Most of the time, Peter had luck on his side. But on that fateful day of January 1st, 2017, life decided otherwise. Because of heavy traffic, and also a lot of people driving around the area of his workplace, Peter had to park far away from his usual spot, and ran as fast as he could. Then again, the odds weren't in his favor, as it started raining. Heavily, in fact. Long story short, a lot of things happened, and Peter found himself tripping and falling right in the middle of the road, and was hit by a bus shortly after, despite the driver's attempt to slam the brakes on a nearly drowned road.
Peter had trouble realizing that he was dead. Come to think of it, not many people are prepared to wake up and realize they are dead. He was simply there, on the ground. He opened his eyes, and saw a completely different world appear before him. It was basically the same, but still with a huge difference. There was no one. Not a single person was here. Except… him.
Confused, he got up, and checked his body. It was intact… but at the same time, he was quite sure that he couldn't have survived this accident. Suddenly, in the middle of the eerie silence, he heard a faint noise. A familiar noise, gradually becoming clearer and clearer. It was a car. Instinctively, and just like his previous misadventure taught him, he got out of a way to let the car go through. The car was a bit weird-looking, like it wasn't designed by a human. And despite the road being completely empty, it was moving quite slow. Eventually, the car pulled over just next to Peter, who was simply standing there in confusion.
"Hop in, dude." the driver said.
The driver seemed… normal. A man quite young, looking very bored. But under all these circumstances, Peter had to ask.
"Where am I ?"
"You're dead. Now come in and let's get this over with."
Peter knew he was dead. No one can survive being hit by a bus, not in this situation. But it seemed so… unreal. Is this really it ? Is it what being dead looks like ? Just living in some kind of alternate world ?
"Are you saying this is the world of the dead ?"
"Heh, at least you learn quick. Yes, that's it. Now can you please get in the damn car ?"
Eventually, Peter looked at the car. It had some kind of company logo on the side. 'Death Cab'. Well, at least that was explicit enough. After a few seconds of hesitation, Peter decided it would be best if he just did as he was told to do for now, and got in the car. But he was simply so curious about the whole thing, so he resumed asking questions.
"So, you pick up people who died ?"
"Yeah, that's pretty much the gist of it."
"And that's it ? You don't do anything else ?"
"Nope. It's not like I have a choice, anyway."
"What do you mean you don't have a choice ?"
"That's what you get when you lead a bad life, as they say. You get assigned to do these tasks forever."
"You mean like in Hell ?"
"There's no Hell or Heaven here, man. It's just this world. Bad or Good, we all live here."
"All ? Like, everyone who ever lived ?"
The driver went silent for a moment. Did Peter say something wrong ?
"What day is it today ?" asked the driver.
"Well… It's the New Year, January 1st 2017, right ?"
"Yeah… and that's why there's no one here."
"You mean that there's only people who died today here ?"
"All the people who died in 2017, actually."
"Oh god, that's why it's so lonely… You too ?"
"Oh no, I died long ago. But I'm an employee here, it's different."
Peter had too many questions, but he felt like none of them were relevant now. So he just tried to get comfortable, and let himself go. At that time, he realized that he didn't feel tired anymore. He also didn't feel hungry, or thirsty, or… anything. It didn't even feel like he had a real body.
Eventually, Peter began to see other people. But mostly, he saw cars. Many cars. And they were all resembling the one he was riding in right now. Weird design, but still looking like a functional car. After a while, he noticed the road had a lot of those 'Death Cabs'.
"Where are you bringing me to, anyway ?"
"The nearest afterlife office."
"Afterlife office ? What for ?"
"Well, you have to get your residency card, most of all. Can't have stray souls around here."
"More paperwork ? This sounds like I'm just in the normal world all over again."
"Ha ha ha, well, both worlds are made up by humans. It's not very surprising that they look so much alike."
