Angel Yard

       I was cruising in my Camaro, radio blaring at top volume and enjoying life when the SUV crossed over into my lane.  In a split second I knew there was absolutely nowhere to go and no time to get there.   It happened so fast, an earth shattering crash…then a state of nothingness.  The music died with my pride and joy, now a twisted bit of metal surrounded by a million shards of glass, unrecognizable.  The SUV was gone having ricocheted against the cliff, broke through the guard rail, and plummeted over the side of the mountain. 

Photo by Lyssa Medana

        Up ahead I saw a sign posted on a brick wall I hadn’t noticed before.  Confused, I glanced around and back, hurried toward it, certain I could use a phone there to call for help.    An old guy was standing against the wall, waiting. 

“Sir, I was involved in the accident.  Do you have a phone I could use to call for help?”  He stood alone under a sign that read “Angel Yard”.

“Jon, you are past help.  Why bother to ask for help now?” he inquired peering deeply into my eyes.

Taken aback, I tried a different tack.  “I don’t believe we have met.  How do you know my name?”

     “I know everybody.”

  

     “Okay….”  I looked back at the wreckage and the realization hit me like a ton of bricks.  “Am I dead?”  I asked with a tinge of panic.

        He smiled at me.  “Depends how you look at it.  If you believe you belong here with your whole heart, chances are you do.  Otherwise, if you don’t believe then you belong in the other place and by all that is good and holy you will wish you were dead long before they are through with you.  Either way, you pay your money and you takes your choice.”

    “Money… now I am confused!”  I looked back at the wreckage.  I panicked again and things got real.  Other motorists had stopped to gawk.  The police had arrived, and an ambulance’s siren could be heard in the distance.  Transfixed, I watched an officer leaning into what was left of my Camaro.  He pronounced me dead.  Dead!  The word slammed around in my brain as I struggled to understand.  

       “The money you pay is the forgiveness you request for your sins, the belief you have that you will be forgiven and will be granted everlasting life regardless of all that has come before.  You have to feel remorse so your soul can be sanitized before you proceed.  Otherwise, the money you pay buys you a one way ticket to hell for eternity.  Normally the decision is made before folks get to this point, but often there are exceptions, people who have doubts.   Question is, do you believe or do you doubt?  It’s your choice. ”

      My mind quickly replayed my life, good and bad.    We exchanged smiles, because instantly he knew I did believe.  He nodded and I proceeded down Angel Road to my destiny.

Written for the Light and Shade Writing Challenge Monday Writing Prompt.

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