AfterLife Read Online Free PDF Page A

ask.
Will you do Michael Jackson’s Thriller for me?”
    “You are such an idiot,” Meri said from the bedroom.
    “I know, I know, but we haven’t found someone this dead in a
while.”
    Wes didn’t get up from the couch. He had no intention of
dancing; what if some other body part fell off? Jordan laughed at his own joke,
and after looking at his watch, turned back to look out the window. Wes noticed
the watch face had the same emblem as Meri’s ring, and again wondered briefly
at the significance of the symbol before quickly dismissing the thought.
“Better not to think at all,” he thought. Over-thinking tended to get him in
trouble; in fact, it had killed him.
    It wasn’t long before the support crew Meri mentioned
arrived. A team of several men and women dressed as police and emergency
responders poured into the apartment, but Wes got the impression that none of
them was really what they appeared to be. They didn’t react to his appearance
as the policemen the night before had, and several were wearing pins with the
same conjoined “A” and “L” emblem. While one group worked their way through his
apartment as if it were a crime scene, another group directed him to get into a
body bag so they could move him out of the building.
    Wes couldn’t see anything from inside the body bag except
tiny squares of light that came in along the zipper. Neither could he feel what
was going on outside the bag. There was no sensation of being lifted off the
floor because he couldn’t feel the hands that grabbed his body and picked him
up. He only knew what was happening by the sounds he could hear.
    The strangers placed Wes on a stretcher, and from the
changing light coming in through the squares along the zipper, he sensed he was
being carried out of his building to some unknown destination. He knew Meri and
Jordan were dead like he was, although he found it a little hard to believe
from their less-than-dead appearance. He didn’t know who the rest of the people
were. They were as much of a mystery to him as Meri and Jordan, and he was sure
they were dead, too. Whoever or whatever they were, he was one of them now.
    The thought of being taken out of his apartment in a body
bag seemed perfectly normal. A few days had passed since his death, and Wes was
slowly becoming more comfortable with the idea. Besides, as odd as things were
at that moment, he didn’t feel there was much choice. For now it was probably
best to just go along with whatever happened. He didn’t know who these people
were, or where they were taking him, but they seemed to have a handle on it. He
figured they couldn’t do him any more harm than he’d done to himself. After
all, he was already dead.
    Wes listened to the muffled conversations of his new friends.
The shifting light through the zipper stilled. For some reason the people
transporting him came to a stop just outside the entrance to the lobby. He
listened to the voices and recognized one of them. It was his brother.
    “I’d like to see him before you take him.”
    “Who are you?” Meri asked.
    “I’m Wes’s brother, Lyall.”
    “Wes?”
    “Yeah, the body you’ve got there is my brother. I’m his
emergency contact. Mr. Howell just called and told me he saw Wes dead in his
apartment.”
    “He’s been dead for what looks to be close to three days,”
Jordan said. “I don’t know if you really want to see—”
    “We can let you see him,” Meri interrupted, “but first I’m
going to have to see some identification.” There was a pause. “Lyall, we’re so
sorry for your loss. Still you need to know, like my partner said, he’s been
dead for some time. He won’t move. He’s dead. Seeing him might help you begin
the grieving process so you can start to move on. I just want to clarify that
he’s dead and can’t move.”
    Wes knew Meri was talking to him and not to his brother. The
zipper slowly opened. Wes kept his eyes open so he could take one last look at
his brother.