The stench of disinfectant clung to the hospital air, a constant reminder that Ray Ross was dying.
His body lay weak and wasted on the crisp white sheets, breath shallow, chest rising in uneven rhythm.
Cough!
Cough!
"Looks like I am going to die."
A faint, bitter smile touched his lips.
"My life...
It's going to end. Actually I am not sad about it.
My life is no lesser than a curse. There is a reason behind it. "
Ray's gaze grew distant as memories surfaced, each one as heavy as a chain.
"I never knew my parents, I was an orphan. Raised by an old man who adopted me at age 5, I was happy that I had someone. He even gave me his surname, Ross."
"But soon, I came to know true intentions of that old hag, he didn't adopted me, he bought..."
Ray's eyes clouded with a familiar sorrow.
A harsh cough rattled his chest.
"He was raising me so that he can sold me after few years. That day, I came to know how much lower a human can fall."
"Still, he was only one, I could say mine.
But even that old man left me, dying in accident."
"A lonely child wandering place to place, only to fill his empty stomach. Only I know how I survived. "
Images flashed—starving in alleys, drinking foul water, fighting stray dogs for scraps.
"Water from sewage.
Snatching food from animals.
This made my body — home to countless diseases.
What else could a helpless child do?"
"Our country was already poor with lack of water. "
"World — A hell, Life — A curse."
Cough!
Cough!
Cough!
"I never got a blink of sleep so I could dream. Never got happiness. "
"Now I want to die peacefully with this cancer."
He smirked.
The steady beep... beep... beep of the heart monitor suddenly flatlined into a piercing BEEEEEEEP!
A nurse rushed into the room, her voice sharp and urgent.
"Doctor!
Room no. 32
He is dead."
The doctor entered moments later, his expression harried.
"Call his family, and clear this Room", doctor said.
Nurse replied instantly — "We don't know his family. He was admitted as emergency case."
The doctor paused, stroking his chin. Then he said —
"Emergency?
Then it means room rent and his fees is unpaid. "
"No problem, refer him to medical college.
We will recover our money through his body."
In confused voice, Nurse said,
"Are you sure, doctor."
The doctor left the room with his words,
"No buts. The dead don't pay bills."
"Ok then. " Nurse also left the room with a sigh.
Ray watched them, his newfound ethereal soul hovering above his lifeless body.
These greedy people, he thought, a sense of detached amusement coloring his observation.
They don't even care about the dead. To them, only money matters. Pathetic humans!
A strange lightness filled him.
"But now, I'm finally freed from this cursed body, from these cursed humans."
"I think, this is my soul", Ray said, staring at his own semi-transparent body.
Suddenly, a large white door materialized directly in front of him, shimmering with an otherworldly glow.
Ray instantly covered his eyes, as a reflex to protect his eyes from overwhelming glow. "What is this? So bright."
The light started to dim slowly, as Ray tried to see, what is glowing so brightly?
"It's a door . A large one. Maybe it's a gate.
I can't understand, why is this door here?
I can't see through him because of light, it is emitting. "
Ray removed his hand from his eyes. And moved closer to door.
What is behind this door?, Ray thought.
He rubbed his eyes gently.
"I am feeling better now. Still It's weird without a physical body."
"Now..."
Ray stepped toward Door.
"I should look inside it. What's behind it?"
As soon as Ray entered his half body inside door, frame of the door passed through his feet and whole door disappeared leaving the hospital room vacant and silent.
"What is this place", Ray's voice, though no longer a physical sound, resonated with awe.
Before him stretched an expanse of blinding light, an endless, featureless white that somehow felt both utterly empty and infinitely vast.
"No matter where I see, it's white, just nothing. It's like infinitely vast."
"Is it a heaven or hell? Although, it's not looking like hell.
Wait! Is it a trap? "
Suddenly, a booming voice echoed through the boundless nothingness, vibrating through Ray's very essence.
"The space you are perceiving, the one you describe as bright and infinitely vast, is the Void of Nothingness", the voice declared, ancient and omnipotent.
"The souls of lesser beings, such as Yahyu, cannot fully grasp the logic of the Void of Nothingness within their tiny mind", AVoice came out of Nothingness.
"But I am a human.
And Who are you?
Are you also a soul, trapped here like me?"
The voice hardened, "Control your words, lesser being. I am the owner of this realm. My name is Ager, and I am the neutrality of nothingness. I have never heard about humans. Maybe they are unknown species of multi-planetary level. Still lesser."
"Where are you?", Ray asked with confusion.
"I am everywhere. "
"You are here to face your karma, and after that, you will be reincarnated into another universe", Voice continued.
"Another universe, reincarnation?", Ray whispered. "But I wanted to live peacefully in heaven."
Ray shouted with loud voice," Can I live in heaven?"
A low, exasperated sigh seemed to reverberate from all directions.
"As I knew, you lesser beings are quite annoying."
Ager paused, a shift in his tone suggesting a rare moment of introspection.
"It's all depends on what you have done in your life. But you can't live in heaven."
Ray instantly replied — Why? I haven't done any sin.
"It's because you have no karma. Also the reason, I am talking with a lesser being."
"Both hell and heaven requires karma, that you don't have."
"Then what will happen with me", Ray replied with clear panic on his face.