What happened after we die? What waited for us when we exhaled our last breath?
Someone had enough luck to know the answer to those questions: A person who was given the chance to learn about the life after.
It was me, Yana. A person who met his demise under the sea a while ago.
I remembered how it all started.
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My eyes were heavy, my breaths were short, my knees were failing as I kept running.
The sounds of insects were screeching in my ears and the moist forest dirt soaked my bare feet. Cold night winds invaded my entirely naked upper body and I was only guarded by the sole pants I was wearing.
My right hand was hanging on the side of my stomach, desperately grabbing on a cloth that messily covered my wound, while my other hand was supported by the shoulder of a girl beside me.
Her running was rather staggered because of my body weight and also the small wooden torch she was holding, but thankfully my stature was quite the same as hers. Thus, there wasn't any increased difficulty in carrying me.
We were both entering our teenage years yet our bodies couldn't deliver the prime performance we needed.
From the faint light of the torch that guided us in the dark woods, I could see her face becoming more and more worried. Battle cries added with people's shouting were roaring behind us and I could only hope that the overwhelming sounds were not able to approach us any sooner.
The sting of pain on my stomach worsened with each step we took and her breathing pattern wasn't getting better either. Our bodies were so covered in sweat, even my hand on her bare shoulder was wet from it. Her black eyes were shifting left and right to find a way, panicking but determined. Perhaps her mind was asking the same question as I did in this unfamiliar scenery.
"You sure this is the way to the beach?" I asked, my voice came out weaker than intended.
"I don't know, just keep on running," she insisted while her eyes were still focusing on the path in front of us.
My vision was as narrow as the forest road ahead, large old trees with 10 or 12 times my body height were standing left and right. With lighting as small as our torch, we might not know what things hid beneath the dry leaves we stepped upon. Who knew what kind of rocks or small plants ready to topple us down in our escape. The run went on and on, never certain of how much time we had spent, until...
*BHUGGG*
A large impact hit us before our bodies started falling headfirst. It all happened too fast. Our feet stumbled upon the root of a big tree that stuck out onto the ground, then she loosened the grip on me and the next thing I knew, my whole body was laying down there on the ground.
The impact brought a lot of shock to my wound and I was gritting my teeth for how painful it was, it was just as if someone stabbed the base of my stomach multiple times. The insides of my head were spinning around and I forced my eyes shut to lessen the headache.
I clenched the hand that pressed my wound too tightly out of reflex, making my already erratic breathing even worse. I stayed in my position for a long time while both of her hands were trying to pick my body up after tossing the torch away.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," I kept hearing her apologizing but my mind was too indulged in pain to process her talking. I felt her hands pulling my shoulder as hard as she could to make me stand on my feet, but she might be frustrated since my body didn't react too well to it.
"Please, you have to stand now.., I will definitely help you but you must make an effort too," she pleaded with an anxious tone. I nodded my head as a sign of agreement while my mouth was still opened wide, gasping for any air I could take. I shouldn't be letting her do all the work for me.
"Great, I will give you the cue. In three; one, two,...," when her count reached three, she lifted my body with all the power she could draw from herself and I tried to hold my body up with my only available hand.
It was successful to brought my body to arise, but the moment I stood on my knees, suddenly the wound stung again and again to the point I wanted to vomit the contents of my stomach. It was too much. I didn't think I could go more than that.
"Yana? Yana! Come on, stand up!" before I noticed it, she was already in front of me calling for my name. I took a look at her and studied her expression for a moment, half of her face was buried behind that long black hair that she possessed, but it was enough for me to spot the anxiety in her face.
The shoutings were still ongoing behind me without any sign of stopping, and the thought of being chased by so many people would never put anyone's mind at peace.
"Yana! Please talk to me, we shouldn't be staying for too long," she shook my shoulders after hearing only silence from my part. Her eye was beginning to form beads of tears, but somehow I could sense she was trying to hold it in.
I looked at my stab wound once again as it started to spill out streams of blood onto my pants, staining them with the shade of crimson. A miracle might be happening to me since I stayed alive for this much with a wound that must have been too deep down my stomach.
If we kept on going just like our position before, the enemies would definitely found us out before we could escape this forest, and it would be the end of us. I knew exactly what she had to do.
"Run.., go without me."
"What.., what are you talking about," she disbelieved what I just said.
"Go, I will only be a burden to you like this. The enemies have spotted us before and I don't know when they will reach us," I took her hand off my shoulder and pushed it towards her.
"No you won't, we were fine running like before! W-we can walk, okay? Just take it slowly and we can find a way," she replied. Her hand was getting colder despite all the excessive sweating and her concerning gaze bore through my own eyes.
