The Death Lesson

# The Death Lesson

Bethy was a 12-year-old young girl who believed in fantasies. She loved fantasy stories and believed that there was a world of fantasy that existed. She even thought that above Mount Kailash, there was a portal which took you to the fantasy world. Therefore, she thought that no one could climb Mount Kailash because God, or the supreme power, never wanted a person to visit the fantasy world. Ever since she had gained her senses, she had asked God on every birthday to give her immortality because that was the thing she loved the most. Whoever she asked about immortality, the person would say it was a very good thing, but it did not exist. So she wanted that. But little did she know that her wish would come true, but it would make her life miserable after a certain point.

Bethy was a charismatic young little girl who loved fantasies. Since she had gained her senses, she had always believed in fantasy things.

She always had a question: what happens if someone is immortal? She used to ask her parents and all her relatives and cousins. Everybody used to say that immortality was such a great thing. You get to live forever, you never die, and you can do whatever you want. Even at the age of 12, she thought the same. All of her friends said that the person who is immortal has aura and that they are the coolest person alive. Yet some said that immortality was such a foolish and childish thing to ask for, and it did not exist. Therefore, on every birthday, Bethy had only one wish: make me immortal.

Her wish never came true until now. She was always disappointed. She always asked God, made an 11:11 wish of being immortal, had a birthday wish, blew the candle, and wished for immortality. But her question was never answered.

On her thirteenth birthday, she had made the same wish. And on the very same night, in her dreams, she saw a representative of God. He told her, “Bethy, you want immortality. I have warned you on every birthday night. It has cons, but you seem to ignore them. So I would grant you your wish, but with a catch. You will get immortality at the age of eighteen. Till then, I am giving you time to decide. If it's a yes, then on your eighteenth birthday, you would be a person who never dies. But if you say no to this offer, then you would just be a normal person.”

And like that, the representative of God faded away.

Bethy woke up. Her hands were shaking. Her voice was trembling. Every breath was felt in her lungs. Every second felt like an hour. All her fears and worries vanished. She was so into thinking about that dream that she even forgot that she was still alive. After a minute or so, she came back to her senses. She was utterly surprised because she thought she was dead, but she wasn't. But this dream did nothing to lessen her fascination with fantasy.

Since then, she never even thought about immortality. She just declared that she was going to be immortal at the age of eighteen to everyone. And till then, she was just waiting. She did some research, but every research had cons, and after reading the harsh truth, Bethy felt uncomfortable. So she decided to stick to her wish and remain determined to become immortal.

On her eighteenth birthday, at twelve o'clock, before blowing her candle, she made a decision. Her decision was to fulfill the young Bethy's wish. So she asked for immortality, and as promised, God granted it.

So far, nothing changed. She was leading a nice life, and surprisingly, she was successful. After her studies and high school, she was well settled in Arizona, USA. She never knew she would reach this point. Sometimes she thought that this was because of that immortality wish, but it wasn't. And so her excitement faded.

Years passed. Soon, it was her eightieth birthday. She was married and had kids. Everything was going great. Her friendship status, income, life, everything was going great. Even her kids were happy. But little did she know she had to see everyone she loved pass away.

She had to see everyone pass away, one by one. She even saw her kids getting old.

It was her eightieth birthday, in the year 2026. She soon became a story writer. Actually, she wrote an autobiography. She mentioned all the things that she had been through.

At this age, she was not only sad, but she was weak. She was sick. Worst of all, she had a disease. It was not a serious disease, but it did affect her a lot.

At the age of 90, she was lying on a hospital bed. Her children were becoming old. She now remembered that from the day she was born until now, she had witnessed almost everything. She had witnessed life before AI. She had witnessed the Cold War. She had seen many things, such as COVID-19, Hantavirus, the Tesla flying car, and a lot of new models of iPhone. She even had one. She had seen life before AI and life after AI.

But at the end of the day, she was sad, not because she was sick, but because she had seen her loved ones pass away, and she herself was not fully healthy. This meant that she could not do anything for the rest of her life and that she had to lie on the hospital bed forever, which she never wanted to.

At this point, she wanted death. She started praying to God for death endlessly. But God is not a simple creature that would come to you whenever you need him or walk up to you to fulfill your silly wish. He is a supreme power. So she spent almost five years praying to God and doing whatever she could to attract God's attention. She left everything and had completely lost hope in life, as she thought she was going to live forever.

And finally, God came into her dreams and asked her, “Why do you want to die? After reading all the cons and the pros, you still wanted to stay forever. Then why so?”

Bethy's answer was absolutely heart-touching. She said, “I know I wanted to stay forever, and I still do, but not in a single lifespan. I want my soul to shift from one body to another body, an idea of reincarnation. I want to experience life after death, heaven and hell. Because I, from all these years, have learned that being immortal is not a cool thing. It's a curse to anyone who must live forever, regardless of how good or bad they have been in their life. Because by staying immortal, I did enjoy a little, but at the end of the day, I saw all of my loved ones pass away. All of my children and grandchildren grew old, lived their lives, and experienced their own journeys. Because I have learned, I have finally learned that even if you're immortal, that does not mean that you can't be hurt. It means that you're gonna lead a normal life, but you'll suffer forever. So instead of suffering forever, I would like to die.”

Hearing this, God understood that Bethy had realised her mistake. And a few days later, she died peacefully in her sleep.

And ever since then, her story has been passed from generation to generation. But one question remains unanswered: If death is what makes life precious, would living forever make it meaningless?

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