If that sunbeam hadn’t hit my face, I wouldn’t have probably woken up.
I slowly opened my eyes, but I couldn’t make it out where I was. What had happened to me? What had I been doing there?

I found myself lying on a cold bed. The room was completely unknown to me! I couldn’t recognize the white furniture, which looked quite anonymous. What a weird place!

I tried to remember what I had been doing the last hours. Why I was there? I felt absolutely perplexed. I had never seen that strange place before! Where was it? Was it maybe a hospital? Had anything happened to me? Maybe, a car crash?

The more I questioned myself, the more anxious I got. I had a terrible confusion in my mind. Why couldn’t I remember anything? I couldn’t shake off a horrible feeling of fear.

Suddenly, a loud noise tore the silence of the room. I heard a woman screaming out wildly. That voice was unmistakable: she was my beloved mother. My heart started to beat faster. The scream was so loud that it hurt my ears and wiped away my thoughts.

I was paralyzed. My legs were cold and motionless. My body didn’t want to obey me. I was terrorized. One thought was immediately followed by another… My head was blowing out. But I couldn’t react. I couldn’t move.

After less than one second, I heard something crushing down on the floor. It sounded like some glass reaching the ground and breaking into thousands of pieces. A bitter smell of tea filled the room. I was numb and downright fearful.

Completely unaware of what I was going to do, I found the energy to leap off the bed. I don’t know how but I managed to move. My feet seemed to float in the air and the only feeling I could sense was my dread. I started to walk across the room randomly.

 After a few steps I found myself in front of a mirror. I could see the Victorian wardrobe behind me, the withered roses on the bedside table and the scraped wall in the background. Everything seemed quiet. Nothing was out of place. In the room there was a peaceful atmosphere.

But there was something wrong, anyway! I couldn’t make it out immediately but it was an important detail. A dramatically important and worrying detail! The mirror in front of me was not reflecting my image!

At that point I could suddenly remembered everything: the last two hours, my mum’s scream, her cup of tea dropping off her hands, the hospital, the doctors’ speeches and the pain that I had felt while my soul was leaving my terrestrial body.

My mind was free from all thoughts and worries. My heart had no more sentiments, but only one terrible, disarming certainty: I WAS DEAD.

THE END