After.Life

Eliot Deacon:
Oh I nearly forgot. How tall are you?

Anna Taylor:
Why?

Eliot Deacon:
I need to know your height. For your coffin.

Eliot Deacon:
The others? They just see you as a dead body on a slab. Only I can see you as you really are.

Eliot Deacon:
I'm the only one who can hear you now.

[repeated line]

Anna Taylor:
I'm not dead!

Paul:
[to Deacon] She's not dead is she?

Eliot Deacon:
You have to look beautiful for your funeral. This is how they are all going to remember you.

Eliot Deacon:
You're a corpse. Your opinion doesn't count anymore.

Anna Taylor:
Why do we die?

Eliot Deacon:
To make life important.

Anna Taylor:
I'm glad I'm dead. I'm glad it's over.

Eliot Deacon:
I thought you were different. You all say you're scared of death, but the truth is you're more scared of life.

Eliot Deacon:
It's only a hole in the ground. It's for...

Jack:
...miss Taylor.

Eliot Deacon:
Exactly. For Anna. She belongs here.

Eliot Deacon:
Because she's dead?

Jack:
No, because there's no life left in her.

[first lines]

Eliot Deacon:
It's time now. You're absolutely beautiful for your funeral.

[crossing his hands]

Eliot Deacon:
It's as if you were still alive. Just sleeping. This is how they're all going to remember you.

Eliot Deacon:
[ending contentious conversation with the deceased] You all say the same things.

Eliot Deacon:
You have to let go of the living, just as they have to let go of you.

Anna Taylor:
I thought when you died you wouldn't feel any more pain. You wouldn't have struggles any more. But it just never stops, does it?

Eliot Deacon:
It's not a gift, it's a curse!

Anna Taylor:
I tried. It's not so simple to change. I woke up another day, took a shower, drove in the same traffic to work, went home, went to sleep, woke again. Nothing was ever different.

Eliot Deacon:
What did you really want from life?

Anna Taylor:
I wanted to be happy.

Anna Taylor:
This is the end?

Eliot Deacon:
The last part's the most difficult. You're going to have to face it alone, but - you'll be at peace soon.

Jack:
Mr. Coleman.

Paul:
Yeah.

Jack:
Don't forget to fastened your seat belt.

Eliot Deacon:
[talking to her picture] Imagine Anna, the whole world, your mother, her fianc?, your friends, everyone has buried you. They placed a stone above your body. They've said their goodbyes, and gone back to their TV dinners, and shopping malls, thinking that this is never going to happen to them.

Eliot Deacon:
Think about it Anna, think about while you still can.

[last lines]

Paul:
I'm not dead!

Beatrice Taylor:
What's the point of preserving the body if the soul has already left?

Eliot Deacon:
No, the soul is still here. It's we who suffer. We who are left behind.

Anna Taylor:
No, please, I don't want...

Eliot Deacon:
You're a corpse, Anna. Your opinion doesn't count anymore.

Anna Taylor:
But I'm breathing. I must still be alive.

Eliot Deacon:
Oh, you people! You think because you breathe, piss, sh*t you're alive? You clutch onto life as if your life was worth clutching onto. Was your life worth clutching onto, Anna? Was it? Maybe you died a long time ago.

Anna Taylor:
Can I ask you a question?

Eliot Deacon:
Yes, of course.

Anna Taylor:
Why do we die?

Eliot Deacon:
To make life important.

Eliot Deacon:
I thought you were different. You all say you're scared of death, but the truth is you're more scared of life.

Anna Taylor:
I'm glad I'm dead. I'm glad it's over.

Eliot Deacon:
It's for...

Jack:
Ms. Taylor?

Eliot Deacon:
Exactly. For Anna. She belongs here.

Jack:
Because she's dead?

Eliot Deacon:
No, because there's no life left in her.

Jack:
What do you mean?

Eliot Deacon:
Don't you see? I'm the only one that can see all these corpses wandering around aimlessly. All they do is piss and sh*t, suffocating us with their stench, doing nothing with their lives, taking the air away from those that actually want to live. I have to bury them all. I have no choice.