EROS: The Light Project

HEAVEN III - The Mexican Lymph

 A train is not always a means of travel: it can become the key to bewilderment or chaos, such as when you happen to take the one headed to the wrong destination; it can also become the principle of deep sorrow, when it rips from your arms a person you care deeply about.

I got to explore all these alternative views of the train in life, and never expected to do the same when dead. Yet there I was, at the Maaty station, waiting for the next train, unaware of where it would take me.

I didn't care where I would end up: my only goal was to get away from that village, which reminded me terribly of a particularly vast rest home. I was looking for a young girl who would never end up in hell. On this I would have put not one, but both my hands on the fire. She was a beautiful person, and surely she must have ended up in one of the highest levels of Heaven. Agnes had told me that the blessed never wish to be in a different part of Heaven than what is intended for them, but I couldn't stay at home any longer.

A message appeared on the small screen in the station:

TRAIN COMING!

Destination: Excessus

Please board already ticketed.

Apparently, I was supposed to get a ticket, but I wouldn't have dreamed of asking that damn Caretaker. Probably to reach that mysterious area called Excessus one needed to be more worthy than I was.

The white train arrived quickly and opened its doors wide: without delay I stepped into it; inside, yellow LED lights ringed the carriages a tender milk color. Usually, when I entered a train without a ticket, my greatest consolation was to find a large crowd inside, since it would allow me to escape in case a conductor came. Instead, the seats looked as comfortable and inviting as they were empty, making me think I was the only passenger. I didn't have much time to organize a plan because I immediately heard the door of the car next to mine creak open; someone was about to enter, and I couldn't take any chances: with a leap, I catapulted myself under the seat next to me, cowering on the floor. The door opened, and I saw legs making their way along the wagon: the sleek white shoes and pants hinted that it was a uniform, and this suspicion made me shudder. In a few seconds, my mind reviewed all the possible scenarios consequent to my capture: the conductor would ask me where I was headed, and I would not know how to answer...then that insane Caretaker would appear, and then I would be punished, perhaps by kicking me out of Heaven, perhaps by having Satan himself kidnap me, or having God's hand crush me...my brains had become a pressure cooker ready to explode from fear.

My valor would not save me from the sin of hybris.

The sound of that figure's placid footsteps reached my ears louder and louder, closer and closer. His shadow obscured my view: he was standing exactly at my seat.

-Ticket, please-.

My forehead became smeared with sweat: what should I have done? Come out into the open, or continue to hide like an elephant behind a lamppost?

-Thank you-.

The sound of footsteps continued, and with it its shadow.

-You can come out now. He's gone-.

I rolled out of the seat, and struggled to rise to my feet.

A girl I had never seen before was sitting in front of me; her chubby face was lit by her eyes, alight with a fiery color. Her brown hair lay on her shoulders, covered by a kind of long white raincoat.

-You...who are you?" she asked curiously.

-I am Nathan. Please don't tell anyone I'm here-.

-Take it easy, Nathan. Compared to you, I have more to hide, ha ha-.