Ethereal Routine

i like this version of heaven..a little humor, a little sadness, a lot of love

Ethereal Routine

 

            I’ve met some great folks up here--some smart and others funny, a bunch not so smart, and a lot not so funny. There are people who did amazing things, and people who led disciplined (some may consider “mundane”) lives.  That Joan of Arc is one wild woman, never takes any crap from the boys up here. I once saw Nietzsche (yeah, the dude made it somehow…) get into it with her one time. He never stood a chance.

             I think that there’s a common misperception being perpetuated somewhere down there about us heaven dwellers. I’m here to dispel some rumors and enlighten all you cats. You might be wondering, “Hey, what’s life like up there? What’s all the hype about?”  Well, I’ll tell you, it’s damn fantastic. We sleep on clouds and never get hurt, the clothes we wear are super comfortable (and free), and there isn’t a piece of litter, or garbage, or a flyer whirling around advertising a “sophisticated” hooker in sight. Everyone’s generally eternally and wonderfully jubilant, but saints and angels have their bad days too. In fact, I just got out of a session with Dr. Jung. Lately I’ve been having some strange dreams. He said to me, “Billy, you’re conscious and unconscious must mutually benefit each other while retaining their autonomy so that you may become a more whole person.” Yeah, whatever that means doc….

            But overall, life up here’s really good. I died kind of young; I was only sixteen when I was hit by a drunk driver. Oh, I know what you might be thinking: “Oh my…how tragic!” or else, “Sixteen…he was still such a young boy.” Or my personal favorite, “There’s so much of life he’s going to miss….” I appreciate all the sentiments, but really, they’re not necessary. I know my parents have been going through a rough time, so help them out all you can, they’re good people, and I miss them a lot.

 But when I tell you not to worry, I really mean it. There’s never a dull moment here. Right now I’m going to Elysium University, taking classes in Writing and Film Production…the film scene up here...well there's room for improvement, I'll just say that. Last time we had a movie night we ended up watching “Cabin Boy.” Not even Jesus had a decent thing to say about that one. My friend Jack and I have been doing some shooting up here, you know, just for projects and what not. And the equipment they give us…wow, top shelf all the way.

If I’m not making movies with Jack or going to school, I spend a decent amount of time on my cloud just reading and hanging out. Video games were banned I guess a few years ago because off all the violence and gore…the big man wasn’t down with all that. I like spending time with friends and listening to music, I’m lucky to have met so many cool people up here my age.

One day after school, I stopped by for a bite to eat with a few guys from class. This new burger place just opened up a couple galaxies down from my place, the dude who owns it managed a Harvey’s down on Earth, but up here he’s got unlimited time and resources.

Anyway, we all went in and took a seat, my back was facing the wall and I had a view of the entire restaurant. And that’s when I saw her. It was the girl of my dreams…literally. I had recurring dreams where this girl, this beautiful, perfect girl, would appear from out of nowhere, dressed in a long golden dress, long black hair falling to her waist, and slap me super freaking hard right in the face. And that’s when I would wake up from the dream. Now here she was in the flesh, and I had to talk to her. I just had to.

“Hang on a second boys, I gotta go do something. If the waitress comes, tell her I want the freshly slaughtered year old lamb burger…with fries I guess.”

I glided over to her, she was floating quietly by herself at the bar slurping away at a chocolate milkshake. She must have heard the whoosh of my robes because she looked around at me and our eyes met. Her body was calm but her eyes told me something was on her mind. “Please don’t slap me,” I said cautiously, as I instinctively screwed up my face in preparation for a blow. But she didn’t. She just turned right back around, faced forward again and said “So. Billy Jamison…we meet again.”

“How do you know name my name?” I asked curiously as I climbed up onto the stool next to her. “Who are you?” I really had no idea who she was except for “the violent goddess”--the title I gave her when talking to Doc Jung.

She was finishing off her shake, scooping every last ounce of chocolaty goodness out of the crevasses of the glass with her straw. “You really don’t remember me?” she asked exasperatedly and wiped her face off with the napkin before she turned her gorgeous face back to me. “Third grade, swing set behind the seesaw, you were my first kiss Billy.”

It dawned on me quickly. “Wow. Autumn? Autumn Stafford? How…? Why are you up here?”

She giggled and grinned, “You still make the same faces you did when we were little. I had cancer down on Earth. I’ve been up here for about two months now.”

“I see…geez, that’s terrible. Did it hurt when you died?”

“The last month or so when I got really sick was terrible, but death itself felt amazing…didn’t it for you?”

“No, it wasn’t painful at all, but I didn’t have to suffer like you did.” I told her about my death and what I was doing up here in heaven.

“You know,” she said, “ever since I’ve been here I’ve been having dreams about you. Never once on Earth did I have one, and now I can’t go one night without you appearing in it. It’s as if this place is more conducive to having dreams than Earth ever was.”

I couldn’t believe it. She was having dreams about me? This had to have meant something.

“When I’m in your dreams, what am I doing in them?” I asked.

“Well…we’re always back on the swing set and we’re having a lot of fun. You keep yelling my name when you get your swing up as high as you can, then when you come back down I stop your swing and we kiss. That’s all. Every time. Then we become older and the swings melt into the ground and the place where we had our first kiss becomes barren and dark. And I don’t know what that could mean.”

I was looking at my feet the whole time, my mind was going a million mile per hour. I had to get to know Autumn better. “You want to join my friends and me at our table over there?” and I pointed to the corner where my friends were already starting to eat.

“Sure,” she said, “I’d like that.”

We all had a fun dinner together, Autumn was making us all laugh and telling us stories of her side of the clouds…she even saw God himself playing pinball at an arcade! I always heard that about Him…he likes his pinball.

So we began to spend time together. She didn’t have many friends here yet, but we all welcomed her warmly into our fold. She loves movies and acting and hanging out with me on my cloud. It was the first time I’d seen her since she moved out of our town a year after that spring that we kissed. She’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen, and I hope we spend our eternity together. Yeah, life’s not too bad up here…not bad at all. 

Author's Note

A little long but I would appreciate comments and critiques. thanks.

Reviews

[roarke]

So heaven is a lot like Andy Hardy's town.....
Nice take on what it's like to be in heaven. This reads like a full blown "middle" section. I think a short take on how he got there and then if this isn't an excerpt from a much longer piece, it needs an 'ending', as with all the detail and beginning of the introduction of the "violent goddess" it suggest like there's more to the story.
Nice write and concept.

[Jay. E. V.]

I love the interesting take on death, it's definitely something I could never have imagined on my own. I honestly do not have anything negative to say about this piece, because the only thing I do have to say isn't really my place as it is your writing the way you meant it to be read. However, I will say it anyway and let you think on it. I believe the connection with Autumn could be made stronger through some added phrases, even though I do understand that the mystery of her is appealing. See, I myself love reflection and flashbacks, so it was just something, in my reading and writing style, I observed. Also, with that being said, it works perfectly as it is. Excellent. Btw thank you for the review of mine!

[Marie]

This held my interet all the way through; it was polished, whimsical, all the things I like to read. When I post my story "Angels" it's vound to be longer than this one. We can compare Heavens...