Just Ghosting Around...

Imagine the warmest sensation you've ever had. Envision yourself surrounded by the same 

That's how it was for me.

Five seconds before it all ended.

A loud crash. Metal grinding against metal. Sparks. Heat. Petroleum. Fire and then... Nothing.

When I opened my eyes, it was in hell- literal, otherworldly, end of the life Hell. Funny thing was, it was not at all what I'd envisioned. The pain, the punishment, wasn't on the body, the container of our souls. It was all inside my mind. From inside it took hold of everything that made me, pushing deeper into me the memories – making them as dark as an obsidian and replacing everything with pictures of my last breathing moments. Repeatedly.

I relived every broken bone, every crushed ligament, every flame that burnt my skin to ashes.

I screamed, flailing against the invisible holds. My actions were locked inside my head, unable to be transmitted to a body that no more existed, remaining in that state of dead for an amount of time immeasurable in human context.

"Come to me!" A three worded command and my vision turned from a red sheet of pain to a black chasm of oblivion.

Somehow, it was more frightening. Despite everything, I didn't want to be gone just like that.

I found myself drifting towards an entity shrouded in black. Or was it just that I had lost my vision? I couldn't say. I could just feel the emotions inside me but without the soothing company of a beating heart.

"The crimes you've committed in your lifetime are many, and more are the hurts that you've caused to those who cared. Your demise is a loss to none just like your birth wasn't a gain to anyone."

I think I nodded. The speaker continued in his booming voice. I couldn't listen, trying to think of what my actions must have been, to require such punishment.

"And hence, the accused is sentenced for five human lifetimes to haunt the place that homed the family he destroyed. If the lesson is learnt, he'd be rewarded an existence of a lesser being." 

  For the expanse of a human heartbeat, everything stood still then I think I opened my spirit equivalent of a mouth to question the judgment. Suddenly, everything stopped. The dark ceased to be dark and turned to a light that burnt all that remained inside of me.