With a sudden jolt I open my eyes in the middle of the night. Something was not right, there was a serene feeling and there were no emotions, nothing.

I reach to my phone to see what time is and as I was about to reach it, the light weirdly lights up, 2:46 am.

It seems weird, I wake up in the middle of the night and yet I am so fresh and not sleepy at all. Alright, I might as well just check my social updates and yet again I reach for my phone but my hand goes right through it. Why? What’s going on? Why can’t I touch my phone?

The phone display is going berserk now and I see my Whatsapp messages open, it’s from my friends, I want to reply but I just can’t. I lay back in bed, I think I know what’s going on, reality has just hit me, but I was just not ready to accept it yet. 

I look to my left and see my brother fast asleep, I sit up and look at my life-less body, now that it’s gone how I wish I could have it back again. I spend few minutes looking at what I was.

I look towards my bro again, I try to wake him up, but my hand goes right through him, he twitches a little, turns around and goes back to sleep. Oh how I wish I could wake him up, tell him the things I have never told him before. This form of me seems to have no emotions, no tears - I wish I could cry.

I try to stand up now, but no, my feet just don’t touch the ground, I seem to be floating. I slowly drift through things to the room where my folks are, I watch them sleep peacefully, not knowing that their son who they raised for all these years has gone.

All I could think of was the day that was to come, the tears they going to shed for me. Why? Why did I still have to be here? Looking at them I realized, I have never really told them how I felt about them, never really hugged them and said how much I really loved them and now it’s too late, no matter how much I scream, my voice will not reach the other side.

Now that it’s too late, the thought creeps in to my head; I have never really bothered to spend time with them.

I take one last look and I leave the room. I’m floating around at the place I once used to live. I think about my friends, all the good times we have had together, yet again now that it’s all gone. I wish I could hang out with them once again and have a good time, live again!

All the untold words, unexpressed feelings, the un-done actions, all running through my mind now, this feeling of nothingness is something that no man would ever want to go through.

There was no light that I had to go to or any sort of music or voice that I had to follow to reach the other side.

My motion seems to be going beyond my control, somehow my soul was breeze-like; and I was slowly drifting away, away from my temporary home, my body.

It was all clear to me now, I was being taken away, probably to the other side. I think to myself, was it the passing of souls that gave me chills from certain breezes while I was an earthly being? But none of it seemed to matter as I was moving far far away in to the unknown. Was it hell? Or was it going to be heaven? Was I a good person? All these thoughts ran through my serene mind until I reached a Tree where finally I stopped moving. I was stationary once again.

Why have I stopped in front of this tree? What do I do now? All these questions were soon answered when the tree slowly sprung to life and in a calm stern voice spoke to me. 

"I have been assigned to you as your afterlife tree" the tree remarked.

"What does that mean?" I asked curiously.

"My dear, your time on this realm has come to an end. Everything that you ever owned, earned, felt, seen and said will be left behind. You will leave behind the feeling of love when you cross over to the other side," the tree explained.

"I don't understand, is this where I'm sorted to hell or heaven?" I asked.

"There is no hell or heaven. What lies ahead of you is a result of your life in this world. Once you reach the other side you will have no memory of your worldly life.

"Every moment that you have cherished will be measured against a good deed that you have done and you shall remember only those memories in your afterlife and every evil deed performed will erase one of your cherished memories. It is my task to weigh in your deeds and each leaf I shed is one of your memories lost forever," the tree continued to explain.

Upon saying this the tree starts to shed its leaves one after the other and I start losing my memory - my loved ones, the happy moments in life, my achievements, in short, myself.

"The breeze that you are now will remain in the realm until the sunset and you may brush yourself along your loved ones that still remain in your memory. You shall be taken in to the other side when the sun disappears in to the horizon," concludes the tree.

On saying this the tree went back to its former state and I was left wandering - a lost soul until I was yet again being moved towards my favorite beach sunset spot.

Waiting for my turn to go, I watch the worldly sunset for one last time remembering my life. If I could only reach out to the other side, I would say, live, live with everything you got, say what you want to say, do what you want to do and express those feelings towards your loved ones.

Value your body, value one another for you never know when your turn is - make your deeds count.