The Astonishing Color of After

by Emily X.R. Pan

“We’re not lost,” Axel said finally. “We’re just headed somewhere different.”

“Sisters are very lucky,” Feng says quietly. “They get to be family and they also get to be best friends. Even in the afterlife,

“It’s okay to be afraid. But not okay if be afraid means you do nothing. You must not do nothing. That’s not life worth living.”

Believing is a type of magic. It can make something true.

“There’s no way I’m going to be one of the winners.” “So what? That’s not even the point. I mean, okay, maybe it was the point originally. But you’re in the show. That’s a huge deal.” “Ugghhhh.” “It doesn’t have to be about winning anymore. Now it’s something different. Now you’re just doing this for yourself. You can’t chicken out.”

What is memory? It’s not something you can physically hold, or see, or smell, or taste. It’s just nerve impulses jumping between neurons. Sometimes it’s a matter of choice. Other times it’s self-preservation, or protection.

Memories that tell a story, if you look hard enough. Because the purpose of memory, I would argue, is to remind us how to live.