Nate B Quill

A peaceful death, lying in bed next to his wife of fifty years. He was an old man, and both he and his wife knew that either of them could pass at any moment these days. The two had all their affairs sorted and were just enjoying their final days in peace. 

Some of the children eagerly awaited his passing, waiting to collect millions of dollars, but in the end all were left sad after the man’s passing. Some were sad to have not collected their fortune, others mourned the death of a loved one, leaving the funeral home a lot richer. 

The man made his way through the afterlife, wondering what the judgment would be like. He wasn’t nervous about what would happen next. Regardless of his beliefs, he had always tried his hardest to do good in his life. He awaited the consequence of his actions, be it good or bad, or the possibility of an eternity of nothing, for his soul to disappear and to return to the state he was in before birth.  

Upon reaching the end of the long line he was left to enjoy the afterlife. The man found it similar to his final days on earth. It wasn’t the afterlife of a young man full of energy. It could be compared to a life of relaxing in the countryside. 

In his lifetime the man was never seen as a particularly important character, but it seemed his name became known after his death. His younger self would be thrilled to know this but the old man simply saw this as a bit ironic, only achieving fame once it could do him no good. 

He was a physicist: according to the new souls in the afterlife his discoveries allowed for earth to become a type one civilization, harnessing the energy of the ball of fire at the center of our solar system. The man kept many of his discoveries secret from society at the time, having learned from the mistakes of Alfred Nobel, understanding that a tool’s intended use will not be its actual use. 

The same energy that could be used to explore the cosmos could also be used to destroy it, and at the time of his death civilization would only understand the latter. Although after years of hiding, his research was found and became public at a time when humanity was smarter, and could use it to better themselves. This simple fact would allow the man to live forever, perpetually in people’s memory. 

His wife joined him just a few years later, but she didn’t remain with him. The two watched many of their friends join them in the afterlife, only to disappear not long afterwards. The day their names were forgotten, their legacy disappeared, their soul too left the afterlife. It was a sad fate, to disappear from the face of the earth, not a trace left to indicate what your many years of suffering truly meant. The soul only lived for as long as it was remembered. 

Yet the man and his wife remained, his name being uttered every single day through the use of his physical constants, how could they be forgotten. His life was remembered in history classes across the world, and as a result his wife too remained with him. 

The saddest part of the afterlife was watching his wife fade a second time. He already watched the energy in his wife drain slowly during his time on earth, but the joy in her eyes remained. This time he saw fear. Fear of the unknown. She was a religious woman and did not fear what came after death, her faith having been solidified in her younger days, but this second death was never explained to her. Slowly her image faded from the memory of those on earth, and her soul too was forgotten. 

Yet the man remained. 

He was also religious. He didn’t know what would become of his spirit after his death but he knew there would be something waiting for him. He stood passive as the energy slowly drained from his body knowing his soul wouldn’t disappear. But watching the same happen to his wife was unbearable. To see the love of his life, a joyful woman, suddenly become so scared. It was a fate worse than the disappearance itself. 

His influence continued to affect the world for millennia to come. He was at a perfect peace, but he was more lonely than he had ever felt before. Alone for millennia. 

The very language he spoke was forgotten long ago but his influence lived on. The souls joining him in the afterlife were not the same souls that were there before him. They spoke a language that he could not comprehend. The individual words were processed and understood yet still they spoke two different languages. Being alone was always manageable for the old man, but being surrounded by others and still feeling lonely was a hell not understood by Hitler himself. 

But history was forgotten, and as a result it was repeated. The very tools used to explore the cosmos erased humanity from it. 

In a matter of moments, every intellectual studying and discovering the cosmos disappeared, leaving only the humans of earth left to fight with sticks and stones. 

  And in that instant the man and his wife were joined again for the last time.