Swan Song

Swan Song

I never thought being dead would not only bring sadness, but happiness as well. If I were to choose between having a beating heart, or death, I would choose death. My reasons for this choice are quite simple really. I don't have to deal with any emotional pain that living people have to put up with. I also have the freedom to go anywhere, and do anything I want wherever I go. The cool thing is, nobody can stop me, well, because nobody can see or even feel me.

It's freedoms like this that are very special. It's freedoms like this that make you feel as if nothing else matters, ever. I say "ever" because, well, you're dead. So of course nothing else would matter. Let me describe the wonderful things you can do while being a spirit like me. Let's start with the places you can go to that no living soul can ever thrive in, that is without dying of course.

If I wanted to fly over the ocean, and see the beautiful sunshine over the blue waters, I could. If I wanted to fade through the ground and go deep into the center of the Earth to see the bright, fiery core, I could. That's why being dead is so amazing. The prosperity of being dead is just serenity-filled.

Now you're probably wondering, how did I die? How did I get where I am right now? Well, it's an interesting story really, a very violently interesting story. I will try to explain as best as I can. So sit down, shut up, and enjoy.

It all started on the day of graduation at my school. My friends and I were so excited to get out of this mental, stasis locking prison known as school. My friends wore the obvious formal graduation clothing, the gown and hat. While me, on the other hand, I simply wore an all black t-shirt and hoodie, as well as blue jeans and sneakers. I never liked any fancy or formal clothing. That kind of clothing doesn't feel right wearing.

Some of my friends would ask, "Why don't you dress up?" I would say simple things like, "I just don't like it." Or another thing like "It makes me think of rich people." Oh yeah, that's another reason why I don't dress formal. I hate looking like one of those rich people.

As the graduation ceremony was about to begin, all the other graduates and I sat down in our seats in a horizontal line on the stage in the cafeteria. Some of the other students' parents were here to see their kids graduate. Mine, however, were not. They were out working at their jobs. As the ceremony went on, my friends and some other kids would give out a speech here and there. I smiled to myself as I watched them. I would never speak out in front of multiple people.

As I sat there in my seat listening and watching, I looked over to the crowd of people watching us. There were teachers, parents, principles, and friends of friends that came here to see us all graduate. As I looked at everyone, I noticed something that caught my attention. To the right of the crowd, I noticed someone looking at me with a constant stare. This wasn't the normal happy look you see on someone's face when they see you graduate from high school. This was more of a malicious look, like a "I wonder what you would look like with your throat slit and your head bored open" look. This man wore all black clothing, black pants, black t-shirt, and an unzipped black hoodie. The only thing about his clothing that wasn't black was a white skull on the front of his t-shirt. I thought to myself, "Who is this person, and why is he staring at me?" I simply shook my head and looked away.

The graduation ceremony then came to an end. I got my diploma. I was all set to leave high school. I got off stage and walked out of the cafeteria with a couple of my friends. I was happy to be finally getting out.

"Congratulations," one of my friends said.

"Thanks, you too," I said.

As I walked through the lobby outside the cafeteria, I heard a faint whistle noise behind me. I looked back to see what it came from. What I saw was that same guy, the one who was staring at me. He just stood completely still with his eyes constantly fixed on me. This time, I just looked forward and continued walking out of the school. I thought to myself, "This guy is just some creeper.  He will go away once I leave."

I walked outside only to see all the other students getting in the cars to go home. I sat down on a bench outside of the school. I sat there, watching the cars drive away. "Freedom," I thought to myself. I waited for about an hour, getting bored and tired of waiting for my parents to come and get me. I pulled out my phone from my pocket to check the time.

"It's 4:00, they should have been here a half an hour ago," I thought to myself. I continued to wait, about 5 minutes. Later, I heard that same whistle. This time it was louder.

I stood up from the bench to look around. To my left, there he stood, that same man. He had the same stare on his face although this time there was a slight smile as well. I turned around to run away, however, as I turned around, there he was again. It was like he had teleported. I was scared. How can I run away from someone who can teleport? He stood directly in front of me. I got a closer look at his face. What I felt was terror.

I looked into his eyes. They were black instead of white, and his pupils were red. His skin was as pale as snow. The more I looked into his eyes, the louder that whistle got. It was more like a screech almost. I couldn't move. I couldn't run away. My ears started to bleed from the screech, but somehow I couldn't feel the pain from it all. I just kept looking at his eyes. It was like he was forcing my sight onto him.

Seconds later, I felt a sharp force jab me in the chest. I then noticed that this man was holding something in his hand. When I noticed it, my mind then came back to reality. I started to feel intense pain swarm throughout my body. I couldn't breathe from what just happened to me. The thing that he was holding in his hand was my heart. I could see it beating slightly, and dripping blood on the ground. My vision then began to fade and I could feel myself falling backwards on the ground. This man, this thing, had killed me.

Oh what? Did you think the story ended there? Haha, think again, because there is still much to be told about what happened after I died. Now, let's continue.

