A/N: I had this "brilliant" idea in the middle of class. I got all excited and couldn't wait to write it, and the teacher thought I was crazy. This is one of my fav chapters! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it!

P.S. and yes, I'm Lutheran. LCMS (Lutheran Church Missouri Synod)

GRAYCEE

We walked for a good three hours, and still found nothing but green grass. It was crazy! No trees or flowers or anything other than grass. I'd never, ever even dreamt about something like this. It was totally endless.

But everything always looking the same made things out of place even easier to spot. However, there never really were any out of place things to spot, until we found three other people wandering around.

"Hey!" Greg called to them. They faced us. Two guys and a girl, all about our age. American. The first guy I noticed had dark hair. Picture total, pitch black, and then intensify it about five shades. He was accurately described as tall, dark, and handsome.

The other guy had red hair. I guess he wasn't cute, but it'd be unfair to call him ugly.

The girl was the one that really caught my attention. She had hair so long that it would have reached past her knees if it weren't so wavy. She had the same intense, black hair as the first guy. It was silky and shined in the bright light.

"Who are you?" the redhead asked.

"People who wanna eat burgers again," Greg said. "You?"

The dark haired guy laughed. "So, you're from reality, too?"

"Chicago," Scot said.

"We're from St. Paul, Minnesota. Do you know what's going on here?"

"How long have you been here?" I asked.

"I wasn't timing it, but probably around two minutes. You?"

"Longer," Andy said. "Much longer. Four, five hours?"

I nodded. "Sounds right."

"Well, maybe you could explain some stuff to us," the redhead said. "Because one minute I was in the middle of a sentence, the next minute-"

"You woke up with a hangover?" Greg asked.

He laughed. "Yeah. Man, I've had some bad ones before, but that was definitely the worst."

The other guy hit him. "Shut up, man. I'm Mark."

"Cale."

The girl studied us for a minute, her expression unreadable. "Loni," she said.

"I'm Graycee."

"Greg."

"Andy."

"Lauria. Call me Scot."

"Do you guys know what's going on?" Mark asked.

"All we know is that there's a Lamb who's the King of El Darado," Greg answered.

Cale, Mark, and Loni stared at him.

"Not really," I said. "Any of you guys know a thing about Christianity?" Silence. "Well, this place is some kind of alternate universe, and in it is Heaven, the place Christians go to when they die."

"Parallel universes?" Cale asked.

I shrugged. It wasn't exactly a parallel universe, but I didn't know how else to describe it. "Kind of."

"I studied parallel universes, but I never really thought they actually existed."

"What's a parallel universe?" Scot asked.

"It's like… lets say you have two universes," Andy said. "Universe A and B. They're the same as far as people go, but the people might be totally different. Like, if we come from universe A then we are also in universe B, only there Graycee might be a dork and, say, Greg is strong or something."

"Hey! I resent that!" Greg said.

"So they're the same," Scot said. "But totally different?"

Cale nodded. "And if someone dies in one universe, they die in the other, but maybe from different causes. There's a lot more to them than that, but I won't get into it."

"But this isn't exactly a parallel universe," I said. "I'm not seeing any schools, roads, or my parents."

Cale studied our surroundings. "OK, then what is it?"

"I don't know," I admitted.

"The "real world,"" Greg said. "Ever seen Matrix?"

Cale's eyes lit up. "I LOVE that movie!"

Mark rolled his eyes. "Do you two wanna build a clubhouse or focus?"

"Clubhouse all the way!" Cale answered. Him and Greg exchanged high fives.

"For crying out loud," Andy muttered. "They're exactly the same."

"Are you kidding?" Mark asked. "I'd trade Cale for Greg any day!"

"Good deal!"

"Um, excuse me?" Greg said. "Could you please not talk about which one of us you hate more?"

"Yeah," Cale agreed. "At least when I talk about people I do it behind their backs!"

"Guys?" Mark said. "These are unneeded comments." He turned to Andy. "What do you guys know about this place other than it's a different universe related to Christianity?"

"Not much," Andy admitted. "People can be born inside Heaven's walls. They're perfect and immortal." He went through Ania's story and told them about Cecelia.

I noticed that Loni didn't do much. She didn't speak, didn't change expressions, she barely even blinked. I'm pretty sure she was in a world of her own, but maybe she just didn't care. Or maybe she was one of those disabled people that can't move. All I know for sure is, she was freaky.

"Did you run yet?" Scot asked.

"Run? What do you mean?"

"Run, fall down every other step, and sweat until you could drown in it," Greg said.

Mark looked confused. "Uh… no?"

"You're lucky," I said.

"Yeah," Andy said slowly. He looked like he was thinking really hard. "The only thing I don't get is, why didn't we die?"

"Don't complain," Greg said.

Andy shook his head. "I'm serious. Dehydration. Greg's not exaggerating- we lost tons of… liquid. Especially the girls, who were crying on top of it. Too much to actually survive it."

"You were crying?" Cale asked, almost laughing again. "Why?"

Then, finally, Loni moved. Socked Cale on his left cheek harder than I've ever seen anyone punch (including movies.) "You would, too," she snapped. "So shut up."

"Hey!" he said. "That hurt! Mark, your cousin broke my jaw!"

"I bet you deserved it," Mark answered. "And Lon? No more, please. I can't go anywhere with you without getting into fist fights."

Loni crossed her arms. "He started it," she muttered.

Mark shook his head. "So, can you take us to the city?"

"Yeah," Scot said. "But you can't go inside. Greg tried to and he, uh, got stuck."

"In what?"

"Thin air."

"My legs just wouldn't work," Greg said. "Don't ask how I go tout of there."

Mark paused. "Hmmm. This is an interesting place. How do we get out?"

"Everyone has to agree to leave," I said. "But if one person wants to stay, the rest have to, too."

"In that case, let's go," Cale said.

Loni glared at him. "We. Aren't. Going. Anywhere!"

Cale backed up, in fear that she'd punch him again. "Come on, Lon. We have to!"

Her glare intensified. "I don't have to do anything," she hissed.

"Lon, you're freaky when you're mad," Mark said. "Stop it."

"You want to leave?"

"No, I don't. But do you see me glaring at Cale like he's my next lunch? Now quit it."

"You keep it up," Greg said. "And you'll never get a boyfriend."

Wham! Loni punched Greg hard in the face. I heard something crack, and a pool of blood gushed from Greg's nose.

"Aaah!" he said.

"What was that crack?" I demanded.

Andy pulled Greg's hand from his nose and studied it. "I think Loni just broke his nose," he said.

Scot turned to Loni. "Was that really necessary?" she demanded.

Loni shrugged. "Let's see the city."

I looked at Mark, waiting for him to scold her. He didn't.

Greg was bleeding enough to fill the Grand Canyon in minutes. He took off his shirt and used it to wipe blood away. I felt so bad for him. Loni must be pretty strong, though, in order to break a bone in her first punch. I wanted to yell at her, but I didn't. I was too afraid of her.

A little more that three hours later we reached the city. Loni, Mark, and Cale were amazed at the sight of it. Actually, I was, too. Watching other people see it for the first time was kind of like me seeing it for the first time. Somehow, it seemed more glorious than before.

"What now?" Cale asked. "More sightseeing?"

"Shh," Mark said, so quietly that I could barely hear it. "It's amazing."