It's striking how difficult it is to discuss the nature of death in English. All the common expressions, figures of speech, etc. imply or at least suggest that there is something on the other side of death. Passed away, hereafter, "I will be dead", etc. It's hard to express the idea that the one thing you can't ever be is dead. I think for almost all of us it takes a conscious effort to think about death without the idea of a hereafter.