The Will To Live!

Shortly, we were in front of an ordinary door at the end of the corridor. The only notable thing about this place was the quietness. I could distinctly hear both Marina and Ruby's footsteps echoing through the corridor.

"Research Department Director Office- Alastor Drumstrand"

Marina straightened her back, took a deep breath and mumbled something to herself. It seems like the director might be some scary dude. Even someone as scary as Marina was bracing herself up.

"You two!" Marina hastily turned around facing us and commanded in a grave tone, "Keep your mouth shut! Unless the Director asks you something, don't speak anything. And the most important thing..... Don't be rude."

Then she observed our faces and confirmed again, "Understood?"

She asked sternly.

Both me and Ruby nodded our heads in unison. 'I am a coward and I hate offending people, so of course, I would never be rude to someone.' I thought to myself.

Soon an old muffled male voice came from the other side of the door.

"Come on in!"

Marina pushed open the door and stepped inside the office. But I was drawn to the top of the door. Recalling how a stupid metal bucket fell on my head straight down killing me in one go. Why did the bucket fall like that in the first place, wasn't the water supposed to come first. Why was I so unlucky to die in such a miserable manner.

"Ms Pearl?"

I heard Ruby calling out to me as I was lost in my thoughts.

"We need to go inside..." after saying this, she stepped inside the office.

I took a deep breath and stepped into the office after her. The first thing I noticed was, it smelled like vanilla.

Yes. Vanilla! The director's office smelled as if someone baked vanilla flavoured cookies or cake. Too bad she didn't have a body, or else she would have been salivating just from the aroma.

The director's office was a huge room. The ceilings itself were very high. The whole room had a very Victorian vibe to it, and matching furnishings and paintings were tastefully decorating the whole room, unlike the gold overloaded main hall. The walls were covered with bookshelves stacked up to the ceilings.

There was a huge wooden desk at the further side of the room, just close to the french windows. The whole room had a nice amount of natural sunlight. It reminded me of the vampire movies I used to watch when I was alive. Of course, they didn't have sunlight.

But the director was nowhere to be seen.

Marina walked towards a certain hidden corner of the room. There was a curtain which naturally complemented the room decor. She tore away the curtain only to reveal a small kitchenette behind it. and in the middle of that kitchenette stood an amicable looking old man.

The top of his hair was shining like a smooth glass ball, as he was bald and he had only a few strands of pure white hair left at the sides. His face looked healthy and rosy. If not for his bald head, he would have only looked in his 40s at most. He was wearing a pink apron with ruffles at the border over his old crumpled dark blue shirt and was currently squatting in front of the oven as he took out the cake.

"Let's see if you came out well???" The man with male pattern baldness was talking to the cake as he kept it on the table. Then he finally noticed the angry gaze of Marina.

"Hello Marina, do you want a taste?" He replied in a jolly tone.

Hence, I concluded. The director was a chill old man. The kind who doesn't care what others think about him.

After a few others of heated argument and fights, which was mainly one-sided, since the director didn't do anything. We finally sat down as everyone other than me ate the vanilla cake as the director took a look at my data.

"Hmmm.... interesting!" He said as he gobbled up the whole piece of cake. Then he stood up and went to his huge desk and took out a laptop and came back. He entered some serial numbers and whatnot and then started to stare at the screen for a while.

Then after about an hour, he said, " We will have to run further tests to determine the category since it is very important for your further development Ms Pearl. And as for Ms Ruby, you will be awarded 300 credit points for this retrieval as well as a promotion to the Management department."

He paused and conjured a paper and handed to over to Ruby, "You may leave now."

Ruby took the paper and left the office in a flurry with a wide smile of satisfaction on her face. It seems like she profited a lot from me. Then the director turned to me.

The Director sure was a no-nonsense man when it came to his work.

"The testing may take a few days, meanwhile you should get enrolled in the Academy of the Undead." The director right now didn't seem like the same one which we previously saw baking the cake. But the thing that got my attention was this 'Academy of the Undead'.

"Academy? I'll have to study even though I am finally dead?" I asked him as I felt the injustice was too much. I thought even though I had to go through all this I could still relax since I was already dead, but who knew there was still studying to do.

"I would have to explain a lot of things for you to understand this concept of the academy Ms Pearl." The director said in a grave tone as he took another piece of the cake.

