MELINA
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to die? Is it similar to The Lovely Bones, Beetlejuice or Soul? Do you get to watch your family and friends? Do you get to meet the big man upstairs? Ever since I can remember, the mystery of what happens after we die has intrigued me. I never expected to find the answers to my questions.
I woke up like normal and I looked at myself in the mirror to realize I fell asleep in the clothes I went to see Tommy in. Quickly fixing my hair, I head downstairs and see my mother and father crying. Curious, I approached my mom to see what’s going on.
“Good morning mama why are you so upset?” She doesn’t respond, just continues bawling. “Daddy, what’s wrong?” He doesn’t respond either, and my anxiety increases. Why aren’t they responding to me? I let out a loud yell and still they don’t respond, and tears start forming in my eyes. I turned to run upstairs to look for my phone, which was missing. When I go to bed, I usually plug my phone into my charger and leave it on my bedside table. I run back downstairs and try to touch my mom’s shoulder, and a barrier stops me.
“Kind of scary, huh?” I whip my head around to see a skinny white boy with a biker jacket on and sleek back black hair sitting on the couch.
My already frayed nerves worsen. “Who the hell are you?” He stands up from the top of the stairs he was sitting and walks towards me, and I notice how tall he is.
He reaches out his hand. “The name is Joesph Di Salvo, but my friends call me Joey.”
I hesitantly take it and shake it. “Melina, now how did you get in my house and what’s going on?” He walks back over to my living room and sits down on the couch, and kicks his feet up on the coffee table. My mom would have an entire cow if anyone sat like that in the living room, and yet she didn’t notice. I felt light-headed and sat on the living room recliner. I put my head in my hands and began deep breathing to calm down.
I feel a soothing hand on my back. “Breathe in, breathe out. I hate to break it to you, darling, but you are dead and I’m your afterlife guide.”
I look up at him and start laughing. “Okay, so where are the hidden cameras? What TV show am I on?” I get up and begin looking around the living room for some sort of hidden camera. This has to be some type of sick practical joke. My older brother enjoys doing things like this to scare us to death. This must be a joke because this isn’t how my life is supposed to end. I’m only 17 and I have my whole life in front of me. Graduation was approaching, and I expected to attend Rutgers with Tommy and experience college life.
Joey stands up. “Well, sorry to break it to you, but you are dead. It’s my job to help guide you move on.” He sees the weird look on my face, and he snaps, and suddenly we are in a meadow with wildflowers, kind of like the ones I would see when my family and I went to Mt. Rainier. “I feel like it might be better if we have this conversation here. I read your file and saw you loved going to Mt. Rainier in springtime.”
My hands trace over the delicate flowers, and I am transported back to those carefree spring road trips, the memories bringing both joy and sadness. The possibility that Joey is right fills me with despair, as it would mean I won’t be able to see my parents, siblings, graduate high school or grow up.
Joey’s hands are on my shoulders as I look up. “I’m sorry that you are dead, but I promise you I will help you through this. Spiritual guides were not a thing when I passed away, so I had to do it alone.” I can’t imagine waking up one morning dealing with all this and no one here to help you.
I turn around. “If you don’t mind me asking, when did you die?”
I follow him, my senses heightened as he recounts the story of his untimely death in 1959. “I joined an Italian gang in New York and while receiving a drug shipment, a rival gang ambushed us. One minute I was standing guard at a warehouse and the next minute I woke up in a morgue.” He stops at the edge of the meadow where we can see Mt. Rainier in the background.
“I’m sorry, that had to be scary.”
He shrugs his shoulders. “Despite knowing the risks of being in a gang, the thought of dying didn’t scare me. I just wished it would happen later.” I reach out my hand and grab onto his as we stand there in silence, looking at Mt. Rainier.