The Lit Candle

This is the other side of "The Body In The Bed"

It was inspired by the post below from Dharrsheena Raja Segarran and more cajoling from here and Elizabeth Strange .

This is for the Vocal Campfire Ghost Story Challenge to be judged by Chelsea Catherine and Meg Anderson both prize-winning Vocal members.

"The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window."

The afterlife was actually good. I remember in a Religious Studies lesson at school a Jesuit Priest told us that we had to have faith because if we were certain heaven would be so perfect we would all be jumping off tall buildings and taking overdoses to get there.

And it was that good. I was lucky, just died in my sleep, apparently, my heart gave out, so nothing messy, hung around as a ghost for a while before hitting the Celestial Ferry and ending up and the Gates of Heaven.

A lot of my new friends had it much worse, car crashes, getting shot, and long-lasting terminal diseases, but a lot was just old age and the body wearing out and giving up. A friend of mine once said the only reason we die is that something wears out, which is true in so many cases. In my case, it was my heart, too much beer and meat, not enough green veg and fibre.

So here we were living the good afterlife, enjoying ourselves whether that was playing games, making music, having sex in whatever form we wanted, drinking or eating.. Oh yeah and we now don't get fat or hangovers either and men recover quickly after satisfying a woman and of course, there is no worry about unwanted pregnancies.

We find it quite amusing to see the religious fundamentalists fuming that life is so good here, they hate laughter and smiling and there is a lot of that about. I don't know what to call this palace but most people are very happy but we do have chores to do, one of which is when the Big Cheese lights the candle in the cabin.

This is the bit which I don’t like doing when I draw the straw for it because it takes me away from here, yeah it’s only fifteen minutes to half an hour and given that I am in an eternal and very pleasurable afterlife I should not complain but we all do.

The problem is that people on earth and other planets (yes Earth is not unique I now know, and now so do you) have a limited lifespan and most of them will end up here, although a few are sent back in one form or another until the Big Cheese determines they are in a fit state to come here. They don’t have to be perfect (and there are some miserable ones here) they just have to not be a threat to others and live their lives in this very harmonious sphere. I haven’t seen a fight or a bad argument here, although we argue over lots of topics but it is always constructive.

Anyway, I have drawn the short straw the Big Cheese has told me, the candle is lit in an old abandoned cabin, and I need to bring a soul through the gates. I don my costume (wings and red leather skin suit) and am in the cabin as he comes through the door.

He doesn’t see me.

He sees the body in the bed and pulls back the sheets and sees his own body.

The fiery gate is burning in the fireplace.

I whisper in his ear, may claws grab him, and push him into the fire.

He thinks he is going to hell.

He isn’t, there is no Hell.

He is either going to the afterlife or if he’s been an awful person he will be reborn to try again.

That’s my job done, now back to the afterlife and a pint of cold Guinness, and maybe enjoy some time with a lady or two later.