After Love

Proper Introductions

"Please, oh Heavenly Father, hear my prayer once more before I approach your pearly gates. I have sinned before, I admit that, but I believe that even a sinner should be granted at least one wish before they pass on from this world to yours. Oh Dear God I ask of you on bruised knees, and with shaking hands pressed together that you please give me more time with the woman I love." He stops the prayer for a moment to look over at his sleeping wife and begins to cry. He remembers glimpses of their life together, all of the mornings spent together and the surprise kisses full of love. Even through the tears he continues the prayer. "She is the most kind and gentle creature you have ever put on earth. If not for her your light would never have reached me. Without her I never would have known what it was like to wake up to the person you wanted to be closest to. Why then, are you so quick to take me from my love? Should it not be considered a sin to take the moon away from the ocean that so depends on it for even the smallest of its waves." The man pauses for some kind of sign or even a slight miracle but he is only greeted with the beeping of his heart monitor and the snoring of his wife. He turns his head down and begins to try even harder "You" the man starts shaking now "BASTARD! How dare you give someone as unholy and unworthy as me the greatest gift on earth! Just to take it away! You're no loving god you're more like the damn Devi-". He's interrupted by a bright light as if his room is being lit by the sun itself. He struggles to see the source of the light, or anything else. "You know nothing of love." Says a stranger's voice. "You know only what has been shown to you. I have given you a love that others only dream of and yet you are still unsatisfied?" The man, still unable to see anything, suddenly realizes who he is in the presence of. "There is no challenge to the choice you made lord. Only resentment for what you are doing to me. I have loved this woman for all of my life and you tell me I know nothing of love? I thought god was supposed to be all knowing." The light in the room suddenly disappears and there is a handsome young man of about 20 wearing an all black suit in the center of the room. Everything about the young man seemed so dark, his black hair was neatly put into place his outfit no darker than his eyes which seemed to pierce through the old man. "I am no god." says the stranger "And I've never claimed to know everything." The man begins to walk closer to the hospital bed. "Devil!" Cried the man as he began to move away from the young man. "You're the Devil! Stay away from me Devil!". The stranger lifts his hand and a deep silence falls upon the room. The man can no longer hear the heart monitor that kept him company for so long. But he still hears the mans voice. "That's better. We wouldn't want to wake the little angel now would we?" He nods over at the mans sleeping wife who begins to stir but falls back into a deep sleep. "I'm no devil either young man and I do not appreciate the way you are speaking to me." The man finally looks the stranger in the eye and saw that they were an even darker black than the darkest shadows of the room. "If you're neither of those then who o..o..or what are you?" The stranger smiled and held out his hand as the shadows of broken wings fall behind him. "I am the one who controls all of what you call love within this universe. I have been known by many names such as Cupid or Aphrodite, YOU may call me love. I know everything only when it comes to the bond between you pesky animals and I can tell from a glimpse that you do not love this woman as much as you claim. So surely you do not deserve a second chance at life with her." The old man, so filled with rage, stands up and disconnects himself from the heart monitor and takes out the needles that had supplied him with life. He walked towards the man and began to collapse in front of him. Only through his willpower and rage was he able to grab the collar of the man and stare into his eyes now. They still appeared black as coal but now a there was the presence of another color in the center of them. "Look again and know for a fact that you are wrong!" Love gently removes the man's hands from his collar and the man drops to the floor with a thud. "Do not mistake me boy there is love between you two, but not a drop of it belongs to you." The man struggled to set his upper body onto his hospital bed. "I beg to differ. It is our love that is so strong not just the one of us. Only with the two of us United can it be called such a word as love." Love stares at him for a second "Those are wise words but you do not see the true meaning in them. I shall grant you your wish but only to teach you a lesson." Love showed his hand with three fingers raised." You could see that they were worn down and beaten. Covered in scars but held steady. "You have three minutes then we're leaving." Love commanded. Within a moment the light appeared once again. Gone in seconds the light was replaced once again by the depressing sight of the hospital room. The man now crawled into bed and tried to catch his breath. The silence over the room had disappeared along with the man now known as love.