Chapter Twenty-Three: My Life HereAfter by Rosaline Saul

I am not sure where I am. In the last few days, weeks, months, maybe only seconds I have opened my eyes to so many different and weird places. First the large room with splendid white tiles reaching up into the sky I could not see where they ended, then the room with the large movie panel where I saw my life flashing before my eyes, the dark forest with its awful substance on the ground, the vast clearing with a fire-blowing dragon.

I listen intently, waiting for something to sound familiar, but there is nothing. I blink and open my eyes, but all I see is darkness.

“Mark? Carly?” My voice echoes in my head.

Someone groans to my side.

Something pushes hard against my chest.

“Fight, Sunel,” A voice shouts at me.

I want to sit up, but something is holding me down, pushing at my chest, again and again.

Suddenly I feel a burning sensation in my throat, and I cough. I feel water fountain out of my mouth in a large gush, and then the water drops back down onto my face.

Opening my eyes slowly, I see blue skies. The blue seems to be endless; it goes up and up right beyond infinity. Did God allow me to come to Heaven? I faced my demon and even though I was not the one who killed it, I had friends who loved me, who helped me do it and together we purged our souls. Am I in Heaven now?

Turning my head to the side, water trickles out of the side of my mouth and runs down my chin to the ground under my head.

I expect to see winged chariots soaring around in the sky, crystal-clear water splashing softly, melodiously over snow-white pebbles in little streams criss-crossing through the lush, bottle green grass under the cerulean sky. I expect to see superbly crafted men and women with marvellous wings, dazzling under the bright midday sun flying above.

I see none of that.

I see ambulances with flashing lights, paramedics with first aid cases and stretchers, people, lots of people milling around.

“What?” I croak.

David is staring at me. “Are you okay?”

I shake my head and pain shoots through my neck. My chest feels sore and bruised.

“Don’t worry, we’re okay.”

I did not know what is going on. Am I still dead? Or what?

I imagine I see my mum and dad rushing to me. My mum falls on her knees beside me, gouging two grooves in the sand. “Thank, God. Sunel you are safe. We just heard, and we were so scared.” Tears start to run down her cheeks.

My dad kneels beside my head and kisses me on the forehead, a feel a warm tear splash onto my forehead. “We were so scared, Sunel.” He turns to look at David, there is a crack in his voice, “Will you stay with her while we go see if we can help?”

“No, I want to stay with Sunel, Donnel,” my mum insists.

“Why don’t you quickly get one of the paramedics over here, so they can make sure she’s okay.”

“Why aren’t they here with her anyway?”

“They probably resuscitated her and when she seemed okay, they left her in the hands of this capable young man.” My dad gives David a reassuring smile. “So, they can help the other kids they just pulled from the water.”

As my parents leave, my mother looking back at me every few seconds to make sure she is not imagining me there, alive and well, I glance up at David confused.

He smiles. “It’s over. It’s alright now… It’s over.”

Then I break through the surface of fog in my head to the real world around me, gasping for air, suddenly realising I can breathe air and it is not imaginary breathing anymore. My throat is burning and my chest hurts. Looking up at David again, our eyes connect.

He asks bashfully, “Can you remember… Everything.”

I look away from him shyly, nodding my head and feel the back of my hair slide through, what I hope is mud.

He says softly, “It’s true, you know. I do love you. I’ve loved you for a very long time, but the hate in my heart prevented me from doing anything about it. I didn’t want to feel love, I only wanted to inflict pain and sorrow. If I had come to you and convinced you to go out with me before all this happened, I would have only hurt you.”

I croak softly, “Is Mark… And Carly. Are they okay?”

“They are. Mark has some broken bones and they are taking him to the hospital now. Carly is with her mum.”

I smile weakly. “I’m glad, she’s back. She deserves to be back.”

He reaches for my hand. “We all do.” I know he said earlier, in that place, wherever it was, he loves me, and he just said it again, but it feels awkward now when he laces my fingers through his.

I ask softly, he has to lean his head closer to my lips, “Charlene and Lionel?” I see the answer in his eyes before he says the words. Deep down I knew they did not make it, because when we were in the Hall of Judgement they did not come back, they have really died and they have really moved on, and… it is all my fault. “And you? Are you okay? Alive and not like a guardian angel or something?”

He smiles slowly. “No, it’s me. Remember I didn’t go to the Academy, so I cannot be a guardian angel.”

“Oh, yeah. I suppose you’re right. But you are okay, right?”

He nods his head. “I am. I was one of the first ones they pulled out.” Is that when he was lying unconscious on… The dragon?

I look at him. “It was all real, wasn’t it?”

“It was.”

“We were there. You, me, Carly and Mark.”

“Yes, and there was a dragon.” He rolls his eyes. “Sounds crazy, and I won’t be sharing that story with anyone, any time soon.”

My mum comes rushing back with two paramedics and a stretcher in tow.

I pull my hand from David’s and rest it on my sore chest. “I think I’m okay, Mom. I’d like to go home now.”

“Let them just quickly have a look at you, make sure everything is still working fine.” She kneels beside me and lifts my head to cradle it in her lap. “I am so happy to see you, Sunel. So happy.” She starts crying and tears stream down her face.

I hear a frantic voice call David’s name.

He looks away from my mum and I. “Mom?” He asks disbelievingly. “She came.” He stands up and looking down at me he smiles as our eyes connect. We will always share something between us from now on, but I am not sure it will be love.

When his mother sees him in the crowd as he stands up, she runs to him and flings herself in his arms. She is wailing and crying, every ounce of pride has fled her perfect body and was replaced by fear of loss.

With a final glance at me across his shoulder, he walks away from me with his mother.

The two paramedics lift me onto a stretcher and then carry me to an ambulance while my mum walks beside me, refusing to let go of my hand.

Continue reading Chapter 24/25

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