JUDGED ELEVEN
THE CHOICES BEGIN
A/N: Thanks to everybody for their reviews. Just a disclaimer; just because I've made Iain and possibly David the bad guys here doesn't mean that's how I see them in Casualty.
Alicia walked uncertainly to the doors.
"You're allowed to look inside each for a second or two, then make your choice."
Alicia took a deep breath and opened the door on the left. A row of desks and people talking into telephones, frantically taking notes. And, to her joy, she thought, I know this, this is the eternal office from hell. Constant work, no breaks. No thanks!
She looked into the second room and smiled. This was her favourite room when she was a child. Her little nook away from the world. She could see the familiar bookshelves, the comfortable sofa she liked to curl up on.
"Right door, please!" she said to David, without even giving him time to address her.
His eyes bored into her.
"You're sure?"
"Yes!"
"Then let me show you what you have rejected" said David, and Alicia bit back a giggle, thinking how he sounded like a sinister games show host. He led her to the door on the left. The office was visible again. But this time, everybody was on a break. Laughing together, exchanging photos from holidays or of loved ones. And was that Mandy waving to her? Her heart sank a little as David closed the door.
"Now, to your new home for eternity."
It's my home, it can't be so bad, she thought frantically, and walked through the door on the right, sitting on the sofa, snuggling into its warmth.
The armchair opposite her swung round.
"Hello, Alicia. My goodness, you look worse than ever; you've been letting yourself go downhill."
Alicia recoiled from her mother's spiteful face.
"And look" her mother gloated, "Here's Willow for you! She'll be here for ever and ever."
David closed the door on the screaming Alicia.
"Ethan. The man whose adulterous affair killed his brother. Which will YOU choose?"
Ethan took a deep breath and walked to both doors. David opened the one on the left.
Inside was a massive table, laden with all the food Ethan loved. Goblets and glasses full of the best wine, fresh fruit, everything luxurious. But there was something missing.
"May I see the other door please?" he asked, polite even in his terror.
The door on the right didn't open on to such an attractive sight. Two people lay there, bleeding, moaning, injured. They couldn't hold out their arms for help but their eyes begged it.
And suddenly Ethan understood.
"I choose the door on the right, please."
"Always polite. You can go inside in one moment. Come and see if you'll regret your choice. First, your rejection."
Again the door swung open on the feast but this time it revealed figures; painfully skeletal figures who stretched out hopefully towards the food, but thanks to their shackles, were too far away to snatch even a morsel. Their sobs made Ethan feel like weeping too.
"They're not your problem any more. Come."
Ethan was led to the door on the right. Still the injured people. But this time they were lying on a hospital bed, connected to tubes, while a smiling Cal in a doctor's scrubs, smiled at him.
"Your heart led you here, little brother. And when I've saved these lovely people, as I know I will-" he motioned for Ethan to go and look at the lush green fields, blue skies and sparkling seas visible from the huge window, "-It's peace and rainbows for us two for ever."
Weeping with relief and joy, Ethan stood by and watched his brother perform a miracle with the other smiling hospital staff. It hardly seemed as if any time had passed at all before the staff were congratulating Cal, and wheeling the patients to recovery, while Cal washed his hands before leaving the 'hospital' to enjoy enternity with Ethan.
David closed the doors and this time there was no eerie screaming from behind them. The others knew Ethan was safe now.
Not having been vouchsafed the views within the previous doors, those waiting could not know that their choice would depend on their personalities. Alicia had been tripped by her love of comfort and her laziness. Ethan's innate goodness, despite his one slip, had prompted him to choose the hospital room where he knew Cal would be working.
Ben, however, didn't want to wait for a choice when David pointed at him.
"I deserve hell" he said clearly, "I betrayed my beliefs, my convictions, and I killed."
"As you wish" David replied, his voice toneless, "But you still see the doors' contents."
Dylan stood and faced David.
"It was my actions that led Ben to his death. Will you let me share whichever fate he chooses with him?"
"As long as you do not speak out or try to influence him in any way."
"You're a bloody sucker!" Iain sneered at Ben.
"Shut up!" Max snapped at him.
"I would suggest everybody in this room is quiet until I allow them to speak" David's voice was soft but it made Robyn's flesh creep.
David led Ben and Dylan over to the doors and let them look inside the one on the left. Puppies, kittens, rabbits. The kind of animals Ben had treated when he was a vet. Ben's eyes softened, then he sighed. He wasn't allowed to be with them.
"Show me the other door please."
David only had to open the door a fraction for Ben and Dylan to know. Flames leaping, the heat powerful even from where they were standing. Ben looked at Dylan.
"You don't have to-"
"-Oh I do, Ben. I do."
"The door on the right, please" Ben said clearly.
Max gave a small sob; Iain a sneer of disbelief.
"Go forward, then."
David smiled. It was always good when people who came here, to his halfway house, received their just deserts.
And Ben and Dylan walked towards the flames.
