(AIASP)The Pink Satin Pillow

I woke slowly, relishing that warm, drifty feeling of semi-consciousness. My
pillow felt wonderfully cool for this time of year....smooth and slippery to my
cheek. It was not my normal pillow case cool, more like satin.....and that
nagged a bit at my floating.....why, how, when had I acquired a satin pillow ?

Some light seeped thru my closed eyelids, so I knew it was later than I usually woke up, but that pillow was soooo cool. Again I wondered about that...it picked at my brain, just enough to ruin my delicious floating. With a grudging effort I opened my eyes....

Pink satin was everywhere! It didn't just cover the pillow, it seemed to rise
beside me, tower over me! Now I was wide awake, I sat up with a jerk and
gasped !

I was in a pink satin lined casket! It stood amid a sea of flowers in a vaulted,
concrete room!

While I stared at the sight with more than a little confusion, a rustling sound
came from the shadowed corner of the room.....

"Lay back down!" an oddly familiar voice commanded.

"Granny?" I squinted toward the corner. As I became accustomed to the gloom, I could see her sitting there, her arms crossed over her chest.

"But.... but, you're dead!"

She laughed, just a soft chuckle, "And so are you my dear! Now lay down and be still!"

With that she laid back into the dark, and I realized that she was also in a
casket...in fact there was a row of them along the wall...

Obediently I lay down, trying to grasp what I'd heard. Dead? I sure didn't remember dying!! I didn't feel dead! I felt restless, not dead. I fretted like a child that didn't want to take a nap! The wonderfully cool satin was now an odious uncomfortable mess! I sat up again. No one objected this time.

I contemplated the lip of the coffin and the distance to the floor. I eased my legs over the edge and managed to squirm til I'd gotten most of my weight over the edge and jumped out, amazingly without upsetting that horrid pink monstrosity!

I stood in the middle of what I now recognized as the chapel area of the family cemetery....in the midst of a sea of blue iris...my favorite! The sweet fragrance of them filled the air. I could see the bright sunshine thru the open archway. Thru the doorway, parked on the gravel drive I could see my car! It looked wonderful....so clean and shiny, sporting what must be a fresh wax job!

Surely if I were dead, they would not have left my car for me! It beckoned to me, wanting to take me home....like Cinderella's carriage! I walked out into the warm sunshine, got into my car and drove away.

As I headed down the winding road, I realized I was having some trouble navigating the tighter turns.....at first I thought there was something wrong with the steering. Soon I realized the problem was not the car, it was me. My arms were stiff and achy....my reflexes were jerky and awkward! A tickle at the back of my neck....a small worry began to grow.....

I managed to reach the house, but left the car parked crookedly across the drive, and went inside.

My Mother was setting the table, she looked up in surprise. A frown drew her eyebrows together ....

"What are you doing here?" She asked crossly,
"You can't stay, you will have to go back!! What do you expect us to do when you begin to stink??"

A sinking sensation filled my chest, I WAS dead after all!!....I wanted to cry, throw up....something. Instead I felt myself floating again, and the smell of iris filled the air.

[edit on 19-3-2008 by frayed1]

People do not die for us immediately, but remain bathed in a sort of aura of life which bears no relation to true immortality but through which they continue to occupy our thoughts in the same way as when they were alive. It is as though they were traveling abroad. ~Marcel Proust

The way you were able to explain the feelings you experienced. It was very (without sounding too morbid, just yet) beautiful.