THIS IS HOW THIS MAN DIED

His eyes opened inside a coffin.

And his eyes opened to total darkness.

***

He felt unbelievably hot, and for the first few minutes, he was completely unaware of where he was. At first he thought he was in his bed, but when he tried to move his hands and legs, he found out that he could not. He also realized that his breaths were abnormally heavy and uneven. He felt stuck in a box, but that was because he was actually stuck in a box.

“Where am I? What is this place? Am I dead?”

These questions ran through his mind as intense pain started to build in his chest. His head ached too, and his temperature was getting hotter. It was obvious his body wasn’t functioning normally. It felt as though someone had hit him with a brick, and his mind was only beginning to process the shock.

It was slow, but his eyes got accustomed to his small-spaced environment. He also realized that moving his head wasn’t easy either. He tried to raise his head, but a few inches upwards, his forehead got knocked against an obstruction, sending pain down his spine. There was a barrier up there. He couldn’t even sit up. The pain ran through his body, and he groaned. He could not even bring his hand up to rub his forehead. As his eyes grew accustomed to the darkness, he realized that the obstruction wasn’t just an ordinary barrier. It was a covering, a lid. It was sealed.

The beating rate of his heart doubled in speed,  panic catching an instant hold of him, and for a brief moment, his brain flashed back vaguely to an event where a bus he was traveling in, collided with another thereby resulting to an accident.

Did that mean he was dead? Was this heaven or hell? But no! He couldn’t be dead. He was alive. He could feel it. But this wasn’t a space he was used to. He had never been to this kind of place before.

He decided to call for help.

“He..llppp.” What came out of his lips was a whimper. His body was weak and his voice was weak also.

His breaths became heavier. The time between each inhale and exhale became prolonged. The pain in his chest worsened, and his throat tightened. He was running out of air.

He tried again to call for help, but again, it was his whisper that echoed in his ears. He couldn’t struggle. He couldn’t do anything other than stay still. And that was what he did.

So he closed his eyes, realizing his moment had come, and there was nothing he could do about it. As the air became thinner, so did his will and strength.

Soon, he began to gasp, wanting more and more air. But there was no air.

One final gasp, and then he saw a white light.

What this man didn’t know was that his death had already been mourned before he died.