Emma

It felt a lot like standing in your grandma’s dining room. Oddly comfortable, but with a very dated look and feel to the place.

The walls were brown wooden panels which were all covered in picture frames, allowing almost no visibility of the faux mahogany behind them. Corey saw himself at various ages in a few of the photos that hung, along with photos of those he knew and those he did not. The air was thick and sweet and the carpet under his feet shaggy and worn down to a near flat finish against the floor. If the year was 1970 then this room would probably be cutting edge and quite a sight to behold, but from the lens of a 2026 eye it was nothing but outdated and gaudy.

He spent time looking at the photos on the walls, investigating the faces he knew and those that were just outside of his memory. His attention was pulled from this task when a pleasantly cool voice broke the monotonous air -

“Mr. Richard? We’re ready to see you now”, cooed a beautifully inviting woman who held a clipboard in one hand and a door open with the other, inviting Corey into an office that adjoined the waiting room in which he stood.

“Awesome, thanks!” And with this he entered the room he was called to, the door shutting behind him as he sat into a deep and comfortable leather chair that was placed in front of a messy cocobolo desk. The woman took her seat opposite him in a more classical looking mesh-backed desk chair, and began immediately.

“Okay Mr. Richard, it says here you are, or rather were, 26 human years old on Earth. You perished in a car accident, that you were not at fault for, on the second of February, 2026.”

“Wait, how do you know it wasn’t my fault?”

“We’re omnipotent, Mr. Richard. While your insurance companies must wait for both stories to assign blame, we know right away what the cause and effect of the accident will be. You waited your turn at a red light and as you passed through the intersection a drunk driver ran their own and T-Boned your passenger side door, and you unfortunately could not proceed in that way. Because of that, you are here and with us.”

“Oh. I see. What about-“

“Your family will be… okay. This, I promise to you, is the truth. Make no mistake that their grief and anguish now is extreme, and this is unavoidable. To be missed so heavily is a testament to the life that you lived and the impact you had on those around you. But with time, they will become better, and stronger. Your memory will not fade, but you will become a smaller part of them as their lives grow more intricately around the memory of you.”

“I see.”

“I’m here for any questions that you have, any at all”, and seizing this invitation, Corey quizzed the entity on all sorts of matters regarding his Earthly life. He asked about lost love, missed opportunities, all that he could have been. But he also asked of his greatest triumphs, his most unlikely successes, the greatest of victories that he savored. They continued on in this way, he asking questions and the woman across the desk kindly answering them with the undeniably full truth, for an indeterminate amount of time. There were no clocks on the walls, upon her desk, and even the laptop computer that sat open did not display a time upon it. The woman, who had told Corey that her name was Kim, said that there was no time needed in this place, for what purpose is there to track infinity?

“I guess what happens now?”

“After we complete this questionnaire and you feel you’re ready, you’ll be all free to go into town. I have your key for you, as well as a map on how to get there.”

“Great, thanks Kim. I guess one last thing, how long have you been here?”

“When I was a human on Earth and died, it was in what your people now would call ‘1151 BC’. After I died I came here and lived in the Community for a very long time, and it was nice. Eventually I suppose I was called to another purpose, and that was guiding those who were new to the Community. I’ve been a Community Counselor for about 800 years now.”

“I see. And so we’re here… forever?”

“Forever, yes. But I assure you, it is not so existential as you’re imagining. Here, we live without want, without need. There is infinite experience here to take in, endless conversation to engage in with all humans who have ever lived and are in the Community, and know that the same applies to those who will die in the future and join us too.”

Corey sat with this last bit of information and thought for a time while staring blankly into the desk. He looked up into Kim’s kind and inviting eyes and weakly said “I think I’m ready to see my house now.”

“Excellent, here is your key, and here are the directions. You will also see that I’ve marked the homes of your family members who are also here with us. One more thing, Mr. Richard, is that you will have a roommate. I assure you that you will have no issue living with this individual. If ever you have any other questions, please come and see me. I've always got time to help a new member.”

Corey took the key and supplemental papers provided by Kim, thanked her, and went on his merry way. He walked out of the office and into a well manicured park at midday. The sun shone brightly overhead and there were all sorts of people out in the plaza walking and talking. The sidewalks were lined with food vendors, sort of, which had no employees behind the counters or prices listed on the menus. Instead, the food carts were full with decadent treats that were replenished immediately if one was taken. Corey walked up to one and took from it a cinnamon roll that looked perfect, and watched another appear in its place almost instantly.

He walked down the street, following his directions and eating his cinnamon roll for about 10 minutes (again, time wasn’t counted here so who really knows) before stopping in front of a one story house with an off-white stucco exterior and red tile roof. There was a porch with two rocking chairs and a wooden table that held a chess board, and a railing that encompassed the whole of it. As he walked up the stairs to the front door he thought of the words Kim had told him, “a roommate”. The locations of his father's and both of his grandfather’s homes were marked on his map, so clearly they were not this mystery individual. His friend Jack, who had passed away in a car accident at the age of 16, also had his home marked in a nearby neighborhood. He scoured his mind for the identity of this individual as he slipped the key into the deadbolt, turning it smoothly and hearing the door click unlocked.

The heavy oak door opened and Corey’s eyes immediately caught sight of a black furry mass on the floor running to greet him. As it approached him he knew right away the answer to his question, this was his childhood cat Emma. He fell to his knees as the feline approached and he took her up in both his arms, all the while feeling tears growing in his eyes. He held her in his arms like an infant and looked into her face to find that she appeared as her younger self. She was 19 years old when she had passed, and yet before him now she looked to be a cat in the prime of her life. As he gazed deeply into her green eyes he saw that they looked directly back into his own, and felt the light vibration of her body purring against his. In that instant, the idea of staying forever in that embrace felt preferable to anything else.