"I am dead!" I mumbled to myself as I looked at the scene before me.
The body of a young woman was lying in front of a classroom door with her back facing the onlookers and face obscured by wet hair. The body was drenched in cold water and there was a metal bucket lying not too far away.
I was sure I was not breathing anymore even though my heart was still beating, but not for too long.
"Only if they used a plastic bucket instead of metal ones!" I lamented to myself since no one can hear me anymore.
Looking at your own death is a wonderful experience. You see your life on a much emotional level, the happiness that you never realized, the sadness that you couldn't let go, the friends, the family, and everything else, flash past your eyes for one last time, letting you know that this is a definite end and everything was trivial in the face of death.
My perpetual sadness of having my boyfriend stolen away from me by a much prettier coworker, the mediocre job of an English teacher as you are valued by neither your students nor coworkers and family.
I was never an overly emotional person, just like most other modern people. We see others' sadness, lament for a short while, make a comment, then move on with our lives. But now I am glad it was a quick death, albeit not ideal, but quick enough so that I didn't have to suffer much pain.
I looked around to see the rest of the class still laughing at the prank they so meticulously prepared for me. It was supposed to be just a prank on their not-so-favorite teacher, only it took away my life.
I always yelled and scolded so they would listen to my class and improve themselves. Unfortunately, not everybody likes listening to an English class. When you have a room full of hot-blooded teenagers, you can't make them listen unless they want to listen. And I learned this the hard way.
I guess Ms. Ruby had some idea of this prank set up that must be why she warned me to not come in the previous period.
"Just don't come to this class again Miss. Pearl. NO MATTER WHAT!" She took a deep breath as she looked at my utterly clueless face, "Just remember this. That's all Miss Pearl"
And then she went back. I was confused at that time, but now I feel that I should have listened to her, maybe all this could have been avoided.
I had always dreamed of becoming a teacher, I admired them so much as a child. It seemed as if they knew the answer to everything. Then as I grew up this dream became my reality, albeit a sad one now. My teaching career of one and a half year ended today with my death.
I looked around the classroom. It seems like these kids have realized I was not moving. Hope this does not affect their futures even though it may leave a psychological scar.
"Miss. Pearl?" One of the nearby student tried to call (ME), only to see no response. She was a mischievous girl, even though she had good scores in the test she never paid attention in class.
"Is she dead already?" A boy standing nearby asked in a mocking tone. I guess he has no idea that his life is going to change forever, even though I wish he can stay strong.
In response, the girl who was calling me previously, hurriedly bent down and checked my breath. Panicking she moved to check my pulse. Only to look back with a horrified expression back at the boy.
"Quickly call the ambulance, she's not breathing and no pulse either!!" The girl said in a trembling voice.
"What????!!!!!!" It was the boy who seemed to be a little more than horrified now.
"Anyone knows CPR? Chloe? You took swimming training no" Another student commented.
Chloe stood up with her face pale in fright. Death was probably the last thing these youngsters imagined they would encounter today.
"I'll call the ambulance!" Said another student as he ran out of the class. Meanwhile, miss Chloe already started the steps of CPR. A star athlete of the school, she had good training, and it was showing.
I looked over as I saw the students go through a variety of emotions. I didn't fee as emotional myself. Only worrying about these kids until the last moment, I guess this what it means to be a teacher.
Even in death, I cannot wish harm upon my students, I could only silently lament upon my misfortune as these questions passed through my mind.
"Am I dead already??"
"Am I a ghost?"
"I hope a death reaper comes and brings me to the afterlife, maybe will I get reincarnated to another world like those now popular novels?"
It doesn't matter now anyway. I was dead.
Meanwhile, the students had started the next course of action after their crime.
Denial
"Brian! It's your fault, I told you we shouldn't but you never listen!" It was the girl who checked my pulse first.
Brian, the guy who asked if I was dead before, replied in an exasperated tone, "Shut up Amy! All you do is whine all the time! You still watched on! you are also responsible!"
"No Brian, It's all your fault!" Said a boy from the back of the classroom. "You always play pranks and you have bad grades too! Just because you don't have a future doesn't mean you can ruin ours too!"
"That's right! Just because you are dumb and will probably be homeless or jobless in the future doesn't mean you can drag all of us down with you" Another student said. She was one of the brighter students.
Everybody joined and put all the blame onto Brian until the boy was reduced to the brink of tears.
Looking at this scene I could only sigh. They were passing the whole blame to that one boy.
'Maybe I should haunt them? I am dead anyway!'
I mumbled to myself as I looked at my body still lying motionless as Chloe and another student were drenched in sweat while giving CPR.
I am thankful for their efforts at least.
I scanned through each of their faces memorizing the last few students I will ever see. At my own body, now lying straight in front of the door of the classroom, there was no blood or any visible signs. Just that I was motionless with a serene expression on (my) face.
"I am dead?" I said out loud to myself. but no sound came out, and nobody saw
From the corner of my eye, I noticed one student who did not seem to be affected by this incident, unlike others. She was sitting motionlessly on her seat with a hand supporting her chin as she looked at her classmates in amusement.
Ruby.
She turned her eyes to me. Not the dead (me) but the me who was juts standing here aimlessly.
I turned to her and was surprised to discover that she could indeed see me, unlike others as evidenced by her eyes moving along with me as I was getting closer to her. She seemed to be a little surprised, a little amused, and a little happy!? At least I was not the only one surprised to find me dead even though I would have felt better if she didn't look happy.
Her eyes turned green from her original dark brown. The green looked more like neon green lights instead of natural color and it didn't seem to have raised an alarm among other students. Maybe everybody was too preoccupied thinking about how to blame poor Brian and didn't have time to look at other students' eye color?
"You didn't dissipate! And nobody came for you either!!" She exclaimed.
But the weird thing was, her lips never moved. But I heard her.
"I am dead?' I asked her just to confirm what I just saw.
"Probably." She said in a matter of fact tone confirming my conjecture.
"But since nobody came for you you probably are not a simple soul anymore! You are an Undead or a Ghost. if that's what you prefer!" She said as she moved her hands closer to me.
Soon an unfamiliar evil smirk was seen over her face.
"You are what I was looking for!" A weirdly mature voice was heard instead of the naive and innocent one I heard a few hours ago.
I was feeling that things were going in a bad direction but there was nothing I could do.
She grabbed onto my Hand(?) and soon the world in front of me changed.