A story about the other side of end-of-life dreams.

Content warning

• Death
• Suicide

The short story

The woman stared silently into her glass ball.

The window was open and the cold of the night crept into the room, making her shiver.

When she got up to close the window, another vision appeared in the ball.

This time, it was a man hugging a child.

Seven days, she decided. Seven days before she would send death to bring him here.

She got up and closed the window.

Slowly, she picked up the ball and whispered, “do not be afraid”.

Just as she said these words, the man’s mouth opened and formed the same words.

“You’ll have seven more days”, she said and the man repeated the words, silently.

Then the image disappeared.

Next, she decided she would send death to a soul she had been talking with for two days.

Closing her eyes, she whispered, “you don’t have to wait anymore. You don’t have to beg to be let in anymore. Don’t be scared, you wished for this since last April.”

Just as she opened her eyes, death stood before her with the soul of the woman.

The two women looked at each other, before the woman with the ball nodded. Then, death took her hand and led her out of the room, into the land of the dead.

The woman had looked happy, she noted. Relieved.

Another vision interrupted her thoughts.

This one was confusing, she wasn’t ready for it.

A woman, close to her in age, dancing in a field of flowers with a man much older and already dead. She recognized him from years ago.

“You have so much more time, don’t even think about it yet”, she said and the man repeated her words, silently. The vision disappeared.

She smiled.

Staring into her glass ball, she waited for the next vision.

This story was originally written in English and without any help of AI.

The paper

Rabitti, E., Cavuto, S., Díaz Crescitelli, M. E., Bassi, M. C., & Ghirotto, L. (2024). Hospice patients’ end-of-life dreams and visions: a systematic review of qualitative studies. American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, 41(1), 99-112. https://doi.org/10.1177/10499091231163571

Connection between story and paper

Since the study focuses on end-of-life dreams of hospice care patients and the impact they have, I wanted to shine light on the side of the study, the one that doesn’t have an easy answer: Why do hospice care patients experience these kinds of dreams? And how do they originate?

Because there isn’t a direct explanation for the these dreams, I wanted to convey that element in the short story as well. In the story, the glass ball reflects the element of mystery around the visions - they just appear and it isn’t explained why.

In the study, hospice care patients were interviewed as often as possible until either death or discharge, in some cases even after discharge. Patients were asked to describe their dreams or visions and rate them regarding comfort or distress.

The patients often dreamed of relatives, loved ones or people they had some sort of connection with in their lives, regardless if living or dead.

I kept that element in the story, while also thinking about the reason these dreams exist. The study also revealed that meaningful experiences are important when it comes to end-of-life dreams, leading me to combine both of these important aspects.

As subjective and random these visions or dreams may seem, the study gives us a valuable opportunity to rethink our relationships with death, dreams and loved ones in our lives.

The author

Isabelle Ritzenhoff just finished high school and interned at the Bingellab in Essen (Germany) in 2025. In her free time she likes to read or spend time with friends.