WHAT I SEE?
I see an old man staring at numbers which perhaps represent the years of his life, and he is counting down his remaining days. Although I can't see his face, I see how sad he is because of the sunset, which represents the end of the day (life).
WHAT DO I FEEL?
Looking at the image makes me feel how precious life is; that every second counts. It makes me blissful and somber at the same time. Happy because I get to enjoy another year of my existence (just had my birthday this month), and sad because I have to accept the fact that eventually, someday, I have to leave for good.
A SHORT STORY
Andy stared at his purplish lips and greyish body at the morgue table. He died at the age of sixty-two, a widower with four children. The eldest was only sixteen. The second one, fourteen. The third one, twelve. And the youngest was only six.
He passed away living his children with nothing but his love for them.
“How will my children get by?” he asked the guy beside him. Honestly, he didn’t really know if it was a guy because the being was covered in a thick, black robe. The hooded head only showed a blank dark space like a black hole, not literally a face.
“I don’t own a piece of land for them to build here homes. I don’t have money for them to inherit and be used to buy food.”
He didn’t receive any response from it. Then, another figure emerged from the wall.
The second apparition was the exact opposite of the first. The silhouette was as bright as the sun and clad with a white robe, although no face was also visible.
“It’s time for you to go,” the phantom said in a voice that was as deep and echoey as the graveyard Andy would be in any time.
“Where are we going?”
The white one didn’t answer him. He was just sucked in by a portal and spent several seconds spinning until he found himself standing in line in a theater.
“Where is this place?” Andy asked. “And who are those people?”
The black one answered him.
“This is where your final test will be taken. And those people are just like you—no longer living.”
Andy’s eyes flicker from one corner to the other. Each of the dead persons was also accompanied by a black and white pair like him.
“This way, please,” chorused his guides.
They led Andy to a room where there were several monitors, as many as his age. There was only one seat at the center, which he took.
“I can’t remember the last time I have felt this comfortable. You know, I had to work, even at a young age to support myself because my parents didn’t have anything too. I also couldn’t finish high school when my father died because my mother listened to what other people told her. Do you know what those people told her?” Neither paid attention, but Andy kept going.
“Those people told my mother that if I finish high school and university, I will just leave and turn my back on them. And she believed them. Absurd, right? She trusted other people’s false prediction over her son’s dream for the family.”
Andy was so indulged in telling his story that he didn’t notice the stream of tears on his cheeks. Or rather, he couldn’t feel it because he was no longer alive.
“I was taken in by a good godfather who was willing to send me to school; unfortunately, I still needed to drop out because a certain gang wouldn’t stop recruiting me to join them. I had to stop going to school too because those gangsters threatened to beat me up if I didn’t join them.” He sighed.
“If only I was brave enough to face them, I could’ve finished my studies. Yet, if I had forced myself to finish school with those bullies around, I might’ve died younger and couldn’t have my own family. I guess living your life is a matter of choice and decision-making.”
The two cloaked creatures looked at him simultaneously, as if they were confiding him although they couldn’t truly show their emotions. Then, the white one spoke again.
“This room represents your life. The monitors contain the years of your existence from day one until the day you died. You can watch your entire life here if you want. Here’s the remote if you wish to rewind or fast forward. Watch as much as you want because once to tell us you’re done, all your memories will be wiped out.”
“What happens after that?” Andy asked with a broken heart in his eyes.
“When it’s time, your destination will be decided, and you have to wait for the train to bring you to the afterlife.”
“I see. It won’t take long. I only have a few scenes to watch anyway: the moment I met my wife and we got married, and the years when each of my children was born. I only want to see all our happy memories as a family.”
