When my eyes fluttered open, I was sitting on a train with strangers that looked half dead like literally half-dead. My eyes were still droopy, it took a minute for me to really focus on the people sitting next to me.
A scream escaped from me as my heart nearly jumped out of my chest. My hands were collected in a ball on my chest. I was against the window as a dead corpse but pretty much alive and was blinking up at me as if was it was almost annoyed.
"What a rude child, you should see yourself" the corpse, who looked like an 80 years old woman huffed looking at me.
I did look at myself and I realized I was strangely pale and so was everyone else on the train. Some had blood splattered across pale faces or bodies, eyes sunken and dark circles beneath them.
I was on a train of the dead that could've only meant that I-
"Such a pity to die at a young age" muttered the old man who was sitting next to the old woman.
I was dead. Dead? Dead????
"She was sleeping all the way, she must've died peacefully" said the old woman.
I slid back in to the seat, I noticed how we were still in a tunnel.
Suddenly I wondered where we were going "where is this train headed to? Heaven? Hell? Where are we going?"
The old woman chuckled "we are as new as you child"
"She is too jumpy and lively for someone who is dead is she not?" Said the old man.
The train came out of the tunnel my eyes were almost blinded by the light crashed through glass. The train came to a halt and a skeleton with a cap walked in with note pad and pen yelled "1st stop to the land of the dead! Everyone from the 1st compartment get off!"
I followed everyone else out of the train and the train jolted forward taking the rest of the passengers God knew where!
I saw a bridge, through the crowd slightly, and hanging over the bridge was a huge banner shining with lights named, 'Land of the dead'.
I followed everyone to the wide red wooded bridge, and underneath the bridge was no regular river it was red as blood and had skulls and other sort of bones swimming away. I cringed and moved away to the middle through the crowd and entered through the gates.
I was horrified, I was in hell I was sure of it.
As I passed by the gate there were skeletons dressed in some sort of formal clothes and watched each person enter.
I expected some sort of torture house with fire and whips but to my amusement it was like I had entered some sort of a village from the 1880s. There were lanterns hanging from above shops with all sort of things on each sides and small buildings like houses with valleys. It was like a paradise. That's when I thought I was dreaming or perhaps it was heaven? Was that it?
Just when I was beginning to believe it was heaven. Hell crashed in to me. I went flying few feet back as some boy knocked me along with him. I guess even the dead was as reckless and stupid as the dumb.
"Oh! Pardon me!" Said the boy fixing his flat worn cap and getting to his feet.
"Are you alright?" He offered me his hand.
He was as dead as me, but hazel eyes sparkled like a small child's as he smiled heartily at me.
I took his pale hand and got up "I'm fine"
"Did you see a small boy running by?" he asked.
"No"
"Dang nabbit! He stole my penny and scammed off"
I scoffed "Dang nabbit?" who spoke like that right? These people were something.
The boy examined me for a moment and smiled "you're new aren't you? My name is Nicholas, what is your name?"
"My name is Liana. How did you know I was new"
"Well you looked like your head was in the clouds" he laughed. When he got no response he said "that was a joke, because you know we are kind of in the clouds" he scratched the back of his head "not exactly but sort of"
"So what is this place? Is it heaven?" I asked turning my head up to see the odd orange sky that with no clouds. The atmosphere was painted in a light orange and the red bricks beneath added more color to it.
A smile appeared in his face "No it's not heaven, it's the land of the dead but I personally call it the dead shed. Everyone who comes here after death has a reason, you know they have" he leaned close "unfinished business" he whispered. " Or a great desire"
"But I don't even remember how I died. I remember my family and my life but I don't remember how I died" I whispered back.
"It will be back to you in few hours, right after you die you remember nothing, it comes gradually" he whispered.
"I see okay"
"Why are you whispering?"
"I don't know, you started"
"So what kind of unfinished business do you have Nicholas?" I asked as I started walking with him.
"I don't know" he shrugged. "For some reason no ones knows here in the dead shed. We stay here until it's resolved. You can call me Nick by the way".
"How can we resolve it if we don't remember?"
"I don't know, I've been here for awhile trying to remember something but no I can't" he shrugged.
