Thwack! My back hit the ceiling inside the cushioned elevator. I couldn’t tell which direction I was falling in, but I knew it was fast and would probably kill me. I wasn’t afraid of death. However, I was afraid of dying painfully. Slowly. I wished I could google my predicament, but I didn’t believe anyone had survived a fall like this. If they had, they sure weren’t posting this experience on reddit. Or maybe they were? That is the world we live in after all.
The issue I had with hurtling to my death at top speed was that I couldn’t make it cute. My mouth was blown open by the aggressive winds and saliva flew all around, covering me in a sheen of my own DNA. I was also afraid to die ugly. I didn’t want the last image of me immemorial to be me covered in my own spittle. How awful is that?
The falling felt like it would never end. I tried to flex my fingers to see if I could grab onto something, but I couldn’t. Nothing angered me more than being out of control. I managed a slobbery sigh. Despite knowing that I would die the moment the rouge elevator made impact, I found myself wishing for it. Egging it on quietly. Anything to stop hosing myself down with bodily fluids. I fell for what felt like an eternity and a half. Metal creaked and groaned around me unlocking a new fear.
Was I going so fast that the thing would fly apart? The answer was yes. Before my eyes, metal bolts and sheets flung themselves aside. The noise was horrid, and I marked down yet another inconvenience about dying. Why couldn’t it just happen quietly? Why did it have to keep stretching itself like this? Burning metal left an acrid scent in the air. Cold wind froze me partially to the bone as I continued to fall. There was no blue sky or metal coverings. Just stars. Stars, galaxies, and other space paraphernalia. The nebula was a brilliant shade of violet and bruised eggplant. Another inconvenience of death? It was perplexing me.
Where was the Earth? Where was the sky or the guts of the elevator? Why did it look like I was falling into an endless loop? Please God, I couldn’t have done anything that bad on Earth to punish me like this. I thought, beginning to sweat. Just as the thought whispered through my skull, I saw the bottom. Was it a bottom? It looked like an obsidian square filling up the discarded bottom of the elevator. I sighed and leaned into deaths warm embrace. The elevator hit the ground and I imploded into a cacophony of stardust.
###
“Parce Cunningham?” A man called gruffly.
I stood up on wobbling legs. I was wearing an all-black suit with my hair done in a high ponytail. I sauntered to the front of the court room where a judge I couldn’t quite comprehend sat? Stood? Shimmered? I’m not sure.
“Parce. Hello, it’s so nice to see you.” The judge said.
“I know you?” I asked.
“Kind of. Not quite as much as I’d like you to.” He said.
“What does that even mean?” I asked.
“I am you, Parce. Tell me, what brings you here today?”
“You’re the judge here. You tell me.”
The judge squinted his eyes and grinned like he loved my mischief.
“Of course. Parce, your life was good in some ways and terrible in others. The one thing I wanted you to do most you treated like the least.” He said.
“What was that?” I asked.
“You’re the one who did it. You tell me?” He asked, sassily.
I couldn’t help but chuckle. Whoever this was, I liked them.
“Um, I don’t know. I was a decent human. Not amazing but I did the best I could.”
“That you did. You’re not wrong.” He said.
“Then what is going on? Why did you murder me via elevator? That sucked.”
“I didn’t murder you, Parce.”
“Then what the hell was that?” I asked.
“A test. A test I knew you would fail. Tell me, why do you have so much contempt for being alive?” He asked.
I went silent then. Imagine some stranger exposing your lack of will to live to your mother. Or your father if they didn’t already know. It’s not pleasant. Especially when you worked so hard to keep it under wraps.
“Answer. Don’t answer. We both know it’s true.” He said.
“Okay, so now what?” I asked.
“We’re going to try again.” He said.
AGAIN?! What does he mean again? I suffered through thirty years of backbreaking work, aggravating people, and BILLS. Has this dude never realized that paying rent is not a one-time thing? Bills are due every month. Some are due once a week. Others are due everyday if you count eating as a bill.
“I will do anything else.” I said.
“I know. That’s why you’re going to do this.” He said.
“No.” I said.
The man raised his brows and smirked a little.
“No?” He asked, amused.
“No.” I said.
He guffawed. He threw his head back and cackled like I was the funniest thing he’d ever seen in his translucent life.
“My dear, this is not a request. This is something that is necessary if you want to go back to fullness.” He said.
What does that even mean?
“Fullness?” I asked.
“You will be joined with the source of all that is in perfect fullness and harmony. That itself is an existence, you know.” He said.
“I don’t understand.” I said.
“I know. One day you will. However, waiting and wanting to die isn’t how you live. I will grant you a kindness. No matter how long it takes for you to learn this lesson, I will allow you to pick where you want to go.”
“There are more places than just Earth?” I asked.
“My dear, there are many “Earths,” many moons, planets, stars, and galaxies. You may have your pick of selected ones.” He said.
I shoved my hands into my pockets. I wondered if I was translucent too. I lifted my hand and looked straight through it to a nebulous nothing down below. Everything and nothing at the same time. I took in my surroundings. It was just a plethora of stars and galaxies. If you really stared, it was beautiful. However, the vastness was unsettling. The quiet. How did this being live here in such peace?
“I know myself.” He said.
“What?” I asked,
“I can live here in such peace because I know myself. Do you?” He asked.
“Of course. I know that I want to die. I know that I would prefer any other form in any other place.”
“I am giving you the option to do that.” He said.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because that is what is best for you. You will never learn this lesson otherwise.” He said.
I sighed and stomped my feet like an angry child. All too fast the translucent man stood next to me with his hand on my shoulder.
“I will be with you.” He said.
“Can’t I just stay here with you? I can be a bailiff or something?” I said.
He held me close and wrapped me in his arms the way my dad would have if I had one.
“My child, you don’t even know me. You will be uncomfortable no matter where I put you. You must learn this lesson.” He said.
He released me and turned me away from himself. Before my eyes a few different planets showed themselves.
“Five planets. Five choices. Pick anyone you want.” He said.
There was a planet that looked like Earth. I ruled that one out immediately. A planet that looked like it was covered in snow. Hell no! A planet that looked like it was made of sand. Absolutely not. There was a planet that looked like earth, but darker. The land masses were bigger and there wasn’t as much water everywhere. I like the sea. I won’t pick that one right now. The final planet looked nothing like earth. The entire thing was different shades of green, purple, and blue. I pointed.
“This one.” I said.
“Of course. This planet has a tiresome path, but you will learn plenty. There will be brightness and darkness. There will be laughter and plenty of tears.” He said.
I looked at him in disbelief.
“You just told me I get to pick where I go.” I said.
“Yes, but you don’t get to pick what happens. That is up to Creator.” He said.
“Can I speak with them?” He asked.
“You wouldn’t’ believe me if I took you to them.” He said. “Also, you have an appointment.” He said.
Before I could say anything else he hugged me and sighed deeply.
“Learn.” He said, “Learn so you can come home.”
Then I was falling again.
