She saw it that day. She saw what was on the other side.

The split second she left this world lasted an eternity on the other side of the veil.

She stood on sandy shores, waves lapping at her feet. The water was warm and soft. The mournful cry of gulls, high in the air, and the piping of Plovers reached her ears. The air was warm; not uncomfortably warm, but warmer than any beach she’d been on in her lifetime.

The sand was golden brown, with streaks of red and pale yellow, gentle and smooth.

She looked at her feet, bare and tanned. As she stared, she noted the breeze blowing her light cotton clothing around her legs; pale blue and soft as a touch.

She turned from the water to face the lands behind her. Dunes ranging in size from hillock to mountain, as far out as the eye could see, browns and reds and pale yellows in stripes and streaks, with golden syrup coloured ridges and deep red valleys.

As the breeze subsided, she could feel the heat waft forward towards her from the dunes, then be driven back again by the cool breeze from the water.

“Is this it?” she wondered out loud. She wondered what happened next. She was not hungry, nor thirsty, and she felt no discomfort from the hot sands. What did she do now? Was she meant to move on somewhere else? Was she stuck? Would there be someone to meet her? Was she alone here?

This was not what she was expecting. Well, really, she didn’t know what she had been expecting. The only time she’d pondered it deeply was in drunken conversation with her best friend Mandy, 3 bottles of wine into a good evening chill session at her place.

Her silent reverie was interrupted by the harsh cry of a gull, closer than before, and she turned back to the water. She saw a small skiff coming toward her; compact sails full of wind, moving the skiff through the water at a brisk pace.