Divine Intervention

Part 1

All at once, everything was gone.

No tunnel, visions of light beams or even burning flames. I don't really know what I was expecting.

Maybe something a little more dramatic. Whenever the movies would show someone going to 'heaven' it was almost like a UFO sucking someone up somewhere above the clouds.

But I didn't know where I was. I looked down at my bare feet, the red nail polish I had applied a few weeks ago that was now chipped. Unexpectedly, I wasn't standing on a fluffy cloud.

My leg was untwisted, no bruises, cuts or streams of blood anywhere. That was also different to how I remember last seeing it.

The last thing I remember is the feeling of my own lungs crushing me. It was the middle of the night when it happened. My back was cold from the concrete, puddles filled the potholes. Mum was right. Someone should have gotten them filled in by now.

But I guess that didn't really matter now. Did it?

It's hard to explain but when my eyelids closed for the final time, I knew what had happened. I didn't need a man with a beard and glowing halo to confirm it.

And now I am here.

After life- if that's the correct terminology always sounded peaceful when i was alive. I never really feared death because I always believed there was something else out there. I used to think reincarnation, especially into something like a cat, would be nice.

But I never thought I would be there so soon.

When I was ninety-four, surrounded by my children and grandchildren. Loved ones holding my hands. Saying goodbye.

Nineteen wasn't really the plan. But it was probably selfish of me to assume I'd live that long. Life is short enough as it is. But for some of us it's even shorter.

I looked around, taking in the scenery for the first time. Instead of golden gates leading to a paradise, it seemed I was in the largest school gymnasium ever known to man.

Maybe I was in hell?

There was no ceiling in the building, just never-ending space. The flooring was dark teal, with brick walls. It wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing building ive ever seen.

The flooring was warm, which was helpful since it appeared I was going to be barefoot for a while. There was no furniture, no chairs or even a single table.

The room was vacuous. And I felt like I had been sucked in and never able to escape. Purgatory... Is that you?

Being dead has helped in one way. I feel perfectly relaxed despite the fact I died around three minutes ago, I've got no shoes on in what seems like a school gymnasium (Alive Eris would have been sick at the mere thought) and nobody else is here.

All the times I had wished to be left alone, maybe this was what God thought my idea of heaven would be.

It doesn't feel as peaceful as I had thought it would.

"Eris. Hello." A voice that can only be described as ethereal spoke.

I turned around, searching for the person who had spoken. I couldn't see anyone but my eyesight was not known for being 20/20.

I reached into my hair to find my glasses, and realised they weren't there anymore. I remember feeling them falling to the ground just as it happened.

"Eris Anderson. Day of death- Eighth of May, welcome to your afterlife."