"Hello, Shaun, can I call you that?"
A boy who looked shorter than me, asked. He had extremely long blonde hair, reaching the floor, and he was wearing an unbuttoned white shirt.
"Yeah, sure...."
I, not knowing what situation I was in, just answered his questions.
"Now, Shaun, you're dead. Welcome to the afterlife!"
Huh? I slightly tilted my head. Dead? How come I didn't remember? Where am I even? I couldn't believe the boy, but considering that I was sitting above the clouds, I should've probably believed him.
"What do you mean dead?" I was perplexed, even though the meaning of 'you are dead' should've been clear.
"Deceased, passed on, no longer alive. I thought that was clear?" The boy asked rhetorically.
"No, no. I can't be dead!" I slammed my hands on the table. My head was spinning, my palms sweaty, my voice cracked.
The boy leaned in. "Tell me, what was the last thing you remembered?" The boy asked with a grin, his elbow on the table and his chin resting on his palm
"Easy! I was going to meet my girlfriend at a cafe. Now, you tell me, when did I die?" This time, I was the one who had a grin on his face.
But the boy only grinned wider. "And did you ever reach your girlfriend?"
Of course I did… Did I?
I recalled my memories once more, going through the entire sequence of events. I was in my room playing Minecraft until my girlfriend messaged me.
She said she wanted to see me, and I suggested going to a cafe. After agreeing to which exact cafe, I went there on my bicycle. And then…
My mind blanked. I didn't remember going back home, or going to the cafe or even seeing her. I internally panicked. My shoulders felt weak and I found myself gasping for air.
"How… How did it happen?"
"Your death?" The boy raised his hand off the table and sat with his elbow on his knee. "An oil tanker exploded. A vehicle that was overweight with out of date muffler systems combined with the driver's cigarette ashes that was left outside the window," The boy explained.
"How come I don't remember any of it?"
"Because I erased it."
"Why?"
"You and I wouldn't have been able to talk as we're doing now." I was about to ask 'why' again but he seemed to have sensed it and answered my question before I even asked.
"Your death wasn't instant. It's called an oil tanker explosion but gasoline doesn't explode, it just ignites, and you got caught in the fire. Your body burned slowly as you were crawling on the ground because your legs were roasted. You looked like Anakin after his duel on Mustafar." The boy snorted on that last comment.
"..."
Following that image, I was still breathing heavily, trying to catch air. No, it wasn't that, the image was so surreal that I was subconsciously holding my breath.