Darkness

Darkness(Mark Simpson) The Darkness

The rhythmic rocking sound of metal on metal gently nudged him awake. He immediately recognized its embrace, Chris had spent the summer of 06 traveling Europe by train and had become intimately aware of the sound and feel and had always found it comforting. He looked around; the comfort was quickly replaced by confusion. There appeared to be about 20 other passengers. How did he get on a train? Where was he going? The questions were falling like rain; the answers were nowhere to be found. The train slowly came to a stop, a few seconds later the doors opened. Chris stood and walked out with the others, to where? He didn’t know. The train station was poorly lit which only added to his confusion, it looked as if it was enveloped by a fog. He stood there unsure what to do next. He heard several people talking around him in what sounded to be French or Italian. What the hell is going on? He wondered silently. Suddenly a bright light appeared, piercing the fog. Go to the light isn’t that what they always say? Not to mention there weren’t any other options. He reluctantly headed towards the light and whatever waited on the other side.

What waited was a large room and if forced to guess where he was Chris would have guessed a courtroom but it was unlike any courtroom he had ever been in and unfortunately that had been more than one. It was bigger than any he’d ever seen by tenfold, Chris guessed the place could have sat a 1000 easy. He sat down and glanced around at the others, he counted 16, including himself, of those 15 were currently seated. At the head of the room was what appeared to be the judge’s bench, it was very plain, much like the man seated there, who Chris guessed to be the judge. Standing in front of him was number 16 of their “group”. The lady appeared to be speaking with the Judge though Chris couldn’t make out what was being said. To the judges left and Chris’s right was a rather large door with light pouring out, as if the sun itself were rising inside, a sense of hope and peace emanated just as brightly as the light. To the Judge’s right another door but this one radiated darkness, no it was more than that, it was as if it was emanating the very soul of nothingness. Chris watched as the woman turned left and slowly shuffled into the door of darkness.

He was trying to remember how he got himself arrested. Had he and Eliza been out drinking? Damn it was a DUI, what else could it be? That would also explain a lot. All of them were here for their bail hearing. If he knew the reality of his situation he wouldn’t have been cursing a DUI he would have been praying that’s what it was.

“Lynn Holmes”, the Judge’s voice startled him. A lady a few rows ahead stood and headed toward the Judge. She was the one Chris thought was speaking French back at the station. She seemed to have dried blood on her dress and face as if the arresting officer had been quick with his night stick. Chris got ready to ask why she hadn’t received any medical attention, when he noticed one of the guards staring at him and what a guard this guy was, he looked to be at least 7 feet tall and 400 pounds of muscle. He had his index finger on his mouth, his other index finger was pointing at a sign:
No Talking
No Cursing
No Fighting

Chris quickly decided it was in his best interest to not cause any problems and just sit there quietly. Right then the gentleman several rows ahead and just to Chris’s left turned and looked back at him. “We’re dead. We’re all dead.” He said. The guard quickly moved toward the man, he seemed to be scolding him but Chris couldn’t make out what he was saying but what he did know, the guard looked angry and the man looked scared. What did he mean? We’re all dead. He thought about Eliza and what she was would say about his being arrested, yeah the guy’s right Eliza was going to kill him.

“Guilty” the judge’s voice returned his attention to the front; Lynn turned left and headed towards the door of darkness. That must be the bail denied door, Chris thought. A shadowy memory was starting to peek out of his subconscious, he was out with the Eliza and they had been drinking and were on their way home. “Keith Lawrence Manson”, the judge’s voice yanked him from a hazy past to a confusing present. Chris noticed there were now only 3 of them left. “Guilty.” He saw the judge pointing towards the door of darkness.” Keith slowly shuffled and met the same fate as all the others, darkness’s embrace. Somehow he now knew this was something much more serious than a DUI but much like the last memory prior to waking up on the train he couldn’t quite put his finger on it but it was bad, Michael Jackson bad. He could remember a bright light, but it wasn’t the sirens of a police car, or was it? The answers seemed as if someone had pushed them just out of his reach. “Christopher Allen Henson.” The sound of his name made his heart skip a beat and his stomach clench, like a seven-year-old whose mother has just discovered he’s broken an expensive lamp. Chris realized he was the only one left. The fear and loneliness that instantly gripped his entire essence made him miss Eliza even more, he would have given anything at that moment to have her here by his side. Instead he headed alone towards the judge feeling as if he was floating instead of walking.