I observed his clothes, he was oddly old fashioned. His jacket had two rips with blood stains around the areas.
"Were you stabbed to death?" I asked him.
"I don't really remember, but yes I think so. I was also stabbed in the back" he said thoughtfully.
My eyes shot up "really?" I went over to see his back but the jacket was perfectly fine.
"Oh no I just say that because it's funny" he gave a goofy smile.
"Seriously? That's not funny" I rolled my eyes.
"Hey! I died in better clothes. You're in pajamas!" He exclaimed.
"I know! You don't have to rub it in my face!" I yelled back.
He held his hands up in surrender.
"How old are you?" I asked eyeing his clothes again.
"Eighteen. You?"
"I'm seventeen, were you in a play or something when you died? What's up with the clothes?"
"Oh no I was born in 1932"
I gasped involuntarily "you're so old!"
"Hey! You don't tell people here that it's very rude" he looked offended.
And I couldn't help but threw my head back and laugh "oh my lord! You're older than my grandfather!"
"Yeah that's very funny, but don't go laughing at other fellows like that banana pants they'll have you diminished"
After my laughing died I managed to ask, wiping my tears "what's that?"
I know that it wasn't really funny, but it was funny how he was annoyed how he pouted for being called old and you can't really judge for I'm dead. Well if you do I won't be seeing you here any day you'll be in hell.
"It's what happens when you stay here for too long. They don't have a choice but let them go" he said almost like he was worried it was gonna happen to him.
"And they can do that to me?"
"No, that was a lie"
"Where do they send those people off to?"
"Again! No one knows, except for those skeletons, they never tell a soul".
I was silent, trying wrap my head around what he said and of this place, I felt lonely, sad that I was far from my family, who were probably still mourning over my death. But we all knew that I was meant to leave first anyway. But I must be honest, as I didn't feel as terrible, for I had made a nice friend who showed me around, he showed me all sort of things, like theaters, odd museums, restaurants (where food can be cooked but cannot be eaten) and even beautiful places to sight see. He said all of these places had purposes it was how many people remembered their deepest desires that tied them to the land of the living. What held them from moving forward to the after life as most believed.
Nick introduced me to some of his friends he made in the dead shed, it was a group of 4, sitting on the light brown grass comfortably chatting because that was all they had to do. They were dressed in modern clothes so I guessed they weren't as old as Nick. There were 3 boys and 1 girl. The girl looked about 14 years old while the other two boys must be at least 24.
They all greeted me happily and spoke to me cheerfully. I spoke about my small family, of my parents and little brother who I missed dearly as they spoke of their own. They said it was normal for any person to feel sad of the lives they left behind, and the loneliness gradually slips away with time.
"So how did you die" the question was directed from Jessica after we were all comfortable enough. Apparently the question wasn't directly asked as it was sensitive to some people. Although I had asked Nick. My heart was dead, yet my feelings weren't.
"I was sick since I was a child, and often stayed in the hospital and I guess finally my body gave up" I managed to say with a quiver in my voice. It took some time for me to remember how I died. As I spent the day with Nick, my memories reached my mind but nothing of any sort of a deep desire or an unfinished business.
We talked for awhile they taught me how to play these games I had never played before, apparently Nick taught them, Nick was going on about how he used to play them with his sister and often got a scolding from his mother for teaching his sister such games. I had always been sick, so as a child I always stuck with board games or my grandma sat by me the entire day to keep me smiling. By the time I was a teenager I was familiar with most of the doctors and nurses but I mostly spent my time on instagram, Facebook or YouTube.
Nick had a hard time trying understand what we said about how the technology had improved in the future, but yes he had a good imagination and we had a good laugh.
It had been hours and I realized the sky was just the same as it was when I first came here, an orange mixed with yellow.
As if Nick knew what I was thinking he said "the sun doesn't set or rise here, the sky has been the same since forever"
"More like it doesn't exist here" replied Terrance.
A land where the sun didn't rise or set, where the sky stretched to an endless orange sky, where the grass and trees weren't green but shades of brown and pretty much alive. It was beautiful, there was no denying that. Strangely it wasn't sad that I was dead. It was a journey everyone had to take, and I was excited of what to come next.