A Promise

All I heard was a loud bang.

And there was bright white light. I tried to open my eyes, but I realized they were already open. I looked around but it was just the whiteness everywhere. I put up my hands to look at them, but there weren't any. I could feel my hands moving, I tried to feel my feet, but I couldn't feel the ground, like I was floating. Before I could question myself, the whiteness started to fade, and a humanoid silhouette began to form in front of me. A man was right across me, and when I started to look around again, I noticed I was seated on a chair, felt like a soft chair, but the ones that made you sit up. That man was seated as well, and we were separated by a table, with tea cups on them. That man put out his hand and said, "I've been looking forward to our meeting, son. A pity I had to wait till you're dead."

I'm dead?

"That's right son, but only in the body. You're very much alive talking to me now."

How did I die? Who're you? I can't see your face. Where am I? Is this Heaven?

"Be still. And know."

Where am I?

He put out his hand to his right, and made a slow waving motion. The whiteness began to clear and there was the landscape of Singapore.

"Beautiful isn't it?"

I focused first onto my neighborhood, peaceful and quiet on a Sunday afternoon. Then I looked onto the city, bustling with life and activity, and then I realized...

Nothing's changed.

I'm dead, and the city... looks the same.

"As far as the world knows, you're no longer in it. But it keeps turning."

Yeah I guess... Certain things.

"Humble you?"

Well, I was gonna say really disappointing and also pissing me off, but yeah...

"Was hoping to have made an impact stronger than this?"

I can hope...

"Let me show you something."

He put out his hand again, and waved the same motion, and the landscape began to fade into one I cannot recognize. Everything looked ancient, there were carts and people were dressed in robes, it was mainly a brown landscape.

"This is where I used to live. Everything looked normal as well, people were going about their daily routine, the city is bustling with life as well."

"But this was the 2nd day after the Crucifixion."

I didn't how to react. This was a Savior, a miracle-working man, a teacher, who died for all of Mankind. And Mankind himself did not seem to have any form of mourning for him.

"Am I supposed to be provoked into thinking that they were ungrateful? That I expected some form of return and acknowledgment for the things that I've done?"

"There is no need to be recognized in everything that you've done or contributed to society. I didn't need that. I had a job to do, and amidst the trials and tribulations, the disappointments and frustrations, I did it."

But what kept you going? Why did you still come back on the third day when you know nothing's changed?

"Because I made a promise."

"A promise to love."