A ticket to Heaven

Short Story

"He was a good man. He didn't deserve to die!" Sally wiped her tears.
"Mr. Batch was very lenient with everyone here in the office." Rachel tapped her colleague's shoulder trying to comfort her. Sally couldn't handle the news of Mr. Batch's death since death had reminded her of the day her parents passed away in an airplane crash.
"May your soul rest in peace, Mr. Batch" Looking at the ceiling, Bob sighed. It was the first time Bob's colleagues saw him like that. Bob had always been a demanding selfish man who could care less about anyone, but now he was showing sadness on his face.
Harvey sat at his desk examining the sad faces in the office. The office was so calm which made Harvey feel uncomfortable since it has always been noisy. Mr. Batch used to reprimand employees who destroyed the silence at the office. He once asked everyone at the office to speak with each other using virtual signs or via emails for a day to reduce noise pollution. Despite his commitment and formality at work, Mr. Batch shared a sense of humor which made employees respect him.
"To whom will the Board offer Mr. Batch's position?" Bob wondered.
"How can you think about that, now?" Rachel frowned.
Sally rubbed her red nose and agreed with Rachel. "His body still hasn't recovered from dialysis when he died! Poor fella! Who cares about the position, Bob?"
Bob yelled, "Stop pretending that you're grieving Mr. Batch. We all know that you're crying because you remembered your parents!"
"Shut up, Bob!" Sally's eyes watered again.
Harvey tried to ignore the fight, and continued practicing his signature on a paper. He didn't know if that paper which he was writing on was one of his client's documents or his, but he didn't care. Rachel stood still not knowing what to do.
"I am sure that if Mr. Batch were still alive, he would have fired both of you! He hated arguments and noises!"
"You are right, Rachel!" Harvey finally made up his mind to talk.
When Sally calmed down, she murmured while heading to her office. "I wish I was in heaven instead of Mr. Batch."
"I heard you! You know that you're still being selfish to ask for a visit to heaven." Bob shouted loudly.
"How can a visit to heaven make me selfish?" Sally turned with a sarcastic smile.
"You're only asking to be in Mr. Batch's place in order to see your parents, not that you really care about giving him another chance in life."
"Bob! What's wrong with you today!?" Rachel was surprised by Bob's acrimonious attitude. He always had that attitude in him, but he took it to a greater extent this time.
Harvey stood up and looked at Sally. His eyes met hers as if asking her to forget what Bob had said. Sally nodded and forcedly shut her office's door behind her.
"Sally...Sally!" A deep voice called her as she was checking her emails. Sally looked around to see who was calling her.
"Sally, do you want to visit heaven?"
"Who are you? Where are you?" Sally couldn't imagine herself responding to the voice that echoed in her office.
"You can't see me, Sally! I'm God. Do you really want to visit heaven?"
Sally's mouth dried. She had mixed feelings about what was happening. She didn't know if her hands were shaking out of fear or happiness. She licked her dry lips and nodded. "Yes! Yes! I...I want to!"
"The ticket will appear in your pocket tomorrow when your shift ends, but on one condition. You have to show me that you really deserve the ticket. Prove it!"
Those were the last words Sally had heard from God. She felt really weird about what had happened, since she didn't expect to talk to God in her 12x10 feet office.
Someone knocked on her door.
Was it God again? Sally wondered. With her hands shaking, she stood still and then decided to open the door. She felt relieved when she saw her three colleagues waiting for her. There was something different in them. Harvey, Rachel, and Bob looked different. Their faces were pale and she could almost hear Rachel's teeth grinding against each other.
"What's wrong?" Sally asked them assuming that her story will be more interesting to tell.
"Did he talk to you?" Bob asked.
"Who did?" Sally wasn't sure of what was happening.
"God, Sally! Did God talk to you?" Rachel grabbed her colleagues to the inside and shut the door.
"Did he ask you to prove to him that you're worth a ticket to heaven?" Harvey sighed heavily.
"Did he also mention that only one person will have the chance to get the ticket which will appear in his..."
"Pocket!" The four of them claimed in unison. Sally now knew that she had actually talked to God. Now that her friends experienced it too, it was their biggest secret and challenge.
"So what will we do now? We can't say no to God." Rachel wanted an explanation.
"This is absurd! How can we prove ourselves?" Bob argued.
"I guess by showing God that we are good people," Harvey shrugged.
"If that's the case, the competition is between the three of us." Sally raised an eyebrow at Bob.
"I'll let you know how your parents are doing up there when I get the ticket to heaven!" Bob devilishly smiled.
"There's no time to argue! All we have to do is to wait for tomorrow's shift to end and see who will get the ticket!"
The next day, the four of them came to work early. Bob arrived with flowers in his hands. He gave every single employee a flower announcing that today was a new day. "Spread love, everyone! These flowers will replenish your pure hearts which will get you closer to God!"
Rachel watched Sally's eyes firing hatred at Bob's actions. "I am sure God will not pick him. He's just a self-centered person. He's doing this just for the sake of the visit. He never liked anyone at the office." Sally whispered. Rachel's stomach growled which meant kitchen time. Harvey was sitting there eating his cooked rice which his mother had prepared.
"How's your journey going?" Harvey tried to start a conversation with Rachel.
"What journey?" Rachel asked.
"The journey to achieve God's approval and to win the ticket to Heaven," Harvey reminded Rachel in case she had forgotten.
"Well, I'm not making any effort. I'm certain that God is going to give me the ticket."
"And why are you so sure about that?" Harvey put a spoonful of rice in his mouth.
"Usually, girls are more obedient to God than guys. I haven't done anything wrong in my entire life, so I'm sure I'll win."
"I don't totally agree with you. Good luck, Rachel!"
"You're just denying the fact that I'm right."
"I really can't stand this guy anymore! I can't believe what he's doing." Sally came in furiously.
"What did Bob do this time?" Harvey guessed idiotically. Rachel smiled.
"He just gave Mrs. Holes $300 since her child is graduating from school. Does he really think that money makes him a good person?" Sally asked hysterically.
"I guess Bob is spending all his salary on the office employees. He gave the maid who was cleaning Mr. Batch's office $200." Harvey added.
"Stop being intimidated by him, Sally!" Rachel tried to handle the situation knowing that deep down she was scared that Bob would win the ticket, and she hadn't done anything yet.
"Do you think God will give me the ticket so I could have the chance to see my parents?" Sally asked. "I guess he will." She didn't wait for a response, yet she just assured herself.
"I remember when Mr. Batch woke up from the stroke. He told us how he had a chance to see heaven for a few seconds."
"He said it was the most peaceful place. It was full of genuine people enjoying the mellow sounds of music." Harvey remembered every single detail Mr. Batch had told them.
"Do you think we'll see Mr. Batch in heaven?" Rachel wondered.
"Let's hope so." Harvey responded while putting the last spoon of rice in his watery mouth.
There were still few hours before the four of them finished work. Rachel walked through the hallways waiting for her shift to end and get the ticket. She was sure that either Sally or she will have the chance to visit heaven. Rachel scratched her head and figured out that it was no longer a competition between her and Sally since Sally had already sinned by fighting with Bob. Putting the loose strands of hair behind her ears, Rachel straightened her back and waited for the ticket.
Harvey sat at his desk and enjoyed the clock's ticking sound. Despite his lack of interest in the competition, Harvey was eager to know who would get the ticket.
Every few seconds, Sally placed her hands inside her pocket. She couldn't find any ticket, yet she was sure that she was getting one soon. She bit her nails while imagining herself meeting her parents again in heaven.
Holding the rosary, Bob monotonously repeated his prayers. He preached to every employee passing in front of his office about how God is great. Closing his eyes, Bob imagined himself in heaven running through green hills and blue skies. "Chowchow!" Bob whispered as he imagined seeing his dog in heaven. Chowchow was Bob's only childhood friend, and he had lost him in the mountains and was devastated afterwards.

