Oh damn so I missed my college assignment deadline for this and I was supposed to submit a short story for the class but I really liked what I wrote so I'll share it with you guys. It's called After Heaven
After Heaven by MoonlitLamps
If Heaven and Hell decide that they both are satisfied
Illuminate the no's on their vacancy signs
If there's no one beside you when your soul embarks
Then I'll follow you into the dark
Lisa Thornwood lived a normal life. At least, that’s what she thought to accept from herself. In reality, she always felt like she could be doing something more, ever since her Dad told her that she was destined for great things. She remembered her father for being the positive light of her life. But then he died when she was young, a type of aggressive brain cancer. Now at 25, she was on her way to meet up with an interesting date before tragedy struck and a motorcyclist accidentally lost balance swerving near the sidewalk and struck a post, sending the vehicle and rider into a chaotic spin and slamming right into her head and snapping her neck right then and there on the spot.
Shock. Pain. Barely a brief moment passed between her eyes before she opened her eyes again in shock, laying on her bed.
“What.” She muttered, looking around. It was just a dream, she figured. But then she looked closer and noticed the bedroom around her isn't the same plain chic post-university dorm that she called home. Pictures and posters on the walls reminded her of her old family home in Tennessee. Wait, it WAS her old family home. This was her childhood room.
Slowly rising from a stupor, she brushed her fingers on the walls, the aged and cracked wallpaper was peeling slowly under her fingertips. The same sensation she felt whenever she was bored and couldn’t fall asleep in time to class the day before. The pop culture posters of Stranger Things, Indiana Jones, Star Wars.
“This isn’t real. I can’t be back here, is it still a dream?”
Then she smelled the aroma coming from downstairs. Pancakes. Someone was cooking downstairs. She stood up shakily, still trying to absorb the details of the room around her. She looked down to see if she even transformed to her teenage self, maybe she somehow went back in time. But she noticed that her height remained unchanged, although she was now wearing some kind of loose white overalls and off-white plaid shirt. After a long time inspecting her old room, most of which was spent reminiscing old memories of action figurines once lost, memories once forgotten, and memorabilia stuffed in dusty attics never seen again, she mustered the courage to open the door and continue downstairs.
She stopped halfway down the stairway. She could hear who was cooking. No. It’s not true. That was the sound of her father whistling. She tried to sneakily step down the creaky stairs but it was of no use, their old family home was an aged country home with no respect for silence. Her father spoke up.
“Lisa? Is that you? Come over here I've just finished cooking breakfast,” spoke the impossible phantom. Rounding the corner to the kitchen, She saw him. The father she always cried out to at night but never answered from the great beyond.
When her father died, her mother moved them away from the home. His job was the only thing supporting their lifestyle out in the country. They had moved into a common in-law’s place in the busy downtown, cramped and poor. She never had the best relationship with her mother, but it became worse after his death. Unwilling to handle her poor attitude, she gave her away to various family members who each had issues with Lisa. But the most painful thing was losing everything she loved about her childhood. No more movies, no more school friends, no more of… Dad.
Tears were forming in her eyes. Sobbing silently as she stood there taking it all in. Her father is alive.
“Dad?” Lisa could barely speak, years of anguish yearning to escape her lips. “Lisa dear, it’s okay. Sit down.” He pulled up a chair across from her and sat down on the table. Pouring orange juice and setting the pancakes with maple syrup. Lisa just stood there and stared.
“H-how?” Lisa still couldn’t believe what was happening. She was dreaming, the motorcycle, the room. But why does it feel so real?
“You couldn’t be saved, The angels told me it was painless, and delivered you to my home. I figured I should take care of you and ease you into the new life.”
“New life? Dad, what are you talking about? Angels? Am I…” Lisa was stunned, she thought of her friends, Darcy and Adam, and oh God Nathan would hear about it. He was so sweet to her. She can’t leave now. But…
“Dad I can’t.” Lisa said, with hesitation.
“I know baby, I said the same thing to them when it was my time.”
A few minutes passed, she reluctantly took a seat and buried her face in her hands. Letting it all out; crying, silently screaming, cursing. But it wouldn’t change anything. She was dead, and now all the things she would’ve done are impossible. But her father... It felt like a deal she never agreed to. She tried to be mad, but she knew it wasn’t his fault that he left her life. It was cancer, it was God or her mother or whoever.
“Lisa my dear, listen. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you. The angels kept me updated on what you were doing down on Earth. I’m so proud of you.”
She looked up, into her father’s eyes, and for a moment she remembered what it was like to be truly accepted and happy. She wiped the tears and snot from her face.
“What… what’s going to happen now?”
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