Flashback

"That's right, Lucas. This is the afterlife."

"Are you serious!?" Lucas asked, in shock as well as surprise.

"Absolutely." The lady replied with a smile.

Lucas wanted to say something but kept his mouth shut. He had various thoughts going on in his mind and they were popping up one after another every second.

But soon, he calmed his thoughts down and his shocked and surprised mood gradually calmed down too. He then became as cool as a cucumber after a while.

Lucas collected his thoughts and after thinking for a while, he said, "so I died, correct?"

"Yes." The lady replied in the same gentle tone as before.

"And this is this afterlife, yes?"

"Correct."

Lucas nodded and then finally asked, "If this really is the afterline, where's my mother and sister? I can't see them here. Let alone them, I see nobody here except you and me."

The lady smiled and her expression became much more gentle than before. She said to Lucas, "don't worry about them. They are doing good wherever they are."

"So I can't meet them? Or is it you who is not going to allow me to meet them?" Lucas asked flatly.

"You can't meet them. As for why, the reason could be that they are not even here in the first place. They might have reincarnated and are now living well with their new families."

The lady said in a much more gentle tone than before, seemingly afraid of hurting Lucas.

Lucas rubbed his forehead as he heard this. He put both his hands on his face, covered it and thought about a few things for a while.

The lady in front of him did not disturb him and just kept looking at him with a gentle gaze.

Lucas was thinking about all the things that had happened in his life and for some reason, all his past events were playing like a movie in his mind.

Lucas had an older twin sister when he was born and he 'saw' the scene of his mother holding him and his sister in her arms while lying on a hospital bed and looking at them with warmth and love in her eyes.

Lucas had a twin sister, had no father when they were born, and his mother had to work day and night to bring food to the table for them. The scenes of his mother managing to raise the two while doing jobs were playing in his mind after it.

It felt painful to watch this. Lucas wished he didn't see it but for some reason, he was unable to back away now.

Lucas's mother got a stable source of income when he was around ten. Life was starting to get better for them.

Lucas's twin sister loved him very dearly since the time she was able to show affection, talk and walk. She being the older among the two always ensured that no harm fell on Lucas. She spoiled him whenever she could like giving him her own share of pie when he had finished his or her own slice of pizza.

There were many such instances and even though Lucas had refused to take such things from her many times, she had forced it on him.

Lucas was glad he had such a loving mother and sister. But, even now, in his afterlife, he wished that he had gotten a bit more time to spend with the two.

When Lucas was thirteen, his mother had brought a car and a few months later, they were driving back home from school when the tire of the car burst open and made the car go out of control. They met with an accident and Lucas's mother tried her very best to save her two children.

Helped arrived minutes later after the accident happened and the rescuers saw Lucas and his sister wrapped in the embrace of their mother. She had protected them even till her last breath.

But, it was only Lucas who was barely alive and his sister had left him along with his mother.

Tears dripped down Lucas's face as he saw these scenes play in his mind. Fate was so cruel. Why was it not him in their stead? Why did the two had to leave him so early?

The scene changed in his mind and Lucas was given compensation from the insurance company. The compensation lasted him for three years and it was starting to get all used up. Lucas had to save money for college and thus he got a job when he was sixteen.

Lucas finally got into a college after he was eighteen and all his money was used up in paying the tution. He did not have savings and he had to work overnight and cut on sleep if he needed to fill his stomach. Life was very tough for him.

Few weeks later, the place he was working at shut down and he lost his job. What little savings he had were all used up and he kept searching for a job. But for some reason, he wasn't able to find any. His health was dwindling and due to this, he wasn't able to focus in college and his grades were going down.

Lucas kept searching for a job but even in the end, he didn't find any.

The last scene of his life played in his mind and Lucas laughed noticing this.

His face that had his tears dried up made him look like a maniac as he was laughing.

The last scene of his life felt just that much funny to him. This tragedy was his life's biggest comedy.

Who knew that in the end, a miser like him would get killed in such a joking manner.

He tried to save a kid and a mother but out of nowhere, a random Italian athelete came out of nowhere and saved the two and Lucas got hit by the truck and died in vain.

What a joke it was.

What a pathetic life it was.

Fate took everything from him. It was so unfair.

But, what made Lucas hate fate the most wasn't his own misery or his death, it was his mother's and sister's death.

Why did his mother have to die? She was such an innocent, gentle, and kind lady who would never hurt anybody. Why did she have to be a single mother? Where the fuck was the father? Why did she have to go through such hardships? Why was nobody there to help her? In the end, why did she have to die so tragically?

And as for his sister, what had that poor little soul every done to anybody? Why did she have to die too? Why was fate like this?

Lucas, at this point, had never hated anything in his life so much. He hated fate, he hated the destiny he had. He was raging as tears kept falling from his eyes.

His mother and sister who meant everything to him were taken from him. Why?

Finally when his life had stopped playing in his mind, Lucas looked at the lady in front of him dead in the eyes.

The lady still had the same gentleness on her face and was looking at Lucas with warmth in her eyes.

Such a face of the lady in front reminded Lucas of his mother and it made him feel comfortable. His rage eased a little when he noticed this. And for some reason, the lady in front of him looked a lot like his mother too.

Maybe, it could be because he had just seen her now and it was due to him missing her. He was probably hallucinating.

Lucas took a deep breath to calm himself down and wiped the tears off his face.

He looked at the lady in front of him dead in the eyes again and asked in a neutral tone but with a hoarse voice,

"Are you God?"