Chapter 1

Death Anniversary

Genevieve stared at the lovely trees outside her room that can be seen from the windows beside her bed. A soft breeze made some of the leaves sway gently. She was now 85 years old, but her mind was still sharp, although her body was already very weak and she can no longer walk. She chose to stay at Narda’s Garden, a home for the elderly, because she does not want to trouble her children and their families. She was already bedridden and awaiting for the inevitable to happen anytime soon! Her beloved husband died two years ago.

She looked at the calendar on the wall and suddenly she remembered something! Today was the death anniversary of her father Henry! She thought about the stories he told her when her father first “died” and had a near death experience. The doctor told them then that her father was clinically dead only to be revived a few days later.

He said that at first, everything became dark and then he saw a bright light all around him. He told Genevieve about his guides in the afterlife: Manny the monkey, Danny the donkey and Johnny the Chinee, who helped to save her father from the clutches of the evil werewolf Douglas and his zombie minions inside a frozen volcano! But when Henry was supposed to enter the gates of Heaven, accompanied by Manny the monkey, he said he heard Genevieve calling him! And that was when Henry came back to life again!

Genevieve remembered that she really did call him that time in the hospital bed, and his father awoke, as if in a dream! Then five years later, on this same day, her father died for real, this time, after battling complications from his cancer.

Genevieve thought, could he have had the same experience again when her father died the second time? For sure, she knows that her dad is now already in heaven. She said to herself, Dad, we will be meeting again soon. Was her husband also with his parents, living happily in heaven? Will she also experience what her father faced in the afterlife?

Genevieve was at peace with herself. She had no regrets in her life. All her children are now happily married and solving their own domestic problems. Genevieve knew that she will see her father Henry again in Heaven. It will now only be a matter of weeks, perhaps days, when she will be embarking on her inevitable journey into the afterlife.

Chapter 2

The Inevitable

So, the inevitable happened. Genevieve died peacefully and it was as her father had told her: everything around her turned dark when she felt the final pain of her life being taken away. Then everything became white! Suddenly she found herself alone on an island somewhere. The beach was immaculately white. Where was she? The sea around the island was of the deepest blue. She cannot see any kind of vegetation in the island, not even grass or mold.

Then she felt some movement behind her. A woman was walking towards her. When the woman was about a few meters away from her, she called her name.

“Genevieve,” the woman said in a soft voice.

The woman was smiling at her.  She was extremely beautiful, and was clothed with a white cloak draped around her body. She looked like an ancient Greek goddess!

The woman said, “I know what you’re thinking. I am in fact Greek, but I am not a goddess. My name is Opheme, and I am your psychopomp.”

“Psychopomp?” asked Genevieve. “What is that?’

Opheme answered, “Your guide in the afterlife. I met your father Henry before he went to Heaven.”

“You saw my father?” Genevieve blurted. “Were you also his psychopomp?”

“Oh, no,” Opheme said. “I was a dancing siren before. Me and my sweet singing sister Epheia were forced by the evil werewolf Douglas to seduce your father and lure him to hell. But your father was strong willed, and he was able to control himself and ignore our deadly charms. Together with his guides Manny the monkey, Danny the donkey and Johnny the Chinee, they defeated Douglas and his hungry crocodiles inside the labyrinth of Music and they even rescued me and my sister during the escape. They took us along with them.

“In fact, your father was our hero! He went back to Earth with Manny the monkey in the year 2285 to look for a cursed object that was buried under an ancient temple in Greece where they recited magical incantations that helped remove our curse. My real name was Aglaia and my sister Epheia’s real name was Eumelia. We lived in Athens in the third century B.C. before Greece was invaded by the Romans. We were cursed and became sirens and were used by evil psychopomps like Douglas to seduce men like your father with our singing and dancing and take them to hell. Your father was a very good man, Genevieve.”

Genevieve said, ‘Yes, and I really miss him. So, what happened after your curse were removed?”

Opheme answered, “We became mortals again and had to pass the same ordeals and tests like your father before we can reach heaven. To thank your father, I volunteered to become your psychopomp.”

“Is that possible? Can my father also become my psychopomp? asked Genevieve.

 Opheme said, “Unfortunately, no. And it is not even remotely possible to tell you things about Heaven, because you are not yet there, and you will still have to pass the tests. I don’t know why or how, but even if I really want to tell you everything, I can’t, inexplicably. Okay, now we have to go to the monitoring room and it’s time to meet your other psychopomps.”

