Too Broke For Afterlife

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For as long as I can remember, I have always been prone to blindly trusting people but despising humanity as a whole. 

My morals don't always comply with the norm and despite being a bit apathetic at times, I feel all the more strongly about the fauna of our planet. 

Animals and I are a perfect pairing because just like my less fortunate peers, I see the world through prosaic eyes and concentrate on the primal core that connects us all. Professedly, I tend to beautify my language and sometimes get lost in the words of grand philosophers but at the base of my existence, I am an animal, claiming enough distance for self-preservation while maintaining sufficient closeness that will benefit me on my way.

Or at least, such is my goal.

I have to admit, my ingenuousness is a trait I am not fond of and despite me not relying on tight bonds with other humans, I do find myself lost in unproportional faith whenever I do decide to trust. 

I never realized this fault to be an existential threat until I had met Danny. 

Both of us worked at the seal rescue center of our coastal city. While Danny was responsible for logistics and administration, I was a carer with all my heart. 

Growing up right next to the Baltic Sea, I was fascinated by seals. Harbour seals, bearded seals, baikal seals and of course our local star, the grey seal. More than once I had pressed my parents to take me on seal tours where we would cruise on a boat to the nearest sandbanks and watch these breathtakingly beautiful animals as they swam and rolled and snoozed. 

Other domestic animals were interesting as well of course, like garfish and mallards and ragworms but with their majestic elegance, seals were resting on another layer of nature's creation.

Yes, nature. I have never believed in any holy entities and despite seals being the angels of the sea to me, I prefered hard facts over desperate speculations. Although now, after what I have experienced and who I am at this moment, I can't argue that I was wrong.

Death isn't final and maybe had I known that, I wouldn't have been so pressured when my heart was still beating.

As a carer at the rescue center, I fed injured seals, talked to them and documented their behavior. Over the years I learned a lot from and about the animals and my colleagues started calling me "The Seal Whisperer".

"You should write a book," they said and for a minute I had considered doing so. But in the end I wanted to take care of the animals, not profit off of them. I was determined to make every second count, not realizing that I would take my knowledge into the grave with me.

If I had written a book, maybe they would have buried it with me. Maybe, my decomposing body would have eaten itself through the white pages and covered my carefully chosen words in purulence until all left of my ouvre would be the golden title.

The thought both excites and concerns me. Do authors get buried with the books they wrote? And if so, what does a book look like that has been resting on top of a putrefying body?

Howsoever, back to the story.

Danny, my colleague and lunch break friend, was less passionate about sea life and saw his job as a mere source of income to finance his undying love for loli comics.

Admittedly, our friendship was an odd pairing but it worked. He let me talk about seals and I let him talk about lolis. We both could express our unusual interests which had turned us into social misfits without having to fulfill any of the usual obligations you run into when making a friend. No birthday parties, no sleepovers, no monetary favors. Only two men and their lunch breaks at work.

But on the first spring day of the year, it was this friendship and trust that forced me into a casket.

I had started my work day earlier than usual because Mareike, one of our female seals, was pregnant and about to give birth. As you can imagine, I did not want to miss out on this life event.

I arrived at five past seven and quickly got into my work uniform. 

Mareike seemed fretful that morning, swimming from one side to the other. I could see in her charcoal black button eyes that she was almost ready. 

When we found Mareike, her right fin had been wounded badly and since she moved into our center, Linda, one of my colleagues and a trained veterinarian, had been assigned to take care of her. But despite the future mother being so close to giving birth, Linda was nowhere to be found and after a few minutes of watching the poor, scared seal, I became nervous myself. 

We never had a seal give birth before and frankly I did not feel prepared to take charge in case anything was to happen right now.

So instead I grabbed my walkie talkie and tried to contact our receptionist. She would have to call someone to get here right now and help poor Mareike.

But to my horror, my walkie talkie only delivered inferring noises, it did not connect me to the headquarters. I had to run.

And so I did.

I ran as fast as I could, past the pools, until a desperate cry interrupted me.

I stumbled and stopped in front of an unfamiliar seal. It was standing in the middle of a stone path to my left and staring directly at me. 

An animal that had escaped. This morning was getting worse and worse. 

I examined the seal but still couldn't identify it. It must have arrived last night but I didn't have any note in my mailbox.

Usually, when there is a new animal or something else has changed, like the pool allocation, Danny would keep me updated so that I knew what to do. 

But this morning there hadn't been anything new.

Danny had told me that he took a day off for that day because his favorite anime convention was in town so I figured that he had simply forgotten due to all the excitement.. 

I had slowly stepped towards the seal and went down onto my knees in order to not scare it away. If I made friends with it, I could easily lead it back to where it came from.

But the seal did not seem conciliated by my gesture at all. It continued to stare. 

"Okay. Okay. Where did you come from?" was what I said as I got up again in order to walk over to the tense animal.

It didn't move a single inch.

"Is this your pool?" I asked and pointed at the water right next to us.

The wire door was standing open and I shook my head. 

"So this is how you escaped."

I took a closer look at the door to check if any of the locks had been broken off. 

Indeed, this door was defective but as I tried to figure out how that could have possibly happened, I heard a growling behind me.

I turned around and looked right into the eyes of the animal.

And now, with it only being a few steps away from me, I noticed that it had foam dripping out of its mouth. 

My heart stopped. I raised my arms.

"Okay now, let's calm down."

Those were the last words I said before the seal rammed its head into my body and pushed me backwards into the pool. 

I submerged completely and tried to get out again but before I knew it, the seal jumped in as well and it's enormous body landed on mine, pressing it down. 

My head hit the tiled ground.

The last thing I felt before passing out were the teeth of the rabid animal as they dug themselves into my neck.

<<<

I lean back and wait for reactions but everyone is just staring at me.

Walter's eyes ripped open wide, Parker looks bewildered and even Nox seems to be surprised by this unexpected turn of events.

"That's impressive," is all she says.

"No, that's disturbing. And this story is supposed to be real?"

I look at Isabella who shakes her head in disbelief. 

"It is a bit of a unique death, I have to admit. But the good news is that I visited the sanctuary right when I had the chance and Mareike did give birth that day. Her and the offspring are healthy and well."

"Yay?" Parker raises his eyebrow. "Good for her?"

"It is indeed. Maybe one door had to close before another one could open. So, who is next?"

I look around the group but nobody seems excited to follow me.

So I turn to my friend.

"Walter?"

He shakes his head quickly. "I don't think I can."

Nox rolls her eyes. "Don't be a f*cking pussy. Just tell."

Walter seems to be unsure of what scares him more - the story or Nox. But in the end Nox wins and the raven boy nods.

"Okay. Fine."

He clears his throat.

"'Trust' is a good keyword.. My mantra has always been 'Don't trust anyone' but in the end that is what killed me."