my dreams

the boats

There was a knock at the door. I'd already been crying for hours, so whoever was at the door wouldn't come bearing good news. He got up from the chair adjacent to mine to answer the door, although he was just as horrified as I was.

He opened the door, and a tall, gray figure stood in the doorway. "You have 10 minutes to collect yourselves. Be at the river in 20 minutes." He thanked the figure and shut the door. He came back to the living room, stared at his chair, and then frantically began packing. All I could do was sit in my chair and cry.

Earlier that day, life was amazing. He and I were perfectly happy. All of a sudden, God came down from the sky and declared that this was the last day of Earth. We were to get into boats that would float us into a tunnel, or the Afterlife. And the most terrifying part? We had no idea what the Afterlife would hold for us. I always craved to know exactly what was happening, no matter the situation or time. This was my worst nightmare.

He continued to rummage through our small house, shoving various items into bags. He knew it wouldn't matter- we were going to be judged soon anyway, and stuffing our knick-knacks into a bag was pointless. I stood up, tears still streaming down my face.

"Please," I whispered. He continued to scurry around the house, mumbling in a panic. The tattoos on his arms were blurred by his fast movements, creating the effect of gray sleeves on his bare arms.

"Stop," I said a bit louder. He moved to the living room now, packing a DVD into his small bag. He looked around again, his head whipping back and forth.

"STOP!" I yelled. Everything was quiet, and he finally looked at me. His piercing blue eyes bore into my skull. He looked... scary. But I knew he was just as stressed as I was.

"I'm sorry to yell," I said, tears spilling over onto my reddened cheeks. "But I'm so scared. I don't know what's gonna happen. Could you just... be there? Next to me?" His face immediately softened. He dropped the bag on his chair and walked to me. He put his arms around me and pulled me close to him. I took in this final moment of intimacy before fate would inevitably separate us. His tattooed arms, though rough in appearance, were soft against my back. I heard his heartbeat, felt the steady lub-dub echoing in his chest.

"Of course I'll be there," he whispered into my ear.

We stood like that for the remaining 6 minutes we had before being escorted to the river.

His last named started with an M, mine an L. We were to be seated alphabetically, but this confused me. If God is taking every single human being on Earth into the Afterlife, why would He need to alphabetize us? But it wasn't time for asking questions. We were told to sit together on the huge rowboats floating in the river, since our last names were neighbors.

I laughed quietly to myself as I looked at all of the boats. They reminded me of the ones in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, although these boats weren't made of hard candy, and the river was running with water, not chocolate. Was that the DVD he was grabbing? I thought.

Once everyone was seated in their respective boats, I frantically grasped for his hand. Our hands found each other, and I looked over at him. Our eyes met for one final time, his blue eyes locking with my mine. We looked forward. The boats began to move forward smoothly, not even sending ripples across the river.

A tunnel began to near, and I could not see any light. This was the Afterlife. Tears threatened to spill over again, but this time I wouldn't let them. He squeezed my hand, and we sailed into the Afterlife together.