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Adventures in the Afterlife

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Sirius sat on the ground Indian-style. It made sense to him in a way. The veil must have been a portal to… heaven, hell? A new wave of confusion overtook him. He put his hand over his face and rubbed his eyes… "What?" he thought again as he brought his hand away and looked at it as though he'd just discovered it. He touched his legs and arms. He stood up slowly. He stomped on the ground hard which actually hurt quite a bit. "Ah!" he exclaimed as he grabbed his leg. Then he faced the young man standing behind him chuckling softly at Sirius' antics.

"WHERE AM I?" Sirius screamed advancing on the man. He seemed quite taken aback by Sirius' suddenness. He started to answer, but Sirius cut him off with more sharp words. "If I'm dead then how come I'm solid? How come I can feel pain? You're lying to me. Who are you and where am I?" Sirius growled at him getting very close to the startled man.

The man regained some of his composure and heaved a weary breath. "You are, in fact, dead. The other things… Well, that's how things work here. And as for me, well my name is David." He smiled but sensed Sirius didn't trust him. "Here." he said quickly, "Let's go have a drink. I'll explain all you want there."

As the pair walked through the city, Sirius was struck by how normal everything seemed. People walked up and down the streets, looking in shop windows, laughing, talking to each other. He could see people eating and drinking in café s through windows. Sirius also felt a blast of warmth from a cozy inn they had just entered.

"David!" called a pretty woman from the bar. She rushed out to greet him with a hug. "I haven't seen you in ages!" Sirius wondered if she meant this literally, but kept quiet trying to take this all in. "What if it's all some ploy by the enemy and I fell for it?" Sirius worried as he stood there.

"I'm on the job now, but later, I promise." David was now escorting him away from the now sulking woman. He thought he heard him say something that sounded very much like "That woman." They took a booth in the corner. A friendly waitress was with them immediately.

"What can I get you boys?" she asked with a broad smile.

"The strongest thing you got." Sirius said sinking his head into his hands again. "I'll have whatever you get him." smiled David as he turned back to Sirius. "Do you want to ask or should I just start talking?" asked David looking vaguely sympathetic again. Sirius opened his mouth then shut it again. He had gone through this cycle a few times before David started speaking to him soothingly.

"You are in what is called The Afterlife. This is the first step in a…" He stopped. He seemed to be having trouble explaining. But before Sirius could ask a question to put him back on track, he started again. "A process. I guess, it could be called that."

"Why is everything so normal?" asked Sirius. Right now enemy ploys were far from his mind. He wanted to know what was going on. David seemed grateful for the direction. "Well, the Afterlife imitates real life with just a few key differences. It's so normal to make new arrivals and people who don't like the fact that they're dead feel as comfortable as possible. You can feel, but you can't be killed. But you can live pretty normally here. Just like life only dead." David smiled again. He didn't seem to know where to continue on from there.

"But what about…" Sirius paused. He didn't want to feel stupid, but he had to ask. "What about heaven and hell, and God, and all that?" Their drinks arrived.

"Here you are boys." said the smiling woman. Sirius downed his drink as soon as it hit the table.

"Well…" David began. "Well, here's how it goes. People who are living are born with a sense of spirituality, and based on how much the person needs it reflects how 'spiritual' they are. See, those who are really devout to any religion fundamentally need to feel as though they are going to be taken care of and rewarded when they die. On the other hand, those who call themselves atheists don't need to be comforted by knowing there's a God. Do you understand?" David looked at Sirius face, but his expression was unreadable.

"Crystal clear." said Sirius he smiled for the first time since he'd found himself in this strange place. "So, this heaven, hell, and God stuff is all just made up to make people feel better?" Sirius seemed almost comfortable now.

"Not exactly. The Afterlife is just what it's called. It's only what happens after your life, but that doesn't mean it's the end of the line. There are options. From here you can go forward or back…" But Sirius cut him off.

"But then what was that blue place I was in?" Sirius was more enthralled then ever. He hung on David's every word.

"That's sort of… eternity's vestibule, if you will. It's sort of the greeting area. When someone dies, They go immediately there. It really doesn't have a name…" he added guessing what Sirius was about to ask. "A power goes and picks them up and escorts them to the Afterlife."