I knew she knew how dangerous was this situation, so why wouldn't she understand my wish?
"I can't go on any further with you like this, we will be too slow! You can.., no, you WILL survive if you go now, just leave me here!" I would take any effort to convince her to leave me in my demise if that meant she would stay alive.
Despite all the roars that loomed behind, I didn't hear any footsteps that were approaching us at the moment, she might have a chance to survive. Our chaser would find me first so I might be able to buy her some time with everything I had left.
But she held my wrist instead. "No! I will never do that. Why would you think of it?" she retorted with an angry face then proceeded to brought our tangled hands towards my face. "We promised! You already agreed too when we carved them.
We will find a new place for both of us!" she continued while showing our scarred pinky fingers that we engraved quite long before this moment. We made straight incisions on both the front and back of our pinky, making more rows on our smallest finger.
"We will find a better place without this war nonsense and live together! Not only you, not only me.., but the both of us! It could not happen with only one of us alive!" she almost shouted uttering the whole sentence and her trembling hand gripped my wrist harder. Her scared expression was getting more obvious but there was a genuine resolution in her voice.
Or it might not be a resolution, but stubbornness. I understood her intent to fulfill our promise to stay alive; She never wanted me to die, I never wanted myself to die either, but I was fearing she underestimated my situation. Why was she so stubborn at the worst of times? Why wouldn't she listen to me?
I shook her hand too hard with my wrist to release my hand from her grasp.
"Forget it, Aria! I'm done! I'm really done! Screw that promise! Both of us will die if you don't do what I say!" my rage translated clearly in my voice, making her staring me blankly. "Don't be stubborn and just follow my words! Please, this is for your own sake. If you survive this, you can get a new start you always wanted. This is your chance! Maybe it will be hard at first, but I know you can do it!" I reprimanded her.
Aria remained there, sitting in front of me with no motion whatsoever, somehow frozen from all of my words.
"Please! just go. This whole thing.. happened because of my own fault. I made a terrible mistake on my part and.., and I dragged you into this mess. I won't let you endure the same suffering as my grandfather! I will repent it by keeping you alive!" I continued but there wasn't any response from her yet. Before I realized it, my eyes had been swollen and there was an indescribable lump on my throat.
I knew I would end up like this, powerless and dying. I was such a fool for hoping more. But I wanted it to happen, the promise we made. I could already imagine the days we would spend outside of this island.
Our days would be filled with hardships at first, having no stable food or any place to stay, but we could hunt and share our food. We would make a simple home with woods like the one I had with my grandfather by the seashore and maybe spend our lives there, relying on no one but ourselves. Then, when the night came, we would be deep in our slumber accompanied by the ocean breeze and the rustling of coconut tree leaves. It must be a delightful life without any worry.
But then I realized, I couldn't be there when it all happened. The word 'us' suddenly disappeared and became a void in my mind.
My eyes were covered by my black hair was focusing on her after snapping from my thoughts. The moonlight slowly snuck through the thick layers of leaves, partially highlighting her stiff face. It took me a moment to notice a stream of tears that flowed through her cheek and the grim expression she had for a while.
Her lips were shaking and her stare of determination was gone, replaced by an empty gaze towards my own. It was hard to watch her in that state but I tried my best to endure it. I should not let any emotion spilled out as I afraid she would pity me for my decision otherwise. I steadied my eyes even though they were close to leaking and put up a strong front. She must be convinced that I was ready for this, ready to follow through until the end.
I never imagined how the afterlife would look like. Everyone told me that it was the place where the soul of our ancestors lied within. If it was real then my sole wish was to met my grandfather there. He would probably disappointed to see me there so soon but I didn't care.
I heard her nose inhaling deeply before closing her eyes and stood up from her knees. It appeared that she finally made her decision to leave immediately.
Her body was fidgeting no more and her figure bathed by the bright moon ray was just gorgeous. She was wearing a cloth that neatly covered her chest and the light blue color reflected the light nicely, I wondered how she could appear so majestic at the moment. I tried to burn that sight onto my memory since it might be the last time I ever saw her.
She stood there silently for a short time before opening her mouth, "Yana, I made up my mind. Please don't hate me after this," she uttered with such a flat tone. That statement almost startled me as I was questioning the meaning of her words. Why did she think I would be mad if she followed my words?
Before I could find an answer to that, she suddenly pulled my arms upward to raise my body. My whole self was filled with jolting pain and the shock made my hand lost the grip of the cloth that pressed my wound.
I begged her to stop but what came out from my mouth were only insensible groans that meant nothing. She kept on dragging me back although my hands were wriggling to make her release the grip on my arms. That torture lasted for several seconds before she gently put my back against a tree and straightened my legs.
I swore I could have fainted if it went on any longer.