Skies Above

A rush of chilliness came through Meiko’s body, as she slowly opened her eyes. The sky was bright with the moon, the swift rows of street lamps around the dark surrounding area added to the light. The original cold feeling she felt in her lungs started to transform into a comforting warmth, contradicting her dark and cool surroundings. She looked downwards, surprised to see her feet levitating off the ground, the light from the moon twinkling through her seemingly transparent body. 

Meiko felt that rush of cold again, as she ran, her feet bouncing off of the air, causing her to go higher and higher into the sky. She shivered, feeling a sudden shift not only in temperature but in her emotions, her mind once calm and collected now trembling with fear. She shouted, but no one was there to hear her. Not a person in sight. 

She stared down at her callused hands, watching them glow. At this point, Meiko was farther up in the sky, waiting and running, trying desperately to find if not answers then a purpose for where to go next. As she ran, her memories started to flood back, like a shimmering, pouring waterfall.

She remembered falling, and nothing more. Just falling and falling, from somewhere unattainable. She remembered grabbing at the sky, reaching for anything she could hang onto, anything that could save her. She remembered reaching for her past, for the comfort of her home and her family, but also reaching for the future, something she could hold in her hands, something to grip onto, but always just a step ahead of her. She remembered the fall, but she couldn’t remember the crash, just the moment before it, the immense panic going through her veins, the dread and fear of the fall. 

Meiko remembered moments before she fell, but not exactly how. She remembered the sky, the moon shining desperately through the gloominess, the gleaming stars and the darkness between them. She remembered the earthiness below her, and the stars above. 

And then she remembered a man, pushing her. She couldn’t make out his face from her memory, but she remembered his deep voice, like that of the wind on a winter day. She would always remember his voice, the voice that killed her. 

For that had to be it, right?, Meiko thought, trying to remember his face. There was just no other explanation. Of course, it wasn’t something that she knew for sure, but no one truly did, no matter what everyone thought. Each person has their own envision of the afterlife, and this must be hers. 

“Hello, Mei,” a deep voice said, a chilling voice with an edge as sharp as a blade. Meiko gasped, and then started to cry. It was his voice. The voice of her killer. 

Tears dripping from her eyes fell down through the sky, pattering onto the street below her. As Meiko looked down, she could now see more figures of mist and light, like her own hands and reflection. The people looked calm, like she was when she first awakened. Nothing like how she felt now, her arms shaking wildly, each breath a little bit quicker than the last. 

Meiko wouldn’t dare turn around, the fear coursing through her veins echoing through her entire body. A faint breeze came by, ruffling up her long hair slightly, but also traveling through her stomach. She didn’t want to see his face, the face of the man who had ended her life. But somewhere inside her mind, she knew that she needed to face him at some point. 

Still, the fear coursed through her, and the wind kept her motionless, though she was still floating in the sky. Meiko didn’t turn around, didn’t give the man the satisfaction of seeing her fear all over her face. She didn’t want him to win, no matter what it was that he had done. 

“Who are you,” she asked, still static. “And why did you kill me.”

The man laughed. Meiko could almost see his cool smile through his heavy voice. “I did not kill you, necessarily. I just..gave you a little shove in the right direction. So you’d end up here.”

“Here?” Meiko asked, now feeling anger along with her chilly panic. “And you dodged my question. Who are you?”

The man let out a little chuckle again, a laugh worth a thousand words. “Who I am does not matter. But where you are does.” He paused here, carefully enunciating his words. “I believe you would call this place Yomi.”

Yomi. The land of the dead. Meiko knew it well. It was not like the typical heaven or hell, not a place to aspire to go to or to be afraid of. It was simply where the dead roamed, where spirits could converse. A murky, yet fascinating existence. Like life, but dead.

“Why bring me here?” she asked, relaxing her shoulders. Meiko could calm herself slightly now. She knew where she was. She knew how she got there. That was at least half of the answers. 

But not enough. 

“Because,” the man said, his voice faltering slightly. “Because you belong here. This is where you’re supposed to be.” 

Meiko’s fear started to dissolve slightly, as she remembered the old legends about yomi. She realized that she had the upper hand now. That she could twist the tale in her favor. 

“I’m not stuck here, though,” she countered, giving herself a sly smile. “I haven’t eaten the fruit of the hearth yet. For the moment, this is temporary.”

The man let out another laugh, this time more of a villainous cackle. “That’s true,” he said. “The fruit of the hearth is what keeps souls in the underworld. But it is a long journey out, and there is no point, really. Your soul is stuck. You belong here.”

You belong here. He kept saying that. As if she had a choice. As if he hadn’t pushed her. 

“You keep saying that,” Meiko said, her fear returning.

“Because it’s true,” the man replied, his voice going deeper than it had before. “Because you are meant for this world, not the world you were born into. Because you need to be here. It’s where you’re meant to be.”

Meiko looked down again at the glowing figures below her. Others who belonged here, and others who didn’t. People who needed to be here, and people who had chosen to. People who had eaten the fruit of the hearth, but not necessarily by choice. Not while this man was forcing them to eat it. 

“Stop it,” Meiko said, the anger she had felt earlier coursing through her once again. “I don’t need to eat the fruit. I don’t need to.”

“I’m aware,” the man said, his voice reflecting a coy grin. “But it may just be the right choice.”

The right choice. Meiko knew those words. For so long, she had been focused on what might be the right choice. Maybe ending her existence was it. Maybe she was ready for this. 

Meiko felt the fear in her spirit, in her soul. She felt anger and fear and more anger, anger at the man, for not presenting her with a choice, anger at herself, for wondering if he was right, and anger with the world, for reasons she wasn't sure she could explain. She just felt anger and fear, fear and anger, two worlds in her mind, contradicting each other.

“No,” Meiko said, feeling ready to scream from the offset emotions she felt. That fear and that anger combining in her mind. In her spirit. “No! I will not eat the fruit.”

The man sighed, and though she still had her back to him, Meiko could almost see his smile again, a reflective gaze. Disappointed, but still coy. He still had the power. 

“As you wish,” he said, his voice faltering ever so slightly. “As you wish. But remember, Mei, you do not belong in that world.”

And suddenly, Meiko was falling again. Falling, falling, falling, from somewhere unattainable, until she reached the end. Or not the end, just moments before it, the moment of fear in her eyes, the moment of panic before the fall.

And then she was gently rocked down onto the streets, until she found herself lying down in the middle of a crowded city. Meiko slowly opened her eyes again, revealing the city of Hiroshima she grew up in, her home. That place that was so unreachable, just like her future. Her future that was now in her arms, a future she could finally hold in her visible hands. Her very own future that was now fully in her grasp. 

Meiko got up off of the street, clenching her jaw, still terrified of what she might find in that future, but excited that she still had it. She looked up at the skies above, watching the sun rise as a new day began.

(Author's note: this is vaguely based off of Japanese legends. I'm not Japanese, I just did my research. If there are any problems with this story, if it's found offensive or anything like that, I will take it down. Thank you)