"You will have to learn magic! That's the gist of it" Marina interjected as the director took another sip from his tea.

He casually replied after he took another sip from the ornate cup, "Well, you still have a lot of work to do before you become an undead. You cannot possibly enrol if you dissipate before reaching the academy."

It was as if I was struck bu thunder. "I'll dissipate? Why? But Ruby said it doesn't happen here!"

"Normally it doesn't. But you are a special case. You do not have any stong will to exist. No strong emotion tying you down, no regrets left unfulfilled. Typically in a case like yours, you would have dissipated as soon as you left the body, but the innate mutation of your soul kept you alive till now" He continued in a pressing tone.

"Of course if you do not wish to proceed further, just do nothing and chill for a while, you will dissipate back into nature on your own. Let's talk more if you have any other plans."

"I'll disappear? No rebirth?" The realization hit me hard

"No rebirth. Yes, you will if you do nothing?"Marina confirmed in her adept tone.

"Will it hurt?" I asked unsure of what to do. Disappearing from the world was not something I had any idea about.

"Not really, it would be mostly like drifting off to sleep. very peaceful. As if you never existed in the first place." The Director reassured.

I thought hard regarding this point. I will not have to go through a whole lot of studying again. I could peacefully retire. But even after knowing all this I still felt hesitant. I was willing to let go of everything and just disappear.

Up until yesterday, I never considered what will happen next. I never had lofty ideals of leaving a mark in history, changing or making something monumental. I just lived my life aimlessly, always went with the flow, never challenged societies ideals. If turning my heard the other way was easier, I would do that.

But now I will disappear as if I never existed?

Strong emotions which I had never felt before raged through my mind.

I realised something I had never recognised before.

I wanted to live.

Even when I thought I was fine to be dead, I was still glad for this second chance. I wanted to live. I wanted to exist.

There were regrets I never realised, like Brian who everyone blamed in the end. I wanted him to live a happy life. I wanted to teach more children. I was happy for all the time I taught even though I always complained that it was futile.

I loved gossiping with old Mrs Russell. I loved, I cared and I wanted to continue doing so. These things will never happen if I just disappear.

So. I need to live, be it in a body or soul. If I could I will lie. For as long as I can. I will live, I will learn and I will teach. Just as I dreamed of when I was alive. And for that, I needed to take the first voluntary step.

I looked determinedly at the director who was munching on cake and said, "I want to live. Please tell me what to do!"

At that moment, the world changed colours before me. I felt my body experiencing indescribable changes overloading my senses.

"Ahhh....." I bellowed in my mind but no sound came out. Only some sharp vibrations were emitted.

The scent of the vanilla cake flooded my olfactory senses. I could feel the temperature of the surroundings unlike before, the faint heat from the oven in the kitchenette, the light breeze brushing past the closed window glasses.

It felt as if I was everywhere but not at the same time. Slowly the changes came to a halt. I tried to calm myself down. But everything I felt was too overwhelming. It was unlike what one feels while having a body, but 100 times stronger and sharper. I felt as if a fog enclosing my mind had been cleared.

I looked at the Director. I noticed a faint golden glow he was releasing. It covered his entire body and the cake he made. Marina had a blue glow to her and the few things which looked like bubbles floating around her.

"What happened!" I queried.

I was totally at a loss. I had just said a sentence and the world turned upside down for me.

The director and Marina were sitting still as if a pause button had been pressed. Their eyes were wide open and the director was not munching on his cake anymore but sitting still and looking at me with surprise in his eyes.

"That…. Was unexpected!" Lamented the director.

"Unexpected?" I parrotted mindlessly.

"We were not expecting you to get over such a huge hurdle just like that. We expected that you might take at least a few hours to think things over." The director said with a sigh.

"Is it rare?" I asked again curiously.

"Rare? No. But unusual Yes!" Marina interjected. " Many people realise things the moment they die, some after they experience other things, some when asked if they want to live anymore, just like you. Many souls choose they do not have any purpose to exist so they dissipate willingly, and rarely people hold out for many years before transforming."

"You certainly show good aptitude to magic. Just the Ghost Scream startled me. I was not expecting that! HAHAHA!" Director marvelled happily.

"It's a good thing! Don't worry. Now tell me what do you want to do?" He asked in a dire tone.