The Gift

In memory of a friend,
Who was taken from us…

Verity was feeling so tired. But she had to finish that project. Oh, why had she foolishly decided to work on her bed! Now she felt so very tired, and her pillow was near at hand, so why not…
“Just a few seconds. Just to rest my eyes… a few seconds that’s all…” she thought.
Her eyelids drooped until they closed completely.

She could feel a cool breeze on her face and stirring her hair – hair that had at times been streaked blond and even flaming red, but which was now its natural colour, a dark brown. She herself, felt like she weighed little more than a feather. She felt like was floating…
Slowly, slowly, she opened her eyes. At first she couldn’t register what she was seeing. But then, after squeezing her eyes shut for a second, they flew open again. Green eyes swept her surroundings in great confusion but also wonder.

Fluffy white clouds, light everywhere – where was she? And those persons – who were they? They were dressed all in white, and oh God! They had wings!

“Yes,” a voice said out of nowhere.

Huh! Who said that? She was beginning to hear voices now! What was happening to her? Was she dreaming? Yeah, probably…
“I said that, and no, you’re not dreaming.”
“You who?” asked Verity, very much perplexed and confused. The ‘angels’ had gone out of her head for a moment but now she noticed them again and exclaimed: “And who are they?”
“These are my angels, and you said ‘Oh God’, so here I am, answering you.”
“Oh – my – God!”
“Yes”
“Oh! Stop it! What’s that? Some kind of joke? Ha. Ha. Really funny. Guys come on out now. I’ve found you out. Your costumes are – WOW!”
“No. This is no joke. You’re really seeing and hearing all of this. And…you’re really floating.”
“What?!!”
She looked down and oh G- Oh Gosh! – no ‘oh God’ this time! – she was floating!
“Stop laughing!... Oops giving orders to God… but who would’ve thought God had a sense of humour,” she muttered to herself.
“I heard that.”
“God hears all, God sees all, I’d forgotten that,” she thought.
“That too!”
Verity took a deep breath – this was a dream, no a nightmare, no…oh whatever – she sighed it out.
“Just…tell me. Am I…am I…?”
“Dead?”
“Y-yes?” she said in a small voice.

“I said that, and no, you’re not dreaming.”
“You who?” asked Verity, very much perplexed and confused. The ‘angels’ had gone out of her head for a moment but now she noticed them again and exclaimed: “And who are they?”
“These are my angels, and you said ‘Oh God’, so here I am, answering you.”
“Oh – my – God!”
“Yes”
“Oh! Stop it! What’s that? Some kind of joke? Ha. Ha. Really funny. Guys come on out now. I’ve found you out. Your costumes are – WOW!”
“No. This is no joke. You’re really seeing and hearing all of this. And…you’re really floating.”
“What?!!”
She looked down and oh G- Oh Gosh! – no ‘oh God’ this time! – she was floating!
“Stop laughing!... Oops giving orders to God… but who would’ve thought God had a sense of humour,” she muttered to herself.
“I heard that.”
“God hears all, God sees all, I’d forgotten that,” she thought.
“That too!”
Verity took a deep breath – this was a dream, no a nightmare, no…oh whatever – she sighed it out.
“Just…tell me. Am I…am I…?”
“Dead?”
“Y-yes?” she said in a small voice.
“You are dead, yes.”
All the air went out of her, as if she had got a kick in the solar plexus. It’s like she was only now realizing the meaning of all this.
She gasped in air for a moment. Then the tears were rolling down her cheeks and she said: “No…no. Can’t be true. I’m not ready. I’ve enjoyed life ‘til now. But I want to do other things. I want to marry, have children… so many things, so many things…”
Then it was like the fight went out of her, she just stayed like that, head bent…

After a moment, Verity felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see one of the angels. It – or rather she – had a kind face, kind eyes that held a lot of sympathy.
The angel: “I know it’s difficult at the beginning. It’s never easy to learn that you’re dead. But you have to accept it. It was your destiny to die, and so you did…”
“B…but I wasn’t… I wasn’t ready…” Verity stammered.
“We are never ready. Though sometimes some people say that they don’t fear death or that they are ready to die, when they do die, they feel frightened or say that they didn’t want it to happen so soon. So you see…”
“I’m still young, I –”
“Verity,” the angel, stopped her gently, “Why don’t you let me show you where you have come to. You’ll see for yourself that you’ve come to a wonderful world…O.K?”
Verity didn’t say anything, just looked down at her feet, lost in her own world – or more accurately in the world she had just left. The angel touched her chin to make her look up and then said: “Now, dry those tears, and come. You’ll have such a magical time that you’ll be “aux anges” as the French say!!!”

