This Is It

By Bradley Davidson

“Ohhhhh, I’m going straight to hell for this.” He thought, a firm believer in the dichotomy of rewards and punishments. They strapped him down and inserted the needles that would deliver his execution. “Ohhhh, I really screwed up this time”

The chemicals entered his veins and he soon lost consciousness. Then he stopped breathing and his heart stopped. It was over. He was on his way to hell.

The next thing he realized he was waking up, being unstrapped and sat upright.

“What the…?” he mumbled. “What? Am I dead?”

“Indeed you are.” The attendant said. “Dead, dead, dead”

“Soo…, is this hell?”

The attendant chuckled. “Heaven, hell… it is what it is.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he said with increasing annoyance.

“Heaven and hell are such black and white terms. This is the world you created while you were alive. This is the place you will inhabit for all of eternity.”

“But I’m supposed to go to hell. I killed someone. I really did bad. I screwed up.”

“Yeah, I’ve got to admit, you really fucked up on that. But it doesn’t define your life, or death. You lived your life, you created a place defined on how you lived, treated people, handled your affairs. And here you are.” The attendant rambled.

“So, I was judged and put here?” he questioned.

“Nobody judges here. Way too much work and record keeping and reviewing and all. It’s more a natural process. You build your own eternity and stay in it forever. For some it’s good. Others not so good. It’s pretty simple, really.”

“But I killed somebody! I need to be punished. My religious beliefs say so.”

“Ah, religions. They get it so wrong. Heaven and hell, those places of extreme rewards or punishments. They don’t know any better. God sent messengers over and over saying good things will happen if you live a good life, if you build a good place, if you act according to His word you will attain heaven. How misconstrued those ideas get through the lenses of organized religion. He tells how to attain the rewards of heaven. But so many think these rewards of heaven are in some distant place not believing they could be around them in life every day. Heaven, my friend, is on earth. And so is hell. It’s all defined by how you live. And once you die, you can change nothing.”

“But I killed a man!” he exclaimed loudly.

“You did. And you will have to carry that burden with you throughout eternity. But evidentially you did some good things and built yourself a life full of love and friendship and honesty. You’ll live with that, too.

“So, what? My eternity is here in this prison execution chamber?”

The attendant chuckles again. “No silly. Go now. The door is open. People are waiting for you outside. Go. Have a good forever. Although you already know what that is. You built it.”

He got up and slowly walked outside to meet those waiting for him, all his friends and relatives living and dead, dreading some, happy to see others. He wished he’d been a little better towards most.

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