"Looking Back"

By: Catherine Lindquist
~~© 1990

Breaking away was probably the hardest part of departing from my body, but eventually, I was free, and my soul drifted away from the cage which had confined it these twenty years. Being still inside the coffin, I looked at the flesh that was once my home. I saw myself clearly, despite the darkness inside the sealed coffin, and saw that the mortician, whoever he was, did a pretty good job with my remains.

About all I could remember of the accident was this sensation of falling and a brief flash of pain, but even those sensations were fading from my memory. In a sick way, my thoughts must have scattered about the same time I got hit by that truck. Oh well. Not that any of that mattered now.

I wanted to stay for awhile and think about my life, but the tugging sensation got so insistent that I just had to leave. My spirit easily rose up through the coffin and the freshly turned earth covering it, as though the physical barriers weren't even there. Once above-ground, I took one last look at the mortal world. I was amazed by what I saw. Children playing in the park across the street from the cemetary were babies, teenagers, adults, and old...all at the same time, as if all time was right now and not separated into past, present, and future. Eternity, I began to believe, has a way of messing with the eyes.

"I don't have all day, you know," a foreboding voice intoned near me as its owner poked a bony finger at my semi-solid shoulder.

"You have all time, as do I. I just want to look back for a moment," I said, finally realizing who this person was.

"What for? You had your mortal life to look 'back.' Do you want to waste Eternity doing so as well? We cannot live in the past. There's nothing left for you here," Death replied impatiently, having heard the same from countless other ex-mortals.

After a moment of silence, I shook my head, not knowing what I could find in a life I no longer had.

"I thought so," Death said sullenly.

"Isn't it a shame how we never take the time to notice things until it's too late...when we die?" I said absently, still in awe of the things I saw below.

"Mortals do tend to make that mistake. It's time to go. I have another client to attend to soon," Death said, taking an hourglass out of the voluminous folds of His jet robe and peering at the quickly disappearing sands with His darkened and hollow sockets.

"I understand," I sighed, taking one last wistful glance at the world below. "Get it over with."

Death raised the implement of His office and swung it down in a glimmering arc, tearing a hole in reality so that I could step through to my destination...wherever that may be. I stepped through...."

Death shook His head as he saw the curtain of reality repair itself. The assistance He rendered the soul over now. He looked down upon the world, of which He too had been a part of many centuries ago, and spent a few precious seconds watching the children at play.

"I need a vacation," He sighed, stuffing the hourglass back into it's fold and slinging the scythe onto His back. He departed the mortal plane to facilitate His travels...heading off to guide another soul into the Otherworld He would never see. "This job is too depressing. Centuries have gone by, and still human kind never appreciate what they have. Aye, 'tis one mistake no one ever learned from."



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