"A power?" Sirius interrupted him. David looked at him deeply, then heaved another sigh.

"A power…" he began slowly "Is among the second sphere of angels. We pretty much oversee life and death…"

"Angels? So, there is God, and all that." Sirius' eyes were wide with attention. This was all a little too much for him to take in at once. First, he's dead. Now, he's discovering all the secrets of the universe.

"So, I've been told." David looked into his drink which he hadn't touched. "It's kind of like the government here. There are three spheres of angels. The third and lowest, is concerned with the living world mostly. The second sphere, which includes me, sticks to the Afterlife, living and dead matters. Then, there is the first sphere. They're beyond us. See, there's more beyond this, but there's some rigmarole you have to do to get there. I've never been. Anyway, they're all run by some head angel, and his boss is God."

"Wow." said Sirius simply.

"But it's not God as you may know it. History has put a spin on him, added some flourish. So, by now, the 'God' of the bible is not really God."

"I understand." said Sirius. It seemed David was trying to stretch it, to put it more simply, but it wasn't needed. Sirius was thinking of other things now. "What about ghosts?" he asked. David seemed to welcome the change of conversation.

"On their way here they get caught up on something. Not physical, usually something they can't leave behind and they linger. After they become aware they are a ghost, they no longer know how to get here. That knowledge is embedded in everyone when they die, but it can be lost if your mind is somewhere else." There was a silence that hung over them for a few seconds while Sirius worked out what he wanted to ask next.

"Do you know anything about how I got here?" Sirius regarded him for a moment. He was still looking into his drink.

"Well, some exceedingly clever humans have found a direct route here. I disapprove of it entirely." he added with a touch of anger. "Humans think they can just make portals to death. See what happens? People getting killed for no reason." Sirius opened his mouth to ask more about it, but the look on David's face stopped him. Sirius would have to let it go for now. He searched for something else to ask to break this tension.

"Well, what are my options?" he asked straightening himself up. David gave him a quizzical look. "I think I know enough for now." he started "And you said there's more, so I want to know what my options are." David brightened up immediately.

"Alright!" he exclaimed "Usually I have to stick with a person for days before they're ready to move on." He gave Sirius his broadest smile yet. "Well, here's what you can do. You can go back." Sirius' heart gave a leap "But not as yourself. Reincarnation. You'll have no knowledge of former lives until you die again…" David was cut off

"How do you know about former lives?" Sirius leaned in close forgetting about how his hopes of going back were shattered.

"Well, guessing by your reaction, you haven't had any. See, you always come back in your original form. How you looked when you first lived. And since you're not wondering about your appearance. I'm guessing you just lived your first life." Sirius was now inspecting his body closely everything seemed the same. The reflection in his spoon was the same as ever. David continued.

"If you don't want to be reincarnated, and I don't blame you if you don't. You can go on to judgment if you like. That's when you decide to move on to the first sphere. I don't know what happens really. No one is supposed to until they get there. But guessing by the name that's where heaven and hell come into play. But all I know is when you go there. It's different. Not like 'normal' anymore. Something more. Takes a brave kind of person to go through judgment." Sirius didn't like this option very much. He was hoping a more appealing option would come.

"Or there's the most popular option. You could search for old friends and relatives. See what they did. Try and meet up with them. Most people do this, then have a good idea of whether or not to go through judgment or reincarnation or to stay here." Sirius felt excited. The prospect of meeting everyone he knew that ever died. Who to start with?

"I want to find an old friend!" He yelled standing up. David joined him.

"Well there's the attitude. No need to stall, even if you have eternity." He left a couple of coins on the table and lead Sirius out of the inn. The woman at the bar was waving at them. David mouthed 'I promise' to her and they were gone.

"So, what do we do?" said Sirius with a renewed excitement. He hadn't been this excited about anything since he was a boy.

"Well, everything begins at one place, Filing." He said with a smile and lead him off down a now deserted street.

Well, there you go. More excitement to come, I promise. And if you're interested in the spheres of angels and all that, let me know and I'll post a link to the site with all the information.