By Raaid Ihthisab
(It is 12:00 midnight. A 16 year old O/L student crouches over a pile of open textbooks and papers, their eyes straining as they struggle to understand the algebra sum before them. This continues for a minute as the expression on their face grows more and more agonized as their brain continues to push itself beyond its limits to answer the sum. Finally the face contorts and the student collapses. After a moment, a winged figure clad in a dark robe materializes in the room. He flips back his hood, revealing the face of a young man with black hair. He takes a step towards the student, places his hand on his back, and as he raises his hand, so does the student. Well, not their body, but rather an apparition of their body, immaterial and translucent, but visible and rather shocked looking)
Death: Cause of possible death, let’s see... Hmmmmm...
Student: Possible death?
Death: Well, you’re not quite dead. Yet. Your heart’s still beating but your brain... Well it’s really up to me if you’re gonna live or die.
Student: Death, please -
Death: Don’t try to rush me, I’m not good at being rushed… Oh, an aneurysm! That sucks but it’s not too bad.
Student: I want to -
Death: You know what, you’re still young with a whole life ahead of you. I’ll return you to life, how’s that sound?
Student: Die.
Death: Huh? You want to die?
Student: I’m an O/L student, I’ve been banned from video games and other interesting activities unless I pull 7 eights at least and I don’t even have any friends. Just let me die.
Death: You sure? As I said, you have a lot to live for, but I only have so much time and there’s a couple of people waiting to die already, so...
(Suddenly, a glow appears in the middle of the room and an angel of life appears )
Life: Trust me bro, you wanna live.
Death: If you’re here, then my job is finished.
Life: This is too important for you to leave just yet, Death.
Death: I mean, I’ve got stuff to do, people to kill -
Life:(calmly) You are staying, do you understand?
(Death pauses as he tries to decipher the message. He blanches and his eyes bulge slightly as its meaning dawns on him, and he sits down on the student’s bed with a timid expression)
Life: (faces the student) Okay, tell me - why don’t you think life is worth living?
Death: (dryly) Kid gave me a real explanation on that front. “I’m an O/L student, I’ve been banned from video games and other interesting activities unless I pull 7 eights at least and I don’t even have any friends”.
Life: Okay, that’s harsh, but it’s just going to be a few more months.
Student: Yeah, but it’s not going to be the last exam I have and, besides, adults always tell me “these are the best years of your life” which really just makes it worse.
Life: No no, it’s just nostalgia
Death: Ha!
(Life shoots him a glare)
Death: (quickly trying to cover his blunder) As in ha! How silly it is that people spend all their time looking back instead of appreciating all the good things they have here in the present.
Life: That’s the thing, no matter how screwed up you think things are, no matter how much pain you go through… Life, mortality, it’s exhilarating.
Student: How would you know?
Life: Well...
Student: (now angry) That’s it, how would you know! You’re an immortal being created for who knows what! You know nothing of mortality. You. Don’t. Know. Jack.
Life: Think about it, there’s so much that you’re not going to have in the afterlife. Your body isn’t coming with you, which means that when you leave behind mortality, you leave behind taste, adrenaline and the touch of a loved one. You’ve only got one shot at this, don’t waste it. Your eternal afterlife can wait. That’s why it’s called ‘eternal’, and it’s meant to just be the epilogue to your life, hence the ‘afterlife’. So please, at least try, at least consider living.
(The student is silent)
Student: Fine then, I guess you have a point, I’ll -
(At that moment footsteps are heard from outside the room and the student’s math teacher strides into what Death and Life now realize to be a classroom. He pulls the student up by their collar and slaps their forehead so hard that the student’s soul is pulled back to their body)
(The student awakes with a start, eyes darting around frantically till they come to rest on the teacher, and an expression of incredulity forms on their face)
Student: Wha - how?
Teacher: Sensed a disturbance in the force, I did. And here you are dying. Complete the exam, you must. Live, you will.
Student: (sighing) Well, while you’re here, could you at least explain this sum to me?
Teacher: Explain the sum, I shall.
( The student has another aneurysm while listening to the teacher, and their head slumps again. The Angel of Death and the Angel of Life watch the scene, half amused, half horrified and after a moment they swoop down to comfort the student and take them away, whether it be just another pep talk and back, or to the afterlife, I do not know…)
Fin?
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