Short Stories
So...the beggar
died,
and was carried
by the angels
to Abraham's bosom.
The rich man also died
and was buried.
And being in
torments
in Hades,
he lifted up
his eyes
and saw Abraham
afar off,
and Lazarus in
his bosom.....
he cried and said,
Father Abraham....
send Lazarus that
he may dip the tip of
his finger
in water
and cool my tongue!
[Luke 16:22-24]
*******************
One of the pink and pearly
maggots crawled into
her mouth. Shelley screamed,
and spit it out.
She could feel two of
them crawling up her
bare, left leg.
She looked down;
both her bare feet were
surrounded by leaping
flames of fire. The
noxious smell of sulfur
filled the air.
And, there was darkness
everywhere: filled
with aching loneliness,
and frightening isolation,
and total separation...
from God.
_______________________
The last thing Shelley
remembered, was the
loud knocking on the
glass of her car window.
Just minutes before,
she had been inserting
her key into the ignition:
when, all of a sudden,
a sharp pain gripped
the side of her left arm,
becoming a vise from the
top of her shoulder,
down to her manicured
fingertips; something like an
elephant was sitting on her
chest. Unable to breathe,
Shelley collasped,
unconscious, against the
steering wheel, banging her
head, ungracefully,
against the car horn.
That was when she heard the
loud knocking on the car
window of the drivers' side;
for some reason it was
comforting, but at the
time, Shelley couldn't have
said why.
It was her fifty-fourth
birthday, and Shelley had
been on the way to her
favorite Italian restaurant
to meet a friend from work.
Her hair was still a little
damp, from the beauty salon,
and her long nails were not
yet totally dry of the pretty
beige nail polish.
As Shelley's eyes closed, she
could still smell the strong
scent of the polish and nail
strenthener polish;
it was making her quite nauseous.
_________________
She awoke in a large,
immensely cluttered,
and green tiled room.
The air was cold: smelling
of rubbing alcohol, and iodine,
and other, rather obnoxious,
medicinal smells;
Shelley could hear the
sounds of serious,
professional-sounding
voices. They weren't
talking to her: only to
one another. They didn't
see her, at all; they were
too busy working on a
rather pale, sweaty middle-
aged lady, who was lying
on a sweat-soaked gurney,
amidst wires, and ripped
clothing, and various tubing.
The clothing tossed aside
on the gurney, looked
strangely familiar.
Shelley could see all of
the scene below, but
no one seemed to be aware of
her, at all. She felt no
pain, or cold: only a strange
floating feeling. Suddenly,
a golden Light shone in
the periphery of her vision;
it tugged on her, and drew
her away from this odd
scene: Shelley found
herself floating away,
and towards the light.
Gradually, the brisk noise of
the machines,
and the confusion,
and voices of the strangers faded,
until they were completely forgotten.
Nothing mattered, except
going toward the warm,
lovely Light. The Light
smelled of a warm summer's
day: reminding Shelley of
memories of her childhood,
on the beach with
her mother and father. It was
a beautiful, comforting
smell: one in which she
longed to stay...forever.
A Figure stood in her
way; It was also strangely
familiar, like the ripped
clothes of the poor sick
woman who was lying
back there, on the steel
gurney. The Figure didn't
move. Shelley, vaguely
aware of Who the Figure was..... spoke first;
"Where am I?"
A very sorrowful Voice
answered her; "At the
Gates of Heaven, My child.
I have given you fifty-four
years to accept Me, as
your Savior........"
"No! I never DID! I
thought it was NONSENSE!
SILLINESS! SOMETHING
for a bunch of LOSERS!
I've ALWAYS been very
INDEPENDENT! And...
and, self-SUFFICIENT!
I never NEEDED that!
It was .....too, too SILLY!"
[SORROWFUL VOICE.]
[NOD.]
"You have just died,
My child: only, a moment
ago. I brought you Here,
to give you one last chance.
But, with the last pumping
of your heart, you have
still spurned Me, child.
Your SINS are not covered
with My BLOOD! AWAY
WITH YOU...INTO THE
OUTER DARKNESS! I
DO NOT KNOW YOU!"
Before Shelley could
speak, she was pushed
back: away from the Warm,
Comforting, Sweet-Smelling
Light: and, down.....down
into a terrible, horrific darkness.
The more she desperately
tried to stay with the
Sweet Light, the further
she was forced away from
It. She could hear someone
wailing, loudly: was it HER,
and the sound of ANGELS?
