What's up people. I'm back with this short, quick read story. It's about 3,000 words...once you see The END, that's the end of the story.

This is a bit different from my regular stories...a bit spiritual.

..........

Immediately Olu stepped out of the local restaurant and started walking home, he knew something was wrong. His street was off the tail end of the road he was on, but he still had to walk about ten minutes before he got home. The newly constructed road was lit up by solar powered street lights. With every car that zoomed past him, he felt he was going to lose balance and fall. His lanky body swayed here and there. Was it the spicy food he had just had, or was it the bottle of Stout he had drank earlier. He didn’t believe just one bottle of beer could have him losing control of his body, but he didn’t have any other explanations for how he was currently feeling. .



When he made the turn to his street, he felt very weak, and it was like his soul was leaving his body. A rush of black substance came up his throat and leaned over to throw up in the gutter next to him. The street lights hadn’t been turned on his street, and if he could have seen his vomit at that point, he would have been a lot more worried than he was. He sat on the bare flow because he felt he would pass out if he kept standing. Is this the end? He thought to himself. Olu didn’t want to die on the street, a few houses from his home. He thought of what the headlines would read. Drunk man in his 30s, found dead on the side of the road, next to his vomit.



The thought of death suddenly scared him, and he started praying, hoping God would save his life. He had forgotten all the times he had suicidal thoughts; all the times he had wished God would take his life, because he was too cowardice to make the move himself. Indirectly, he had silently prayed to me, the angel of death all these years. My name is Azreal, and I am the one telling you this story.

This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this book are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

……….



After sitting on the ground for a couple of minutes, he had enough strength to pull out his phone out of his jeans pocket and make a phone call. He couldn’t call his parents as they would panic, so he called his neighbour, and long time friend, Peter. “Please, come fast, and bring water.” He said to his friend and tried his best to describe what was wrong with him. All his years of getting drunk, he had never felt this way before. And this was a worse feeling than anything he had felt with the worst sickness he ever encountered. The only thing he could think of was that he was dying. And his instinct told him water would save his life. He was partially right. Water would definitely give him a little extension, but he would need more than that for the battle he was going to have with me in a few hours.



If only people understood the afterlife, they wouldn’t see what I do as a bad thing. Death is a part of life, it is not necessarily a bad thing from my point of view. I come when it is time for someone to go; sometimes the person does the work themselves and I assist in making it faster when their soul doesn’t want to be in the physical plane anymore. Most times, it is old age and sickness that call for the exit of some people. And other times, it might be a murder, or an accident.



His friend, Peter, was confused when he got to the scene. Olu wasn’t talking incoherently, and didn’t have any movements of a drunken person when he had stood up to greet him. He studied Olu as he gulped down the bottle of water he had handed him, and wondered what was really wrong with him. “Wow! I feel better now. Water really is life.” Olu said to his friend as he turned the cap of the empty bottle and threw it in a bin basket beside him.



On the walk home, the two old friends caught up on old times, and concluded to see the next day when they got to Olu’s house gate. A few minutes after Peter departed, Olu’s mom opened the gate for him. She was a slender woman in her late 70s, that still moved around like she was 20 years younger. She complained about Olu coming home late again, and then asked him to help her carry some heavy boxes into the house. They had gotten the DHL delivery earlier, from his sister overseas. The 3 cubic feet boxes were filled with clothes for the family. He looked at the four boxes and wanted to tell his mom he couldn’t do it because he was feeling weak, but he felt that would be rude, so he did it anyway. When he dropped the last box in the living room, he started feeling the weakness he had experienced early, so he quickly excused himself and headed for his room.



Laying on his bed, he couldn’t sleep as he was feeling uneasy. Nauseated, and with a strong feeling to poop at the same time, he thought maybe he had cholera. He felt woozy in the head when he made an attempt to get up. He lay back down, but when it felt like the poop would come out any second, he got up from the bed; it felt like the room was spinning when he took his first few steps towards his room door. His vision got blurry right before he slumped, and fell. The room door broke his fall, and his almost dead reflexes made an attempt to hold on to the door handle with his hands, but his grip was limp, and he slowly came to the floor. It was time for me to do my job.

..........

Sleep, an unconscious state, and coma are three states of mind closest to death. Olu was in the second state now, and his soul was halfway to the afterlife. My job was to make that journey a smooth one, and re-acclimate the soul with what it is already knowledgeable of. When it’s time to go, it’s time to go, and no amount of prayers can make a soul stay back in a body. But if it is not time, then the battle to return begins. Every single person has a purpose to achieve in the physical world. Some do it faster than others, and depart to the spiritual realm. Others take longer to achieve their purpose. Some purposes are really simple, some are complex, but in the grand scheme of things, everyone’s purpose is important to the growth of the whole.



