“Whoa!” Isabel said as she hovered over the scene of a terrible accident. “That doesn’t look good. I sure hope nobody died.”
“I’m afraid so,” the voice behind her answered.
Startled, Isabel jerked around and came face to face with a beautiful figure with red hair and an angelic face that she did not recognize.
“Who...who are you?” She suddenly felt as though she were dangling from a cloud, suspended in mid-air.
“Hello, Isabel. My name is Clara. I am your spirit guide.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Why do I need a spirit guide?” she asked. “And how do you know my name?”
“Because I’ve been with you your entire life. I’ve been there to help you, and to protect you.”
“But I’ve never seen you before. Why am I seeing you now?” she asked, not taking her eyes off Clara. She was the most beautiful woman Isabel had ever seen.
“Because you’ve passed on, dear,” Clara said.
“Passed on? As in...died?” Panic rose in her voice and she looked down at the scene of the accident below her. Recognition struck like a lightning bolt; she recoiled in horror. That was her car beneath the wreckage. “Oh my God, no! Maybe I’m just...wounded or something. Maybe I’ll be okay. Please, Clara, don’t let me die.”
But as she watched the emergency workers remove her body from the wreckage, she heard one of them say, “This one’s a goner.”
“No!” She screamed, hoping they could hear her. “I’m not dead. I’m alive. I’m right here. Look up!”
She watched them put her body on a gurney and cover it with a sheet. Her eyes widened in horror. She could almost feel the life draining out of her. She turned to Clara. “I thought you said your job was to protect me.”
“It is, but—”
“Then do something,” Isabel commanded. “They think I’m d…dead!”
Clara placed gentle hands on Isabel’s shoulders, her eyes warm and compassionate. “I’m very sorry dear. But there is nothing I can do. It was your time. You’ll understand more once we get to our destination.”
Isabel shrugged free. She wasn’t going anywhere with this woman. “Please, don’t do this. I’m not ready to die. There are still so many things I want to do. And of all days, not today. Today was the worst day of my life. Please, just let me go back.”
This was the cruelest joke she could imagine. And then she wondered: Am I dreaming? Could this just be a bad dream? Will I wake up tomorrow and this will all have been a really bad dream?
Clara shook her head. “You have fulfilled your purpose on Earth. It’s time for you to move on.” Her voice was calm, soothing. “I know what a shock this is to you, how hard the transition can be, but as soon as you can let go of your life on Earth, you will experience happiness and joy like you’ve never before imagined.”
Isabel laughed at the audacity of this Clara woman. Fulfilled her purpose on Earth? What a joke. Her whole life was screwed up right now. She was unhappy in every area of her life. What purpose could there be in that? She did not want to go out this way. She had to make things right.
“Please, just one more day. Give me just one more day to make things right. I’ll die tomorrow. Can I die tomorrow instead? Please?”
Clara looked at her with compassion, but her eyes were unwavering. “I’m afraid not, my dear. Now come.” She gently led Isabel away from the scene of her death. “We have some traveling ahead of us, and some things we need to take care of before we get you checked in,” she said.
Traveling? Checked-in? What the hell did that mean? She wondered whether she was on her way to heaven, or hell.
Isabel clutched Clara’s arm and they started their journey upward. At first it was very dark, like being in a tunnel, and she squeezed Clara’s arm even tighter. But as they continued, she felt relaxed and peaceful for the first time in a very long time. Eventually she saw a bright light, and was told they would reach their destination shortly.
Good. And then she would speak to whoever was in charge and demand to be sent back.
When they arrived, beautiful music filled the air and small beams of light danced around them. Still clinging to Clara, Isabel dodged a light beam that flickered too close to her face.
“Don’t be afraid, dear. The lights are the spirits of those who love you.”
As if on cue, the light beam that had stalked her materialized into the image of her maternal grandmother. The way she had looked on Earth, but more translucent. Like an angel.
Isabel drew in a sharp breath. She released Clara’s arm, and stepped toward her grandmother just as her grandfather appeared before her. She sucked in a sigh of relief. If her grandparents were here, this must surely be heaven. A wave of relief washed over her.
She ran to her grandparents and launched herself into their arms. “Is my mother here?” she asked, excited at the possibility of being reunited with her.
“Yes, my darling,” her grandmother said. “You’ll get to see her later. After you get checked in.”
But...she was going back to Earth after she got checked in.
“Can’t I see her now? Please?”
“All in good time,” Clara said. “After check-in, we’ll do your life review. After that, you can see your mother.”
