It Happened After

The girls looked at each other and grabbed the bottle of pills. That coupled with some alcohol, and death did its job, just as the girls had hoped for. 

Death came by much faster than they had expected. There was no magical light, no fluffy clouds, nor an angel in sight. The girls looked at each other confused and unsure as to where they were at or what was going on. They looked around but there was nothing. 

They both jumped as a voice said, “Ladies, if you could follow me.” 

The man did not wait for them to follow, he just turned and walked towards a door that they could not figure if it was there before. Unsure of what to do, the girls followed silently behind the man. He opened the door which revealed a small room with a sofa and a large television. The man pointed at the sofa and the girls took a seat. 

“Excuse me, but what- “, the girl with the long blonde hair was interrupted. 

“Usually, this is done alone. But since you two decided to commit suicide together, now you have to watch what would have been of each other’s lives.” 

“I know what my life would have been like, so no thanks,” responded the girl with short black hair. Both girls looked at each other in agreement. 

“You do not get a choice in the matter. Anyone who commits suicide must watch this. And you will not leave the room until you have done so.” 

“Might as well get over it, right?”, the blonde said.  

“I suppose.” 

The man looked at them, not revealing any emotion and pointed to the blonde girl, “We will start with yours.” 

“This should be interesting”, she answered trying to hide her nervousness. The other girls grabbed her hand to give her some assurance. 

The screen came to life. It showed the blonde girl getting back home the next day. Her younger sister ran up to her and hugged her tightly. 

“Will you tell me a story today?”, the little girl asked. 

“Sure, but remember you got to get ready for bed, ok? And don’t you fall asleep on me!” 

Just looking at her little sister made her want to cry. But she held back her tears and said, “She will be fine. She will be better off.” 

The other girl nodded in agreement. They turned their attention back to the screen. 

The blonde girl went on with her usual chores of cleaning and making a sandwich for her sister to eat in bed. While she cleaned, she was trying to come up with a new story to tell her little sister. Soon, she was ready to go tell the new story to her little sister but at that moment her father opened the door. She did her best to ignore and walk away from him, but he was not going to let her go. 

“Hey sweetie! Daddy is home! Now be a good girl and get the FUCK OVER HERE and welcome your Daddy home!”, he shouted as he pulled her by the hair. She tried not to make noise but her little sister came in either way. 

Not wanting her sister to be involved she said as calmly as she could, “Sally, go back to your room. I will handle Dad.” The young girl obeyed her sister and went back to her room. 

“Handle me? What the fuck to do you mean?” 

Before she could even try to respond to calm him down, he started to hit her. This was not an unusual occurrence, for the blonde-haired girl. This was the norm. Seeing it on screen, though, did not make it any easier for her to watch. 

The dark hair girl looked uneasy, but her friend looked at ease. She would not have to endure this anymore; her suffering had ended.  

But then things took a turn for the worst. It was not as if her father had not tried before, but this time… 

“Stop! Let me go!”, she pleaded. 

But it did not matter how much she screamed or pushed. Her father got his way. In her struggle, she had not noticed that her little sister had snuck out the door and ran towards the neighbor’s house to ask for help. 

Her father continued to beat her until finally she gave up. The last thing she saw were the red and blue lights of a cop’s car through the window. In that moment she knew they were coming to arrest her father. And she died. 

“So, I would have died either way? In the most horrible way possible? Damn good I ended it sooner and in my own terms”, she turned to her friend, “At least we know we made the right choice.” 

“It is better than what was coming for us”, the black-haired girl reassured. 

They looked at each other with relief. They had made the right choice after all and neither of them would have to suffer a much more horrible death. 

The man waited for them to stop talking before speaking, “Now we will see what would have been of your life.” 

“That’s an easy one. I already knew what was coming. Go ahead”, answered the black-haired girl. 

The first scene showed the death of the blonde and how she mourned her best friend. 

“I would not have been able to handle that. I don’t know what I would have done without you.” 

“That is not something you have to worry about. I am here.” 

Shortly after the death of her best friend, she ended up in the hospital. The cancer that had started as a small lump in her neck had soon spread to the rest of her body. No treatment seemed to work and all that was left to do was wait. The black-haired girl looked at her friend knowing what was to come: her death. 

But Death was not ready to take her yet. After a last-ditch effort, the treatment started to work. After a long and painful journey, the girl made a full recovery. 

“How is this even possible? I had no chance of making it!”, she felt her heart accelerate as both friends looked at each other in shock. 

“If I had known. I would not have- “ 

“No. We made this choice together. But I would have not had you join either if…” 

Both went silent and continued to watch. The black-haired girl was finally able to grow her hair out as she had always wanted to. She went back to school and became a cartoonist like she had always dreamt about. Eventually she met a man, married and had two daughters. The first she named after her best friend. There were hardships in her life, but after the cancer it all seemed almost picture perfect. 

“This can’t be me. I was going to die. If I had known I would not have done this. You convinced me this was the right choice!”, she looked at her friend angrily. 

“I did not know! But we will get through this together! We can do it”, she said desperately and with guilt in her voice. 

“Get through this? I want to go back! I want to live my life! Your life was shit but mine was great! I need to go back.” 

“That, you can no longer do.” 

For a moment the girls had forgotten he was there with them They turned to see him, and he spoke again, “That was the life designed for you and you decided to give it up.” 

“No, no, no, NO! I need to get back now! I regret this! I am so sorry I took my life! It was a mistake”, she said frantically, “This is some kind of slap to the hand, and we will wake up alive right? Lesson learned and we can mend our mistakes, right?” 

“I am afraid not. Now, unless you have any more questions, it is time to go.” 

Unsuccessful at trying to comfort her friend, the blonde spoke up and answered the man, 

“Not me, I still feel I made the right choice.” 

The black-haired girl looked up and said, “I need to know. What happens now that we are gone?” 

“Life goes on. That is what happens.” 

A thought occurred to the blonde, “Can we know what happens to the people we left behind now that we changed things?” 

The man stood quietly for a moment as if to decide whether he should answer or not. He then looked directly at both. 

“As for your sister, she will suffer the fate that was destined for you. And as of your family, they will mourn you but for the most part they will move on and eventually have another child.” 

This seemed to bring resignation to the dark-haired girl, but the news had opposite effect on the blonde, whose face distorted. 

The blonde dropped to her knees in front of the man and started to beg. 

“I can’t let that happened to my sister! Please send me back! I don’t care if I have to die again! I don’t care if my death has to be more painful”, she said between sobs. Her friend now knelt next to her to try to comfort her. “I was doing this to protect her and I failed. I thought she would be safe. Please don’t let this happen to her.” 

“There is nothing I can do. These are the consequences of your choices. Now, you must live with them for the rest of eternity.” 

The blonde girl started to cry harder. Her friend hugged her trying to make her feel better, but she knew there was nothing she could do. The man started to walk towards the door as the dark-haired girl came to a realization. 

“Are we going to Hell?”, she asked. 

He turned to them and answered, “Yes.” 

“But why? I know we killed ourselves, but we never did anything wrong!”, the blonde said as she continued to cry. 

“You denied the plan God had for you and so you will be punished.” 

“We can’t go to Hell. Please help us!”, pleaded the blonde. 

“Time is up”, he responded, and he opened the door. “If it helps, you will walk in together.” 

“At least we will have each other”, the black-haired girl said as she helped her friend up. The blonde only nodded but allowed her friend to help her. They held hands as they walked together into Hell. The man closed the door behind him knowing that each girl would go into their own personal Hell. He then waited patiently for the next person to come.