Carpe Diem

By Michael Loring

James is dead.

All it took was a quick flash, a crack, and then a loud thud. After waking in a world of endless gray he meets a man named Bud who claims to be what he calls "The Guide." James follows Bud through levels of his own mind, discovering that the afterlife isn’t like he thought it would be and that the secret to life isn’t so secret after all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael Loring
• Release date: Jul 14, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301766642

Michael Loring

Michael Loring was born in Bristol, Connecticut, but has lived in a variety of places such as Florida and Tennessee. He likes to think of himself as an amateur Lycanthropologist, studying werewolves ever since he was eight years old when he first saw An American Werewolf In London. He spent most of his life switching between home school and public school, always focusing on his passion of writing no matter what. His interest in writing was sparked in the second grade when his teacher encouraged him to write short stories for the class, earning him more than one award at school assemblies for Creative Writing. He currently resides back in his birthplace of Connecticut with a house full of women who like to drive him up the wall until he finishes his chores. Though they seem to avoid him during the night of the full moon for some unexplainable reason...

Book preview

Carpe Diem

Michael Loring

Copyright 2012 Michael Loring

Smashwords Edition

A quick flash, a crack, and then a loud thud! was all it took to die. James had expected maybe something more. He wasn't much as a religious man with the expectations of a bright light and angels and then God himself. Not at all. But he at least thought there would be some sort of forever peace that settled itself into his heart.

Right now James felt nothing. Not a numbness, but just...normal. He felt as if waking up from a light sleep. As if he'd gone to sleep, gotten his rest, and woke up like normal.

But he knew he was dead. James saw the man coming at him, felt the world melt away as the man pulled forth a gun and aimed it.

James didn't feel the impact. There wasn't any pain, just a flash, banging noise, and the sound of something hitting the ground. Oddly enough, James was fine with that.

James opened his eyes to find himself on a different plain than Brickell, Miami. The world around him wasn't white and fluffy, like he had secretly hoped, filled with beautiful women playing instruments waiting for him. It was mostly gray. The ground was flat, nothing marring its surface, while the sky was vast and seemed to extend into forever. James felt as if he was in a desert, but without the sand and the intense heat.

The atmosphere was cool. His skin prickled from the cold air wafting over him and down into the distance. It was relaxing. Everything about this place was rather relaxing. Except a part of him felt annoyed, for a small part of him felt betrayed by the men and women who constantly preached that the afterlife was so beautiful. That God would bring him eternal serenity and quell any and all of his humanly worries.

Instead, he stood here alone in this desolate plane without a true sense of peace. He felt the aches and pains of mortality pulling back on his soul like it did everyday on Earth.

What a rip-off!

James started to wander. What else was there to do? Stand and wait for something to