Episode one

Heaven is nothing without you

 

 

            “Welcome, to heaven!” The picturesque, child-like face bobbled in front of me. “I’m Maurice! I am the head member of the welcoming community here in Heaven! The place where all of your earthly problems disappear! From now on, nothing but endless happiness and zero troubles await you for the rest of eternity!” The small figure stepped back and held its hands out like a show girl showing off a royal lexis on a game show. Behind him was a giant pair of twinkling golden gates.

            I sat up and groaned as I blinked. Everything was a pure clear white that even bounty fabric detergent couldn’t produce. Where had I been? Could I have possibly died? What happened?

            “I understand that now is a trying time for you, but no worries inside of heaven we have an amazing pair of grief councilors who will help you transition from the living to the eternally blessed!” The person spoke merrily as if they were on a late night infomercial.

            “How did I die?” I ask out loud as I stood up and looked down at my feet. The ground itself was a gleaming white tile that sparkled and gleamed everywhere.

            “Car accident, silly.”  Maurice chuckled. “Don’t you remember? Don’t worry it was quick and painless you two didn’t feel a thing.” He waved a hand over his shoulder to signal that I should follow him. I did remember. Bits and pieces anyway. As I thought, it all came back in small chunks like a jig saw puzzle.

             We were driving home on Eleventh Avenue. We had just gone to see an opera. Alice and I.  Alice? My wife. She died too. It was raining. We were singing together, oh how she loved show tunes. I didn’t notice the yellow light in time. Screeching tires against black top and the bright lights. I remembered the exploding glass and grinding metal. That was it. The next moment I opened my eyes I was here.

            I looked down at my body, looking for any signs of a car accident, a gash of some kind or a scar at least. There was nothing, even the freckles and scars of my life had been erased. My skin looked as flawless and vibrant as Maurice’s.

            “Come on then, we don’t have eternity to waste, after all.” Maurice clicked his tongue and brought me out of my thought. It was them that I noticed the flowing white set of wings that neatly folded themselves on his back, seamlessly sticking out of the back of the crisp white suit he was wearing.

            “In the mean time we just need to take care of a few simple pieces of paperwork.” He said in a still equally up beat temp. As he reached the edges of the gate, he snapped his fingers and looked down to his feet. From the tile directly to the left of him, glided upwards, a podium. On that podium was a golden book. The book itself seemed to be about the size of the New York City telephone book.

            Maurice licked one slender finger and seemed to open the book at random. From what I could see from beside him the book was rowed with column after column of tiny print.

            “Aha! Here you are right there. Theodore Marcus Spencer the third.” He said smiling. “Your parents must have hated you!’ He chuckled as he looked up from under his perfectly arched eyebrows.

            “I- Um, My friends just call me Spencer.” I stuttered as I felt my face burning a bright red.

            “Well, Spencer.” He smiled widely and held out his hand to me. Instantly between his fingers appeared a small golden pen. “I just need you to sign beside your name to show that you have arrived to Heaven, understand that you are now dead, a member of the heavenly angels and you agree to all of the terms and agreements that may or may not apply.” He said quickly as he thrust the pen into my hand.

            “What are the terms and agreements?” I asked as I looked down at the dotted line and back up to Maurice.

            “Oh just the usual stuff. Accepting God as your Lord and Savior, becoming a part of his Army, You cannot leave Heaven until the Armageddon is underway. Yadda Yadda Yadda.” He waved his hand in a circle as he spoke.

            “What are you waiting for? Your friends and family are waiting on the other side of the gate, and from what I hear they have created quiet a party for you!” He wiggled his eyebrows.

            “Family and friends?’ I asked shocked. I hadn’t thought of who else would be here.

            “Yes! Your great Aunt Abby is waiting on the other side along with Uncle Laurence and your grandfather Theodore Marcus Spencer Senior, your first dog Sparks is here too! All of them just waiting for you to get this pesky paperwork out of the way so they can see you!” Maurice said excitedly and slightly annoyed as he pressed my hand holding the pen back down to the paper.

            Aunt Abby, wasn’t she the one who always smelled like old cat food? Uncle Laurence, the old guy who always wore that old tacky hair piece? I remembered Grandpa Spencer and my dog Sparks, but wasn’t Grandpa the one who accidentally ran him over? And what about-

            “What about Alice?” I asked before I could finish the thought. I looked back up to Maurice and his brows furrowed together and his eyes darted to the wristwatch that rest above his right hand.

            “Look kid,” He sighed. “I’m not supposed to tell you this, it’s against protocol, but she isn’t here, okay?” He explained in a hurry.

            “I can’t say why but you came here and she, well she is going somewhere else.”

            “But where?” I stuttered in disbelief. Alice had to be here with me. We died together so there is no where else she could be right?

            “Where else could she possibly go, if she didn’t end up here?” I asked as I looked up at Maurice. What a welcoming committee he turned out to be. My heart hammered in my chest. If I had gone to heaven and she wasn’t here didn’t that mean-?

            “She is in hell?” I gasped and took a faltering step backwards, the pen falling from my hand and tinkling against the pristine tiles on the ground.

            “How could she go there? What did she do that was so bad?” Questions flew out of my mouth. “Uncle Laurence was gay for Christ’s sake and he got to come here!” I shrieked in panic. Alice had always been an angel to me. She was the sweetest person I knew and that is what had drawn me to her in the first place.

            “Being gay isn’t a sin kid,” Maurice cut into my thoughts. His voice had pitched even higher as he looked back down to his watch. He was obviously on a tight schedule. People must die exactly on time. “But what she did was inexcusable. You came here and she went to hell.” He thumped his heels against the ground.

            “There is nothing you can do to change that!” He said in a panicked choking voice. His wings momentarily unfurling behind him as if to add more authority to his words.

            “Please, just sign the paper.” He held the pen out in front of his face. How it went from the ground to his fingertips I’d never know. I looked from the pen to his face. I shook my head in desperation.

            “What did she do?” I whispered. I could feel my heart breaking. I didn’t want an eternity without her beside me. A heaven without her love and her smile or the dancing of her laughter, wasn’t my heaven.

Reviews

[.quan.011.]

This is a beautiful written story, but I am kind of confuse it this supposed to be like TV show script or character of a book. Otherwise great story.

[Tabitha t]

short story once completed

[Zachary_James]

This is so beautiful, but sad. You created a vivid photograph in your readers minds. Such a briliant write.

[gombeggar]

i was waiting to see how much u were gonna post...but here i am starting this...so far it reminds me of a couple twilight zone episodes...intriguing

[Marie]

I was going to wait to read this till you had all the chapters in place, but I see you have 5 episodes and still aren't done, so I'll read them one a a tme.

[Tabitha t]

i have about three more episodes to go. im thinking about a 10k short story.

[Craig2591]

Much better! Good beginning. "Everything was a pure clear white that even bounty fabric detergent couldn’t produce" made me laugh.

It has me wondering what she did.