Beyond Our World

Chapter 1 - Part 1: The Beginning of My Wildest Dream

I opened my eyes and blinked. My mind was blank for a second. Then I realised that I could see the world much more clearly than... before?

I blinked again, and noticed a pristine, white table. A lady with warm, friendly eyes that she hid behind big black-rimmed, square glasses was sitting behind the desk. She smiled at me and beckoned me closer.

I found myself a foot away from the wooden piece of furniture, standing in front of her.

"Would you like to see your Transitioning?"

I felt my brows knit together and thought hard; I didn't know what it was the woman was talking about. All the while, staring intensely at the surface of the table. You could barely see it, but there were small splinters that stood up at angle. They broke the table's illusion of perfect smoothness. I ran my fingers over the top, feeling the individual pricks of imperfection.

"That's when you 'died'."

"Oh." I nodded yet still not conprehending. I was unable to produce anymore sounds with my mouth at the moment.

I looked up just as the clicking sounds ended. A burst of light spread on the white wall on my right. It flattened out into a rectangular screen with rounded corners, levitating just inches away from the side of the room. It was currently paused on a picture of an old woman caressing the cover of a scrapbook equally as ancient.

I looked back at the lady. She just nodded towards the screen with an encouraging smile. I turned around to glimpse the screen again, when the picture started moving.

The woman on screen, with the wrinkled hands and the folds of happiness on her face, had opened the book. She had flipped to an open page with pressed flowers. 5 on each side.

On the left page, there was an Acacia flower, an Azalea, a striped red Carnation, a Cyclamen flower and a Forget-Me-Not.  On the other side, there was a Moss flower, a Poppy, a Tea Rose, a Sweetpea flower and a mixed green and white Zinnia.

The elderly woman lay the book open at this page on the top of her desk table. She then got into the single bed that was adjacent to the wooden, brown desk. She lay straight on her back with her arms folded on her belly. She stared straight up at the ceiling, seemingly contemplating something before coming to a decision and slowly closing her eyes.

The moment fast-forwarded to when another woman came into the same room. She was presumably in her mid-thirties.

'Mom, dinner's ready. You gotta get up now.'

'Mom? Mom!' 

The woman rushed to the side of the bed, reaching out to shake her mother's arm but not quite ready to face the truth yet. She retracted her hand and turned to the scrapbook that lay open nearby. She noticed the flowers on the pages and something clicked in her mind. She instantly snapped.

There was a sharp, shuddering intake of breath and a loud, body-shaking sob followed. She collapsed onto the chair by the desk.

'I thought she had more time. She was perfectly fine. She still is! I thought she was just being sentimental when she rambled on about her time coming. I didn't think she was serious!'

The pressed flowers once again caught her attention. She turned to an empty page and placed the dark crimson rose, which she had removed from the porcelain vase standing on the tabletop corner, on its open face. Her resolve strengthened after caressing its petals. She soon wiped away her tears and left.

The scene ended when the door swung shut. I didn't completely understand what was happening or how it all related to me but I did know that that was a very symbolic and important moment, and that the bond between the two souls transcended beyond even the closest mother-daughter relationships.

I suddenly felt an urge to touch and feel the texture of the dark rose myself.

"Can I meet her?" I tentatively asked, unsure how the lady would react.

She gave me a knowing look and replied.

"I can certainly see why you'd want to, but no. You can't. We have a rule that says you can't visit anyone you'd know on Earth."

"But I don't know her." I said, confused.

"She's your daughter. You're the old lady."

I gave her a skeptical stare. She just laughed.

"When souls Transcend to the World Above, from Earth, they inhabit the body in which they are the most powerful."

"I'm 13."

"This is a generalization but, we find that the youngest bodies have the most character."

I simply raised an eyebrow.

"How does that work, though? If your original body is already dying, how can we just pull ourselves back in time to an age when we're at our prime? That's not scientifically possible."

She laughed. "Exactly. We don't."

"Then what do we do?"

"We don't do anything. Our brains are the ones who do all the work. They pool all their power and focus it on using the remaining proteins in our body to generate a new and better one. So from there, our consciousness moves to the new host. And here you are." She gestured at my form.

"But how did we get here?"

"Well, that's actually our job. Those of us that are already here, we sorta pull your newly-formed body here before your mind can move into it. That's why it takes a while for some of your memories to return to you."

"But who brought you guys here? And what do you mean by some of my memories?"

"Aaaand that's what you'll learn in the H.E.L.P."

"Help?"

"Heavenly Educational Learning Programmes."

"But this isn't really heaven."

"Careful who you say that to. Some people strongly believe otherwise. And by believe, I mean that that's what they know this world; their world, to be."

"But you don't, right?"

"What I believe in doesn't matter."

"But you don't."

[End of Part 1. Chapter 1 to be continued in Part 2.]