Crash. Boom. Bang.
This was certainly not a song. This was the sound of a true collision.
Everything went as planned in Alex’s life until this sudden…. Bang. Plain. Dry. Neither melody, nor rhythm. There could be a similarity to drums, if one has to find a similarity to something like music as we know it.
“What do you think of the place?”
“Heavenly beautiful,” Alex said looking around him in amazement. “Would you be so kind as to spare me two minutes for checking in?” He politely excused himself searching in his pocket for his mobile phone.
“Two minutes are nothing compared to the whole eternity that is standing in front of you.”
“I think I lost my mobile phone.”
“For better or worse, you have lost more than that.”
Alex looked miserable when he found out it was his life he had lost, although he was still uncertain if it was really more valuable than his mobile phone. He began suspecting it though, after he was told he would not see his family again until the Day of Reckoning.
“So, how long will this take after all?” he asked reluctantly.
Naturally, he did not get a proper response, as these important details are not supposed to be revealed to humans, especially not to impatient humans who died minutes ago and have not even had the time to catch up with what is happening to them.
Alex remembered her eyes. Her eyes, that have the color of the sea when the sea is so clear that you can see the sand or the shingles shining underneath.
It came out without him realizing it. A cry, loud as thunder, like a wolf’s howl on a moonlit night, like a wild animal’s scream when violently separated from the herd, escaped from his soul – all that he had left – and flew like a bird to her ears.
Mary had not seen him for several days. And then, he appeared in front of her. Her skin, naturally white as milk, changed many colors, before it became even paler that usual.
“Don’t mind me. I’m a visitor. I can’t stay long,” he told her, when he realized her surprise.
“What do you mean by visitor?” Mary asked. “I’m a visitor as well. I just wasn’t expecting you here.”
“We are all visitors after all,” Alex said in a sad voice. “Visitors in each other’s imagination.”
Alex explained that he was granted a little time extension by his creator, who, all of a sudden, without warning or a cause, decided to kill him, so that he could speak the truth to her. For a moment he imagined his internet profile. Important life event: I died.
“Are you trying to tell me that I am a figment of your imagination?” Mary asked, slowly digesting his words.
“Unfortunately yes.”
“And the only reason you asked for an extension was to come and tell me?”
Alex nodded. He expected disappointment, anger, despair. He did not expect what followed.
“You saw me when nobody else saw me. You saw me when I was invisible,” she told him with the enthusiasm of a child who is slowly discovering the world.
“You were not invisible. You just didn’t exist.”
“We all exist. Someone has to discover us first though.”
Alex never thought about things that way. Silence prevailed on this forgotten – even by God himself – beach. Forgotten on purpose of course. God never makes mistakes. But even when he does, he is willing to acknowledge them and tries to find ways to correct them. The silence was broken by Mary.
“So, now you have to go?”
“It’s pretty strange I’m still here.”
“They may have changed their minds, right?” she asked him grasping his arm with all of her strength.
“I don’t think so. What is written, cannot be unwritten.”
“You shouldn’t say that. You can always start the story again from the beginning,” Mary answered, agony engraved all over her face. “Or the middle. Or even the end,” she added, stifling a sob that stuck in her throat, only to return stronger and transform into loud crying.
They thought about it, again and again, and finally reached an unexpected decision. Alex had to stay alive for a while longer.
Page erased. Fresh beginning: Initiated.
Crash. Boom. Bang.
A tender love song is playing on the radio, as Alex efficiently manages to avoid the car that is coming directly onto him from the opposite lane.
“It’s nothing really. Just a scratch.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to take you to the hospital?” Mary is asking him, looking terrified at the scratch on his arm.
“You should dedicate your time to something more useful. Like driving lessons for example,” Alex is responding angrily, checking his mobile phone. Important life event: Car accident, got away with a scratch.
“You are right. I shouldn’t drive that fast. It’s the first time I’m visiting this town after all.”
“We are all visitors anyway,” he answers, staring at her.
Their eyes meet. Her face reminds him of something. They must have met before. Of course, there is no way he can remember that thanks to her, he is still alive.