Locking doors, finalizing work documents, and turning off computers, the four colleagues left work. They stood in front of the parking lot as darkness filled the sky.
"So..." Rachel looked at her colleagues.
"So..." Harvey hesitated not knowing what to answer.
The four of them stood still with their hands in their pockets.
"I'm leaving! It was just a hallucination. A ticket to heaven?! Who are we kidding?" Bob held his car keys. "Is it true that God spoke to us? Maybe it was an after-death effect. Our minds made up things to comfort our grief."
"It's true that we all felt sad when Mr. Batch died, but I don't think our minds share the same plan to comfort our grief." Rachel explained to Sally. 
"I agree." Harvey shook his head. "God knows his plan very well, and he wanted to..."
"I wanted to test each one of you, and see who really deserves the ticket." A voice echoed. It was God. The four of them took a step back since they were shocked to hear God again. They still haven't gotten over the fact that God is talking to them. They could hear each other's heart beat and the sound of their deep swallows.
"The lesson that I wanted to teach is that the more good things you do in your lives, the closer you are to me. I wanted to test your potentials on the basis of helping and sacrificing yourselves."
When Bob heard those words, he straightened his back. He was now sure that he was going to heaven with his ticket.
"Yet, certain people attempt to do good things in order to achieve what their ego wants. I don't consider those people as true as their actions. Pretending to pray, to preach, or to help others for the sake of something in return is much worse than not doing anything at all."
Bob's face turned red and blood rushed through his veins. He felt so humiliated in front of God, since deep down he knew that he had given money and preached in order to get the ticket.
"When I decided to give life to humans, I treated man and woman equally. This doesn't give a getaway for women to escape from sins or judgment day."
Rachel knew that God was talking about her. She backed up and knew from that moment that neither Bob nor she will have the ticket. It was between Sally and Harvey now. Harvey checked his pocket, but couldn't find any ticket.
"The goal of this journey was to prove to you that some people sacrifice themselves and offer what they have for the sake of someone else. When Mr. Batch woke up from the stroke, one of his kidneys failed. He was in need of another kidney to survive and doctors found a difficulty to find a compatible match. There's that single person who sacrificed one of his kidneys and donated it to Mr.  Batch. From that day, I always looked over that person who really surprised me by not telling anyone that he donated one of his kidneys. Harvey... "
With her pupils dilating, Sally froze. Bob's mouth widely opened. Rachel recognized Harvey's forehead sweating.
"Harvey didn't even try to impress me today. He showed the least interest in the ticket, and he never told anyone that he's now living with a single kidney."
Harvey closed his eyes and remembered himself visiting Mr. Batch at the hospital every single day. He asked Mr. Batch to keep the kidney donation as a secret between them. As he opened his eyes, he couldn't find anyone. Rachel, Bob, and Sally were not there. Abruptly, a light exploded and Harvey saw himself in a blue room with peaceful music. It was heaven. Mr. Batch was right about the place as he had told Harvey, but it was much more fascinating. Harvey looked around him, but couldn't see anyone.
"I asked God if I could see you. I didn't have the chance to thank you, Harvey! You gave me your kidney, but I guess death is a really persistent backstabber!" Mr. Batch smiled as he slowly disappeared.