That got a smile from Verity, a small one, but a smile nonetheless.
“Oh! I forgot to introduce myself. You must be constantly referring to me as ‘the angel’ in you head, huh!? Well, I’m Aria!”
“I’ll not say: ‘nice to meet you’, because I’m not… I mean it’s nice… but…” Verity stammered to a stop.
“I know what you mean yes,” Aria said gently.
“I’m V – ”
“Verity, I know!”
“Oh! That’s right, you’d know…” Verity said a little glumly.
“Oh no! None of this. I don’t want to see that face anymore. Come on, I’ll introduce you to some of the other angels – just some of them, because there are so many of them – anyway… just see for yourself!”
And Verity was swept off her feet – literally – to the other angels, who welcomed her with open arms… and wings!

Wow! So many beautiful things in only one place! There was that vast, vast orchard, green everywhere and oh! all those fruits, some she had never eaten, or for that matter even seen, or knew existed. And she got to taste some of them, and hmmmm! they were just so de-li-cious! There was that one fruit – she didn’t know its name – when she sank her teeth in its flesh, honey began to drip out of it! It was so good that she ate two. Two! You’d say it wasn’t a lot, but it wasn’t a small fruit, it was a really big one, and fleshy at that!
Then she drank. Just where do you that was? In rivers!! Yeah there were rivers of milk, honey and wine! Verity didn’t ask questions this time. She was in heaven, anything could exist. She tried to see the source of the rivers, but couldn’t see any. They just came out of nowhere.

It was at least a few years since she’d drunk milk. She drank mostly coffee, tea or juice… or water of course! But now she drank a little from the Milk River and it was so good. It made her think back to her childhood.
Then she drank some of the wine. Just a little of it made her head swim, so potent it was.
“Mary Sue would have just loved this. A river of wine!” she said laughingly. But then the smile faded from her face.
Instead of making her forget, the wine had made her remember why she was really here.
She was dead.
She would never see the persons she loved again; her parents, her friends, her boyfriend, even her teachers… never to see them again, never… or at least until they died themselves…

“Oh-oh! I don’t like that face,” Aria exclaimed.
“Aria, I’m not going to see them for so much time…” Verity said, a sad, sad look in her eyes.
Aria knew whom she was talking about, of course. She took Verity’s hand and said: “Come.”
Verity didn’t have time to utter a single word that they were flying. Then she saw that they weren’t in the Garden of Eden anymore. In fact she could see her home.
“Wh –?”
“You’re still dead. You can see them, but they cannot see you,” Aria said as she led Verity to the window that was on the living-room side of the house.
There was a light shining. Then she saw her: her mother. She was reading, with a cup of tea on the side table, a contented smile on her face, not doubting for a moment that her daughter was dead. Then, Aria took her to one of her good friends’ homes. At Lila’s house, Verity saw that the latter was on the phone; she wasn’t talking but muttering something.
“What is she muttering?” Verity thought to herself.
“She’s saying: ‘Pick it up. Come on Verity, pick up the phone. Oh! Perhaps she’s already asleep. I’ll see her tomorrow…”

Verity stood frozen for a moment, and then the dam broke. She couldn’t believe she was not going to see her friends now.
Aria didn’t say anything, just took her back. When they arrived back in heaven, Verity just wandered off on her own. At one point she began to feel tired – she was dead, yet still felt tired. Weird, huh!? But that’s how she felt. She lied down under a giant of a tree with golden leaves, and a few minutes later, fell in a deep slumber…

Verity could hear the rain falling.
Her cheeks were wet. Had she been outside?
No.
The roof was leaking then.
No.
They were her own tears, she realized.
She’d slept longer than she’d intended. And…she’d had a dream, but she couldn’t remember it.
She just got the feeling, that somehow, she’d just been given the ‘gift’ of more time…

Finished on:
12/04/05