The Afterlife

Delays

2010-07-25T15:53:00.000-04:00

Hey, you expected this, right ?

StarCraft II is my main focus right now, as I am a commentator for that.

Sorry.

--Wolf

An Unsuspected Return !

2010-04-07T03:34:00.003-04:00

The fourth episode of The Afterlife will be posted exactly two years after Episode III was posted. I'm really excited to continue working on this project. It's been far too long.

Oh, and.. I'm working on multiple episodes right now. I'm hoping for a weekly release. I need a better medium for releasing these episodes, but for now, this remains where they will be viewed.

--WS

Temporarily Suspended

2009-03-22T01:07:00.000-04:00

Revival date: TBA

(This page will be edited when a date is announced; it will also be updated on my RSS page and website)

Episode III - Death Revisited

2008-07-21T00:00:00.001-04:00

The screen was black for a moment. It then displayed in white letters: 6 January 2021. This soon faded to show a man sitting at a small table in a kitchen that appeared to be very dirty. Max recognised the man immediately- he was the man who had hit and killed him. He was reading the newspaper, which Max could see was clearly two days old. The date read: January 4, 2021. Max scanned the table and found a cheque made out to the man. Max, interested in the name, looked closer. He found it said "Felix Polanski" on it. Felix sat at the table and took a sip of coffee before flipping through the pages of the newspaper. Max became irritated and wondered, "Where do things actually start to happen ? I'm not interested in Felix's coffee !"

At that instant, the scene changed. This time the date and time showed up: 6 January 2021, 0230. Max looked upon Felix, dressed in completely black clothing, sitting in his yellow convertible. This time, the top was not down. He sat in front of a large building that had a small, worn-out sign that read: Reeves Corporation. Felix was talking to himself. He said, "Don't do this, Felix. Don't do this, Felix. Don't do this... Felix, you're crazy. This is absolutely crazy. But no one will find out... No one will know. It'll be okay, Felix..." He got out of his car and Max could see that on his belt he had a very dangerous-looking pistol. In addition to the pistol, Felix had two large black containers. Max could not see what was inside of them, but he assumed they were not just simply gadgets.

Felix approached the front door of the building. The front of the building itself looked rather bland. It was brick with no windows. The only things to take note of when looking at the building from afar would be the boring, worn-out sign, and the small door. Since the building was quite large, it looked very suspicious. Max hoped to see inside. Felix pulled something out of his back pocket. It appeared to be a pencil but Felix held it up to the door and fired a high-intensity laser near the doorknob. Without a sound, the door swung open and Felix went inside, leaving the door open.

The lights inside were still on. Inside, there were rows and rows of conveyor belts of parts. The machines along the edges of the conveyor belts would pick up these assorted parts and form them into a seemingly random piece of metal. Max looked at them and thought that they looked artistic. He concluded that the purpose of the factory was to take small parts, used or new, and make many little art pieces out of them. He began to wonder how machines in an assembly line were capable of such a task, but he then thought, "Technology can do anything these days" and went back to focusing on Felix, who was again talking to himself as he walked towards the centre of the factory. "Felix... You'll punish them. The Reeves family will pay for their betrayal. Heh.. Things won't ever be the same for your family, Reeves... No, you won't be rich any more." He continued to walk, more quickly this time. "I see you've doubled your production, Reeves... What if I made your production zero ? Would you like that ?"

Max was completely bewildered by Felix. He was also becoming angrier and angrier with each passing second. He felt it was unfair that his life was ended so quickly by this deranged man. He could have hit someone else. Anyone else. All he could think about was how unfair it was. Max's thoughts were interrupted by Felix.

Felix reached what appeared to be the absolute centre of the facility, and then he reached for his belt. He opened one of the containers and pulled out a small grey object. It had a digital timer on it. "Ten minutes should be enough time for me to escape the destruction of your beautiful factory, don't you think so, Reeves ?" He pulled a large remote control out of the other container on his belt. He pressed some buttons and soon a countdown of ten minutes appeared on the small grey object. It was now clear to Max that Felix was going to blow up Reeves Corporation. Felix looked at the bomb for a few seconds before sprinting towards the exit of the building. Once he reached the door, he ran into his car and drove about one hundred metres away from the impending explosion. He sat in his car and waited. He did not look behind him.

