Aeris was laid on the crisp yellow sheet of the hospital bed, which matched the color of his paled skin.
His head was almost bald; it was an effect of one of the many diseases he had inside his cursed body. Like no drop of moisture remained in his body, his skin was all dry, and his lips were no longer reddish but blackish.
With little flesh remaining in his body, his body was like a living dead. Even a little movement made him feel like being killed thrice.
Yet, gripping the already shrunken bedsheet beneath his body, resisting the unbearable pain in his throat, he let out few words out of his mouth.
"Why do my eyelids weigh like 100 pounds on me? I can't open my eyes."
He tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids were stuck together, like someone had pasted them with glue.
"I don't want to live. It's better to die than to bear this unbearable."
He opened his mouth slightly again to speak, but this time nothing came out of his throat. He grunted to speak, but it looked like his throat was no longer with him.
I can't even speak now, he thought. I want to die. Hey God! Please let me sleep forever in eternal slumber. Anyways, this life never gave me anything, other than pain and suffering, to love it.
Life—a curse; world—a hell
Beeeeepppppp....
The green line on the ECG machine, which was dancing with desperate rhythm a moment ago, flattened into a perfect straight line, filling the room with an unending beep sound.
Slowly his grip loosened, his eyes closed and fixed. Air was no longer entering the tunnels of his nose; his body started to get cold.
Hearing the echoing sound of the ECG, a nurse came into the room in a hurried way.
"Doctor, the patient in Room 34 is dead," she shouted.
After a few moments, a doctor came in. With glasses on his nose, he had an ugly and fatty body.
He sighed and said, "How many times do I have to tell you not to shout like this in the ward?"
Nurse lowered his head a little and said in a low but still hearable voice, "But he died earlier than our expectations."
The doctor stepped toward the bed to see the corpse of Aeris, and with an annoyed look on his face, he spoke.
"Disgusting! Don't you see him? He must be tired of his own life. It's normal that he died earlier."
The doctor turned towards the exit of the room, and before exiting, he said, "Send his body to medical college; his fees are unpaid. Let him pay with his body."
The nurse instantly questioned, "But what about his family?"
"Don't worry about that. He has no one. He was admitted as an emergency," the doctor replied and left the room.
The nurse looked towards Aeris for a few seconds in sympathy, and then, sighing, she also left the room.
But the room wasn't vacant or empty. There was still someone, hearing and seeing everything there.
"Pathetic Humans! They don't even care about dead. Only money matters to them. They are no different than animals."
Aeris lowered his head and saw his hands, which were now semi-transparent.
"It's my soul, I guess. I am not feeling any kind of pain, just the pleasure of being freed from a curse."
After a pause, Aeris continued,
"So this is how it feels when you have no disease in your body."
Aeris was busy taking pleasure in his new form; suddenly a large white door appeared with no gate, touching the ceiling of the room. It was emitting an otherworldly glow out of it.
As a reflex, to protect his eyes, Aeris instantly closed his eyes and put up his hand.
"Why is this door here?" It's so bright, I can't open my eyes," Aeris whispered to himself.
But this brightening light didn't last long, fading.
Aeris removed his hand and opened his eyes.
Is this a door to heaven? But inside it I can't see anything other than the white color, Aeris thought.
"I have just died, and now this! What am I supposed to do? I think I should see what's behind this large door."
With his words, Aeris stepped ahead, and as he put his foot in the door, all his body passed through the door.
Aeris instantly turned behind in panic, but there wasn't anything there.
No matter where he looked, everywhere was empty and white, like nothing was there. Aeris looked down towards his feet, and he saw he was standing on... nothing!
With a fearful look on his face, he pretended to fall as a natural reaction, but he wasn't falling even after standing on nothingness. His fear was just increasing.
"What the hell is this place? Where am I? Definitely it's not heaven. There is nothing here. Even my voice feels like I never said anything in this infinite-looking world."
His heartbeat was echoing all over his mind; he started to run at his full speed. Here and there, he tried everywhere, but as nothing was there, it didn't seem he was in motion.
"Haaaaaaaaaaa...
Why am I stopped at one place? Why am I not moving an inch from here?"
Aeris increased his speed even more, giving every ounce of energy that remained in his spiritual body or soul. The expression on his face was changing every moment, even more feared. His face was all shrunken with his own skin, his eyes tightly closed in fear, and he was moving his legs carelessly with all his energy.
But he didn't move an inch from there. Actually he was moving; just his dumb mind couldn't understand such a simple concept of motion. After all, he was uneducated.
Suddenly, Aeris's leg twisted, and he fell down in a scary manner.
Even souls bleed; blood came out of his nose.
"Why are you struggling so much, lesser being?"
A resonant sound echoed all over the infinite void, like his voice reached the end of that infinite to come back as an echo.