How'd That Happen?

Chapter 1

Lani's vision goes from blurry to normal in a matter of seconds. As she regains consciousness, she sees Maria rush over to her side with a concerned look on her face. "Lani, are you alright? You took a hard fall there," Maria asks as she takes hold of Lani's pale hand.

"Yeah, no need to worry about me, everything's okay," Lani claims as she takes the tan girl's hand with a smile. While it was sweet that Maria was concerned for Lani, there was no need for it. No one can get hurt in heaven, the white, fluffy clouds always catching every fall, and every item built created to be painless.

"Thank goodness. I'll make sure to watch what I'm doing next time," Maria flips her long, wavy, ginger hair to the other side of her tanned shoulder as she reaches her hand out for Lani to grab. Lani happily takes Maria's hand to pull herself up off the clouds.

"No need," Lani says sweetly as she moves her chocolate-brown hair out of her pale face and sky-blue eyes, "as an angelic worrier, you should be training as hard as you can to protect heaven at all costs, so that means you shouldn't need to be concerned with a servant like me."

"Oh, come on," Maria says, with a voice of pity, as she nudges Lani in the arm, "don't put yourself down like that. It should be an honor for you; you get to serve the highest-ranking deity in the world: God himself!"

After thinking about it for a second, Lani smiled as her voice got a little higher in pitch. "Yeah, you're right. I should be grateful, and I am!"

"Good, because there is no way I'm letting my best friend fall behind." They both chuckle as Maria puts her hand around Lani, and they start strolling around heaven's castle. "I can't wait to start my role. Once I turn twenty-five, I'm going to get to battle monsters and protect angels! Just like in the movies with all those superheroes with their swords and shields! What about you? Aren't you ready for your future?" Maria turned to Lani with a grin on her face.

"Of course I am! In two years, I'm going to be God's most trusted servant, just like my father is! I just hope maybe he will let me out of the gates for a little while. I would love to see what's out there." Lani looks up at the sky with hope in her eyes; they start subconsciously syncing their pace while they talk.

Maria's voice becomes somber, her eyes trailing to the clouded ground. "I'll be totally honest Lani, that probably won't happen to you. I've never seen any servant leave the golden gates. Even a warrior can't go very far from the perimeter of heaven." She looks back at Lani as her smile fades.

"I know, if I can't, then that's God's choice and I should follow it, but at this point, I'm twenty-three, and your birthday is coming in just a few months, so sometimes I feel like we are old enough to make our own choices."

"That's the thing, Lani, you always talk about choices!" Maria was starting to get aggravated with the conversation. "Why would you want to make choices? They make you think. There are people here that do that for us. Besides, I'm pretty sure the whole point of being a servant is to do what you're told."

"That's true, and I guess I have no reason to go out anyway," Her voice drops and Lani gets a sinking feeling in her chest, "Besides, whatever goes on out there, I'm sure God takes good care of it and doesn't let anyone suffer. That's why he created everything. He wants only good in this world." She wanted to make herself believe that there was no point in wanting to go outside, as if it were the same as heaven, as if everything is perfect out there too.

"Exactly Lani, and even though I have no memory of my past life, I can tell you I bet it was probably exciting! I can't think of anything bad that would have happened to me." Lani just smiles and agrees in delight. After all, no one outside of heaven has any reason to suffer. So why worry about it when it's probably just the same as in the gates?