The Pathways.

Ever heard of a dummy who jumped off a steep cliff with a hard dry rocky base for fun? Well now you will get to know about one. I got into my striped khaki shorts, blue snickers, gray baggy t-shirt, black hoody and of course my brand new mountain climbing bike with my short cape tilted sideways, not forgetting the most important, my camera. By the moment I am up here, my T-shirt is stuck to my back like glue, sweat is rolling down my legs and my palms are so slippery with moist that I can barely grip the handles of my bike. This is the moment…… and my last chance:

My buddies dared me to create a breathtaking video during my holiday or else they swore to drag me to sea and to some old ship, make me walk the plank and feed the sharks. So I have to record myself making cool summersault moves and jumps on to the peak of the cliff and hang on to the edge with my hands and pick myself up with shinning glory, hence this is my moment. And my last chance as school opens tomorrow. The blazing sun stares right into my eyes while my sunglasses are nowhere to be seen. My body is getting too heavy for my legs, arms are trembling and swear that I heard a rumble somewhere in my stomach, food is crawling towards my throat and teeth are clunking. Nobody is a scary cat here, but somebody is being really brave and has to be done with this business before getting too ‘brave’. So, On my marks, Getting ready and Gooo…….

_________________________

The lights appear out of the darkness. Blazing spectrum of lights are all around me, a fresh and pure smell of nature, ripe fruits and budding flowers. I have never felt so light and relaxed as now. There’s a faint sound of a gong coming from nowhere crying at certain intervals. The lights are getting dimmer and I am in the middle of people in cream coloured robes. They are all looking forward, positioned straight in their lines, they are not walking but actually floating on air. These people are in two groups heading in two different ways. There were two different paths, the one on the left is made up of a narrow shiny black string, the few people who follow this way walk on top of the string in perfect balance to I don’t know where. The other path looks more comfortable, it’s very wide, has shiny silver tiles with golden polka dots.

I hear a cold whisper," This path is where you belong, this is your eternal home, this is all what you've been living for".

Living for?

" Yes, you had a life." it replies cunningly. I can almost see it sneer in my mind.

Where am I? What is this place? I now remember the blazing sun , the cliff and the fall. All I have on is a cream robe, not snickers, cape nor camera………..it’s getting darker and a huge hand lifts me upwards by my ankle.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­_______________________

I land in mid-air, setting my eyes on… oh my… is this human? If I ever heard someone say ‘beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder’ it doesn’t apply to this being at all. To call him beautiful or handsome is a lie, he is above and beyond. He is so tall, huge, blazing golden hair, skin like bronze, white robe, kind ,glowing, gold brown eyes like embers of fire, did I just see wings? He is holding a silver staff with a ruby handle. Then he touches my arm and smiled.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­_______________________

The being motions his finger for me to see the fate of my fellow cream robbed people. The group from the wide pathway is carried by a gust of wind into an ocean of fire, I am quite far but I can feel a choking stench of burnt metal, and petrol accompanied by wild wails of despair. The other group seems to have more control of where they were going, they seem like happy cherubs and butterflies flying into a golden city surrounded with rainbows. The being gives me a small brown book and its title reads;

Name: NEMA BANZAL

Gender: FEMALE

Date of birth: 29 February 1999

Why is my name here? I look up to the man and he nods his head, so I keep on reading. I am not reading anymore because the book now shows a slideshow of my life beginning from when I realized what’s right and wrong. It also goes through all the secrets I had, my happiness, doubts, fears and disappointments, dreams and hopes. Even through the feelings I couldn’t admit to myself, that I was insecure, that I was scared of being alone so being in a group was all that mattered, that I was so soft and tender hearted on the inside but pretended to be cruel and brawny on the outside, that I dearly loved my mother but I was too proud to show it and tell her because we were always quarreling ……….and so on and on. I looked up to the man’s face and I understood that this is what people used to call afterlife because there was no reason for me to see details of my life if I wasn’t dead already. Then where do I get to spend my afterlife?

_____________________________________

I hear a familiar whisper telling me that I get to spend my afterlife on where I choose. I stare at the being’s eyes and realize that all whispers I ever heard from the beginning come from him. I want to spend my afterlife in that beautiful kingdom with rainbows. But the whisper reasons that I already made a choice long time ago. Long ago was how I lived my life and that was when I made a choice. Through his gaze, I feel healed of all my fears, doubts and get to realize how important it is to appreciate myself and others, and that I don’t need to trample on others in order to feel better about myself. All this time his grip was loosening on my hand and he was no more but flicker of smoke.

_________________________________

Now I gather that I met an Angel, and I didn’t claim my blessings. A gust of wind is spinning around me and squeezing my ribs like a serpentine coil. The flicker of smoke nurtures into a tiny flame, then a big flame, bigger, humungous, then POOF! It’s the Angel, he is smiling, teeth are glimming like a wiped mirror and are growing long, longer…….his face turned darker like a polished shoe and the warm glowing eyes are now a bloody lake streaming with tears……. He blows smoke through his broadened nostrils which hurls me into the lake of fire. An icy scream fills my throat…….

__________________________________

“Noooo! Mama, noooo” A wide opening of a cooking pan is facing me, it’s just been emptied off its contents into my face.

“What’s all that screaming about?” her plump round face all flushed with anger. She added, “been wakin’ you all morning’ , up, get ready for school sleepyhead”

“Mama, fire, mo-oonster……school? No, this isn’t happening.”

“What did you just call me,  beanbrain?” She returns back with the pan full of water.