Acceptance of mortality

Call me a tapophile if you want, but I have always enjoyed the tranquility of visiting graveyards. The beautiful tombstones always remind me of my mortality and importance of living life to the fullest while having the opportunity to do so. Every time I have a conflict that is giving me a pessimistic perspective of life I visit the graveyard in the vicinity of my house. I reassure myself that my problems are temporary and they will soon be a fading memory. Today was without a doubt one of those days. My mind was flooded with thoughts of how unfair life was while walking towards the gate of the graveyard. Subsequently I got emotional chills when walking through the gate and calmness settled into my spirit which triggered dopamine in my brain to be released. With a small smile on my face I gracefully walked towards my mother's tombstone and sat beside it. I closed my eyes shut and took in the beautiful sound of chirping birds while breathing in the fresh air. I was in a mental state of equilibrium, I was consumed by my own thoughts, nothing in life brought me more joy than this.

My peaceful mental state was however, sabotaged by the unpleasant sound of cries which were coming from beside me. I slowly opened up my eyes and to my surprise there was a miserable, pale looking boy to my right weeping in front of a tombstone. That was interesting, I do not recall hearing anyone walk past me. My peaceful state of mind must have blocked out my hearing sense, but his cries did definitely bring it back to life. He is probably mourning the death of a loved one I thought to myself. They must have been very important and valuable to him.

"Hey, little boy. What's the matter?" I asked genuinely curious.

The sad looking boy looked up with swollen, red eyes. For some strange reason there was a spark of happiness evident in his teary eyes.

"I'm sorry if I bothered you, miss" he said while utilizing the cuff of his sleeves as a tissue to dry his tears.

"It's fine, do you need some mental support? I will gladly help you." his face brightened up.

"Thank you miss, may I introduce myself first?"

"Go ahead"

"My name is Charles Gladstone"

What and outdated name I thought to myself.

"What has been bothering you dear, Charles?" His blank face expression dropped immediately. Did I say something upsetting?

He put his gaze back to the tombstone and started talking.

"I just can't get over the fact that all lives one day reaches an endpoint" I looked at Charles like he was the least intelligent person in the world.

"Would you want to live forever? Immortality doesn't quite sound fun. Living is a struggle and an emotional roller coaster that constantly plays with your feelings. Death on the other hand sounds peaceful. It's a part of human nature, you have to accept it no matter what."

"But death is so unpredictable, what if there were things you'd want to do and experience before you die?"

"That's the whole point, would you go around with the constant fear and anxiety of knowing when you're going to die? Humans are greedy by nature, we never feel fulfilled by the things we already have in life. Not experience something you've wanted to do in this temporary life is the least of my problems. I focus more on the things in life I already have, which I think everyone should be thinking like"

Charles had a faint tremor of amusement on his lips that quickly faded away. He stayed quiet as if he were waiting for me to continue.

"Mortality is the most pure form of beauty, and the hardest one to accept. Death is purity and it is real freedom. You must respect death and accept it when it is your turn. If you can't accept that and waste your whole life worrying about death instead of living in the present you'll never be happy in this life. Use this short amount of time you have left to be happy."

Charles smiled at me and his eyes were now almost dry. He opened up his mouth and started talking in a nonchalantly and almost robotic tone.

"I had the chance to enjoy life, but it was my time to meet my maker. My selfishness for wanting to be immortal stopped me from having a pleasant life. Your words however, has comforted me and I believe I am now ready to accept my dark and relentless fate that I have for so long denied"

My eyes widened and my mouth dropped. Was this man mentally stable? What was he trying to imply here?

I was just about to ask what he was trying to say when he promptly stood up and faced the tombstone. Little by little Charles become more transparent, he was now almost gone. I was trembling with fear and I wanted to scream. My uneasiness and terror however stopped me from uttering a single syllable out.

The last thing I heard come out of Charles' mouth was a small 'thank you' and then he was gone.

I sat there for a solid 10 minutes, paralyzed with fear and astonishment. My mind must have been playing games with me, no one can just disappear like that. This must have been a phantasm.

I abruptly crawled to the tombstone he had been weeping over and started analyzing it. Nothing in the entire world could have prepared me for what I was about to read next. There, right in front of me, Charles Gladstone's name was written beautifully on the tombstone. Marked dead for over hundreds of years ago.

I had been talking to the dead.