The Suffering

 

Jack was lying on the cold ground; blood was dripping from his wound. He had just been shot, just because of a silly argument. He knew that he was about to die, he felt the need of enjoying his last moments that midnight, the cold summer rain dripping onto his face, the peaceful silence of the street and so on.

         He was in tears, but nobody could see him cry, nor help him. Nobody was around, no cars, no beggars, nobody. Only himself and Sarah, his cousin and murderer, who had been standing next to him in his time of need. She regretted to have killed Jack; she tried to look directly into his face with apology, however she was afraid that Jack was going to ask why, so she couldn’t. She felt sorrowful inside, however it was too late… Jack had begun to shiver and it was not because of the cold rain. As Jack stared at her blank face for one last time, he saw that Sarah had no expression on her face. Maybe it was the mixture of all the emotions, including sorrow and happiness, at the same time.

         Jack uttered his last word: “Why?”

Sarah’s mood turned upside down then, she kneeled and apologized, all in tears. Then, after a moment of staring at each other, Sarah got up quickly and got lost in the darkness, as soon as Jack had heard some siren sounds. However it was too late, Jack was shivering and he had lost too much blood. Everything was going darker and darker; he was not going to make it. He cried painfully, and then his eyes were closed.

Two days after this incident, he came over in a desolate hospital room. He was sitting in the corner, facing the bed, and someone else was lying in that bed. Jack got up to see who that was, he pulled the blanket and…

It was himself on the bed, his own body. As soon as he realized that, everywhere went white in a flash and an invisible man started to speak to him: “Jack Nathanson, I am sorry to tell you that you are a dead man. I took you up here to tell that I can give you a second chance as giving your soul to a newborn.”

First, Jack could not believe that he was speaking with the holy force. He was trembling… But then, he got brave enough to answer, after the force had repeated the words. “What do you think about it?”

“Well, this is an important decision… I want some time to think.”

“Alright, six more days for you. Six more days, as a soul. Then, I will take you up here and ask the question again. You will wake up in the corner, but decide carefully. This is your last opportunity… Almost forgot, if you abuse the force. You know what will happen.”

Jack woke up again, sitting in the corner. He saw some doctors come and take his corpse away, the relatives cry… Then, he left the hospital and went to his old house; he was crying for his death and seeing his loved ones cry. He felt strange to have seen his own death.

He lay on his bed, taking some photos from the tables in the house and cried, looking at them. He would miss them, especially his girlfriend Lisa. While thinking about her, he had already fallen asleep. This was the end of her first day.

He was woken up at dawn, by a key turning in the peephole. Somebody had entered the living room, crying, screaming and hitting the walls. This was Lisa and Jack wanted to reassure her, so he walked to the living room. She couldn’t see Jack, however, so Jack felt sorrowful again. To suppress the sorrow, he went towards her and raised his hand to touch her shoulder. Then, he heard the holy voice:

“Don’t touch her, or you will be cursed!” Jack ignored and touched her.

Lisa felt the hand on her shoulder and Jack appeared behind her. She gave a loud scream and passed out. Jack kneeled next to her, staring at her reflection on the mirror. “What am I?” Jack thought, after the mirror got broken as soon as Jack looked at it. Then, Lisa got conscious again. She was staring at Jack, murmuring: “Only hallucinating.”

Jack held her arms and let her get up, and then he said: “No, I am not dead yet.”

About an hour later, Lisa understood what had happened to Jack, although it was hard for her to believe. Then, she said in a happy tone: “If you’re not dead yet, shall we go out?” Jack nodded as the girl got up to get changed.

They came home drunk that night. They had been outside for hours and Lisa was too exhausted, so she felt asleep in the car. Jack was driving; thank God he had not forgotten how to drive after dying and coming back again. He stopped the car and carried Lisa to the house, then put her gently onto the bed, and then he went to the living room to sleep on the sofa.

When his third day began, he was woken up by Lisa. She had brought his breakfast to him and she was ready to leave for work. “Alright Lisa, I’ll eat later,” said Jack. He did not feel well enough to eat, but did not tell Lisa about it. When Lisa had left the house, he was thinking: “What if I am really cursed? What is wrong with me?”

He tried to get up and walk, but he fell down. He couldn’t walk anymore. He was cursed; he was going to die in six days’ time, painfully. He couldn’t walk, nor eat. No, he would not tell Lisa about this, he was going to lie that he had been too tired to walk, this was the best idea.

