The Path Beyond (continuation again)

by job perez

     I tried to remember what happened earlier. It's amazing how a few minutes can change someone's life. In my case, even death. I remembered how my mother cried, my father, my friends, it was so selfish of me to think of death as a form of escape. I caused all that sadness. They made me more determined to go back and live my life better.

     Then I remembered Bonnie, and the time when we were more than just civil. This is easily the most exciting day of my life. What did I do today? I saved someone, someone really important to me. I realized life was more than just the stupid phase I had to go through before I die. Two of my greatest fantasies came true today. The first was to die, the other to become a hero. Not bad for a day that started boring.

"Took you a while. It's almost nine o'clock."

     I smiled at Free and said I was ready.

"Let's go."

     I found myself standing in front of a beige gate. We passed through the gate, and I was surprised that the feeling is not that weird anymore.

     I guess the feeling of being at Bonnie's place made me feel a little uncomfortable.

"Isn't this trespassing?"

  "You're not here physically."

     The house was two storeys high. Bonnie's room was on the second floor, it was the window facing the road. It was an ordinary middle-class house. There was the driftwood with orchids on the far left of the garden; the fence had bushes trimmed waist high, and the grass was trimmed maybe two days ago.

     I walked to the veranda, I noticed two big dogs sleeping on the marble floor. I was about to go further when Free held me back.

"That's not a very good idea."

  "Awww come on, they're just dogs. We're spirits, how can they possibly bite us?

"Dogs and other animals, especially cats can see us. They cannot bite, but they surely will bark like hell."

  "Oooh."

"It's much safer to teleport straight to Bonnie's room."

  "Here we go again."

     Bonnie's room was tidy. Too tidy. There was no figurine out of place, her slippers were neatly tucked to the left side of the bed, and even the cords of her lampshade and electric fan were neatly laid on the floor. However, the closet door was left open, it was the only thing out of place. I looked inside and saw dresses, shirts, and pants. If I looked farther down I would have seen... Ah Never mind. I suddenly remembered that it was rude to look inside a woman's closet. Is it?

"Quit goofing around. Can't you see Bonnie's not here?"

     I looked toward Free's direction and noticed that the bed was empty. There's the bed sheet, pillows, comforter and all, but Bonnie wasn't there. The room was so tidy; I barely noticed she was... missing. I walked to the bed and looked at the creaseless sheets.

"Where did she go?"

  "Wait here, I'll try to find out."

"Hey! Where the hell are you going?"

     Free disappeared. I was left alone in Bonnie's room.

"They went to the hospital. Bonnie's father is dying."

  "What the... What took you so long?"

"Let's go to the hospital."

     Bonnie was sitting beside her father's bed. The rest of the family was outside the room. Her mother was talking to her older sister and younger brother. I looked at the machine that monitors the heartbeat. It doesn't look good. Bonnie held her father's hand, tears were starting to roll down her cheeks. I heard her say, "I can't lose you too..."

     I couldn't stand watching her cry. When we used to talk often, she would tell me stories about her father, how she loved him so much, how great a parent he was, I can't stand this.

"Open the flask!"

     I popped the cork and I saw the drop fall to the flask through the narrow neck. It continued to glow; I figured it was the sign that the flask was already full. Free smiled at me and said it was going to be okay now. The task has been finished and I can finally go back. I don't know if death dulled my senses but I didn't notice Bonnie already went out.

     Free motioned me to look at Bonnie's father.

"He's not going to last long."

  "What?"

"They told me he'll die 11:30 tonight. That's ten minutes from now."

  "Can't we do anything about it? We can't let him die just like that."

"We don't have the power to stop death. I guess your friend will just have to bear losing his father the same day you died for her."

  "This can't be happening."

"The flask can save him. They said it happened once, when a man threw his flask at his dying sister to save her."

     Flashes of the sadness I saw today came back to me. I gripped the glowing flask tightly in my right hand. People live their lives with the thought of themselves moving closer and closer to death. Whether good or bad, the only fact certain about life is that it ends. I've seen enough of this kind of suffering.

"Whoa! Do you know what you just did?"

  "..."

"Nice move, a bit dumb but noble."

  "He'll be alright now wouldn't he?

"You broke the flask, that's a crime. Deja vu... It almost feels weird to see you do that."

  "Guess you'll have to bear with me quite longer than I expected."

"For eons I guess."

  "Do you know where we can get another flask?"

     Free and I laughed hard as we walked away. He can easily warp us to anywhere we want but walking seemed therapeutic.

"About your all black-attire, is that to connote death or something like that?"

  "No, no, nothing of the sort. See even in the afterlife, we have this thing called fashion. I have fair skin, dark colors complement my skin, black is the darkest of all colors. You see that stripe? It's there for a purpose.

"Grrr."

  "You see, the nature of sight is, what tends to stand out are things of different color or shape. Hence, those things tend to be noticed."

"Whatever."

THE END