My job is to let the individual that has achieved his purpose a smooth passage to the spiritual realm, or let the one that hasn’t achieved his purpose prove to me why he or she should be let back. As much as achieving purposes is important in the grand scheme of things, things can be shifted around in the universe for another person to take up your place.



The battle began for Olu’s life when he faced me. His knowledge of the afterlife which he once had was now restored to him; he knew me and exactly what I was there to do. I grabbed his neck with both hands; this represented choking the remaining life out of him. As we tussled in the spiritual realm, his body was almost lifeless on the floor in his room, in the physical realm. With every second of our battle, his pulse was slowly fading away. Just then, his sister walked into his room and shouted out, “Olumide!” The compassion and love in her soul gave him a jolt of power in the spiritual realm to remove the grip I had on his neck. I grabbed him by the neck again, this time squeezing harder. He was still unconscious in the physical plane as his sister pulled him up, and rested his back on his cold room wall. She was asking him what had happened, confused about what to do. When his mother came into the room, and shouted out, “Olu!” It was the greatest surge of energy for the night, and in the spiritual realm, he removed the grip I had on him, and  floated far away from me. His eyes slowly came open in the physical world.


His nieces had heard the shout of their mom, and ran into the room. They saw their precious uncle looking sick, and joined their grandma in saying a prayer for him. The pure innocence of their souls, with the combination of the strong unconditional love from his mom and sister gave him a quick surge of power in the spiritual realm. I looked at the life force glow around him, and he was right now at the level of strength of me and my colleagues. Unconsciously, he knew this surge of energy wouldn’t last, so he moved in quickly. His punches came at me as quick as a flash of lightning. After a three punch combination to my face, he put all his energy into the fourth punch; an uppercut that sent me into another dimension. There was silence. The battle was over. He was fully back to life now, explaining to his family members what he felt was wrong with him. 


When his dad walked into the room, he got briefed on what was going on, and he rushed down the stairs to get the car ready for the trip to the hospital. From where I was, I looked down at him and his family helping him down the stairs, and thought of how I would wish to experience this kind of love one could only experience in the physical plane. This love had saved his life, and I saw more love coming his way in the next couple of days. He had a purpose greater than he knew, and this love would help him all through to the point where he would accomplish his purpose in life.

……….


While lying down on his bed, at the emergency unit of the hospital, a young female doctor walked up to him with a file in her hand. Olu sat upright and adjusted the hospital gown he had on. She was average height, light skin, in blue scrubs, and had her stethoscope hanging on her neck. She greeted him, opened the file and asked if he was Olumide Johnson. He nodded his head, and she let him know she would be the doctor in charge of his case, and would be the one to oversee his treatment till he was discharged. The fact that she was positive that he was going to get better was good news to his ears, because right now, he didn’t even know what was really wrong with him. But what made him even more happy was the fact that she was very good looking. Even the fact that she had on a nosemask didn’t hide her beauty. Her eyes were so pretty to him, and he liked the way her hair was packed neatly to the back.  I was hovering around his bedspace, shaking my head at the fact that he had just almost lost his life a few hours ago, and here he was checking out his doctor as she asked him questions concerning his health. 


Olu had a case of upper GI bleeding; his stomach acid had caused bleeding in his oesophagus. The doctor was asking questions trying to ascertain the cause. After a few minutes of question and answers, she pulled over the medical privacy screen, and sure no part of Olu’s bedspace could be seen by people passing by. And then she asked him to lay on his side, with one leg slightly raised up. She explained what she was about to do to him as she put on latex gloves. As she positioned his legs properly for the rectal examination, Olu felt a bit uncomfortable that she was about to see his unclothedness. 


After the examination, which lasted a few minutes, she let him know he was still actively bleeding. As she removed the gloves, and disposed of them, she said he would be giving proton-pump inhibitor drugs and shots to stop the bleeding. and if that doesn’t work, she would have to call in the surgeons to go in and stop it. The thought of being caught open scared him, and he hoped the first method she mentioned worked. 



That night, he was awoken by the noise of an ongoing CPR. I never stick around if I don’t have work to do. The patient right beside Olu was currently fighting me for his life, but unlike Olu, it was really his time to go. Olu’s beautiful doctor tried to save him, performing CPR for ten minutes, as Olu watched in shock. When the girl finally stopped pumping on his middle aged man’s chest, and told the man’s wife her husband was gone, the wife let out a loud cry. Olu looked at his doctor, feeling sorry for how defeated she looked. It wasn’t her fault; there was nothing she could have done to bring him back. When it is time to go, it is time to go.