When Lisa came home, he found Jack sleeping. She greeted him, and then saw the food there, it was not eaten.

“Get up honey, you must be hungry,” she told, tapping Jack’s shoulder gently. Then, Jack opened his eyes and told that he did not want to eat or get up to have some fun, what he only wanted was some sleep. Lisa warmly kissed Jack from the cheek and told: “Alright honey, you were too tired yesterday.”

He got up at night, he had to use the bathroom, but he could not walk. He decided to crawl. He threw himself gently onto the floor and began to pass the long corridor.

He was afraid of the dark, but the button was too high for him to turn the light on. He decided to jump and reach it, but made too much noise and Lisa was woken up. When Lisa reached the corridor, she saw Jack crawling and got confused.

“Well, Lisa,” Jack began, “I’m cursed and I cannot walk now.”

“Sorry to hear it, Jack! Do you want any doctors?”

“Doctors?” He laughed noisily. “I’m going to die in two days, no need.” Lisa stared at him sadly, and then carried him back to the sofa after helping him with the bathroom.

Lisa did not leave for work; she was preparing some food to let Jack eat. Jack was sleeping to forget his starvation meanwhile. Then when Lisa was done with it, she woke Jack up. Jack wanted to thank Lisa for it, however…

However nothing could come out of his mouth. He had forgotten to speak, he could only shout violently, and this was all because of the curse. He had one and a half days left, about to die, without the ability to walk or talk, in addition to the thing preventing him from eating. This curse was going to end him in two and a half days; he could hear Lisa crying for her in the kitchen. To attract her attention, he screamed and with his body language he told that he wanted some papers and a pencil to talk.

That night, when everyone was sleeping and when he could still read and write, he grabbed the paper and wrote a letter to Lisa. Then, leaving the letter on the sofa, he crawled to the front door. Thank God, he could reach the doorknob. He exited, leaving it all behind. He crawled on the empty road, crying. He couldn’t stand seeing his loved ones cry, that was the main reason for him to leave. Secondly, he did not want to leave Lisa by death, Lisa did not deserve that, so this was the best idea.

He crawled till dawn; this was the last day of his life. His tears had made the roads wet, in addition to the rain. He was in a deserted place, where nobody could cry or feel pity for him when he was dying. He sat down behind the trees, looking at the birds he realized that he had lost his ability to hear. He could scream in pain, nobody, even himself could not hear him. He screamed to death, crying out the name of Lisa.

Lisa, meanwhile, had woken up. She went to the living room, expecting Jack to be there, but when she entered, she saw that the sofa was empty, just like the entire house. In tears, she grabbed the letter and began to read:

“To the dearest angel,

Lisa, I am sorry, but I have to leave you now. I am not so brave enough to let you see me dying slowly and I love you so much that I don’t want to see you feeling pity for me. I’ve already lost the ability to walk, talk and eat, Lisa, and this will not end. Leaving you like this is much better than leaving you by death. Sorry, Lisa, sorry for leaving you like that, all alone, but this is much better… Believe me; I will always love you… Take care, never forget me. I love you.”

Lisa dropped the letter, and then she collapsed in tears. “I couldn’t say goodbye to you! It is me who has to be sorry!”

She was crying violently, punching herself and the walls around her. Then, she got out, ran on the empty roads, although she knew that she couldn’t reach Jack anymore. She ran violently, until a policeman saw her running like that. She was taken home and she told what had happened, from the beginning, but she was found mentally unstable.

 

***

 

Lisa died in her cell peacefully, the following year. Even her last word was “Jack”, sadly, and she didn’t want to believe that Jack was dead. She had been waiting for Jack all through the year to be back, however it was too much for her and she died on October the thirtieth, a snowy, calm, peaceful day.

To satisfy her, everyone had been searching Jack’s corpse to show that Jack was a dead man then, but most of them gave up when Lisa died. There are still some people searching for Jack’s body; however nothing has been proved that. Some of the searching ones think that Jack is taken up to the heaven just before his death as a gifted one, a chosen one. Another group states that Jack is reborn in a baby, because a baby had the tattoo Jack used to have on his right arm, when the baby was born. However, most people think that Jack died, losing all his vital abilities, and then eaten by animals.