By Ksenia Vlasova
My perception of what happens after death was wrong. Very wrong. The light, the tunnel, yes that all happened, but i could never have anticipated what came after.
I came to in what seemed to be a lobby, right in front of an elevator. As I looked around, I realise I am alone in a large white room. Clearly, I have to take the elevator in order to get somewhere.
I press the button and the brass doors slide smoothly open. Taking a deep breath, I step in. The lush carpet feels soft under my feet and I realise that I wasn’t wearing anything except for a long white robe.
“Hello and welcome to the Elevator of Judgement.The more good decisions you have made, the higher up into Heaven you will go. On the contrary, the more bad decisions you have made, the deeper into Hell you will go. The elevator goes 50 floors up and 50 floors down. You will rank somewhere on that spectrum. Good luck.”
My heart drops. So this is it? This is how the final decision is made? Surely there’s something else. Surely, this isn’t the way it all gets decided. My worries only increase as something started whirring. Suddenly, the elevator lurches upwards.
1…2…3……5…10…15… What happens if the elevator stops somewhere at 20 or 25? Will it be some kind of in between place? Maybe this all a trick. Maybe, the real decision is made based on my entire reaction to this. Oh God, I need to keep my cool.
19…20…25… Maybe this isn’t so bad after all? Maybe it’ll actually turn out okay.
30…35…40….45… I need to stop worrying. I’m clearly doing great.
46…47…48…49…50. The elevator dings, and comes to a stop. The doors slide open yet again, and a chorus of angels welcome me into heaven. A lady by the elevator smiles at me. She checks her clipboard and looks up at me.
“Welcome to Heaven, Joshua Rodd.” I freeze.
“That’s not my name.”
“Oops, admin error, sorry. Please step back in to the elevator.” I shuffle back slowly, still trying to understand the situation.
“B..but I don’t u..u-understand. The e-e-elevator, it s-said i’m going to h-heaven.”
The woman shakes her head politely. “Like I said, sir, I’m terribly sorry. This glitch doesn’t occur very often.”
I let out a small whimper and turn back to the elevator. I step inside and the lady gives me a small wave.
“Doors closing, please stand clear.” A monotone voice announces.
The doors slide shut.
“Going down.”