An old man had heard screeching tires and had gone outside to investigate. He found Felix's car just down the street from his house. He had his phone in hand, ready to call the police, but he decided to write down Felix's license plate number first. He recorded the custom plate that said "PFelix1". Just as he began to dial 911, the explosion of Reeves Corporation knocked the phone out of his hand. It fell to the ground with a small thud accompanied by a cracking screen. The man cursed as he picked it up. He watched, as did Max, while Felix sped away from the smouldering factory. Max thought, "Shouldn't the Reeves have had better security ? Wait, Reeves... I know that name." Max was suddenly reminded of Alex Reeves, one of Melissa's close friends. He always had expensive gadgets and nice clothes. Max realised that the wealth needed to pay for such luxuries must have come from that factory.

As Max watched the building collapse, the day changed. 7 January 2021 appeared on the screen. Max knew that he was going to watch himself die in a matter of moments. The setting moved to Felix's house. It was small, but Felix's expensive car in the driveway made it look as though someone important dwelled within. The presence of five police cars on the street meant that the old man had definitely called the police who must have had strong suspicions that the explosion at the Reeves Corporation was started by Felix. Three policemen stood at Felix's door, one banging and barking out orders.

"Felix Polanski, open the door, NOW ! If you do not open the door, we will be forced to enter your home forcefully." There was no response. The policeman banged a few more times, more forcefully each time. He then said, "Well, gentlemen, it's time to break in."

Before he could, Felix swung the door open with a massive amount of force. The officer doing the banging was struck by the door so hard that his nose broke and he fell to the ground unconscious, blood drenching his face. Max could see that Felix had drawn the gun he had brought to the factory last night. Before the other police could manage to say "Freeze !", Felix had shot one in the head with precise accuracy and the other square in the chest. They both fell dead to the ground. Felix darted forwards, towards his car. He took off extremely fast before the policemen on the street could block his car from escaping. He fled down the road with four police cars in pursuit. Max noted that they were far from Melissa's house. He could tell by the road. After five minutes of watching the pursuit, Max decided he would like to skip ahead a bit.

The setting changed once more. This time he recognised the street as Melissa's. Time was moving in slow motion for this scene of the Viewing. Max could look down the street and see himself about to cross for his last time. Felix grabbed his pistol and turned around to fire it at the pusuing policemen. He aimed, looking back, but was unable to fire because just before he pulled the trigger, he collided with Max, ending his life. Felix's face twisted into one of severe shock as Max's body tumbled over the windshield. He winced as the shattered glass pierced his skin and made him bleed. Felix could no longer control the car and it swerved into Melissa's yard. His head hit the steering wheel due to the airbag's failure to initiate. He was knocked unconscious.

Max had seen this scene before. The ambulance came to take Felix away while the police surrounded the area and questioned everyone. Max focused on Melissa this time. She cried and cried, but did not say a word. The police questioned anyone who came out of their homes or who had happened to witness Felix's accident with Max. Melissa's parents would answer the questions of the police, even though they knew practically nothing. Melissa, however, did not want to speak to anyone. She sobbed on her doorstep, even after everyone had gone. She would not come inside when her mother asked her to come and eat. "I know you're going through a lot, but there's nothing we can do. We will just have to let the police handle everything from here." Melissa would not budge. Eventually, her mother returned inside. Max continued to watch her, and he felt like crying himself, but no tears could come out. He watched as her cell phone started to vibrate in her pocket. She ignored the call. It vibrated a second time, and she pulled it out to see who was calling. She flipped it open.

"Alex ?"

Episode II - Exitus

2008-05-15T00:00:00.001-04:00

Max found himself in a small room with a white tiled floor and white walls. The walls were bare and there were no windows. He was sitting in a comfortable black leather chair facing a blond man with short hair and pale skin. The blond man was sitting in an identical chair, resting his hands upon his lap. He spoke.

"My name is Yggdrasil. Welcome to the Appearance Room." Max hesitated to respond. He did not know exactly how to address this person. "Excuse me, Mr Yggdrasil--"
"Just Yggdrasil."
"Right. Sorry. I was wondering... Where am I ?"
"I just told you. You are in the Appearance Room. It is in this room that you will decide exactly how you will appear in Exitus. You will decide your age, skin colour, how many freckles you want, your hair colour, length, style, what type of clothing you will wear, your weight, and your height."
"What is Exitus ? And how do I decide these things ?"
"Exitus will be explained later. For now, you must imagine exactly how you would like to appear. Imagine it as clearly as you can, down to the last detail. Keep your eyes closed. When you are finished, you may open them, and you will appear just as you imagined.

