Heaven Nor Hell

I did indeed set out to write you a short story based on the vague idea I had the other day. But the more I thought about, the more I realized I was not going to be able to write the whole story in the amount of time I had.

So here's Part One.

Patrick’s arrival at the Pearly Gates was not as advertised. For starters, there were no gates to be found. Rather, he appeared to be at an abandoned bus station in rural Montana in the middle of the night.

Had he stepped off a bus to get here? He couldn’t remember. For a moment, he couldn’t remember anything. He looked around, up and down the empty road. No, that was right. It came back to him in flashes. An uneventful life and an abrupt end. Somehow that had landed him here.

Wherever here was.

A light came on in the ticket office. He tentatively approached.

In the office was an older man with a trimmed white beard. Behind him, a clock displayed the time as exactly midnight.

“Can I help you?”

Patrick gestured around. “Am I in Hell?”

“Strictly speaking, you’re not in anywhere. You’re between somewheres.”

“Well, how do I get somewhere?”

The old man smirked. “That’s up to you.”

Patrick nodded. “Great. Super cryptic. Do I need, I don’t know, a ticket or something?”

“First you need to decide where you want to go.”

“You mean Heaven or Hell?”

The old man laughed. “Oh no, Heaven isn’t in the cards for you, kid. You can choose to take the highway down to Hell, or if that doesn’t sound fun, you can choose our… other opportunity.”

“Which is…?”

“Think of it as community service. You do a little work for us, and you earn yourself some goodwill.”

Patrick leaned on the ticket counter. “What kind of work?”

“Oh, you know, just fighting the forces of darkness. But it would give you more time back on Earth. And with that time, you could, perhaps, earn your way onto The List, and get yourself sent upstairs next time around.”

“And it’s either that, or Hell?”

The old man nodded and looked at the clock, still stuck at the stroke of midnight. “You’d better decide quickly. It’ll have to be Tomorrow eventually.”

Two buses rolled up, from opposite directions. One was shiny and black, with red flames painted on the side and a full complement of rowdy passengers. The other was dull grey with paint peeling and not a soul on board.

Patrick took a breath and made a choice.

Stay tuned for Part Two, which will either be Tuesday, or next Friday. I don't know yet.

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Title Source: Volbeat - Heaven Nor Hell