company that officially handles Nollywood's makeup.

So over the years she had met lots of Nollywoodians, most of which she had become very close to, and they were all going to be present. Dad on the other hand is an eye doctor, currently working in the federal medical center in my city, most of his nurse and doctor friends were definitely coming.

It was my birthday, I was supposed to be the one having fun, but my parents were obvious having better fun than myself. The event was lit and crowed but most of the persons present never knew whom I was and they don't care.

They were just there either for my dad or for my mom. They only two persons that knew me and really cared about me were Faith and Wilson (my girlfriend and my best friend) but they were out of sight.

I might have lost sight of them while my dad was busy showing me off to his friends. I wasn't worried at all about whatever my parents might have spent for this event because I never asked for this, plus I know they would make double of whatever they were spending.

In my country, nobody spends such money on an event without the certainty of getting it back with interest.I mean nobody and definitely, not my dad.

If my choices were to be considered, I would be sitting in a cinema right now with Faith and Wilson, there I was smiling, shaking hands and shouting my name into the ears of strangers that would forget my face and my name with it in the next thirty seconds.

My dad has just finished introducing me to one of his friends and they've just started talking medicals when I sneaked out.

I needed to be with my friends, I started looking for Faith and Wilson, that was when I found them kissing. Wilson was touching Faith in ways and places I've never gotten comfortable enough to explore. I was heartbroken. I left my own party in tears; I went straight to one of my dad's cars, the particular one we came in, by we, I mean, myself, Faith and Wilson and I drove off.

Inside the car was filled with birthday gift, since the boot could no longer accommodate the presents, but at that point, all those gifts meant nothing to me.

I was half way home when the accident happened, I crashed and died. This is my advice to you. Do not drive with a broken heart. It's the same thing as driving drunk but worst.

As soon as I opened my eyes everywhere was empty and bright, I needed nobody to tell me that I was dead. "Hello?" I said "where am I? Is this heaven?" I asked but nobody responded.

I could only hear the echoes of my voice. The voidness of this place was so limitless that after over ten seconds I could still hear the echoes of the very first word I said.

A few moments later a man appeared in front of me, sitting behind an office table, before I could wrap my head around what had just happened, I was seated in what looked like an interview room.

The man looked at me and said "Welcome to afterlife memory station, I know you have lots of questions but there is no time for questions and answers, as you can see there are so many people I need to attend to".

Immediately I heard that, I was about to remind him that I was the only person here until he showed but I decided to look back first, to my greatest surprise I saw thousands of people standing in queues. I became speechless. He continued.

"Now this is how it is and this is how it has always been, when you die you are given an opportunity to choose any memory of your choice from your life and keep reliving that memory in a loop, throughout your afterlife."

He waved his right hand, and instantly a gigantic screen appeared and started playing all my memories, from where I sat I could see, hear and recognize all of them at once without individually focusing on anyone. I could remember everything I said and everything I did in each of the memory display on the screen and they were millions of them. I knew this was impossible; my brain could not possibly process all these inform in seconds.

I felt like I could just flip through the pages of any book and know its content, word for word. No human brain could possible do ten percent of what I've just done. Does this mean I was no longer human? Of course I was dead, I am now a ghost I no longer have a brain, and am now a hundred percent soul. My mind has been freed from the prison of my body. That was why I could see and hear multiple things at a time and understand them all.

I was lost in my own memories when the voice of the man brought me back "you have five second to choose you afterlife loop". In the midst of all the many memories streaming before me, anybody could get confused as to which one to choose and relive over and over again but I wasn't. I was sure of the memory I wanted, I wanted to relive a memory where I would never have to set my eyes on Faith and Wilson ever again, but since eighty percent of my memories had them in it.

It narrowed my choice to just twenty percent. I've known Wilson since I was a baby, we went to the same primary and secondary school together and we just got admitted into the same university. Our mothers were very good friends. If only my mom knew why I left my own party so early to meet my untimely end, she would no longer be friends with Wilson's mom. I met faith in the secondary school, although Wilson knew faith before she came to our school but they both had no story together or so I thought.

"Have you made your choice" he asked, I quickly responded yes. I chose a normal day, which included waking up in my parents' house, having breakfast with them, going to work with my dad, coming home and eating dinner. I just wanted to remember something simple. Although that day, at some point I got bored working around the hospital all by myself but it was better than living an afterlife with those two backstabbing frenemies' of mine.

Plus there was a little bit of fun that day, because my dad signed out from the hospital very early and we got to visit place I've never been to before. That was the first and last day I went to work together with my dad, and the only conscious day of my life in which I didn't hear from or see neither Faith nor Wilson. I also did not fight with my dad and mom that day. It was just the perfect day for my afterlife.