Max had to think for a while. He never had given much thought to how he would appear if he had the choice. The first thing he thought of was his acne. That was gone. Then all of his moles were imagined gone. He then imagined that his skin would have the same tint throughout. No sections would be more tan than others. He liked his hair, although he wished that it would be a bit straighter. He imagined himself with darker brown hair than he had before, and made it significantly longer and straighter. Lastly, he made his teeth perfectly white and made them perfectly straight.

He opened his eyes and looked at his arms. "Satisfied ?" asked Yggdrasil. "Look at the wall." Max looked at the wall to find a mirror had appeared. He looked at himself in full length and said, "I guess every part of me that was once flawed or ugly is gone. I could not ask for more." Yggdrasil smiled. "That is exactly how you are supposed to feel. You may return to this room once a week to change your appearance. Now you will be sent to Exitus. Goodbye."

Before Max could reply, he found himself somewhere entirely new. This time he was standing on a smooth road that was black. He looked down the road to find tall buildings that resembled very nice apartments. They were all grey but they had a nice appeal to them. They and the road stretched as far as Max could see. On the road, there were some people walking or standing around talking. They all appeared in their mid-twenties and were all extremely good looking. There were no unattractive people in sight. No one even looked average. Max felt younger than them all. He had kept himself to appear seventeen. He wished that he had known everyone would have would appear in their twenties, because he would have done the same as them. He stared at these perfect people for a few minutes before he was tapped on the shoulder.

A bald man was standing there with a stern expression on his face. He looked fifty years old. He said, "Welcome to Exitus. You will spend eternity here." He pulled a card out of his pocket and handed it to Max. "This is your identification card." It had an image of Max's updated appearance, his date of birth, date of death, and cause of death. The largest portion of the card, however, was the number at the bottom. It read: ID #29857200187. In the bottom right hand corner, there was an icon that appeared to be a home. "Double-tap that icon." Max tapped the
icon in the corner twice and found himself instantly teleported into a huge white room that appeared to be an empty apartment building. The walls resembled that of the Appearance Room's, but there was a large window looking out to the black road and the people below. Max could also see the apartments on the other side of the road and their identical windows.

Max turned around to face the bald man again, but before he could ask him anything, the man spoke. "My name is Andrew. It is my job to escort new Exutians to their living quarters and explain to them their new reality. I suppose you have quite a few questions. Rather than allowing you to ask me those questions, I am going to explain to you what Exitus is and the new abilities that you have." Max wished he had a seat. One suddenly materialised behind him. Max sat down, shocked but satisfied. Andrew remained standing.

"Yesterday, on the seventh of January, 2021, you were killed by Felix Polanski's automobile at approximately 11:54 AM. You died from numerous organ failures coupled with your bleeding. You were then sent into what is called Intermission. Intermission allowed you to observe the scene of your death as the Exitus Network obtained your information and registered your place here. Once you were registered, the gateway to Exitus was opened. You entered and were sent to the Appearance Room, where you were instructed about your appearance for Exitus. Finally, you were sent to the heart of Exitus, and to me.

"Allow me to explain this room. This room is registered to you. Only you and Exutians whom you permit to enter may enter it. Look at that wall over there. Do you see the large screen that is appearing ? That screen allows you to connect to the Exitus Network and access an infinite amount of resources. This screen is also where you will be able to do your Viewings. I will explain those to you later. You may move that screen anywhere you like and you may resize it. Go on, imagine it somewhere else. As you can see, it will move wherever you desire it. Not only will that screen, but this entire Housing Complex will arrange itself to your liking. Any inanimate objects that you can think of that existed on your planet of Earth will appear with your imagination. That includes food and drink. It does not include people or pets. No living things will be sent here. Your only limit is the space of this complex. You cannot bring more things than this space can contain. But that does not matter. To make room, you can simply get rid of something temporarily, then bring it back when you want it. Anything that you can imagine can be yours. Before you begin rearranging this complex, allow me to finish my explanations."

Max was becoming more and more excited as Andrew continued on. He sat patiently in his chair, excited for all of the good news that Andrew had for him.

