A Collection of Short Stories

The Choice

"I don't understand. Why is this happening?!" I cry out in my room, collapsing to my floor. "She wasn't supposed to be gone this soon. We were supposed to grow up together!" My eyes were already puffy from the crying at the funeral, but I felt as if I shouldn't be allowed to stop. She was my best friend. Her family was my second family. Now they're all gone.

"I may be able to help," a soft voice comes from behind me. I whip around to see a strange figure sitting in my desk chair.

"Who are you? How did you get in here?" I start to question the being.

"Don't mind that. Just know I'm here for a purpose- for you." It doesn't sound threatening. Actually quite... soothing. I start to relax in what seems like forever.

"Okay... how are you supposed to help me?" I warily ask.

"You want her back, don't you?" Just the thought of having her next to me, laughing about all the stupid adventures we went on together, makes my eyes fill with tears again. I slowly nod.

"You have been given the opportunity to make a choice- a choice of if she ends up surviving that crash with her family, or leave it how it has occurred," it makes direct eye-contact with me. Not breaking, I know it's telling the truth. 

"Well, what kind of choice is that? I want her back!" I rush out, not thinking, just wanting her smile back in my life.

"Before you choose, I must tell you the consequences of the action," the being is not blinking. I can feel the immensity of what is about to occur now.

"Okay." I choke out.

"If you allow her to stay where she is right now-"

"You mean dead." It hesitates slightly, knowing how fresh the wound is. 

"Yes, dead."

I nod for it to continue.

"If you choose for her path to stay the same, she will continue being with Jesus in heaven for the rest of eternity." The weight of what she just said hits me. Jesus. Right. She's in a better place. She really is. 

"But she didn't get to live her life. She didn't get to marry or have children or grandchildren. She didn't get to truly live. I could give that to her!" the excitement in my voice is palpable. The realization of being able to grow old together as neighbors comes back to me, and I look back at the being for it to tell me. 

"The consequence..."

"Yes, the consequence, but she would be able to live. What could be better than that?" I almost want to wave off whatever it has to inform me, but the intensity in it's eyes is too much for me to ignore. "What's the... what's the consequence?"

"If you choose her to survive the crash, your best friend will live into their old age. They live past you even. She gets married, you have houses next to each other, your kids become best friends, and she has many grandchildren, but-"

"But? There's a but? Why does there have to be a but? All of that is our dream... was our dream." My heart felt like it was beating again since the news came.

"But... She never forgives God for letting her family die. She gets lost. She stays angry for the rest of her life. She... isn't the same person... and she... she..."

There's something it doesn't want to tell me. I gulp and my heart starts to lose the rush of blood I just had. 

"What happens? What?!" Nothing can be worse than the feeling I've been going through.

"She doesn't make it the second time... she goes to hell." The words hit me like a ton of bricks. I feel like the wind got knocked out me. I can't breathe. The thought is overwhelming.

"Why would you make me believe it could be better? Why would you do that to me?" I scream at the being. "You gave me false hope! You allowed me to believe I could have her back!"

"You can have her back. You can choose to have her survive," the being remains calm, which almost angers me more, but I'm so tired of being angry the past few weeks, I relax instead. I let it go. Everything that's been eating me. It's not holding me down anymore. I don't say anything for a few minutes, the tension and the reality of what the being just said still hanging in the room.

"Of course I can't have her back. If I let her survive, she'll be dead inside. She'll live now, but she'll be dead for eternity. No matter how deeply I want her back, I could never choose that for someone. No matter how much I love her, I have to let her be gone. I have to accept what has happened. I have to let her die. I have to accept that I won't see her again on earth. I have to let her go..." I admit, knowing it was going to be much harder to truly feel it within myself. 

"I hear your choice. Let it continue to be," and with that, the being is gone. 

"I guess everything that happens really does have a reason. I guess God really does know what's best for us," I feel the presence of peace rush over me. The pain wasn't gone, but there was a feeling of understanding and hope in my heart. Hope that I would one day see her again. 

I lay back down on the floor, facing upwards this time.

"Hey bestie, I heard you're living your best life now. I'll be watching out for you in the smile of my kids, the laughter of my parents, the peace of God, and the hope of the future." 

The presence of peace is back, but this time there's a blanket of love wrapping around me. And I know it's God, with the help of her.