Life review? No way. She was not hanging around for that.
Isabel waved goodbye to her grandparents as Clara took her arm and led her away. They walked—glided, actually—to another area, where she saw a long line of people, waiting to check in. She could tell they were newcomers because they still had their...bodies.
“Go ahead and stand in line, and you will be taken care of from here,” Clara said. She hugged Isabel, and told her she would see her later on.
Much later, if Isabel had any say in the matter. Like fifty years later. She stood in line and waited for her turn. When she heard the voice call, “Next!” she looked up to find a spirit with dark skin and hair, and warm brown eyes tucked behind wire-framed glasses.
She strolled over to the man’s cubicle with a confidence she did not feel. She had a plan, and figured that the confidence might increase her chance of success.
“Hello,” she said as if greeting an old friend at the grocery store.
“Have a seat.” The name tag on his lapel read Faruk.
Isabel sat. “Listen, before we begin—”
“Name?”
“Isabel Stevens,” she said. “But listen, before we get started—”
“Date of birth?”
“May 2, 1972,” she said. “But can I ask you a question, please?”
“No. Date of passage?”
Isabel’s brows scrunched together. “Date of what?”
“Death,” Faruk said without looking up from his screen.
“Oh, October 1, 2003. But please, I have a very important question. A favor, actually,” she said with a nervous laugh.
“Mother’s maiden name?”
Isabel pushed out an exasperated sigh. This was not going as planned. “Don’t you have all this information already?” she asked. “I mean, aren’t you supposed to know everything about me?”
“Just making sure we have the right person,” he said. “Mother’s maiden name?”
Yeah, as if anyone would volunteer to die in someone’s place. She leaned back in her chair, crossed her arms and refused to speak.
Faruk waited a moment and when she didn’t answer, he pulled his glasses off and looked up at her with a raised eyebrow. He said not a word, and the staring contest began.
She broke the interminable silence. “I want to go back.”
Faruk laughed. “Okay, that was funny. Social Security number?”
“No. I’m serious. I want to go back, Mr. Faruk, sir. Please.”
“I couldn’t authorize that, even if I wanted to, miss. That’s a violation of the rules.”
“You’re telling me, in the history of heaven, nobody has ever been sent back to Earth?”
“Only when the passing was premature,” Faruk said.
Ah, a loophole. She was good at taking advantage of those. She was a lawyer, after all. But she had to think quickly.
“Yeah, that’s what they told me. I died prematurely. They sent me here for the return paperwork.”
“That’s a different line, Ms....Stevens. You’ll have to go over and wait in that line over there.” Faruk pointed across the way.
Isabel turned to see a line that appeared to contain at least a thousand people. That wasn’t going to happen.
“Well, how about if I just want to go back for a couple of years?” she asked.
“That’s the Returns desk.” He jabbed his finger toward another line of equal length.
“Okay,” she said, “I’ll just go back for one day then.” She’d find a way to work around that once she was safely back on terra firma.
He glowered at her, his finger still pointing at the Returns line.
Her shoulders slumped, and she stood to leave. As she turned toward the Returns line, she noticed the sign posted at the single station: Out to Lunch. She turned to Faruk.
“Looks like there’s nobody manning that desk.” She pointed to the sign.
Faruk rolled his eyes. “Okay, have a seat. I’ll do the paperwork for you. But it’s only a one-day pass. You’ll have to return before the clock strikes midnight tomorrow,” he said.
Isabel grinned and agreed to the terms. “I’d like to go back to May 27th, 1992.” The day before her mother was killed.
Faruk laughed. “They didn’t tell you the rules?”
“Rules?” She shifted nervously in her seat.
Faruk sighed and rolled his eyes. “The rules state that you can only go back to your last day on Earth. And you can’t say or do anything differently than you did on that day. Only your thoughts can change. Everything else has to happen exactly as it did on that day so we can be sure that you’ll return. Oh, and you’ll have no memory of what’s going to happen that day. The words and actions will be revealed to you at the appropriate time. If you try to say or do anything differently, you will be stopped.” He finished the paperwork, shoved it into her hand and pointed to the exit. “See you tomorrow before midnight. Next!”
What? She had to go back to the shittiest day of her life? And she couldn’t do anything differently? What the hell was the point of that? She turned to tell Faruk that she’d changed her mind but he was gone. She felt herself propelled forward, and when she reached the area marked Exit, she reluctantly handed the paperwork to the guide manning the desk, and stepped into the dark vortex.