The Immobile Observer

Death wasn’t like in the movies. There was no cinematic reel of my mistakes, nor a blinding light inviting me to eternal rest. For me, the end of Frido was the echo of a constant beep and a ravenous cold devouring my hands, while I watched my wife and son dissolve into tears by my bedside.

I had everything a "successful" man should ambition: a house, a family who loved me, the car of the year, and a good job. But, ironically, success tasted like nothing. I spent my life waiting for a bus that never arrived at the stop. Pancreatic cancer wasn’t a tragedy; it was just the final period to a monotonous existence.

"Finally, peace," I thought as the world faded away.

But peace is fickle.
As I crossed that pale tunnel, a voice that belonged neither to men nor to gods echoed in my consciousness:

—It is not your time. You have another purpose.

—Purpose?— I wanted to scream, but I no longer had a mouth. The white vacuum slowly painted itself black until I felt myself vanish.

When I opened my eyes, the hospital had vanished. There was no smell of disinfectant or beeping machines. I couldn't feel my limbs; in fact, I felt nothing. My gaze was anchored on a strange blue sky, streaked with brushstrokes of an unnatural pink, as if someone had spilled paint over a cosmic canvas.

Panic tried to climb up my throat, but it found no path. "What the hell is going on? Hadn't I died? Is this heaven or hell? Well, I don't think it's heaven since I'm an ungrateful guy; I don't deserve it." Nothing answered my questions; there was only the cold silence of wherever I was.

A voice thundered in my head.

—Now you shall be known as Samuel, the creator of m......n...d......s.

The end of the sentence dissolved into the air. Samuel? A new name for a body I perhaps didn't possess. And what’s this about a creator? The unknowns kept me distracted for a while. Hours passed and nothing happened; I only saw the infinity of space and the stars, as night fell.

I’m bored. There’s too much peace. Could this be a torture of hell? What a weird way to make someone suffer. In the end, tranquility is just the elegant name the living give to the absolute boredom of the dead.

For a guy who lived chained to screens and noise, the silence of nature was like a kick in the nuts. I couldn't scream to let out the frustration, nor sleep, nor close my eyes to ignore the landscape. I could only exist, lost in a loop of endless thoughts.

My only entertainment was the cycle of the moon and the sun. I don’t know how much time passed; perhaps days, weeks, or months. Time is a flexible dimension when you are a static object... What am I supposed to be? A rock? A monument to my own bad karma?

On one of those days of solitude and eternal thoughts, there was finally a change.

Without knowing how, I felt my perception tear and expand. My vision, which was previously fixed on that patch of pink sky, began to rotate as if an invisible camera were pulling away from my center. For the first time, I saw beyond. The emerald moss growing nearby was quite lovely, and the immense forest where I lay was terrifying.

I lacked a brain, nerves, and eyes; yet, there I was, perceiving the surroundings with terrifying clarity. I was bored and, above all, deeply alone.

"What is to become of me?"

I began to visualize everything around me. The flora was nothing I could recognize, although it looked much like what was on Earth. The small animals that occasionally passed in front of me were extremely strange.

The annoyance was so great that I literally started counting the seconds as soon as the sun came up.

"One, two, three, four, five..., twenty-seven thousand four hundred twenty-two, twenty-seven thousand four hundred twenty-three, twenty-seven thousand four hundred forty-and... Damn it, I messed up." Maybe I'm already crazy, but what else can I do?

I failed several times but, according to my calculations, the days here last roughly 26 hours. The only thing I could do was stuff like this and think about my previous life. This is horrible; having a cell phone would be incredible. To play Minceraft like I did with my kid.

This was what I wanted, right? Peace and quiet. Life is sometimes very complicated and I almost always loathed my previous happiness. What is my wife doing? I guess she’s in mourning. And what will become of my little Jesus? My 10-year-old son. What will happen if my wife finds another man? What if my son loves him more than me? Well, that doesn't matter; I'm already dead.

