Joey felt exhilarated while the clerk was handing over the money from the register. Dumb bastard working here for peanuts all night, you’ll never get anywhere that way! His way was a lot faster!
He clunked him one good blow over the head with the butt of his gun and the clerk hit the floor hard. Then he ran out the door of the liquor store and burst out onto the street. He immediately saw a cop standing there gunning for him. Joey wondered how a cop could know he was holding up the place… he was only in there a few minutes, and even if the clerk was able to press an alarm there was hardly time for the cops to respond and be waiting for him. It must be bad luck; something Joey always knew would catch up with him eventually. He had been lucky up to this point pulling off seven robberies in this hood without getting caught, but it looked like his streak was ending.
Joey thought briefly about stopping and giving up, but he had a lot of priors and knew if he was caught he’d go back for a long stretch, something he wasn’t willing to do as he hated jail and just recently got out. Joey raised his gun and got off a shot, but he must have missed because the cop returned fire and Joey’s chest exploded and he was falling to the cement. Putting his hands out to break his fall, the gun flew from his grip on impact. He saw the cop over him as he lay there and he knew he was probably going to die as there was a lot of blood coming from his chest and it was difficult to breathe. Then, all at once, Joey was gone from the ground and floating through a tunnel.
It was unbelievable as there was no sound or the sensation of movement… yet he was definitely sailing towards something! Soon he arrived on what appeared to be a cloud.
After his initial shock Joey stood up and orientated himself. He noticed right away that somehow he was now wearing his favorite clothes including his black leather jacket that he loved.
To his amazement there was no blood coming from his chest or anywhere else, and he felt great… really great! He looked down at his feet and saw they were firmly planted on a smoky cloud.
“Huh,” he wondered amazed then looked around to see other clouds with people on them and called out, “Hey you, over there!”
But they didn’t respond. They must be too far away to hear me he thought and then slapped his own face just to make sure this wasn’t a dream.
“Ouch,” he definitely felt that, so it must be real.
He figured that he was dead and this must be heaven… after all, he was standing on a cloud!
“Geez, did I make it to Heaven. I can’t believe it!”
After standing awhile Joey walked a few steps to the edge of the cloud and looked over the side. It was not much bigger than his car just big enough to walk a few steps in any direction. He peered below and saw something that made the hairs on his arms stand up! It was a red fiery glow and the faint sound of terrible screaming like people burning alive.
“Oh crap! That’s hell!” Joey knew at once. “I’m sure glad I’m not down there with those suckers!”
He was relieved to be on his cloud far above. There were other clouds below his, but above the fiery agony, and he wondered why they were down there hovering just above Hell. Then he looked above and saw other clouds above his and above them a beautiful glowing light that made him feel peaceful and joyous when he looked at it. Was that heaven?
He sat down on his cloud and after a time noticed that the different clouds seemed to be moving. He couldn’t tell in which direction but their position to his cloud seemed to be slightly different over time. Joey peered over the side again and saw that another cloud was close to his about ten feet away and ten feet below. Joey was very excited to see a man on this cloud.
“Hey buddy, Hey you!”
“Hello there.” The man answered.
“ Boy am I glad to see you.Where are we, were in heaven right?”
“Oh, no, I’m afraid not.”
“No, then where the Hell, I mean, where are we then?”
“I don’t know what it is called, however, talking to other folks I have ascertained this is the place between Heaven and Hell.”
“So what’s that mean, I’m stuck here…in between?”
“Perhaps… let me explain.”
But before the man could start Joey saw the man’s cloud rise upwards to be about level with Joey’s.
“Hey, how come yours is moving?”
“That’s what I’m going to explain.”
“We’ll tell me then.”
“I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that Heaven is above us and below is Hell.”
“Yeah, I guessed.”
“It’s a genius system really. After you die and someone on earth thinks of you positively, a person that you’ve impacted in a good way, then each good memory of you moves you up slightly towards Heaven.”
“So you’re moving up then?”
“Yes, thankfully I knew this day would come and I always tried to do the right thing.”
“And the people down there?” Joey pointed down towards the screaming.
“Poor souls…” The man stopped and looked somber a moment then continued. “Every time someone thinks badly of you then you move down a notch.”
Joey suddenly realized the gravity of those words and their ramifications.
“So, what about me? I don’t seem to be moving at all.”
“Well, there is a third possibility, which is no movement either way. If you hadn’t impacted anyone much when you were alive, well, then you’ve been forgotten altogether, which means you stay here awhile in Purgatory. Eventually you’re sent back to earth to live another life all over again, until you make a difference one way or another… if you know what I mean.”
“Son of a bitch! Oops, all that crap about Karma was true?”
“Oh yes absolutely, Karma, Reincarnation, Heaven, Hell, even the clouds! All that stuff that the religions taught us was true, obviously!”
Joey looked worried as he pondered the man’s words.
“It’s perfect really. Every person is judged by how they affected the other people around them while they were alive.”
Suddenly the man Joey was talking to rose a level above him. Joey broke out in a panic!
“You just moved up right?”
“No, I’m sorry my friend I did not… you moved down!”
Joey’s eyes grew wide and his mouth opened.
“May God have mercy on you,” the man said to Joey sympathetically.
Joey was in a panic, he ran and tried to jump up to the other mans cloud, hoping to knock him off and take over, but despite his best efforts he could not leave his own cloud. Joeys cloud moved still further down.
“I’m sorry,” the man said.
Joey screamed as loud as possible, “NOOOOO… PLEAAASSE, NOOOO!!” then started sobbing for himself and all the bad he had done to others.
If only he had another chance… if only!!!
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