Non-existent. Not present.

Zero. What more is there to say, but, my countdown is finally over. I needn’t count down anymore.

Zero. Is it possible to count any lower? Isn’t that usually where it ends, or is it supposed to be followed by one?

Zero, that is after the white light. The life after that? Or is it the moment that my soul leaves my body and I…die?

Zero. From there I can only count backward. This time it does not have an end.

Negative one. Negative two. Negative three.

What if we remove the negative and just count the numbers? We are counting upwards again.

That happened to me. I did not disappear after zero. Just when I thought I would be counting in the negatives, I start counting the positives again.

The white light? That’s the bright-ass ceiling light. It’s the first thing that I saw when I woke up again.

The doctor told me that something miraculous happened. I woke up.

I was dead… I had died. But just as I was letting go, I held on to the one thing that I knew I couldn’t lose.

Life.