Short Stories

SOUL

Arthur was driving to work. It was a good job. It paid well and he enjoyed the time spent with his colleagues. He was close friends with his boss, and had been since 4th grade. He had a beautiful wife who loved him for who he was, and he had three kids, Danny, Samantha, and Rebecca, who all received well above average grades in school. Arthur was in the fast lane, he'd worked hard all of his life to get there but now he was cruising, reaping the rewards of an efficient youth. He was 38 and was looking to be living a life of luxury by 45 if everything went well. It was of course, extremely off putting, when he died.

It was completely not his fault of course, the man had run a red light at a busy intersection. But nevertheless, Arthur was now dead, or at least dying. He let that sink in for a few moments, the immobility, the light fading. There was a very brief pain as a large shard of broken windshield pierced the side of his head and entered his brain. He dimly saw the airbags go off in front of him, great help those had been. Arthur felt his body die in slow motion around him. He felt his senses dim and withdraw from his extremities. He could not longer feel his fingers and toes, now his hands and feet, now his calves and forearms. His nose started going numb. He lost sight completely then, his world becoming a big void of complete, utter nothing. He found he could no longer smell or even feel anymore, he briefly tasted the metallic taste of blood but that was quickly cut off. Finally, his hearing slowly faded away, the last thing he heard was the screeching of steel on steel, and he realised that all of this had been going on in less than a second. Vaguely he realised that his memory was leaving him. He felt his life draining away from him. Or maybe he was lifting away from life. 'No', he thought to himself, 'I need to stay, I can't die now! I need to hold on!' He felt his memory leaving him, small holes in his memories becoming big holes becoming gaps. He struggled to remember the name of his Father, Joseph? Or was it Johnson? The taste of fish was completely beyond him, or the sight of vomit, although he had the feeling he probably didn't miss that one. He desperately scrambled to retain what he had left of his life, everything he had had, everything he'd worked for, loved, seen, done. He refused to let it all be a waste. Concentrating, he willed himself to remember. Suddenly he felt the gaps in his memory stop growing. At the same time, he felt a tremendous drain on his energy, and stumbled, dazed, before falling unconscious.

Arthur was... alive. He really couldn't describe it any other way. He couldn't see, hear, taste, feel, yet he knew he was there, that he existed. He opened his eyes, a surprisingly difficult action apparently, and it left him once again drained and tired, but not enough to push him back into unconsciousness. He lay there, completely still and listened. There was no sound. Experimentally, he tried to wiggle his toes and fingers, at least that worked. Slowly, he sat up. He was sitting in a, well how could he describe it? There was nothing. Just a flat expanse of soft greyness which stretched away to a horizon of white. He looked down at his body and found he was wearing his favourite shirt and jeans, he felt slightly younger, and the stiffness in his left leg from an old injury was gone. He looked around again, and the world seemed to focus more. "I'm dead." He said simply, it seemed appropriate. "Is this heaven? It's not really what I was expecting if I'm completely honest." A man stepped out from behind a bush. 'I'm sure there was nothing a moment ago, but now I'm surrounded by small shrubs.' Arthur thought, 'And they were always there, I just didn't see them?'. This worried Arthur, although his curiosity towards the man overpowered his wonder about some ghost-plant. "And what was it," the Man said, "that you were expecting? Big Golden gates with a sign saying 'Heaven' on it?" Arthur paused, thinking, "Yes." he said finally. The Man chuckled. "Are you God?", Arthur asked. The Man grinned then, showing very straight white teeth, there was something about that grin which set Arthur on edge, though he couldn't place it. "In a sense." The Man held out his hand, still smiling although it seemed forced and almost nervous to Arthur, "Come," he said, "I'll take you to the place you wish to go." Arthur reached slowly towards the Man's outstretched hand, the Man was almost shaking in a combination of nervousness and eagerness. Arthur hesitated and then withdrew his hand, "Err," Arthur said, "can I go back? See, dying right now is rather inconvenient for me...". The Man's brows furrowed, his smile dropping into a frown, his eyebrows arching in annoyance. "No. You can't go back." Arthur's face fell, "Oh." The man looked frustrated and annoyed now, "Look, just take my hand, and we can go!". I looked at his hand, trembling now, then into his eyes. I stepped back, "No." The Man just stood there for a few moments, seeming to have trouble processing what just happened, then the Man leaped at him. "Take my hand!" The Man screamed as he lunged towards Arthur, his smile had vanished and in its place was a look of manic, feverish desperation.

The Man slumped sideways, unconscious or dead. Once again, from behind one of the tall trees that made up the jungle around him 'Wasn't it just shrub land earlier? When did it change?' a woman stepped out, this one was holding a large branch like a baseball bat, though she also had two axes around her waist. She whacked the man once again on the head to be sure, then turned and advanced towards Arthur, readying the branch to swing. Arthur's eyes widened as he took this all in. Arthur raised his arms to show he wasn't armed and backed up. The woman seemed to recognise that he didn't intend any harm. "Who are you?" The woman asked him. "Arthur, who are you? What the hell is going on?!" The woman pointed at the man, "That's Gurrath Liar, he has been going around preying on new Souls that haven't awakened, I didn't realise that he would be desperate enough to go after an Awakened Soul though, his attack on you took me quite by surprise... why didn't you run?" Arthur looked at her, then at the Man, "Run from what?" The woman looked at him closer, inspecting him, "How... old are you?" Arthur's brows furrowed, "I'm 38, but look, I think th-" "38! As in three eight?" Arthur sighed, exasperated, "Yes, three eight, but I think an expl-" "When did you die?" Arthur, paused. "About three minutes ago! Look, where am I?!" The woman looked at him with a mixture of scepticism and wariness. Arthur was getting fed up, "Look, I was driving to work and I got in a car accident, I'm pretty sure I died, only then I woke up here..." He trailed off. The woman didn't look like she believed him. "WHERE AM I?!" Arthur demanded at her. The woman froze, she looked startled and a little afraid, "This is Heaven," she said, in an almost monotone voice, "Where Souls come after their bodies die." Arthur's anger subsided a little bit, and the woman seemed to be struggling with something. Arthur sighed, "I'm sorry if I offended you by shouting, it's just, what with being killed and all, I just hoped I wasn't crazy, although would that really be any worse?" The woman's body seemed to relax slightly then, though she regarded him even more warily than she had before. Slowly, she said, "Are you sure you're not lying?" Arthur just sighed. "Look. I have absolutely no idea what's happening. I thought God was supposed to meet me here, or maybe Satan, but I'm pretty certain that Heaven is not a desert where crazy men attack you out of nowhere!" 'Wait, desert? Wasn't it jungle before? I can't quite remember...' Arthur looked at the woman again, who looked again like she was struggling with some thought. "Hey, this place, the plants..." The woman looked around, "Yes, it does take some getting used to. You don't notice it after a while though." The woman paused for a second, then continued. "Come, Arthur. I think I know some people who would like to meet you."