Life After Death

~Brandon James Scott Scholl

As little Annie walked back to her seat after talking to the stewardess she felt embarrassed. She had just explained how she was too small for the seat belts and needed a booster for when the plane landed. It was embarrassing enough that she was 4' 9" and that people always looked down on her. The attention was more than she ever wanted.

Annie climbed back into her seat just as they started hitting some turbulence. They were flying over a lush rainforest at the moment and the mixture of dark forest green and the polka dots of exotic colors were more than words could describe.

The turbulence was starting to get worse and the fasten seatbelts sign dinged on. As Annie looked around for a stewardess to get her a booster they all had panicked looks on their faces. None of them paid attention to any of the passengers asking questions. Instead, they hurried to their seats and buckled in.

Just then the pilot came over the loud speaker.
"This is your captain speaking. We seem to be running into quite a bit of turbulence and don't worry, we'll be safe and sound and in time to our destination. Thank you."

Annie felt sick to her stomach. As she buckled into the giant seat the plane started to shake violently. People started moaning and screaming as the plane was tossed violently. Just then the hull of the plane started to moan louder than anything being heard inside. All of the sudden, the roof of the plane was torn away and darkness intruded into the bowels of the aircraft. She looked around as parts of the airplane continued to moan and strain under the pressure. Next, the back of the plane was torn completely off. At this point Annie was gripping onto the seatbelt itself with white knuckles for fear of being pulled out of her seat. They were going to crash and there were no doubts about that. Last thing Annie remembered was hearing people screaming and then their screaming fading as she lost consciousness.

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When Annie woke up to reality she was flat on her stomach in the middle of a field. Her head was killing her because of the giant headache that was currently tormenting her well-being. However, she didn’t have any broken bones or blood flowing out of her. Besides a few bruises that were starting to reveal themselves on her arms and legs, she was surprisingly fine. As she stood up and looked around, she couldn’t tell much about her surroundings and where she was. So, she climbed over to a wing from the plane that had landed in the middle of the field that she was in.

As she got to the top of the wing and looked all around her, she felt sick to her stomach. As she turned to all sides she realized that she was literally in the middle of a field of death. Bodies from the plane were strewn in various angles, shapes, and poses that were both natural and unnatural. Annie’s knees buckled and she fell to her hands and knees as she threw up.

Once she got down from the wing she walked into the surrounding forest. As she walked she was thinking about her current situation. She hadn’t seen any other survivors from the crash. Why was she the only one? Out of everyone on the flight, she was the smallest and she was the sole survivor of the horrible event.

Just then, something moved out of the corner of her eye. A man was running with a giant metal cylinder in his hands. As she thought about shouting out to the man she studied the cylinder he was carrying, it was a rocket launcher. This person was the reason for the crash! Annie decided that she would follow the man through the forest to see where he was going. If she followed him to a city or somewhere with a phone, she could report what happened and tell the police what happened.

After 30 minutes of following the man he finally got to a car that was parked on the side of the road. She watched as he opened the trunk of his car to put the destructive weapon in. As he started to put it in, bright flashing lights of red and blue came from all sides and surrounded the man. As she watched police officers arresting the man she ran after them shouting, screaming, and flailing her arms. However, none of the officers acknowledged her. She ran up to one telling him what she had seen the man do and about the crash site and the bodies that were everywhere. But still, there was nothing to show that the officer knew anything about her existence. As she was confused to why a team of people in hazmat uniforms ran past her and she followed them to the crash site.

When they got there, everyone went right to work. However, nobody had yet to acknowledge her.

“What is wrong with you people? Can’t you hear me,” she screamed as loud as she could. By this point, tears were streaming down her face. She felt so alone and isolated. As bodies were cleared away, one of the team members called the captain over to a body. As the captain raced over, she did as well. When she got there, the sight was gruesome and unbelievable.

“It’s such a shame to see someone so little and young have this happen to them,” breathed the captain under his breath.

Annie was in a total state of shock as she was looking at, herself. There was her body, lifeless, laying there with her head broken open, her arms with the bones protruding through the skin unnaturally, and her brain matter bleeding out of her ears as well as the breaks in her skull. How could it be that she was standing there, thinking, talking, and yet she was a lifeless corpse at the same time?

As she looked around at the scene again there was something new. A man stood in the middle of the field, cleanly dressed and he was looking straight at her. She thought it was just herself projecting him staring at her so she walked to another part of the field. When she looked at him again, he was still watching her. As she walked up to him he smiled warmly and she didn’t feel threatened by him.

“What is your name,” Annie asked.

“My name is Andrew,” replied the comforting but strange man.

“I’m dead, aren’t I?”

“Depends on how you look at it Annie.” She was confused.

“Perhaps I’ll just let Him show you.” Just then everything around her disappeared and she was embraced in light. Not a normal light that could have been from the sun or from electric light, but true light. Annie felt not only comforted but an emotion of love that was stronger than anything she had ever felt before, the true essence of love. As she felt lifted by the light into the air she felt supported and in awe and wonder.

“Hello, my child,” boomed a soft voice that had so much compassion that it felt like it dripped off of every word. Tears came to Annie’s eyes as she came to a new level of relaxed. For she knew the voice immediately when it spoke, it was God.

“D…daddy,” she choked the question out because of the overwhelming emotions that were overtaking her.

“Welcome home, my good and faithful servant.”