as far as friends go

chapter 18

As a child, Rachel had never really given much thought as to how she would die. She never thought she needed to. The situation had never presented itself in front of her. All she thought was that she would die peacefully as an old woman in her sleep. But this wasn't anything like that. She was far from peaceful. The only thing that held her in this moment was absolute and utter fear. Darkness had been enveloped around her for a long time now. How long? She had no idea. All she knew that if this was what death was like, she understood why people dreaded it.

Holding her hands out, she started to slowly walk forward. She squinted her eyes as hard as she could to try and see through the strong darkness. Nothing. After walking, what Rachel thought was in a straight direction, for an hour, something came to Rachel's attention. There was a bright light ahead. It was like a giant spotlight gazing over her. She smiled in awe as she took a few more steps forward.

Suddenly, she stopped. She remembered from previous shows and movies that she watched in the past presented this same scene. When you walked into the light, you died. Maybe this was a decision factor for her, she thought. Maybe if she turned around and walked in the opposite direction, she would be able to live. Turning lightly on her heel, she started walking in the opposite of the intense yellow light.

Taken by surprise, the same light presented itself again in front of her. Turning around, she gasped as the lightly was projecting from both sides. Maybe she didn't have a choice, she thought. She must be meant to die. After about 5 more minutes of standing still, Rachel was enveloped with the light all around her. Closing her eyes she fell to the floor and covered her head with her hands. She wasn't ready to die. She just wasn't ready. Her heart pounded fast and her head was spinning. Tears burned in her eyes as she held on to her head for protection from a light that should be perceived as welcoming and warm. She didn't want to go into it. She didn't want to give up.

"Rachel?" a soft voice asked, which to Rachel was surprisingly familiar. She wanted to see who it was, but she was scared to lift her head from the ground.

"Rachel?" the voice called again. "It's okay. Don't be frightened."

Taking a quick and deep breath, she slowly removed her arms from the top of her head and rose from the ground with her eyes closed. She was still scared to look even with the bright light shining her closed eyelids. Slowly, she opened eye and the other followed. Once she saw the man in front of her, she instantly knew who it was. The voice belonged to Kurt.

Looking around, she gasped in amazement. The scenery was beautiful. They were standing in a grass meadow surrounded by white and purple flowers. There was a forest surrounding the small meadow and beyond that stood huge, beautiful mountains. The sky was as blue as she's ever seen it without a cloud in sight. The bright light was the sun all along. She was stunned at how much beauty this place projected. It was what she imagined Heaven to look like.

As she took a step forward to look around more, she noticed that something was brushing against her foot. Looking down, she realized that she had a change of wardrobe. She was wearing a long white dress with diamonds surrounding the two straps and waistline at the top. She also noticed that she was barefoot and her long brown locks were formed into huge tight curls. She smiled as she closed her eyes and breathed in the fresh scent of nature. This was all to good to be true.

Keeping her glance on her surroundings, she spoke. "It's beautiful..."

"I'm glad you like it." he smiled, looking at her. "It definitely is."

"Why am I here? Am I dead?" she asked.

"Not exactly. More like a very lucid dream." he answered.

"That's impossible. I've never thought of this place in my life. How could I dream of it if I've never even thought of it?" she said.

"I guess your brain can surprise you sometimes." he replied. "Do you remember what happened before things went dark, Rachel?"