“I hate mondays” murmured Dr. Robinson while getting into his ten year old Chevrolet under the overcast monday sky. “Mondays should be included in weekends so we can have longer weekends” thought doc and reluctantly started his car. The day started like a usual monday but it wasn’t going to be one. The doc wasn’t aware of it yet.
Everyday he’d take the second right from his house and get on the highway, take Exit 5 and drive directly to the hospital for over twenty minutes. It was said that he was the best oncologist in town. Even though he had held hands with many dying cancer patients, death was always a common, empty word for him and he’d always been afraid of it. It was quite surprising to see how people would talk about the God, heaven, feeling good and all when they were about to die. He felt sorry for those people. A rational man would know that death was the end of it, finito, caput.
“Oh, mondays…” he murmured again just before hearing an incredibly loud crash and hitting his head one or many times. The highway disappeared and then reappeared and then… he was feeling his body was moving involuntarily. Everything was out of sync. His so called survival mechanisms couldn’t get any useful information except the “you must be in trouble” fact. It felt like a hurricane but he couldn’t figure out what it was until everything stopped all of a sudden. A deadly silence followed. A few minutes later his brain was beginning to synchronize with the external world by sending a huge amount of pain signals coming from all over his body.
“Are you all right?” asked a male voice.
He wanted to shout but couldn’t move a muscle.
“It’s all right” said the same voice. “It’s all right now. You are doing fine.”
A while later, he found him self lying on a soft ground with a man standing right next to him.
“It’s a miracle… that you haven’t got any broken bones, just a few bruises though” the man said.
“What…”
“An accident. You were hit from behind by a car. Now, you wait here till we get an ambulance and I’ll take a look at the others in the other car”
The man was out of sight and Dr. Robson was left lying under the beautiful blue sky which seemed to be quite depressing in the morning.
“There you go” he heard the other man saying to someone else. Despite the increasing pain in his legs and back, he felt that he could be of help to them as a doctor. When he held up his head, he saw a little boy trying to help the other man get the passenger(s) out of the car.
“Please dad, please wake up” he cried sounding rather desperate.
By the time he went near the car, he knew that the passengers in the car, a man and presumably his wife, were already dead. He could almost smell death after having so many cases at the hospital but this time wasn’t able to leave the situation or let the nurse do the “everyone dies” talking.
“They are dead, aren’t they?” the kid asked realistically despite the terror in his face.
Dr. Robinson felt like he had to do something to get out of his helplessness. He was assuring the kid that everything was going to be all right and he’d be taken care of soon. It was surprising how late the ambulance was coming considering the fact that they were quite close to the hospital.
“Finally” said Dr. trying to walk with the terrible pain in his leg.
The medics immediately got out of the ambulance.
“He’s alive” said one of them.
“Alive” murmured Dr. Robinson. “How come? But didn’t he…”
“Sir? Sir, your head is all red” said the kid pointing at the back of his head.
“What…? Oh, my head” replied Dr. Robinson rather confused. His back and trousers were all covered with blood. It was a miracle that he was still alive after that much bleeding.
The medics went right past them and headed to his car while he was watching them astonished.
“Hey, over here! Hey!” he shouted rather desperately but they were dragging someone else out of the car.
The medics looked at each other hopelessly and asked for backup for the bodies.
“Hey, you! I’m a doctor. I’m bleeding here for God’s sake!” Dr. Robinson was almost screaming but his voice began to fade away when he was the man’s face lying on the ground. It was himself lying peacefully on the grass.
“Surprising isn’t it?” said the man who’s helped him.
“But… did you just see..?”
There was a deadly silence.
“Time go to old man”
“To go? To go where?” replied Doctor honestly wandering about the man’s answer.
“This is the end of the road… Remember? The end, finito, caput?”
“So… You mean I’m dead?” then started laughing out loud.
The man was watching him with a friendly smile on his face.
“Don’t worry. This is the usual first reaction.” The man said while walking towards the kid.
“So we are dead?” the kid asked.
“Didn’t you miss your Bonnie, your dog, and grandpa?” asked the man.
“Are they…? Really? But how?”
The man held his hands and the kid looked very peaceful and sleepy in a few seconds. Then he smiled back to the man as if he were saying “I understand”.
The sun was shining like a bright star. The nature seemed beautiful more than ever. Different tones of green and yellow were blending smoothly and bringing a tranquility with each breath.
The man patted on Dr.’s shoulder and said “you see, it’s not the end of it Doc. It’s just a transition or a beginning you might say.”
Dr. Robinson was still surprised saying “I still don’t believe you”.
“You don’t have to my dear doctor but you’d if you had seen your father”
“Over here young man!” Dr. Robinson was stunned by his father’s voice coming from his back. There he was standing in his favorite good looking suit with his hair combed perfectly.
“Are you coming or not young man?”
“Dad?” he asked still suspicious but amazed at the same time.
“Oh, put that famous skepticism of yours aside young man. Come along.”
The Robinsons were hugging each other in no time and the man was holding the kid’s hand and leading them towards the shining light.
“And you shall be the…?” Dr. Robinson couldn’t put an end to his question.
“I’m the angel of death” he said with a beautiful smile and bowed respectfully.
“So, what’s next?” asked the doc.
“It’s just another beginning doc” replied the angel of death. “A beautiful one”.
Fire'n Light - A World in Stories 