Gabe was walking across the parking lot to a brick building that was in the same growth pattern that his truck had made. There was a small patch of grass behind the building. His eyes went to it. That was where he could sit down and get himself calmed before he went back to work. As he was looking, his stomach growled. He was winded. He hadn't been out for a good jog since President's Day. He took a deep breath as his hands went to his stomach. He wasn't hungry but the beast in him told him that food wasn't the real problem. He had time to kill, so he ate some jerky thinking it would soothe what he was feeling.
They lived four doors apart. He sat down in the shade of a pine tree by the building wall listening to the green noises and birds. He didn't move for more than a few minutes. He wasn't all that hungry so it seemed natural for him to have been sitting there for that long. It didn't seem that long to his body. Suddenly his mind became alert and he realized that he was supposed to be his office now. Where was his office? He had been here so much that this place was like his office. It was his place to go when he had a problem that he just couldn't solve at home. It was what he went to when he needed to be someone else. People would walk by and wonder why was he wearing a tank top, shorts, and sneakers in this weather. It didn't even feel all that warm. They would never know. This is why.
Gabe got up and continued to schlep toward his desk. Even though he wasn't aware of this, he was amped-up to the max and beyond. He was going to work now. There weren't any rocks in his path anymore. Something didn't feel right. There were a lot of co-workers in the lobby. Why were they all huddled around the entrance to the lobby?
"What's going on?" Gabe asked.
"They found a body in the water behind the building," someone said.
"Oh, man," Gabe cried out. "I was just sitting there. I was thinking about some things and staring out at the water and then they said the body was found there?" Gabe got on his hands and knees and began to vomit. He got sick three times. He couldn't stop his body from revolting. His body had been found in the water behind the building. He heard the ambulance comin'.
"Hey, are you ok?"
Gabe shook his head yes and his eyes opened wide momentarily. His body was laid out on an ambulance stretcher. He saw his co-workers looking down at him. They had a look of concern.
"What were you doing out here?" One of them asked.
Gabe wiped his face and shook his head indicating that he was going to be alright. He tried to climb up the stretcher.
"Stay there, son," a paramedic said taking him down easily. "You're coming with us."
"I have to get to work."
"No, you don't."
"Please, I have to get to work."
"You're coming with us."
"I have to finish my homework."
"You don't got time for that now. Stay still. Relax. You're not going anywhere."
"I have to go. What's going on out there?"
"You don't need to see this."
"No, I do."
The paramedics hoisted him and carried him away like he was nothing, like he didn't have anything. Finished with him. Metaphorically. He was finished.
"I knew this day was going to come," Gabe whispered to himself. He passed out that night. He prayed to God that he would see his family and tell him about them. He was allowed to go to sleep and dream weird things.
He was outside an alley. There were people gathering outside it. People wearing masks.
"Hey, Gabe," his mom said holding him by his shoulders and looking into his eyes. And then there was this great big room. It stretched out in front of him. A bunch of people were waiting on a barrel in front of the door.
"Dad?" Gabe said shaking his head.
There was a slight delay and then he was back in the hospital. He had slipped into a coma. The doctors had to call his mom and tell her that he had died. It scared her so much that she needed to leave the room.
"I didn't understand," the doctor said.
Gabe could hear it.
"I didn't understand," he said.
Next was his biggest concern. They were going to have to make a decision concerning his life.
"What do you mean? I can't die," he screamed out. "I have a game in two days. My team needs me. That's when I'm going to get back to."
"What do you mean in two days? You are getting the operation tomorrow."
"I don't want to have that operation. Why do I need that?"
"You have to have that operation. We did all the test and that is what you needed. It is in your best interest. We have the paperwork."
That night Gabe came to grips with the fact that he was going to die soon. And the only thing he could do about it was to get his life back in order.
The next morning he went to wake the doctors out of their sleep and ask if he could hear the operation.
"No, young man. You've been through too much for that," the doctor said kindly.
"No, please. I want to hear."
"You've had enough for one year."
"Please, I don't care about that. I know this is my last day. I want to hear. Please."
That night they put him on that breathing machine. Gabe heard the beeping and his eyes opened wide momentarily. He left his body behind when he heard the beeping for the last time. The doctors had subdued him and taken him down into this medium where he was ready to make everything right. He was preparing for the afterlife. A place where he could meet his family and learn about them. He could finally spend the time he needed to get the answers he needed. He was ready. He was prepared.
And then Gabe woke up. A nurse was pulling the feeding tube out of his nose. The last thing he heard was the nurses telling the doctor that he was awake. He was very thirsty and weak but he was alive.
"What happened to me out there?"
His co-workers tried to tell him about the body. They were crying and speaking in hushed whispers. No one wanted to tell him. The doctor was not up to that task. It was too traumatic. Though he had just come over from the dead, Gabe needed a little time to recover himself. He was able to see the body when the ambulance brought it in. He didn't cry or blame himself for it.
"I am still thinking about my life," Gabe said. "But there is one thing that is worrying me about my life. I have an operation tomorrow for this," Gabe went to touch his stomach.