How Did You Know?

"How did you know?" I asked not sure I wanted the answer. I thought I had been careful. I thought she was asleep. She was usually asleep by this time. However, it's been six months, her habits could have changed. She was just sitting there in the dark. It felt like she was waiting for me. Her face was expressionless like she was looking at a ghost. Although in a sense to her, I was. I asked again, "How did you know?"

Letting out a tiny sigh as if it took every bit of mustered up energy to speak. She said, "I felt you, differently than I have ever felt you before. Three days ago I woke up gasping for air, it felt like I was suffocating and then an instant relief came as if I was breathing for the first time. The past three days I felt like something was coming my way, something familiar. I woke up again tonight and went downstairs almost robotically. I had no control over my body and minutes later you came in, how is this possible? I saw you die."

I almost didn't know how to answer her so I just started from the beginning or what I thought was the beginning. She eagerly waited for my response. I took a deep breath and started, "I remember dying, I remember the pain I felt, I remember seeing your eyes filled with tears as I felt my being leave my body. The bullet pierced my lungs which immediately filled with blood. I knew already I was dead in a couple of minutes. The only thing I was able to focus my mind on was you. The only thought that came through my mind was 'I'm not ready to die.' I'd do anything for a second chance, a way to continue my life with her and in that thought, my last breath occurred."

Tears started rolling down her face as I expressed the pain I felt when dying. I gave her a moment to regain her composure. She looked at me with blank, cold eyes. Speaking softly she said, "Continue."

Hoping not to upset her more I continued. "When I woke up, the first thing I saw was a road with nothing in the far distance. The road reminded me of a tunnel that kept going on, but instead of being encased in concrete the road was surrounded by vast sequoia trees on both sides. Everything was black and grey. When I tried to speak, no sound came from my mouth. In a panic, I started screaming, which was pointless being that no one could hear me. Not knowing what else to do, I picked a direction and started running. If I had to give the direction a name, I would say backward. It was the opposite direction in which I woke up facing. Running for what seemed like 10 miles, the road didn't change, the area looked identical to where I started. Discouraged, I started to slow down into a steady walk, still passing by the duplicate setting hoping that maybe a slow pace will help me notice something, anything. Carrying on like this for another however many miles still, nothing changed. Giving up I sat and laid down in the middle of the road. I knew I was dead I just didn't understand why I was here. It felt like I was sitting there for days when 'He' appeared, to be honest, I don't know if it was a He. But to make things simple we will refer to It as He. He just appeared there. No face was seen, instead, a red hooded coat covered him. In my head, I thought who is this? and that's when an unrecognizable voice answered me in my head.

Surprised, I jumped onto my feet. This thing can hear my thoughts! But when I went to speak, still no sound came out. Thinking about how confused I was, I heard a giggle in my head that wasn't mine. Angrily I thought, "WHO ARE YOU?!"

Nonchalantly He answered, "Technically I am a type of God of Death."

Why the hell was he able to speak? Why was he able to read my mind? So many questions flew through my head. The main question that popped in my head, oddly was the most irrelevant question "Why is his robe the only thing colored?"

Clearly hearing my question he giggled out loud again and said, "Of all questions, that's what you wish to know first, as you wish. My robe is red because of the direction you chose; had you of gone forward you would have seen a different figure. In my opinion, probably a better figure overall with a different color, but you picked this direction and it can't be helped now."

Confused and angry that I chose clearly the wrong direction since I'm talking to this weirdo, the next question I thought of was, "Does this mean I'm on my way to hell?"

In almost a hiss-like voice he answered, "Not exactly." There was a long pause and it seemed he ignored every question I thought of for a couple of minutes. I finally stopped thinking of questions. We sat there even longer once I stopped thinking about anything. Then He spoke in an almost a different voice completely but was stern, "Now it's my turn to ask a question. What do you want?"

Surprisingly I didn't know what I wanted, another million thoughts went through my mind again until it smacked me in the face, "Her." Petrified I saw its teeth, but just teeth in the form of a shallow smile that represented what you knew was an evil mind. I was completely frozen. The voice that came out of it was completely different. I thought to myself, "How many voices did this thing have?"

A sinister voice came out and spoke. "Lots, now back to the point, would you do anything to get back to her?"

Without hesitation, I answered, "Yes, I love her more than anything I've ever loved before. She's everything that's gone right in my life. So yes, I would do anything." That malicious smile even bigger now was enough to make me uncomfortable.

His response came quickly. "Perfect, I'm going to send you back. However, there will be a price that will need to be paid when you get back. Do you accept?"

Immediately I answered "Yes! If there's a way I can get back to her I'll pay you anything when I get back."

She interrupted me by blurting out, "Why would you do that?!" I ignored her question.

Continuing my story nervously, "The word back actually came out of my mouth and that's when I realized I blinked and I was somewhere else. Waking up in a dark area I knew I was in my coffin. Noticing in my hand I had a small hatchet I thought to myself, "Thank you hooded figure" I started to dig myself out barely able to breathe. That must have been what you were feeling. You felt me dig myself out. Almost like we were connected from the moment I came back. From the cemetery, I felt a pull to different directions to which I followed and they led me to you."

She looked at me with devoted eyes and ran up to me and kissed me. In this kiss, we felt an indescribable force that intertwined our souls. I saw the future of what we were to become, our lives, our children, everything I wanted. The moment we pulled away I could see in her eyes she had seen everything I had seen. Finally realizing I got my second chance I embraced her closing my eyes and relishing the moment. I sat there for a couple of minutes holding her. Never in my life have I had a feeling of complete blissfulness washed over me.

Opening my eyes that's when the blissfulness turned to a complete abyss, there was the hooded figure again with that malicious shallow smile. Time had seemed to freeze. The clock stopped ticking, the tv had stopped in mid-scene and I couldn't speak again. A new voice, a crafty conniving voice said, "Time to pay that price." The smile grew bigger.

I thought to myself, "Fine, way to come at the wrong time, but fine. What do you want?"

A shrieking, maniacal laugh broke out of the smile and filled my entire body with panic. He said quickly, "Silly man, I want her. I am a God of Death. I collect souls. Why did you think I let you come back? The type of God of Death that I am is a collector of pure souls. She is a pure soul because of you, the love and bond you shared were pure. As broken as a man as you are, she became the purest part of you. The people who chose to go backward instead of moving forward are people who can't let go of the past. I can sense the ones who have loved ones, and that's when I appear to make a deal with the broken souls who didn't learn in death what they should have learned in life, to let go, you said you would pay anything to get back to her. You made it back to her and now its time to pay your price, which was her soul. You will live the rest of your life holding on to this moment and when you die your soul will remain in purgatory, forever waiting."

Another blink which had to be half a second and they were both gone.