Read Beyond Death for Free Online

listen to the angel.
    Gabriella explained that the events they were about to watch had started during the night of their death. She hung her head in obvious grief and her emotion was almost palpable. She made a sweeping motion with her arm and they watched a scene unfold below them.
     
    A large ship was moored in the sea, the passengers enjoying themselves on the deck, sunbathing, swimming and relaxing after having visited an island.
    ‘A cruise,’ said Claire and the others ignored her.
    The calm sea started agitating and the passengers looked around, feeling the ship’s movements. This was unusual in itself on such a big liner. None of them knew the cause, thankfully, until the wave hit. Thousands of tons of water shattered the massive cruise liner as if it were plywood. The screams were drowned out by the noise of the water.
    ‘Three thousand, seven hundred and fifty four,’ said Gabriella.
    Claire covered her open mouth with a hand and Ron remained silent as they looked on in awe and distress as the wave hit land and caused immeasurable devastation.
    ‘Can you stop it now please?’ she said as they watched hundreds then thousands of people lose their lives in the violence and carnage of the tsunami.
    Further scenes were displayed once the wave had dissipated. Broken homes and people. Toddlers crying unable to understand what had happened and with nobody available to comfort them.
    ‘Enough, please,’ said Claire.
    ‘I thought they could predict them these days and save lives,’ said Ron and Gabriella told him that an unusual earthquake had happened on the seabed causing the tsunami and that it wasn’t always possible to predict nature.
    ‘How many?’
    ‘Including those at sea, fourteen thousand and thirty one. We’re expecting many more to arrive in the aftermath because of disease,’ said Gabriella, ‘and it would have been worse had not the Committee caused the diversion that stopped even more people arriving on the island.’ Gabriella explained that the Committee had arranged a large storm that had stopped flights from arriving on the island.
    ‘If they can arrange storms then why can’t they stop earthquakes and tsunamis?’ It was a logical question and Gabriella explained that some weather events could be arranged or managed but not geological occurrences.
    ‘Poor people,’ said Claire. Both she and Ron were upset at what they’d witnessed and Gabriella wanted to give them time to gather their thoughts.
    ‘I’ll come back later and we’ll talk some more,’ she said before disappearing in a whoosh as suddenly as she’d arrived but this time without the bright light.
    ‘It’s awful, Ron. All those people and such a violent death.’ Claire was still upset about her own death but this had given her something else to dwell on. Ron agreed. Their own deaths had been violent but thankfully without much pain.
    ‘And what did she mean by the Committee and the Chairman?’ Claire often asked questions that Ron couldn’t answer so, consumed by his own thoughts and grief, he quietly ignored her.
     
    Neither knew how much time had passed before they heard another whoosh, which preceded Gabriella’s arrival. She continued as if she hadn’t left.
    ‘In addition to this disaster...’
    ‘Who are the Committee?’
    ‘Let me finish, Claire’ said Gabriella. ‘The next part may be even more difficult to bear.’
    She couldn’t imagine why but waited nervously.
    ‘While we were all very busy following the Committee’s instructions and trying to limit the death toll of the earthquake and tsunami, I’m sure you can appreciate that we weren’t able to monitor everything on Earth?’
    Sounded reasonable and they nodded.
    ‘There’s no easy way to tell you this but Ron was actually meant to bring Mrs Cooper with him.’ she hesitated. ‘And you, Claire, were meant to carry on with your life on Earth.’
    Claire looked at them both, the bloody incompetent taxi driver and the beautiful black