Chapter Six: My Life HereAfter by Rosaline Saul
I walk through the door called Rehabilitation into a small
room, devoid of any colour and notice two other kids already sitting there.
Their eyes are red rimmed with unshed tears, and I let go of the tears I have
been holding back. They run over my cheeks unchecked and pool on my chin before
they drip down onto my chest.
I avoid looking at Emma and Charles as I walk past them to a
corner away from them. Charlene is not here, but deep down I knew she would not
be. When I saw the door labelled Rapture, I knew that was where she would be
going.
A while later the door opens again and I look up
expectantly, but it is only Jamie, and not one of the five I started this
journey with. I wonder if any of them will join me. I doubt it.
After what feels like an eternity, the door opens again, and
Mark comes walking into the room. His face is sallow, and I see relief in his
eyes when they settle on me. He walks across the room and as he sits down next
to me, I hear a sigh escape his lips. He leans into me and says softly, “I
probably should not be happy to see you here, but I am glad to see a familiar
face.”
I glance at him and smile sadly.
There are now five of us in the room and I do not expect the
door to open again, but not long after I see Carly come into the room. She does
not come to sit with Mark and me, and I am just about to get up to walk to her
when Vera comes into the room again.
Vera smiles at each one of us in turn, and then she says
hospitably, “Okay, boys and girls. Follow me to the dorms, so you can get
settled. Tomorrow we will go to the administration office to get all your
schedules and everything you will need.”
I step closer to her and I ask timidly, “Where are the
others?”
Her expression is warm and gracious when she looks back at
me. “They have either been reincarnated. Those who get a second chance will be
born again on earth as babies and then they will have a second chance to fulfil
their destiny.”
I was not recycled, so is she in effect saying it was my
destiny to cause the bus to drive off the bridge? Did I fulfil my destiny?
She continues, as her smile widens and there is literally an
ethereal glow about her, “The others have gone on to Rapture, and for those who
do not know what the word means...” She looks around the room at the other five
faces looking at her expectantly. “It means they have gone to Heaven.”
Charles asks, “What does rehabilitation mean? Does it mean
we are also deemed to get a second chance?”
She laughs melodiously. “You lucky six have been chosen for
a greater purpose.” She hesitates for a moment. “After you have been
rehabilitated, of course.” She turns away toward the door, and says invitingly,
“Come let us go now. I promise you; you will be happy.”
As I walk past her and I glance up at her, she keeps her
eyes locked with mine for a moment and, as if she can read my mind, she says,
“There have been absolutely no mistakes. You are each where you are supposed to
be.”
We walk back down the hill again to the main building of the
school. Just before we reach it, we turn down a pathway and follow it through
low hanging weeping willow trees. The breeze plays with the long tendrils of
the branches and it sweeps across the ground with soft, harmonious whispers.
When we get to the end of the pathway, we look up at a red-brick three-story,
institutional building, and it cannot be perceived as anything other than a
dormitory.
Vera steps onto the second step leading to the door of the
building, and then she turns around to face us again. She waits for everyone to
come to a standstill, and then she starts, “House rule number one. The rooms
for boys are on the third floor. You are not allowed on the second floor, under
any circumstances. Girls, it goes without saying, you are on the second floor,
and you are not allowed on the third floor, no matter what. Am I clear?” She
looks at each one of us and acknowledges our conformity.
Vera clears her throat, smiling, “Meals are served in the
cafeteria on the ground floor. Breakfast is at seven every morning, and school
starts at eight. Rule number two is you will not miss a day of tuition. No
excuses will be accepted.”
She looks directly at me and I nod my head in agreement
nervously.
Vera continues, while we look up at her, “After school you
may socialise with each other until dinner, where after you will go to your
respective floors. Rule number three is lights out is at ten o’clock sharp. You
may now go to your floors. Your names have been placed on your room doors. You
will be sleeping two to a room and it has been chosen randomly.”
We start to move forward, when she speaks again, “Here you
would not have to study for years. The harder you study, grow and evolve, the
faster you will graduate. I suggest you all go shower and clean yourselves,
then thereafter you can join the rest of the school at the Assembly Gallery. We
are having a graduation ceremony today, and it would be interesting for you to
see what the result of hard work could be.”
I look down and it is with shock I notice the blood on my
arm and on my clothes. I lift my hand to my forehead to wipe away the sudden
burst of sweat on my brow, and I feel the clotted blood above my eye. Looking
around, I notice all the kids around me are blood and gore smeared. I wonder
why I did not see it before now.
Emma starts to wheeze for breath, and I move to her side
quickly. When I touch her hand, I see why she remained in rehabilitation with
me. She liked to steal things from shops, but then she gave it to homeless
people begging on the side of the road. She was committing a sin, but then in a
way, she was doing a good thing again by giving it away and not keeping it. I
learn from touching her that her asthma pump is in her pocket, so I look for it
hurriedly, but then I start to panic when I cannot find it.
Vera rushes to our side and tells Emma calmly, “Take a deep
breath, Emma. You do not suffer from asthma anymore. It is only your
imagination.”
Emma looks at her with fear in her eyes and then she slowly
takes a deep breath. She smiles when she realises her air passage is not really
constricted and the air flows freely into her lungs.
I look at Emma reassuringly and at the same time worried
while I put my hand under her elbow and lead her up the stairs to the entrance
of the boarding house.
I hear Carly cry softly in angst. The blood and devastation
are suddenly glaringly vivid, together with the sudden realisation we are
indeed all dead, there is absolutely no more denying the fact.
We will not wake up moments from now and realise it is all
just a bad dream.
No more will we get irritated with our parents when they
call us to take out the trash, or when they tell us we cannot stay out until
late because it is a school night. Never again will we sigh at the sight of
peas on our dinner plates and never again will we walk off in a huff when we
are told what to do.
No more will we spend happy, joyful moments with our
families, wrapped up warmly in the loving embrace of being with them.
I wonder pensively, while Emma and I walk into the cool
interior of the building, what everyone is doing at the site of the accident. I
can just imagine the fire brigade, police and parents milling around and trying
to get down to the wreck where it must have come to a stop at the bottom of the
river.
I suddenly remember the water rushing into the bus wave upon
wave. The cold water took my breath with it, and eventually, it literally did.
Continue reading Chapter Seven
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