“So when did you die…? He asked after almost an hour long conversation with the guy
“Who said I died..?” the guy asked back…… “You are the person who died….? What you just experienced is called phantom existence”
“Phantom existence…?”
“Yes….. Phantom Existence….. it is that few hours between life and death when you kind of regain life completely for yourself but are dead for rest of the world”
“I don’t get you…?” he did not hide that he was puzzled.
“Yes you should not… that’s the whole point….”

“So how does it happen…..?”
“OK let me explain…..” the guy lit a cigarette and continued “So now you are in between but with all the energy that you had when you were fully alive, no sickness, no old age nothing….You will remain here for a while… and you get to converse with people like me…. We are alive though, not dead like you…. We are on a mission…”

He listened patiently…..”Mission… what mission….?”
“You will understand…. Slowly….” the guy said and continued…. “So during this few hours you can reflect on many things in life……. you get to fulfill some of your unfulfilled wishes if you want….. may be sex with someone you like… meeting someone you always wished you would meet…. Doing something that you always wanted to do, visit some place….. anything like that…..”

The guy poured a drink into the glass and took a sip and asked “So John do you have any unfulfilled wishes…?”
John looked at him and said “no…. I think I am good…… I think I did live life fully…. I liked living there…. So there is no way to go back…?”
The guy smiled hearing that….”Go Back…..?….. like being born again… or like not being dead?”
“Like not being dead….” John replied
The guy smiled again….. “I am afraid no… It is kind of the end of the road….. more over time has moved on in the world you lived…. sorry…. but I can help you with any of your wish… anything… any place to go, people to meet… nothing…?”

“No” John replied and looked around…..
The guy lit another cigarette and looked at John… “I know you were a smoker and you loved it….”
“But I quit…” John replied without looking at him….
The guy was still looking at John….. “I know…. I know…. But I know how much you loved it…. Care to have one….?”

The guy took one cigarette and handed it over to John “It is the last mile buddy…. May be a drag to drag you along for the next journey…?”
John looked at the cigarette….. He took it and kept to his lips…. The guy lighted it for him…. John closed his eyes and inhaled slowly and deeply….. it has been over twenty years…. But he felt like he had never really quit.. no issues…. Smooth and filled with all the love and affection he had felt…. He opened his eyes. It was dark, he called out “Hello…? Hello…?”

He realized that the guy was not sitting next to him…. He tried to look around but it was pitch dark. Then he heard something moving near by and he again tried hard to look. He was not sure if it was because it was dark or he had just lost his eye sight…

“So you took a favor did you…? A voice spoke…
“Who is it…” John asked…
“Don’t worry…. We are all one… blind and dark, tricked by the guy…” The voice spoke
“What…?
“We all had an option….”
“Option for what…?” John asked
“Option to go back to life… to not take a favor….. you were so very close….. but that fucking stick did it all….”

John stared into the darkness as the Voice spoke in a slow faint manner that he knew he had to get used to eternity…
“I took the favor to have sex with my neighbor…. There are people here who went to Paris, turkey, ancient Persia, Egypt, the time of dinosaurs and so on … even there is a guy who just ate a pastry and another one who took a dip in his backyard swimming pool…. all who took favors…. every one accepts the last favor… that si whay peopel don’t rise from the dead” The Voice laughed….. “Now we have someone who took one puff of that stupid stick…. you were so close to going back… we all thought you will”
John heard some other movements around as if there were others who agreed with the voice…

“Are we in hell….?” Asked John
“No we are nowhere…. There is nothing called heaven and hell…. You also believed in it…? they tricked you too…. There is only life and nothing…. Your life is over and now you are just nothing….. Welcome to nothingness

John closed his eyes… not that closing made any difference anymore…..

Categories: 365 Flash Fiction, Flash Fiction, Stories

Tags: 365 Flash Fiction, Flash Fiction