Awakening on a stormy Saturday morning
seeing the clouds roll in to the beat of my footsteps
walking through the grass, I taste the air for the first time in months

the rain drops shatter like glass on my face
time is passing carelessly along with the wind
not caring about future plans and the stress of life.

My first time in this new place
seeing people walking through this meadow with me
I know all of these people.

I look through their eyes and see myself,
past memories with them
all abruptly ending with the closing of their eyelids.

I start to get nervous, realizing that this is a really new place
I have no idea where I am
I start to notice all of my acquaintances inching closer in a daze.

Skimming the crowd, seeing countless flashbacks
one of them grabs on to my shoulder
we're in a park, I remember this well,

we were both sitting on the swings
I was rocking back and forth
we did not know each other at the time

"Hi" she said in a quiet tone
"would you like to be friends?"
I of course said yes, then the memory ends.

I arise back in the meadow, she is gone but all of the others remain
they all have their arms out ready to grasp on to me
grasp on to me and show their memories,

all except for one
one of my acquaintances just sat in the grass
face towards the sky with his eyes closed.

I hike towards him at a faster pace than normal
I stand in front of him and he doesn't change position
he just sits with his eyes fastened tight.

The man suddenly opens his eyes
they were completely black
he yanks me down to the ground

I wake up in my bed
its completely dark
except the light coming in from the window

I hear a loud crash
I get the knife next to my bed and start to walk down the stairs
slowly but surely

the creaking of the old wooden steps doesn't benefit me at all
the closer I get the louder the creaking becomes
creak, creak, creak.

When I get far enough down I peak around the wall
I see a man rumaging through all of my things
I gasp without thinking.

He turns around I slowly raise my knife
I inch closer and so does he
then at the top of his voice he yells

"You know what happens to people with knives?"
"They get shot"
then blackness.

The memory was over
I wake up in the meadow again
except this time he is still there.

streams of blood are running down his face
he leans in and whispers into my ear
he breathes in deeply,

"People die everyday, but their memories never fade."
"You'll be here for the rest of your life, reliving your memories"
"Every time you relive a memory that person gets a step closer to closure and once its done they forget about you."

"Once they forget about you, you will live here alone."
I start to cry
There is nothing glamorous about the afterlife.