One Night with A Ghost.
As I sat beside the dull flowers in full view of the passers-by, I felt a breath, cold yet warm. It was the way the air felt on my neck which chilled my spine right up. So familiar, yet so distant. I wouldn’t have dared look behind, but curiosity got the better of me. I turned my head just the slightest bit….saw just a part of her eyes, and I knew.
“You’re……”
“Yes.”
“But, h…how?”
“Follow me, and I’ll explain everything.”
I was piqued enough by now that I knew I had to follow her. She led me through the city and its charming presence I was enjoying earlier, and brought me to a remote alley I didn’t know before existed.
“I’ve waited enough. You better explain yourself right now.”
“Explain why I’m you? And why I am a girl? Fine. Listen closely, for what I’m about to tell you will sound unbelievable, but all of it is true.
“Whenever a human is born, a Ëio is born in the other world. Both the counterparts have the same lifespan, down to the last second. They both merge at the Äkoeloom.”
“Wait a second….do you mean coelum?” I asked.
“The words sound similar….”
“Of course! Coelum means heaven in Latin! Wow those guys must’ve figured it out too.
“So, what though? Why are you here if none of your kind have been in touch with humans before?”
“That’s the thing. I’m…. dead. I died this morning.”
“Wait, doesn’t that mean I should have died this morning too? How am I still alive?”
“……Ah well it IS you. I won’t lie. I was trying to see how many chicken nuggets I could eat at once. I put a ton of them in my mouth, and choked to death.”
“That is so….”
“Sad, yeah I know”
“No, EMBARASSING! YOU MEAN I AM SO DUMB THAT I DIED FOR SOME CHICKEN?”
“In a way….well yeah. And that’s why you didn’t die too. Apparently, the rules of the universe don’t apply if you’re dumb enough. They wouldn’t accept my death, and banished me from Äkoeloom till my-ours-lifespan is over. So….I thought I better check out how you were doing. Anyway, I have nowhere else to go, so you’re gonna be stuck with me for a while.”
“But…. how will I explain you to everyone else?”
“Yeah no, I’m dead, so I’m like an apparition, a ghost if you will.”
“So cliché.” I thought, “Anyway, so you wanna check out what it looks like over here?”
“You bet!”
I spent the rest of the night showing her…well me…the city and we had a great time. I mean imagine how much fun you have just by yourself, and now imagine two of you doing stuff you both know you like, exactly how you like it. It was great. By 4 A.M in the morning I knew she was gonna go back. “I’m gonna see the whole world! Explore every bit of it.”, and I knew that’s what I’d want if I were her. I mean I WAS her in a way. But I didn’t want her to leave for as long she would. Maybe I envied her, she could roam free…. from all of the world’s pain and desire. She could-I could- explore every bit of this world. And not just to fill any bucket list, nor for clicking good pictures. I had made up my mind moments before she suggested the idea.
“Why don’t you die too? We could see the entire world. Entire worlds, for that matter.”
“I’m in. I just need to die in a dumb enough fashion so that the guys at Äkoeloom or whatever wouldn’t accept me, right?”
“That’s pretty much it. I’m surprised how quickly you figured that out…oh wait. You ARE me, aren’t you? You’re as smart as me”
“Smart enough to not die choking on some chicken.”
“You’re gonna rub it in my face for a long time, aren’t you?”
“You bet. Now, how do I die? Wait I know! I slip on a soap, and fall right off y window. That ought to do me in.”
“I guess yeah. Also, when you die, due to both of us defying the rules of the universe, there will be a mild distortion which would make every human in a 1-mile radius disappear. I don’t know why, but I think if you do dumb stuff, the universe doesn’t hold back.”
“Weird, but I can say that for the entire night. Very well…”
“WAIT! Can’t you save at least one person here?”
“Well I can carry one away, and then return them back to their bed after the distortion.”
“Great! You know who I wanna save already don’t you?”
“Yeah, right on it. Give me 5 minutes to go far enough, and do your thing.”
With that she flew away far in the skies. I waited for a while until she was ready…until I was ready. The moment I did it I thought this was all a big mistake, or a dream, or that I was hallucinating.
I opened my eyes, and it was all bright. The sunrise had somehow synchronized with my sunset. Or maybe I had risen finally. I saw her flying towards me…and I tried to fly too. As easy as walking. I flew up to her.
“You do it?”
“Everything is as planned, as you can obviously see. I actually thought it would all go wrong, as it usually does.”
“Hey, the rules of the universe don’t apply if you’re dumb enough.” And with that we flew off. I looked back at the hostel, and could see the only person rising up, possibly to a very exciting day.”
