Kitzzz…zz..z….Bang…ng…ng…

The car hits him. He flies up then falls down, hits the ground. The accident has taken his life.

He is supposed to die. And that is what everyone believes to be happening. But for some strange reason, instead of lying there unconsciously, he sees himself floating in the air. He can feel the wind passing straight through and its sound, so clear, so clear right beside his ears. Where is he?

People are crowding around the car accident. There are polices, commoners, elders, children; everyone is there. Photographers are taking pictures; spokesmen from CNN and other news are there too. They are all surrounding his dead body. It is a big news, a tragedy because he is Jay Mathew, the richest and the most famous man in the country.

So this is how it feels to be dead, Jay thinks. He has such a strange feeling inside his head. He does not feel his heart beating, not even when he presses his fingers tightly against his chest. There is an emptiness inside him. Jay is o­nly a soul now; his existence is no longer in the real world. He really is dead. Now what?

There are all sorts of emotions. People are crying, surprised, shocked, and even happy. He can see them all, but he can barely feel anything right now. Jay looks up. There is a door above him, a plain white huge door - the door to heaven. At least he does not have to go to hell, Jay smiles to himself while walking toward the door.

The door opens and he walks in. Just as easy as that.

Jay cannot tell the difference between the inside and the outside of the door. There are clouds and o­nly clouds, floating, playing, running around him. So he stands still and waits.

Jay hears a voice from far away asking him where he is going. “Heaven,” he answers. The voice then asks him why. “Because I’m dead,” Jay says without thinking. The voice becomes clearer and louder as it gets closer to him: “You are o­ne of very few people here that seem to be so calm, knowing that you are dead.”

“I’m not afraid of dying,” says Jay.

“Why?” the voice asks.

“I don’t know. I just don’t think it is a big deal to die. Everyone dies someday.”

“Don’t you have anything down there that you are not willing to let go?” the voice asks again.

“No, there’s no such thing,” says Jay.

“You are Jay Mathew, the luckiest man down there, the man who has everything that people can wish for, and you are not regretting to let go all of those things?”

“No, I don’t want any of them.”

“Go o­n then. You can now go o­n to heaven,” says the voice.

Jay walks straight ahead and passes through the second white gate. This time, he does not see any clouds in the front. He sees a world, a world in which he no longer belongs to. It is the human world. He continues to walk along the white path, through many images o­n the side. Jay sees a family, poor but happy. Their house is not as big as his; it is actually o­nly his bathroom size. But everyone is there. They sit around in that tiny room and talk and laugh, and laugh, and talk some more. They have those rare smiles that he could never see when he was alive. Ah…such a life…

The image becomes blur as Jay passes through it. Then he sees many children living o­n the streets. The weather is getting cold and they do not have much clothes o­n. They o­nly have a bow of soup in their hands. The bows are small and dirty. The soup must be cold and is not that great by the way it looks. But then, the look o­n those children’s faces; their eyes glow like stars in that dark cold night. How they treasure the bows of soup and each time they eat, their faces express happiness in the way that he could never understand. Jay suddenly feels hungry. He wants to taste the soup for the first time in his life. But Jay realises it is not the soup that those children are treasuring, but it is the work and effort they have to put in to get those food. Not many people can be the richest persons in the world.

Jay wants to go o­n, but something inside urges him to stop. Then he thinks, for the first time since his death. Jay is thinking. What if he is still alive. Can he change the world down there? Can he help those poor children and families? Can he find his happiness, the feeling he truly wants to take with him when he dies? Can he?

Yes he can, Jay answers his question. He can use his money to help many people who are not as lucky as he is. He can find his happiness in life from others’ happiness. He can live a more meaningful life, a life that he can leave something wonderful behind before going to heaven.


Ring…ing…ing…Ring…ing…ing…

Jay opens his eyes as the clock o­n the desk makes the dreadful sound. He has waken up from a long dream, a dream that changes Jay’s life forever. From now o­n, he might truly be the luckiest man in the world by finding his own happiness through others. He can live a life with meaning and feeling, a life that when he dies, he feels good about it.


Written by Trần Phương My
Edited by Chu Vân Hương A1 98-01
Submitted by Le Huy Hoang L2 00-03