The Good Place

Suddenly I'm sitting in a chair in front of of a white haired man with an odd smile.

"Where am I?" I ask, looking around the room.

"You're in the good place." He says. "I'm Michael."

"What is the good place?" I ask.

"Elliot Joseph Stabler, you are dead." He says.

"I'm dead." I say, "How?"

"You were in a fatal car crash on your way to a funeral." He says, "Your cab crashed on East 8th. The driver was barely injured but your neck was broken while you were simultaneously decapitated."

"Jesus." I say.

"Good news is, you didn't feel any pain." He says, "Your blood alcohol level was higher than anything we've ever seen."

"Why was on my way to a funeral?" I ask, "Who died?"

"If you don't remember, that means it's wiped from your memory." He says, "When you are accepted into the good place, any and all memories painful enough to cause real emotional trauma are wiped from your memory."

I take a deep breath, wondering who out of the five people in my life could have died, causing it to be so painful that it was wiped from my memory.

"Who died?" I ask.

"A Detective First Grade Olivia Benson. Age 30. It says here that she was your partner at the Special Victims Unit. She was shot." He says, "She was important to you, yes?"

"Yeah." I say, tears falling down my face. "Yeah, she was."

"Don't worry about her." He says.

"You said she died in a shooting?" I ask.

"Yes." He says, "She was shot in the chest twice. She lived for 40 seconds after the bullets entered her body. In this video Detective Benson is shot, you shoot her killer at the exact same time that he shoots her. You then drop your gun, check the mans pulse in a matter of three seconds before pulling Ms. Benson off the ground, cradling her in your arms, whilst still trying to stop the bleeding coming from her chest. You say to her, over and over again, 'I'm so sorry Liv, I'm so sorry, I love you, I love you, have to be okay.' It seems as though you knew she was going to die."

I sit completely still and he closes the file.

"So where the hell am I?" I ask.

"I told you, you're in the good place." He says.

"Heaven?" I ask.

"No." He says, "Not in the traditional sense. Not in the way that your religion has taught you. It's the good place. It's simple. You did enough good on Earth that you were accepted into the good place. Follow me."

I follow him out into the garden where there's a giant stage.

"Every community has been carefully built and filled with people who can live in perfect harmony." He says.

People start to sit in chairs in front of the stage.

Michael leads me to a chair as he walks up on stage.

"Welcome, to the good place." He says, "You are all dead. But, during your lives on Earth you all managed some incredible things that landed you a spot in the good place. Here in the good place, everyone lives in harmony. And despite popular belief. Soulmates do exist. In the good place, you have been paired with your one and only soulmate despite whoever you were romantically entangled with on Earth. You have houses built to match you and your soul mates personalities. A perfect blend of both of you. You will be led to your houses where you will meet your soulmate for the first time. Cheers!"