Much more time passed. I was losing my mind and there came a point where I stopped thinking; I looked up and sometimes imagined I was flying away and meeting aliens. My mind was all over the place, dissociating like crazy. I was so desperate that I even wondered if Messi had won the league. It's sad, I know: I'm trapped in another world and I'm still thinking about soccer. But I mean, what else was I going to do?
On one occasion, unexpectedly, an imposing creature burst into my field of vision chasing a smaller one. The hierarchy was clear: hunter and prey. The sturdier one pounced and gave the prey a good blow, knocking it to the ground. This one was something very similar to a cat, I describe it that way because of its features. It had antennae and, at the same time, a very fluffy tail, with a dense white wool that resembled sheep. It also moved like a monkey or chimpanzee.

The bully looked more like a dog, but it was very ugly, like a demon or something. It had a kind of horns, its fur was grayish, and its red eyes seemed to come from the Underworld. That bastard had a feast after killing the other one; all the blood fell on top of me, or so I think. I know it's the food pyramid, but I felt somewhat nauseous.

There was another change when it all ended. My consciousness left my being and I could see the corpse next to me. In that instant, I also realized the reality: I was nothing more than a rock; a wretched and vulgar stone thrown at the foot of a tree. This makes no sense. But, right after that, I returned to my body, trapped again in that damned mineral prison.

Later, time moved forward even more and winter arrived. The dense snow quickly covered me, letting only a little light through. Just what I needed—now I can't even see! To hell with everything! I spent months like that; memories of Earth gradually distorted. I even came to believe that my mother was Lady Gaga; that would be anyone's dream.

One day the snow began to melt; the few flakes that remained seemed beautiful to me with the light in the background. Finally, I’m free from the darkness! When everything was cleared off me, I could observe how life was taking its course again. Everything was so beautiful to me at this point: the flowers growing, the leaves on the trees coming out. Everything is like this: an endless cycle of death and resurrection in a world infested with madness and terror. I think I've become a philosopher. Incredible.

Beside me, the moss from a while ago resurfaced. It stayed there a good long while, looking at me with disappointment like my former department head; he was a jerk, but he was alright.

—"Day 87 and Frido, now known as Samuel, remains trapped in this perpetual prison called life. When are you going to move, my good friend?"

—"Shut up, Freddy! I'm trying to focus on counting the seconds to better know how long the days last. You're irritating."

—"But I'm your only company, even though I'm only in your head; I don't exist."

I stared at Freddy and remembered my reality. I was alone and delirious, thinking that the damn moss next to me was my ex-boss. I've already gone insane.

—"Take it easy, Samuel," the remains of that specimen that died next to me spoke. They were now just simple bones.

—"Calm down, everything will change soon and it will be better. It's just a bad streak."

—"You're right. I'll call you Jacob. It's pretty, isn't it?"

—"Yes, I like it very much, Samuel. Now I'll be your best friend."

—"Yeah, you understand me more than that grumpy Freddy. Well, maybe it's because his wife is cheating on him."

—"Hey, I heard that!" snapped Freddy. "But you're right, Frido; I should divorce that damn tramp."

—"Hahaha, see? I always told you to do that. You're finally listening to me."

—"Hey, Samuel, wake up," Jacob said suddenly. "There's a guest coming."

Suddenly, an animal similar to Jacob before he died approached; it was larger and looked more intelligent.

—"I heard that, eh, Samuel," Jacob said while the animal looked at me with curiosity, as if looking for something. Then it grabbed me with both hands. It brought me close to its face, and I could see it better; it stood about 4 feet tall, had ears like a kangaroo's, and its eyes were similar to a human's.

—"But you really are kind of an idiot," I said to Jacob as the beast began to walk away with me in its arms. Although indirectly, I could finally move and look around a bit more.

—"Goodbye, Frido," said Freddy, bidding me farewell.

—"Goodbye, Samuel," said Jacob, also saying goodbye. I imagined my old boss with his hand raised.

—"I will always remember you, I promise. Thank you for keeping me company, even if it was all a product of my imagination."

I felt a tremendous sense of nostalgia. If I had eyes, I would be crying; but there are many changes in life, and this is one of them. I guess the boredom is finally over, and a new adventure awaits me.

End of Prologue.