CHOICES #Wattys2016 #Hidden Gems

Chapter 9

By the time he reached sight of the door at the end of the corridor, Vincent had been subjected to a series of distressing scenes involving his wife, his daughter, Ginny McRae and her daughter Lori. He was in tears after seeing the way Tina had been used and how her life was destroyed by the vengeful women. Marie had succumbed to a brain aneurism and Alec had taken over the family interests, getting Tina admitted to a rehab centre for drug and alcohol abuse, and settling the massive debts those sins had cost Marie. He avoided the last two windows and pushed his way through the large door at the end of the corridor.

The room was small and at a large metal desk that had no legs, a small man with large white whiskers and a pink, bald pate, stared at him with piercing eyes. He held a large quill pen and a thick ledger was open in front of him.

"Sit."

Vincent jerked at the brusque command and took a seat in a chair that magically appeared.

"You missed the final two portals."

Vincent said nothing.

"Well?"

"Well, what? Yes, I didn't look at them. I had enough."

The man wrote in the ledger, muttering to himself.

"Vincent Marcos," the man began. "You have witnessed the consequences of your decisions in life. You have been through the necessary stages of admittance to the Realm of Eternity and have compounded some of your previous life errors by repeating them here."

"What errors? I can't change anything?" Vincent's voice rose in anger.

There was a pause and then the man spoke again. "

"I have evaluated your passage here and have accorded you a probationary entry."

"Entry to what?"

"The Realm of Eternity."

Vincent gaped at the man. "Eternity? How can I be on probation in eternity? The very term suggests a period of time doesn't it?"

"It's all relative, Mr. Marcos."

"This is dumb. What do I do in this Realm of Eternity?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing? What's the point then? All this bureaucracy just to accomplish what?"

"Eternity, Mr. Marcos." The ledger closed and the Monitor vanished along with his desk. The space it occupied changed to a pinkish hue and Vincent saw what appeared to be an iron gate with a large plaque, which read: Realm of Eternity, Entry by Permission Only. Vincent assumed he had permission and pushed the gate open and entered.

The entire space inside the gate was pinks and soft looking, like cotton clouds, and it was crowded with dozens of people all standing alone or in groups. He looked about then approached a man who stood with his back to him.

"Excuse me, what's going on here?"

The man turned and his face brightened. "Hi! I remember you from the waiting room after the Hall of Decision. I'm Charles Meadows." He held out his hand and Vincent took it automatically.

"Yeah, right. You were with Michelle."

"Yes, she was something, eh?"

"Yeah. Listen, what's happening here, who are all these people?"