Chapter 3

 The Octaship

Genevieve noticed for the first time that she and Opheme were walking towards an octagon shaped white structure. There was a faint trace of a door on one of the walls and they went through it. Inside, there was an octagon shaped center table with chairs and some people sitting. The table and chairs look like sparkling crystals.

Opheme said, “These are all made of pure diamonds. Now, I would like you to meet your other friends.” She said to them. “Hi, guys, I would like you to meet Genevieve. You know, she is the daughter of my hero, Henry.”

All of them stood and shook hands with Genevieve. The first one to greet Genevieve was a good looking Korean.

“Hi, my name is Choi Min-jun, you can call me Jun for short.”

“Hello, Jun, you’re very handsome,” Genevieve said.

Jun said, “You don’t look bad yourself, Genevieve.” Jun produced a mirror and handed it to her.

Genevieve was shocked. She looked exactly like when she was just about 25 years old!

“Don’t be surprised,” Jun said. “Time as you know it on Earth does not exist here in the afterlife. In fact, I wasn’t even born when you died. I was a member of a K-pop dance group but after that, I became a Mechanical engineer.”

“Yes,” Opheme said. “Jun here is clever, smart and very gentle, apart from being handsome. He might be gentle, but he moves real fast.”

“Excuse me,” the gorgeous girl behind Jun said: “My name is Charlotte. I’m from Vienna, Austria. I am a singer, like Opheme.”

The next one was another cute guy. He shook the hands of Genevieve, and said, “I’m happy to meet you and glad to be your psychopomp. My name is Rudolf, also an Austrian, but I lived in Austria of the middle ages Austria, unlike Charlotte, who was a famous singer in Vienna in the 1960s and 1970s. I am an Architect.”

“Nice to meet you,” said Genevieve, who was still disoriented with all of these things that were happening.

Finally, the last one spoke, “My dear Genevieve, I am the lead psychopomp, and I will monitor your activities in here, our monitoring room. My name is Lise, and I am also an Austrian.”

Lise looked like an elegant rich businesswoman.

Lise said, “I worked in the health care business in Austria.”

Opheme added, “She was also a very generous philanthropist during her time, Genevieve, and also funded medical research in her country. She helped a lot of people.”

Charlotte brought some food and placed it on the table. “My dear, you must be hungry. I brought some delicious Austrian dishes. Here, try my tafelspitz, schnitzels, knodel, apfelstrudel and buchtein for dessert.”

Genevieve found it odd that she was indeed feeling hungry.  She devoured the best meal that she had ever eaten in her life! (Or, afterlife, she thought!)

While Lise was about to explain Genevieve’s upcoming journey, Charlotte brought mostviertler birnmost to top off the wonderful meal.

“Now,” Lise started, “as Opheme had probably told you, this is the monitoring room. Take a look at one of those eight walls.” Genevieve looked around.

Jun clicked an invisible switch under the table and one large wall suddenly became a High Definition monitor. Genevieve looked up at the most wonderful TV screen that covered the whole expanse of the wall and saw her young father carrying a newborn infant.

Opheme said, “Genevieve, look. That was you when you were born and your father was ecstatically carrying his new baby girl! Look at his face. Love was written all over!”

Charlotte said, “You are watching a movie about your life on Earth, from the day you were born to the moment of your death. All the good times and the bad times and so on and so forth. The times you cried, the times you laughed.”

“It’s unbelievable!” Genevieve gasped.

Lise explained, “Genevieve, this room will be your starting point in your quest for Heaven, where your father and other loved ones are. But you have to pass through tests first before you can enter Heaven. Failure in even one of these tests will find you thrown straight to hell. That is why we are all here, to guide you in the right path, but we cannot interfere with your own decisions, remember that!”

Opheme added, “Like your father did, remember this, no matter what happens on your trip, don’t veer away from God.”

Choi Min-Jun added, “You will be passing through eight black holes. You know what? I will be coming with you on your first black hole trip.”

“Eight black holes?” Genevieve wondered.

Charlotte said, “Jun will accompany you through the first black hole.”

Genevieve asked, “How can we go through those black holes? I’ve learned from school that everything gets crushed inside a black hole and even light or time can be bent.”

Lise said, “Well, in the afterlife, everything is possible, but there are dangers lurking in the shadows of these mystical black holes, and one mistake can lead to a pathway to hell. Actually, this room is also a space ship. We call it the Octaship.”

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