Ever hear the term "death is only the beginning"? Well, I ask that because this is where my journey starts. I found myself waking up in an enclosed space. I could hear two people talking nearby. It was almost like they were right outside of where I was. That's because they were.

"You said this happened at a high school," said a tall man with a white lab jacket.

"Yes, right after graduation," replied a shorter man who was holding a clipboard.

"Show me the body."

"Yes sir."

The small space I was in then began to open like a bureau drawer.

"What's going on? Where am I?" I thought to myself. "Are these two people talking about me?" I panicked and sat up, hoping they would see that I was still there, but that's not what happened.

"Such a terrible way to die," said the medical examiner.

"I know, how could something like this even happen at a high school?"

"I don't know. Some psychopathic kid, most likely."

Could these two men not see me? I'm sitting right here. I put my hand up to the guy's face to touch it. But as I did that, my hand faded through his head.

"What? How?" I said. I then looked down behind me from where I was sitting. I noticed my dead body lying down. "I'm....in a morgue," I said to myself. That's when I realized why these two men examining my body could not see or feel my presence. I was now a ghost.

"How is this possible?" I thought to myself. There are two answers to that question. Either I was stuck in the "unfinished business before you go to heaven" cliche, or that demonic man made me this way. That gave me an idea. What if I were to kill this man? What if by doing that, I would be able to get out of this ghostly prison? I wanted revenge. I wanted to kill the man who killed me. How could I do that though if I fade through everything I touch? That gave me another idea.

"Ok sir, I think were done here," said the man in charge

"Yes I agree."

The two men then started to walk away. As I saw them walk away, I followed behind one of them.

"Hmm. . . I wonder," I thought to myself. While following one of them, I put my hand out towards his back. I could feel it going into his back. I pushed it further into him, then eventually my whole body went into him. "Whoa! I think I'm taking over his body," I said to myself. The man then stopped walking. I now had control over his body.

"Sir, are you okay?" the other man asked. I looked at him through the eyes of the person I was controlling.

"Um, yeah....I thought I heard something is all," I replied as I heard my voice being replaced with this man's voice.

"Okay then," the other man said.

"Excuse me, but I have some personal things to attend to," I said.

"Alright, I'll leave you to it," The other man said.

I then walked away, eventually walking out of the building. I stood outside thinking to myself about where to look for the person who had killed me. I decided to check back at my old school. Of course, the place was emptied and cleared out from graduation and my murder incident. When I got there, there was nothing to be found.

"Crap," I said to myself. "Where could he be?" I said with exasperation. "He could be anywhere. How am I supposed to find a demon? How can demons even exist?" I was still confused as to why this had happened.

I turned around and started to walk away from the school. Right as I turned around, there he was, standing at a distance, the demon man. He looked at me with his black and red eyes along with a smile on his face.

"Hello," he said.

This was the first time ever hearing his voice, and strangely, it sounded human sending chills down my spine.

"I see you've found a home inside a body," he said.

I nodded in response and said, "Why did you kill me?"

"I simply killed you because I was bored, or maybe I killed you because I like to revel in the gratification of murder, or maybe...maybe, I did this as a gift, so you can feel the freedoms of death. The feelings that I myself have envied for years," he said.

I looked at him with a confused look. "What do you mean?" I asked.

"I myself have been waiting to die for years. I kill people and bring them back from the grave as a spirit. So that they may tell me what it's like to be dead, what it's like to have that freedom from the world's torment," he said.

"How can you say that? You're a demon," I said.

"No, I'm not a demon. I'm a tormented soul and this is my curse being trapped inside this human body living the life of torture. Yes I'm not human, but I'm no demon. All I want is to be free," he said.

"If all you want is to die, then why not kill yourself?" I said.

He smiled and then said, "I can't do that, for I am forbidden. Think of me as a prisoner inside a cell. In this cell, I have no access to food or water or anything to get me out of this cell. The key to this cell is death, but it is on the outside of it," he said. "That outside is you," He then pulled out a black blade and held it out to me. "Here, take it, kill me and end my life so that I can be free from this prison," he said.

I took the blade from his hand and looked at him. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Here I thought it was just a joyful murder with no reasoning behind it. No, that wasn't the case at all. There, in fact, was a reason behind my murder. I held the tip of the blade to his forehead and paused before doing anything else.

"Please, if you have any feelings of vengeance, now would be the time to let those feelings loose," he said. He was right. It was the time. If I let him live he, will simply just kill more people.

"Ok," I said. I then drove the blade through his head. Blood leaked out as the blade went in. I then pulled the blade out and his blood covered the blade entirely. Soon after,  more started to leak out of his head. He then fell backwards on the ground with his body lying down while looking at the sky.

"Thank you," he said in a faint voice, and just like that, he was dead.

So that's it. That's how I died. I was killed by an imprisoned spirit waiting to be set free from it's torment. Of course, I'm still in the form of a ghost. I guess I was wrong when I thought something else would happen when I killed him. You know, after hearing what he said before I killed him, this might not be such a bad thing. So before I end my little story, I'd like to know. What do you think happens after you die?

~The End.