near death experience

AUTHOR Jonathan Fletcher

Mine wasn’t out-of-body but inside: blurred images, trembling limbs, eyelids that lowered, struggled to lift. A stomach that moved like the ocean, sent up wave after wave of half-digested food, pills.

I encountered no bright light, unless you count the blinding ovals in the ceiling of the ambulance. Or the end of a pen-shaped flashlight, shined in my pupils by a gloved hand Can you tell me your name?

I moved down no tunnel, unless you count the brightest halls I’ve ever passed through. I met no beings of light, unless you count the white-coated figures around me, who helped roll me in the stretcher.

I felt no sense of peace, except from the voices above me: stay with us, Jonathan You’re still needed here my only comfort as I ingested the earthen-flavored charcoal, gagged as the beings pumped my stomach.

Art by Aditya Kalra