Everything seemed weird when I reached the Gates of Heaven.
I was expecting a group of angels care-freely playing on an open area surrounded with fluffy clouds, others must be singing like a choir with their angelic voices and at the very end of the path would be Saint Peter grandly seated on his throne together with his big book of life and his beloved rooster. But what was I seeing? It was just an ordinary building with an enormous signage of ‘Gates of Heaven’? Was this some kind of a joke?
Was I still alive and this was just a crazy dream? But that was impossible! I was bumped by a ten-wheeler truck, who could ever survive that? With doubt, I slowly walked to the door and as soon as I entered the said office, a woman dressed in black faced me.
“Hi? I think I’ve been mistaken. I was supposed to be on the gates of heaven but I am here in this ordinary room with an ordinary office clerk surrounded with ordinary office supplies.”
“Oh, poor boy. You aren’t mistaken, this is it. Welcome to the Gates of Heaven!”
“Wha—“ I wasn’t able to finish my words for she already cut me out like she was never interested with what I was about to say.
“Any name?” The woman who’d been allegedly guarding the gates of heaven chewed an imaginary chewing gum when she finished asking me. I hesitantly answered back.
“Travis Sparks.” She looked at me with curiosity when I said my name. She slowly typed my name on her desktop.
“Sorry but my interface says that you are denied to be a resident of Heaven. You can’t enter heaven,” she sheepishly said as she entered some more words on her computer.
“What are you saying? What do you mean, I can’t enter heaven?”
“Someone still hates you for being the person you are in your earth life. And as a requirement, no one should hate you before you enjoy the amenities of heaven,” she answered. Her face posed a sarcastic expression that I despised.
Who on Earth must have hated me this much that I couldn’t enjoy this afterlife happiness? I’d been the kindest person, right? I served everyone, I helped the poor. I couldn’t remember any single soul who hated me to the very core. So who would it be?
“What the--” For the nth time, she cut me out again.
“Our office is giving you a special offer. You can go back to Earth and settle everything there or you can just choose the purgatory and wait until the person forgive you for your committed sins,” she announced the same way a traditional sales representative spoke.
“How?”
“If you choose the first option which is the settlement, you will be given thirty days to find and ask for forgiveness to the perso—“
“Easy.” I breathed freely and calmly smiled at her. She then creased her forehead as if what I was saying was very impossible.
“Not really. If you can’t do your task within thirty days, you will be directly sent to hell.” Her words made me shiver. Hell was not a place for me.
“Okay, I am choosing the option A.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.” She walked near me and shook my hands the way a diplomat won a said negotiation.
“Okay, good luck to you,” she grinned like a Cheshire cat and hastily snapped her fingers. As soon as the snapping created a sound, nausea conquered me. I couldn’t help but to close my eyes and fell asleep.
When I opened my eyes, I was in another place. Kids were laughing as they play. Everyone was wearing their smiling faces and their happiness was contagious. I caught myself smiling too. I scanned the crowd and was about to walk away to search for the person who hated me but stopped when I saw a little boy with a sad look on his face.
