Orpheus

It was a boy surviving a major car accidence, who went through the river of hell, all the way back to live.

At first, he wakes up in a thunderstorm, walks through a swamp, and reaches a highway while the rain stops. It’s completely dark around, except for the dim light of the milky Way above him.

He saw a taxi coming by.

For now, he has no idea who he is and where he is going. He just walks into the taxi, and couldn’t recognize the driver is his sister, which just died not long ago.

The driver sitting next to him turns into each of his family members, and talks to him one after another, saying goodbyes, trying to let him know who he is, and reminding him what is it about the future he should be.

The last conversation is between the boy and his girlfriend, it touches on the most sensitive topic of love. They talk and break into arguments, then into a fight; at the most intense moment of the conflict, the car stops, next to an old house. Through the windshield, they see a hint of greenish light on the horizon. Dawn is almost here.

And finally, the driver turns into a stranger and asks the boy if this is the place. The boy glimpses at the house outside, and say definitely, “Yes, this is my home.”, almost like he’s talking to himself.

As the boy enters the house, he realized everything has turned into ashes; while from the bottom of his heart he feels that he can almost see all his family in here, alive: making teas, reading newspapers, and his girlfriend, dressed up all well, invites him for a holiday dance.

While as he touches her hands, she fades into ashes and everything vanished. He looks upon, sees himself in a broken mirror, and recognizes the stranger he saw, at last, was actually himself. He walks by the window and sees the taxi just made a U-turn, going all the way back to hell.

Then He turns back, looks at himself in the mirror, and finally remembers his own name.

“My name is Orpheus. I am present, and I’m alive.”

The boy, Orpheus, our protagonist, eventually falls asleep on the bed in his own bedroom.