Week 10 Story: How to be Dead 101
How to be Dead 101
The man poked his head out of the burial site. His thin wrinkled face squinted at those around him. "I tried being dead," he told his wife, "but I don't think it's stuck to me. I don't know how to be dead."
His wife, who had bargained their long lives for some daylight, shushed him. "You are the first one to ever die, figure it out."
The man lay back down, grumbling.
Flashes of light went off around him. "Congratulations!" someone shouted. He couldn't tell if it was male or female. A smooth, round face, like that of a child's, appeared above him. H screamed and poked his head out of the gravesite again.
"Dear, I really don't think I like being dead."
His wife shushed him. "We'll figure it out once the men return from hunting. Until then, get back in your grave."
The man settled back into his grave forlornly.
"You're the first human to ever die," the translucent figure said. "How does it feel?"
"Um...." The man didn't quite know how to respond. "I don't think I'm dead."
"Of course you are silly! How else would you be able to see me?"
"To be fair, I don't even know what you are."
The figure laughed uproariously. "Neither do I!" they said. "I just know I've never been alive." The man shifted uncomfortably. "I don't think this death thing is going to work out." He made to get up from his grave and leave it once and for all when the figure stopped him. "Aw c'mon, being dead isn't that hard. I've been doing it for, like, years now." They looked at him with hands clasped and hope in their vacant milky eyes.
The man sighed. "Okay, okay, I'll give it a try."
The figure clapped their hands. "Wonderful! Okay, so being dead 101." The figure made a shooing motion to the man. "Scoot over."
He wiggled over. "Is this good?
The figure nodded and lay down next to him. "Okay, so right now, you need to relax and let go of your spirit."
"I'm sorry," the man said. "My what now?"
"Your spirit," they said. "Every human has one. In death, you need to still your body and let your spirit go."
"Still my body how? I laid there perfectly still for a whole day and nothing happened."
The figure shook their head. "No, your mind was still active, casting about for something to anchor to. You need to let it be still as well."
"Well that just sounds like sleeping with extra steps," the man muttered.
They laughed. "I suppose you're not wrong. After you let your spirit go, your body will decay and, eventually, be no more."
A sudden fear gripped the man's heart. "If I, or my spirit?, am no longer in my body, where do I go?"
"Do you remember the darkness?" they asked. "The big empty sprawling black of the sky before the light?" The man nodded. "You get to go up there and light it with your soul, and every once in a while, you'll get to come back down and dance with all the other souls who will have passed."
The man breathed a shaky sigh of relief. "That doesn't seem so bad."
The figure smiled. "There you go," they said. "That wasn't so hard."
The man looked down. Through his new translucent form, he saw his body. It really did look like he was asleep save for the unnerving stillness he had never seen before.
They touched his arm softly. "Come on," they said. "It's time to leave. For a little bit we'll be alone, but not for long." They grinned and the man, feeling at once like a child again, grinned back. They ascended to the great sky together and became two twinkling lights watching over the world.
Author's Note
I took a part of the story "The Coming of Men, A Long, Long While Ago" and made it my own. The first man to die dies but then pokes his head back out because his body didn't actually know how to die. I took this in a more humorous route rather than a horrifying route. It was that part of the story that stuck out to me, and I just knew I had to write on it.
Bibliography
Human Skull. Pascalmwiemers. (Source: Pixabay)
The Coming of Men a Long, Long While Ago from Eskimo Folkore by Knud Rasmussen
You did a good job with this story! I was confused at the start. How does a dead man get out of his grave? But, as I kept reading, it made sense. I'm glad that you didn't make it scary, and instead made it comical. Even though it was light hearted, parts of it were still serious and thought provoking. I'm glad the man was comforted instead of frightened. Good work!
ReplyDeleteI enjoy reading all your stories. Your storybook is so fun to look at. The communication between characters makes readers could follow the pace of the author. You have used image in your blog so well with the theme and it is easy to understand what you were trying to finish.
ReplyDeleteHi Natalie, I love your title first off. Without that title, I would be really scared when reading your story. Death is a scary topic, but you were able to make it less scary with them becoming two twinkling lights after the man let go of his spirit. It was also a little humorous because you never think about trying to be dead. Rather, we think of it as something that just happens without effort. I was a little confused how the wife could hear him if he was the first one dead. Was she dead as well? Overall, really great story!
ReplyDeleteHey Natalie! I really enjoyed reading your story! I think my favorite part of your story is the part in which you describe how the man ascended into the sky and became a twinkling light watching over the world. I thought your story was well-written and flowed very smoothly. I am looking forward to your next one. Great job Natalie!
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