Along the way, Peter chatted a lot with the driver, who was also happy to break the silence on his very monotonous job. The driver's name was revealed to be Todd, after a bit of opening up to each other. Even though they had completely different past lives, Peter and Todd got along very well. Being dead since 2005, Todd asked a lot about how 2016 was. Despite seeing the buildings and environments evolving through the world of the living, being part of the society brought a completely different perspective that Todd was missing. What were people wearing ? What were the new trends ? All those questions that Todd could only answer by asking the newly dead.
After a while, the car stopped.
"We're there." said Todd.
"Oh, already ? Time flies."
"Yeah, it tends to when you feel the same every day. It's even hard to remember what year we're in."
"Will I see you again ?"
"I don't think so. I never got out of this car for the past 10 years or so."
"Wow. Uh, well, maybe one day if you get a day off…"
"Ha ha, no, I don't think so. Thank you anyway, you were one of the best passengers I had. I'll remember you for sure."
Peter knew that this was simply Todd's job, but this moment was very bittersweet nonetheless, and they waved at each other with a smile. The car departed to fetch another person probably just as disoriented as Peter.
There was quite a long line of people waiting inside the so-called 'afterlife office'. All those people were dead the same day ? Quite interesting. Being curious, he tried to start a conversation with the lady in front of him.
"Hey, so… how did you, um… die ?"
"Suicide. Don't wanna talk about it."
And that's when the conversation ended. He still wasn't sure about what he would do during his stay, but he was already feeling a bit uneasy with all those just-dead people. And after a while, his turn came up.
"Name ?" asked the woman behind the table.
"Peter Dennis."
"Cause of Death ?"
"Hit by the bus, I think ? Is that important ?"
The woman looked up. "If you want your card, yes it is."
"What does the card do, anyway ?"
"If you don't have it you're considered a drifter. If they catch you being a drifter, you can end up flushed."
"Flushed ?"
"They destroy your soul. Just like that, woosh ! I've heard it's painless, though. Well, just like everything when you're dead, but…"
"Wait, hold on. You can DIE here ? Even if we're all already dead ?"
"You can't 'die'. You're just erased if they decide you deserve it."
"They ?"
"Hey, enough questions. That's not important. Just take your card and go."
To Peter, those questions WERE important, but he decided to let it go anyway, it was not worth the trouble. And in the end, he got the famous 'residency card'. That was always a strange concept to him.
As he got out of the building. A realization hit him. What was he going to do now ? What was his purpose ? When he was alive, Peter kept thinking about Heaven and Hell, but he would never imagine this something in-between, which was now the reality. It's not nothingness, it's not a flashy magical world, and it's not like real life either. It's just… this. This almost identical world, where everything has already ended.
In this world, Peter learned that 'living' didn't exist. There was only 'being there'. Everything was the same, every single day. The same disoriented people. The same people asking for something to do. The same people who want to go back, but can't. Even people who wanted to die once again, and ended up begging to be flushed. Those ones were just… painful to see. But 'being there' wasn't so bad, Peter thought. Following Todd's recommendation, he went on to ask many recently dead about their previous life. At first, he felt a bit stupid to ask. Because, well, the world didn't change that much in a matter of days. But as weeks, and then months passed by, Peter came to hear very interesting stories.
Out of the majority of the dead in this world, Peter had the most fulfilling occupation, and was even happier there than where he was in the normal world. Through that hobby, he even managed to cut all his emotional ties to his friends and families. Honestly, he was way better off without knowing how life was going for them.
But it never goes very well for those who are too optimistic. As he was approaching the middle of 2017, Peter got to the afterlife office like usual. He was such a regular that he even shook hand with the staff everyday, despite not working there. But for the first time ever, he saw a familiar face. From a distance, he simply knew that he recognized the guy from afar, but as he went forward in the queue, it became clearer.
This guy was none other than Alan… one of Peter's childhood friends.
This is a two-part story. Read Part 2 here.
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