It's not what you think...

A 'heart' way to go...

(Part 2)

The nurses worked fast, seeing the onset of a heart attack induced stroke and using every trick in their books to make sure the man lived. One way or another they would keep him on their side of the veil.

The unobserved guest sat back, looking over the dying man with only a mild interest.

The guest wasn't necessarily a boy or a girl, so they can't really be called a 'she' or 'he'. Calling them a 'person' altogether wasn't quite right either. 'Higher being', or simply 'being' would suffice.

And to say that it had a form that was like a human would be wrong as well; even though they would take the form of a human any chance they got. That is to say: any time they were on the planet Earth.

More often than not they would often opt for a form that was rather peculiar - tall, broad, and strong - they were bound by their duty to change forms based on an individual's comfort. When the man dies and his spirit arises from his chest, the beings form will shift involuntarily to one that will surely be much more appealing to talk to. At least for the dead man.

The Being was a Spirit guide. It was their job to receive other souls and help them move on, not tamper with their deaths. No matter how long they had to sit there and watch the death happen.

And they'd sat through some pretty long and tough deaths.

The dying man himself was about five nine, rather plain looking, and was wearing a very expensive looking business suit and reflectively shiny shoes. His neat, brown hair had somehow been able to keep itself neatly fixed atop his head throughout his ordeal.

The nurses tore open the suit and slapped wires to his skin. They turned on the hospital monitors and the screens blared with the sound of the mans vitals, irregular and fast.

"Sorry to say it, but I don't think there's much that can fix a heart attack that bad." The being said, knowing full well they couldn't be heard by the living.

The nurses kept working and the being watched on uselessly. Just as they were not able to be heard or seen, they were unable to interfere as well. They simply had to stay and wait. Sure, they'd love to ease the persons suffering or simply stop it all together, but they had to let it happen naturally. They had to 'let things play out as they would'.

But that's something to think about later. The man on the gurney was nearly dead, his heart was speeding up in a very unhealthy way and the nurses cursed under their breath. The ambulance was mere seconds from stopping in the hospital unloading bay, but it was clear that it was a few seconds too late.

Then the moment the Being was waiting for happened. The soft glowing white light of soul vapor began rising from the dying man's skin, first like a fine mist, then it began rushing like a spring. From the center of his chest emerged a very small, very dense, piece of light. A Human Soul in its purest form. At first it was just a simple ball of light about the size of a walnut shell, vibrating so quickly that it looked still as stone. It slowly morphed and stretched itself back into a recognizable form. And of course it had taken the form of its former body, still wearing the same torn open suit and hair neatly slicked back.

In another rushed moment the doors of the ambulance flew open and the gurney was quickly pushed away, the monitor flat-lining all the way out. The soul remained stock still, anchored above its body as it was rushed into the hospital.

The Being followed suit, walking briskly after the gurney but keeping itself a safe, out-of-sight distance from the soul.

It was important to let the soul finish leaving the body and give it a chance to understand things in its own way, in its own time. And the Being knew that; they were a professional in their field after all.

The nearly dead man was wheeled into a sterile room and they brought out a machine to shock him back to life. His heart attempted a few beats, getting only one and half in before dying again. To the being, it was obvious that the chambers of the mans heart had pretty much fully collapsed. There was simply no good muscle there to revive.

After five labored minutes, they had no choice but to call his death. 6:26pm, Oct 11th, 20XX.

And through the whole ordeal the soul just stared down at himself. Unsure of what he was seeing.

The Being settled himself in the corner to wait and watch. He had seen it a million times before, but it was always something slightly new. This soul, in this case, was stuck in his disbelief of dying. Unsure of how to look away, what was happening, or where to go from here. This wasn't by any means unusual for someone who had just died.

The room emptied after a few minutes, leaving nothing but the two otherworldly beings and the body with a white sheet over it's stiffening form.

After waiting the appropriate amount of time, the Being approached slowly. Carefully going around to the souls front as to not startle him too badly. Searching for traces of overwhelming emotions like sadness, anger or rage.

But this man was not angry. He wasn't showing much of any emotion at all. If anything he was simply stuck.

The Being almost feared how the man would react if they snapped him out of his stupor, but it was their job to do so. So they took a deep breath and spoke as gently as they could to the soul.

"Hello. Are you alright?"