"I thought you were dead, you.. You donut!", I yelled as I punched his shoulder. Yet with that he smiled so gently I didn't know how to act.

How would you act if your best friend died, then showed up expecting us to let bygones be bygones? And just so you know, we have unfinished business! Yelled at me for no reason, then expecting to redeem himself by dying. Who does that?

"Can't he see I was suffering?", I thought as I held my tears.

My mom-bot had always told me to suck it up. But I know, if my mom never had that disease, my reign of emotions would've been validated by someone as human as me.

And I saw his eyes just as sad as mine, when he said..

"I am"

"W- But how are you here?!", I stammered in disbelief. This guy, who had always had my back, just confirmed he did die.

"Because now you are, too".

"So what? You're an angel of death now?"

"In a way", he shrugged. And with an annoying smirk he began to tease me.

"What? You're scared of me now? Scared I'm gonna reap off your soul from your body?".

He laughed. "How dare he?", I thought. Clearly I was pissed.

"Listen. I am not dealing with whatever kind of shit you're on Rae-Rae. First out of the blue you freaking stormed out on me and Cindy, and you freaking died on us as if we wouldn't be crying if you're gone. And now you're laughing at me?! Real mature, Rae-Rae, real mature!".

Then a thunder struck next to us.

He began to panic. "I told you to keep it down, Heaven is watching, geez!". He took my arm, and we flew far far away, leaving my limp body behind.

Oh, I meant my limp bodies behind?

"Wait? How many me's are there?!", I cried in panic. As far as I know, cloning is downright illegal. Caught doing that is a free ticket to a death penalty.

I was expecting an answer, but Rae-Rae was too focused on taking me somewhere only he and God knows. Somewhere beyond colors can describe.

A portal, made of blinding light with colors I've never seen before. It was so vibrant that I could feel my soul was tingling.

"Wow.. I never knew dying could be fun"

"See? Not that bad, now is it?"

"But hold on, we're not there yet", he continued as we soared even faster.

Then everything stopped making sense. All that sense of time, individiality, and mortality was gone. Only one word came to my mind, if such a thing still exists..

Zero.


© altairsolaris