……….


Time is an illusion, and as an angel of death, I’m in many places at the same time. I stuck around the hospital, waiting for others to reach their point of no return so as to assist them to the spiritual realm. I watched as the pretty doctor came and went; she had other patients to attend to, but Olu was a paramount case to her. His case was a little more complicated as his internal bleeding wasn't slowing down, and they had to give him three pints of blood over a course of three days to keep his PCV from dropping too low. The frequency of time she spent by his bedside, very concerned about his health gave Olu hope, and he would always talk to her about little things, aside from his health. He grew fond of her, over time, and she did too, even though she kept everything  professional.


Her voice when she walked into his ward early in the morning gave him a boost of energy. Her footsteps, heading towards his bed, and her referring to him as Mr. Johnson always made him smile. His family members were always around during visiting hours, which lasted about an hour, and his mom was allowed to see him more than usual, but the person he saw the most now was his warm and caring doctor. Her concern for his recovery was genuine, and she worked hard to get him healthy. 


When Olu eventually stopped bleeding, and she got back his Pack Cell Volume test, her face lit up. His PCV when he was brought in was at 16, now his PCV was at 39. This was at a normal range for males his age, and a huge success for her. She smiled at him for the first time. Her mission was complete, and she could let her guard down a bit. 


I had to smile too, watching from a distance. Just 5 days ago, Olu was battling for his life, now he was back to normal, and even falling in love with his doctor, who might be developing feelings too. If he never had the near death experience, he probably wouldn't have met the doctor. And now, anything was possible moving forward, as he was about to be discharged, and transferred for outpatient services at another hospital. So she was no longer his doctor, and he was no longer her patient 


On the day he was getting discharged, she came over to talk to him about his diet, and listed foods he should avoid eating moving forward. When she was done, and was about to leave, he asked for her number, saying that he would like to see her again. She told him it was against her ethics to give him her phone number. Olu felt disappointed, as he watched her walk away. 


The pretty doctor turned around at the door, and walked back to his bedside to pick up her pen from his bed. As she was leaving this time, she smiled at his sister who was by his bedside and said, “You really love your brother; your calls have been non-stop these past couple of days.” The two ladies laughed, and the doctor said the last goodbye to Olu before leaving. And she was gone. But Olu got the message she passed to him with what she had said as a joke to his sister. All she was trying to say was, ‘your sister has my number, you can get it from her.’ That realisation brightened up his day, and he couldn’t wait to start life again. 


And that's the end of the story, as told by me, Azrael, the angel of death. I hope I was able to brighten your day a little with this story. Wink-Wink.


The End

I hope you enjoyed the quick read.

Wow beautuful story ,i really enjoyed it,wish it was longer though.

kayo80:
I hope you enjoyed the quick read.

tonexyx:
Wow beautuful story ,i really enjoyed it,wish it was longer though.

Thanks for the comment. I appreciate it. This story didn't really get any comments, so I really value this.

A beautiful story...just stumbled upon it while searching for a literary piece to read, and it was worth it! So the angel of death fit collect uppercut?

Ohibenemma:
A beautiful story...just stumbled upon it while searching for a literary piece to read, and it was worth it! So the angel of death fit collect uppercut?

LMAO!!

I'm glad you enjoyed the story.

Great story you’ve got here!!

It had me smiling all through.

Thank you 😊

nice one,keep up the good work.

Wow! That was very interesting although short.
Remind me to give that angel of death a resounding slap when he comes for me😀
Seriously you’re good at what you do,keep it up.

Legitdimple:
Wow! That was very interesting although short.
Remind me to give that angel of death a resounding slap when he comes for me😀
Seriously you’re good at what you do,keep it up.

The bolded made me laugh.

Legitdimple:
Wow! That was very interesting although short.
Remind me to give that angel of death a resounding slap when he comes for me😀
Seriously you’re good at what you do,keep it up.

Thanks. I appreciate this comment.

kayo80:


Thanks. I appreciate this comment.

You are welcome.

kayo80:


The bolded made me laugh.

Hahahaha! You know this. Who sent angel of death work 😁

Just read this and I felt the need to encourage the writer.
Beautiful piece. Keep it up.

calamus:
Just read this and I felt the need to encourage the writer.
Beautiful piece. Keep it up.

Thanks...I appreciate your comment.