The Table

A woman wakes up in a dark room with her hands in front of her like she's gripping a steering wheel, and her body is tensed up bracing for an impact she will not feel. Just a second ago she was in her car and swerving into a tree, now she is at a table sitting across from a man she does not recognize. The same look of confusion and panic is on the other mans face. It dawns on her that the stranger is also unclear about what is going on. They are both seated in a comfortable chair with nothing else in the room but a wooden table dividing them and an overhead light giving just enough visibility to see each other and nothing beyond that. A third figure steps out from the darkness and stands at the table. He is nicely dressed in a suit and his face is just barely visible in the shadow.

"I am here to inform you that you have both died. Two completely separate incidents, but you are both dead none the less. From this point on we will decide the afterlife each of you are destined to. There are only two options available, you may know them as Heaven and Hell, but really there is only eternal paradise or damnation. One of you will be damned forever, and the other will have bliss until the end of time. You both get to decide who is destined to go where, but it has to be agreed upon by each of you. I have no say in the decision, I am only here to assist the decision you decide upon."

The man speaks up first. He is wearing a black button up shirt with a white clergy collar, resembling his time as a priest on Earth. He was fifty-eight years old when he had a heart attack at his breakfast table, collapsing and dying in front of his sister just before they were about to leave for church. His name was David.

"This hardly seems fair!" He exclaims in an outburst. He hasn't fully grasped the situation he is in and is looking for any answer he can find for validation in his own thought of the afterlife.

"It isn't fair. But where is it written that all things must be fair? Everything was not fair on Earth, so why would it be any different here after your death? People were born with mental and physical disabilities every day, but you never questioned if it was fair, you told yourself it was part of Gods plan." The man in the middle said this with a tone of voice that spoke as if everything was factual.

The priest reclined further into his chair and his eyes stared at the table in disbelief. It was becoming more real to him with each passing second. He looked up and asked another question; "Who are you?".

"I do not have a name that you will know me as. I am the neutral commentator that answers all questions you may have. I know everything about you and the life you have lived. I am all knowing. I appear to you in a way that is exactly as you would perceive me. Some see the Devil, some see God, often times I am a human figure without a distinguishable face."

At this point the woman decides to speak. She was twenty-six years old, went by the name of Becca and was beautiful in a way that doesn't gain the attention of everyone, but is subtle and recognized by people that know her. She lived a simple life with no real goals, but big dreams. Her life now revolves around being a mother and was on her way to drop her seven year old daughter off at school.

"Oh my god! What about my daughter?! What about Katie? What happened to her?! Is she okay?!" She asked as tears began to well up in her eyes.

The man spoke without changing tone from before. "I am speaking to her now and explaining the same things I have said to you. She is no longer your daughter and was only tied to you before through birth. From here on she is just another soul that will reside in what you call Heaven or Hell".

At this thought the woman broke down into tears and could only focus on the loss of her daughter. Nothing else going on around her seemed to matter and she could barely get out the words when she asked, "Why isn't she here with me? Why are we separated? We were both in that car! She was right there with me!"