She could not tell......only,
that a terrible loneliness
was engulfing her: worse
than any loneliness she had
ever experienced, on earth.
All of sudden,
Shelley realized that the sad,
mournful wailing was coming
out of her own mouth,
from somewhere deep in
the crevices of her soul.
_____________________
And, here she was:
surrounded by a wall
of licking flames of fire;
her body would not die
from the heat, but she
could feel every stinging
touch of the high flames.
It was only after a moment
of this torture, that she
discovered the pink, fleshy
maggots that were crawling
up and down her naked body.
No matter how much they
bit and chewed, they could
not consume her! There
was no end to them: these
pearly little creatures,
and their slime-covered
filth.
They were all of her sins,
from her time, on earth.
And, there was nothing
to crush them: nothing,
but the Blood of Precious
Jesus, her Savior......and,
she had smirked at Him:
in life, and at the moment of
death.
Oh.....if only she could
go BACK! Back, to EARTH:
to go on living, even if in
great pain, or weakness,
so that she could cry out
to her One and Only SAVIOR!
But, it was too
LATE! TOO LATE!
TOO LATE! And, now she would
be here FOREVER: covered
in the filth of her own
SINS!
As Shelley opened her
mouth to scream, another
pearly-colored maggot,
about an inch and a half long,
made its slimy way past
her tear-stained lips. The
smell of burning sulfur,
and dirty, horrible creatures
filled her open nostrils.
She was allowed to breathe:
and, to feel the never-ending
biting, licking tongues
of the whipping lashes of fire.
____________________________
"SHELLEY!
SHELLEY!
CAN YOU HEAR ME?
CAN YOU HEAR ME?
SQUEEZE MY HAND....
IF YOU CAN HEAR ME,
OKAY?"
(Weak, almost inaudible
voice.)
"Jesus? Are You Here,
to SAVE me?"
(Something very cold,
and sharp pieced her skin;
it was almost pleasant
after......after.......)
(Shelley moaned,
and coughed. She hurt
all over; but the maggots
were gone, and so were
the stinging flames.)
"GOOD!
SHE'S COMING AROUND,
DOCTOR!"
(Moan.)
"SQUEEZE MY HAND,
SHELLEY! SQUEEZE
MY HAND! YOU'RE
GOING TO BE ALRIGHT!
YOU'RE GOING TO BE
ALRIGHT!"
(Something else cold,
and very sharp piececed
the skin of her hand.
Shelley opened her eyes,
only a tiny slit: oh,
thank GOD. It was just
an IV.)
(Another weak moan.)
(Shelley coughed again,
and closed her eyes:
suddenly longing for hours
and hours of earthy sleep.
Just as she fell back, again,
into the blessed sleep of
healing, she heard the
voices of the doctors, and nurses:
their words being
carried along the pungent,
cold scents of the hospital room.)
"How long was she gone,
Tom?"
(Pause.)
"Exactly, two minutes, and thirty-eight seconds."
(Pause.)
"What was she SAYING:
something about SAVING
her? Well......I'm sure glad,
that we were ABLE! This
little lady was very LUCKY!"
(Moan.)
"JUST RELAX, SHELLEY!
YOU'RE GOING TO SLEEP!
JUST TAKE SOME DEEP
BREATHS! JUST RELAX!"
(Inaudible mumble.)
(Mumble.)
__________________________
Both of the doctors are
out in the hallway, giving
some orders to the ward
nurse. Suddenly, one of
Shelley's attending ICU
nurses quickly slips out
into the cool hallway. She has
a grimace on her small face,
and is holding something
in the palm of her gloved
hand.
"Doctor? What is THIS?"
(Long pause.)
"Why.....it's a dead....
MAGGOT! How in the
HELL, did THIS....?"
"I FOUND it, on her
LEG.....just NOW!"
(Moment of stunned
silence: then, a flurry
of brusk voices.)
"We better MOVE
her....into isolation.....
right NOW.....HURRY!
....And... get the entire room
fumigated.......oh, my
God....where has she BEEN?"
(Another moment of stunned
silence.)
"Have it taken down to the
LAB......though, I doubt
they'll be able to make
any conclusions....TONIGHT.
GOD ALMIGHTY! Where...
has she BEEN?"
************************
....Better for you
to enter into life
maimed,
rather than having
two hands,
to go to hell,
into the fire
that shall never
be quenched...
where their worm
does not die,
And,
the fire
is not
quenched.
[Mark 9:43-44]
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