How to Live After Death
Story by RazialDrakken on SoFurry
So, I took a note from authors from the early twentieth century and wrote a stand-alone ghost story.
The dust blows over the barren landscape like a ghost drifting through without a care. In the distance, the faint sound of wind rushing as the moon hangs high in the night sky, and at the center of this forgotten land sits a crossroads with a four-way stoplight constantly blinking red like that of a single beat—red...red...red. The stoplight hangs by a wire, swaying back and forth as if rocked gently by the cool yet warm desert breeze.
In the distance, a set of headlights appears as if a bright white beacon in the pitch-black darkness of the night. Slowly, it gets closer and closer to the crossroads. The driver was weatherworn but young and vibrant. He rubbed the tiredness from his blue eyes as he took a sip from his cup, finding nothing in it.
"Damn," was all he said as he came to a stop at the intersection. He looked around, finding nothing of interest. Suddenly, something bumped the car, startling him as he looked out the rearview mirror but did not see anything.
Slowly, he opened his door and stepped out of his car. He ventured around the vehicle but could not find whatever made the noise except for the sizable dent on the hood of the trunk. "What in the hell—" he said before a light caught his eye.
He looked up and saw a lonely gas station sitting there with only two pumps. He blinked to make sure he did not miss it and wondered where it came from. As he climbed back into his car, the gas station remained in sight. He pulled his car into the pump, getting out, and noticed the strange feeling on the back of his neck. This place was something beyond a gas station, but he pushed such silliness aside. He was an educated man, and educated men do not believe in superstitious ideals, believing most are rooted in inaccuracies.
He walked into the gas station and heard the sound of a small radio playing in the back. The sound of two flies buzzing resonated throughout the store as if in time with the music he couldn't identify. A woman in her forties looked up and produced a great big smile and said, "Howdy, hon. What'cha needin?"
The man walked up to the counter and said, "Yes, I need some gas on your pump out there."
"Oh, honey. I wish I could help, but that is a special kind of gas, and your car will not run on that. Besides, you have only just arrived. It's always new ones that take a while to adjust," she said with a warm smile.
The man looked confused. What kind of gas station on the road sells gas that vehicles cannot use? And there was one more question that bothered him and asked, "adjust to what, exactly?"
With her auburn hair streaked with silver, the woman gave the man a pitiful look and said, "Why, death, of course."