"I must now bring up religion. Were you religious ?"
"No, I was Agnostic. I never became involved in religion."
"Good. It is sometimes difficult to explain to religious people that this place is what happens after death and that there is no 'Heaven' where some sort of supernatural being is waiting for them. There is only Exitus. From the descriptions I have heard of this 'Heaven', Exitus is basically the same, but not 'holy'."

Andrew looked relieved that he did not have to deal with an emotional religious fanatic. Max felt lucky that he did not have to deal with that emotional stress. He had originally been terrified of this place and extremely confused, but he found that he just might be able to get used to it.

"Lastly," Andrew continued on, "I will tell you about Viewings. Viewings are available to you twice a week. On each Wednesday and Saturday, you will be able to view either the entire planet of Earth or the entire planet of Terra. You may see what your friends are doing or what your family is doing. You may spy on random people all over the planets. The choice is yours. For twenty-four hours, you may observe anything you wish. The only exception is your Death Viewing. You may view the twenty-four hours before your death and the twenty-four hours after your death and may review any point in time during those forty-eight hours. This time you may only view Earth, however. Not Terra. But you may fast-forward or rewind and watch anything. This Death Viewing is available all seven days of the week."

Max was confused. He had not heard of a planet called Terra before. He asked Andrew, "What is Terra ?"

"I know you have never heard of Terra. Your records indicate that you died on Earth. Terra is a planet in a planetary system thousands of light-years away from yours. The exact same human beings that developed on Earth also developed on this planet. The main difference in the two planets is that Terran humans developed technology much more rapidly than did yours. They also have little land left with plants on it. Almost every square inch of the planet has been urbanised. Terrans come to Exitus just as people from Earth do. Naturally, Earth humans and Terrans do not understand each other very well because of differences in technology and standard of living during their lives. The Black Road you see outside splits your side, Earth humans, from the Terrans on the opposite side. Typically, when socialising outside, the two groups do not mix.

"It is time for me to go now. I have to instruct others. Enjoy your existence in Exitus." And with that, Andrew vanished.

Max was immensely curious about Terra, but he would have to wait until Saturday to be able to view it. It was Thursday. Max looked at his Complex Screen (he noted that was what it was called; it said on the bottom right hand corner) and wanted to see the time. A clock appeared in the corner and he saw that it was 3:00 AM. It was light outside and Max was not tired. Millions of thoughts were rushing through his mind. He also realised that he was not hungry. He thought, "I suppose I can only be hungry or tired if I want to be. Exitus is such a strange place. Sleep is not required. There is no sun here. Therefore, there can be no sundown." Max wanted to arrange his Complex but the thoughts burning in the back of his mind would not allow him to concentrate his imagination on the layout. He wanted to see Terra and he wanted to see Melissa and how she took the day after his death. He also wanted to see how his family was. He could not see Terra until Saturday. That was not so far away, he thought, realising that the time of 3 AM would mean that it was now Friday. He still felt impatient.

Max then remembered what Andrew said about his Death Viewing. He had almost forgotten that he had the ability to see an entire day into the future and into the past. He was excited but extremely nervous to look at the Death Viewing, but he decided that the knowledge he would gain would be for the best. He wanted to see his family and to find out about Felix Polanski, the man that collided with him. He did not have to wait. His desires told his Complex Screen that he was ready to look at his Death Viewing. The screen changed to all black with white letters. The letters read:

"DEATH VIEWING OF MAX SYLVAIN (ID #29857200187):
6 - 8 JANUARY 2021"

The letters faded and the screen began to display the Viewing.

Episode I - Death

2008-04-25T00:00:00.003-04:00

It had been three weeks since Max had seen Melissa. He had gone to visit his family in Vermont during his winter break. He called her occasionally, but they were both usually too busy to have a real conversation. The conversations mostly consisted of such phrases as, "I'm too busy to talk right now, but I can't wait to see you" or "I love you". Little else was ever said between them during that winter vacation.

Max always wanted to tell Melissa about everything that he was doing. Whenever they talked, he would always begin to tell her about his day. He started to detail all of the main activities that he and his family did. She would always interrupt him, saying, "I want to hear about it later. When I can hear all of it." As he drove to her house where they both lived in Ebensburg, Pennsylvania, he thought about all his experiences that he would share with her. She would laugh or say, "Oh, how cute" to each and every one of them. Her responses would be generic if she were uninterested in hearing his stories, but she would always act interested. For some reason, he loved to tell her everything, regardless of what she thought. Perhaps it was because she was the only person that would listen to him. He had few friends and his parents were never home. His brother Richard was more interested in girls and school work than anything else. He felt alone, except for her.

