Don't Worry; Everything is Fine
White. Everything was white, and bright, so bright. His eyes hurt from the brightness of it all. He tried to move his arm, to shield his eyes, but it wouldn't move, wouldn't try to protect him from the brightness.
Josh groaned and slowly opened
his eyes. A fluorescent light buzzed above him. He turned his head from side to
side, taking in his surroundings. Hospital. I'm in a hospital. Again. Wonder
if they have frequent visitor discounts.
"You're awake," a nurse commented, wheeling a
cart in. "Doctor'll be glad to hear that. You were pretty broken when they
brought you in; you've come a long way, but you still have a lot of healing to
do."
"What happened?" he asked the woman, who was busy
taking several items off the cart.
"You don't remember?" she asked, watering the
flowers on his bedstand. "If you don't remember, it's for Doctor to tell
you."
"Where's my dad?"
"You'll see him soon." She checked the level in his
IV, then patted his hand. "Don't worry; everything is fine."
"What happened? Why am I
here?" Josh demanded when the doctor came in.
"You were in an accident." The man moved silently,
checking Josh's chart. "She was right; you have made a great deal of
progress. You've healed much more quickly than most of our patients. You still
have a long way to go, though."
"I don't understand! I feel fine. Where's my dad?"
"You'll see him soon," the man reassured him.
"You still have a lot of work to do." The doctor patted Josh's hand
much like the nurse had. "Don't worry; everything is fine."
Josh stared at the ceiling.
He'd been in this hospital for three days, as far as he could tell. No one would
tell him how long he'd been unconscious, just repeating, "You were broken;
you needed to heal." And he still hadn't seen his dad.
Something's not right here. There's flowers, but no cards. The
blinds are open, but all I can see is brightness. There's no phone in here. And
Dad hasn't been in. Neither has Rachel, or Berto, or even Cat. You'd think one
of them would have stopped in, seen how I was doing.
He turned his head, looked at the window on the far wall. Maybe
if I can get to it, I can see something. Maybe I'm just on a tall floor, nothing
to see from this angle. He pushed himself into a sitting position, noticing
his body didn't act like he'd been in bed for three days. Grabbing the IV pole,
he wheeled it towards the window.
Josh put one hand on the windowsill and with the other, parted
the long vertical blinds. He pressed his forehead to the clear, cool glass and
peered outside.
Nothing. Just that same brilliant brightness. This
building can't be above the cloudline, can it?
Josh wanted answers. The nurse
and the doctor had been in and out of his room, the same routine each time,
periodically through the past few days. Everything was so damn cryptic. No one
would tell him anything.
The doctor came in again. Josh was ready. Leaping from his
bed, he grabbed the sides of the doctor's lab coat. "I want to know what's
going on!" he demanded.
The doctor just smiled and loosened Josh's grip.
"Everything is fine," he told the boy. "You've healed. There are
people waiting to see you."
"Finally." Josh snatched up the clothing the doctor
handed him, dressed, and followed the man out of the room.
Josh found himself standing in
a green field, stone monuments dotting the landscape. "I know this place…"
he whispered, turning around to see the doctor. The man was gone. He turned back
around and saw four familiar figures standing not far in front of him. The patch
of field they stood by was overturned, a wound in the bright green.
"Rachel…Berto…Cat…Dad…." Josh started
to approach them, but something held him back. "What…why can't I reach
them?" he screamed.
"You don't belong there anymore," a soft voice told
him. Josh whirled to see two figures, one, a woman he recalled from flashes of
dream; the other, a man he'd last seen in an old mission log.
"Mother…Father?"
"Yes, Josh, it's us," the woman, Molly McGrath told
her grown son. "You belong with us now."
"But…the hospital, the doctor the nurse…"
"The hospital is how you saw where wounded souls go to
heal before ascending," Jim McGrath told Josh. "I saw it the same way,
acted the same way you did. But I was still there longer. You were lucky; most
of your wounds had healed in life."
"But…I'm not ready," Josh whispered. He turned
back to see his friends, his family, standing by…"Is that…mine?"
"I'm sorry, Josh," Molly told him. Her arms
twitched, as if she longed to run to her son, to comfort him, but she stood
still, knowing that only he could come to her.
"You have a choice, son. To come with us, to ascend, or…."
"Or?"
"Or you can stay on Earth, a lost soul. You'll be able to
see them, but not touch them, not interact with them, and when they pass on,
you'll still be on Earth," Jim told him.
Josh just stared at Rachel, at the unfamiliar tears he saw
wetting her cheeks. "But if I go with you…?"
"If you come with us, you'll see them again, and it won't
seem like more than a moment you're apart."
"How can I believe you?"
Molly's arms twitched again. "I can't answer that, Josh.
Only you can make the choice. Ascend or stay, it's up to you."
Josh watched as Rachel kissed her fingertips, then pressed
them to the carved name on the marble. She was the last to leave; Josh itched to
follow her. But his mother…her words struck him as true. He stood his ground,
watched until Rachel drove away, then turned to his parents.
"I'm ready."