When Josie awoke, she found herself in a graveyard. She thought to herself she surely remembered that her backyard was the last place she was at. She tried to remember how she got here, but her memory was nearly blank.
Suddenly, Josie felt a cold, boney hand rest on her little shoulder. She quickly turned around and saw Death. Her memory started to come back. “You brought me here!” she said, with tears filling her pale eyes, “I remember being in my backyard playing with an axe, yet it’s not clear to me why I’m here.” “You mean you don’t remember what happened to you?” Death questioned. Josie’s eyebrows furrowed as she tried to think back to what happened. After a few silent minutes, she replied with a puzzled, “No..”
Another long pause was exchanged between the two of them, and then Death asked her, “You see that family in the distance there, standing at the new grave?” Chills ran down Josie’s spine, hairs on end. “Y-yes..,” she replied shakily. “I want to show you something,” he said.
As they got closer, Josie recognized the people. It was her family! She wasn’t aware of any recent death of a family member. She was still stumped, and couldn’t put the pieces together. Josie decided to ask one of her relatives who died. No one was responding. “Hello! Who died here? I want to know!” Nobody payed attension. She slowly moved closer towards the tombstone, and bent down to read what it said. Clearly graven in the grey stone was: [Loved one of family and friends. – JOSIE KRISTA, 1990-2000]. She didn’t know whether to scream, cry, faint, or what. Josie was in total shock. When she found her tongue, she said, “This can’t be right. How am I dead!?” Death quickly replied, “As you were running around with the axe, you tripped and fell on top of it. The blade went into your chest and killed you. No one can see you but me. You are your body’s soul.” Josie didn’t want to hear anymore of this, but she had to face it; she was dead. She couldn’t even imagine what would happen next..
After everyone left the grave, Josie still stood there where her body lay. She could still not believe it.
“Now then..” Death began, “things happen when you die; In your afterlife, the two things that can happen are these: you can either go to heaven and live in eternal peace, or, you can be the soul of a living thing to roam the earth. You’d be able to exist as a living thing; not as an invisible soul. I’ll give you up until the next morning for you to make your descision. Is it heaven, or existance on Earth?”
Death left Josie alone in the cemetary after his speech. For the remainder of the day, she thought long and hard about which descision she would make. Later that night, she found a spot under a willow tree and went to sleep. The next morning, she opened her eyes and Death stood before her. “Well, have you made your descision?” Josie answered, “Yes, I have..”