It is a common belief that right before a person dies, their life flashes before their eyes. I thought that such a thing sounded too fantastical to be real, I thought that when I died it would be like turning off a flashlight – One moment I would be here and the other I wouldn't be. In fact, I can say now that the belief holds true.
That is what I thought as I rushed in head first in the path of a moving semi truck.
I never felt the impact, but what I did feel was my life ending in a sudden flash. And when I could no longer sense anything at all I knew that I was truly dead. There was no darkness, there was no light. There was just a cold unfeeling fact. I remained in that state for a while. I don't know how long, nor did I care. Death was the end of everything, so I didn't expect my situation to change anytime soon. That was, until I began to feel again. It was a slight pinch at first, a sensation I could ignore. Until it became more bold and emphasized, and I realized that I could sense a world around me. It didn't go beyond my fingers, but I knew that it was real. "Had I survived the impact?" was what I wanted to know then. After some time, my sense of smell and hearing came back as well. I could take a whiff of the air around me and I could feel my lungs expanding in my chest. Oddly enough, the air had a slight fish-like tang to it which I hated. And what I could hear was nothing too exciting either. Usually it would be hours upon hours of what sounded to me like hundreds of creaking doors in the distance, like a low wail or growl that I couldn't turn off. Occasionally I would hear a pair of voices, they didn't sound familiar, but when they did come around they would always ask about me. "How is he doing?", "did you change him?", "how much longer?" were among the most common phrases I heard around that time.
It remained that way for another while longer, and I learned to view my world as a crowded darkness, for my eyes refused to open. Finally, one day, I woke up from a slumber, and I found that the growl that I had gotten used to was suddenly gone. My small crowded world was not so crowded anymore. And when I took a whiff of the air, I found that it no longer smelled of the sea, but of pollen and freshly cut grass. The sudden change around gave me a newfound desire to see what laid beyond my fingers, and in that warm summer afternoon, basking under the sunlight of a brand new day, I finally opened my eyes.