“Well… shit. I died,” I remember thinking. I totally wasn’t expecting it. Hit by a car. I also didn’t expect what came after. The answer to life’s ultimate mystery, except I still have some questions. First, I was shocked that not a single religion was even close to getting what happens right. The one that got it right, after all, was science. In my time being alive, however long ago that was, it was the scientific consensus that you remain conscious and aware after you die for minutes, hours, possibly days. Perhaps in the minutes or eons that I’ve been dead, science has changed its tune, who knows.
Time is an illusion known only by humans. Here, there is no such thing. I didn’t get all the answers, however. I still don’t know when or where I exist, but I do. I am very much aware. The best way I could describe it is like being in a sensory deprivation tank. I don’t know where I end and the rest of reality begins. It’s dark, perpetually. Which makes sense because eyes are just mechanisms of the body and my body is now nonfunctioning. But my consciousness has gone nowhere.
Everyone is here, but not in the ‘party in heaven’ sort of way. I can’t see them. If I try really hard, I can sometimes hear them. But I can certainly feel them. The way you feel someone’s presence when they walk up behind you. It’s a comforting feeling, just to know I’m not alone. It’s funny, when I was alive, I spent so much time worrying about what comes next. Yet, now that I’m dead, I still wonder what comes next.
Devin Staurbringer is a writer and activist living in Ohio. His children’s book, Hope the Hopeful Piglet, won silver medal in the Nautilus Book Awards. His first novella is called Tides of Revelation. He has a graphic novel, The Ballad of Aloneness, that was published in January. And coming soon, he has a collection of short stories, and a nonfiction being published this year. He enjoys writing, reading, yoga, rock climbing, hiking, biking, and cooking. He is an activist for the animals, people, and the planet. He hopes to travel the world and impact people through his writing.
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