He parked across the street from her house. Her house always looked beautiful in winter. Ebensburg had snow pretty often, and today her house was covered. He walked across the street quickly, making sure that no cars were coming. His excitement was rising quickly. He felt almost nervous, but knew there was nothing to be nervous about. The moment he rang the doorbell, he realised that he had forgotten the roses he bought for her. Max hated to make mistakes like that. He felt that it would look incredibly foolish if he had to tell her to wait at the door for a moment while he went to get the flowers from his car. He knew that she always took a while to come to the door, and he had only rung the doorbell once. He decided to run to get the flowers and hope to return before she reached the door.

He darted towards his car, this time not looking. He reached his car and opened the passenger door quickly. He snatched the flowers out of the seat and looked at them briefly to make sure that they still looked fine. They did. He slammed the door behind him as he ran as fast as he could across the pavement. But he never reached the other side. The last thing he saw was Melissa opening the door with a horrified look upon her face.

A yellow sports car was hurtling down the road at nearly 100 kilometres per hour. It was a convertible with its top down. Max was hit, hard, while the driver tried to slam on his brakes. He was killed instantly. His body travelled over the hood very quickly and shattered the glass of the windshield. The driver shielded his face from the flying shards and the car swerved off of the road and screeched to a halt in Melissa's front yard. Max's body had fallen off of the car and remained on the street as a pool of blood formed around it.

Max stood up. He looked down. He was extremely shocked to find himself looking at what was left of his body. He did not know how he could be standing next to his own body. "Is that me ?" he asked himself. He looked at his hand and saw that it was slightly transparent. He started to look at Melissa's house, but everything faded away.

He found himself standing on a ground that he could not even see. Everything was white. He looked forward and he could see white forever. He turned around and looked in all directions. Everything was white. He looked at himself. He was still slightly transparent. He decided to get a better look at himself. His clothes were transparent, matching his skin. He noticed that there was blood on his clothes but not on his skin. In fact, his body was completely the way it was right before he was hit. He sat down on the ground. It was cold. He touched his leg. His body was still completely solid. It just appeared transparent. "So, I guess I'm dead," Max murmured. He tried to come to terms with it, but he was still in shock about everything that happened. He was feeling only one emotion at the time. Surprise.

As he sat there on the cold ground, looking out at the white expanse, he began to feel curious about the details of what happened. Questions entered his mind. Why was the driver speeding so much ? What did Melissa see ? How could he have been so foolish to cross without looking ? Suddenly, the ground beneath him became an image of his body being taken into an ambulance. It was a bird's eye view. It began to zoom out and he was able to see the entire section of the street where the accident had occurred and Melissa's yard. He saw Melissa kneeling on the ground, still near her door, staring at him. Her eyes poured out tears but she was silent. The driver of the convertible was now being carried to the ambulance. "This doesn't even help," Max muttered. "I can't see the past. That's what I really want to see." Immediately after saying that, he realised how thankful he was to be able to see what he could. He was surprised at how little he was disgusted by all of the blood and how mutilated his body was. He concluded that if it had been someone else's body, he would have been extremely disgusted. Suddenly, about four or five police cars arrived at the scene. They sped into the picture. Policemen started to emerge from their vehicles quickly and started questioning everyone nearby. They were taking notes. Max could not hear what they were saying. "I can't hear !" he yelled. He strained to hear, but no sound came out.

The image below him faded away to return back to the white ground that he had been sitting on originally. Feelings of frustration and sadness welled up in Max's eyes and tears started to fall down his face. He wanted to see Melissa again. He wanted to see his family again. He did not want to spend eternity in this white nothingness. He heard the sound of a door slam behind him. He turned around to see an ordinary wooden door with a brass doorknob about ten feet away from him. "That wasn't there before," he thought. He stood up and walked over to it. He looked behind the door but found that there was nothing behind it. It was just a door leading nowhere, he concluded. But when he opened it, inside was pure darkness. He looked at the black gateway before him.

He did not hesitate. He went inside.

Welcome

2008-04-21T23:58:00.001-04:00

Today The Afterlife was announced. The first episode will be posted on this Friday.

I await your feedback.

--WS