The Waiting Room

“So how did you leave Earth?”

The white air brightens the waiting room as Jessica is sitting patiently until it is her turn to be called into the interview room. Sitting next to her is a man of an advanced age. Jessica stays fixated on the older man waiting for his response, “Heart attack. How about you?”

“Well I don’t really remember how I got here to be honest. I mean there was this car on the road speeding towards me as I was walking on the sidewalk. It was night and cold.” Jessica says while looking away from the man. She appears lost in her thoughts and observes the room they are sitting in and sees the shelving of several books and white vaulted ceilings with dazzling crystal chandeliers reflecting beads of light throughout the room.

Someone else from across the aisle leans over, “Did you have that rushed feeling like when you’re in a jet taking off? Like thousands of invisible beings catching your spirit out of your body?”

“Actually yes I did!” Jessica agrees. “Like I didn’t feel anything, in fact, I remember hearing my favorite song play too,” Jessica smiles.

“I am told there is no sense of time here,” Says the man next to her. Everyone stops mid-conversation as a woman exits the interview room.

“Well? What did they ask you?”

“Yes tell us,” Another voice pleads.

The woman looks at them with peace in her eyes, “I can’t tell you but they did mention that I am to learn about everything and to roam the earth helping others figure things out…until it is time,”

“Figure what out? Until it is time for what?” Someone asks abruptly.

The woman simply smiles and replies, “Don’t worry. They’ll explain everything, they are very lovely people.”

She goes on her way through the white pair of sliding doors. The man next to Jessica gets called into the interview room. As Jessica is left to herself, she notices for the first time that she can see through her hands and just now realized how awake she has ever been. No sickness, no fatigue. She noticed that the pain in her joints and neck are no more and that her vision and hearing have improved dramatically. She feels as though she could run for miles and not lose her breath. Sleep is no more as she feels as though she could take a drive from North to South America without a single yawn. She wasn’t cold either. In her life, she would always have to crank up the heat wherever she was. She was troubled a little as she wondered about what the other woman mentioned after leaving the interview room. What did she mean by roaming the Earth helping others figure things out? And if there was supposedly no concept of time here, why would it eventually conclude? What was to happen once it was over?

A hand gently rests on her shoulder, “You’re next,” The man who sat next to her says as he leaves the waiting room through the sliding white doors.