“Who are you?” Chris timidly asked.
” I’m Peter” the judge answered.
“Where am I?”
“This is your judgment day. And no you’re not dreaming, if I had a dollar, no a penny for every time I’ve been asked that…” he smiled,”… I’d be retired. Now let’s get down to business.” He opened a large book with a thud.
“What are you doing?”
“Reading your book of life, to see if you are to spend eternity in the light or the darkness.” He answered as nonchalantly as if he’d been asked sweet or unsweetened tea at a restaurant on a Thursday night.
”The light or dark….’ Chris’s head quickly turned left then right,”… do you mean whether I’m going to heaven or hell? ”Peter looked up from the book.
“Heaven, Hell, Paradise, Hades, Moksha, Samsara, so many names for the same thing. But to us it’s simply the light or the dark.”
“So the guy in front of me Keith, he’s in hell now?”
“Yeah…” Peter leaned towards him as if trying keeping someone from hearing.”… it’s getting harder and harder to get into the light.” Peter nodded towards the door of light and then returned to his review of Christopher’s Book of Life.
“What do you mean?”
Peter leaned forward again and lowered his voice, “Back in 97, Mother Teresa barely got in.”
“I guess I don’t stand much of a chance.” That realization let an utter and total emptiness grip him unlike anything he had ever felt or could even imagine. “So basically everyone goes to hell?”
“Wow you ask a lot of questions.” Peter smiled he liked Chris, “And I do have a few minutes to spare, your Train of Judgment had only 16 passengers, the smallest load since 1973. It will be another 20 minutes before the next train arrives and releases its souls for judgment.”
“A few minutes to spare?” Chris was confused.
“Yeah if you Google how many people die a year: 56 million, 146,000 a day, 6000 an hour etc. etc. But death is no different than any other business and like any other business there’s never a day where exactly 146,000 people arrive. Some days the trains are packed, others almost empty. There are even up and down years, a famine in Africa coupled with a war in the Balkans topped off with an ethnic cleansing in Burma and we can push 80 million or more deaths in a single year. You would think Friday and Saturday’s would be Death’s busiest days and they usually are but last week my busiest day was a Tuesday. So I have a few extra minutes, it’s your lucky day.”
“You call going to hell lucky?”
“Don’t worry it’s not the hell you imagine, there are no lakes of fire or demons tearing the flesh from your bones. Those images were created by Dante in Inferno for personal reasons; he wasn’t even in the same zip code. No, it’s much simpler, separation from the light. But in some ways that’s even worse.”
“Gee thanks.” Chris said.
“Sorry.” Peter sometimes forgot the power of his words and how they carried the weight of eternity, ”… but the alternative ain’t that much better.” He nodded towards the light, “Just like hell ain’t as bad as you’ve heard, heaven ain’t as good as you hoped. Again hijacked by a small group and formed it in their own image to fit their own agenda.”
“So a drug dealer child molester and myself, though not a saint, I’ve lead a good life…”
Peter glanced up and nodded. “You have.”
“…but we both end up in the same place. What the fu…”
“No cussing.” Peter quickly interrupted while pointing at the rules sign. Chris looked around incredulously.
“What does it matter? What are you going to do send me to hell? Oh wait.”
“Don’t cause a disturbance, the Boss hates disturbances. It’s all bad in the darkness but some parts are worse and down there worse is really bad.” Peter said. “And to answer your question yeah it’s a bummer but I just work here.”
“That’s easy for you to say you’re not on your way to the hell for all of eternity. I really tried my whole life to do the right thing, if I would have known it didn’t matter, it would have been weed, women and fornication.” The look of pain and confusion tugged Peter’s heartstrings. “The least you can do is to tell me why? Why do we all go to he…the darkness I mean?”
“I could get into big trouble for this but here goes.” Peter sighed.
“Your creation was an “accident”, in direct defiance of the boss. The whole “No Divine Interaction” with the animals. That’s why Lucifer was cast out. But that’s another story for another time.” They both knew there would be no “another time”.

Wow, when we finally stand face to face with our creator instead of a hug and a glad to see you we get a you’re a mistake and a go to hell, literally not figuratively, Chris thought. He kept it to himself; he was still thinking about the “worse" in hell.

“No one knew that Saint Lucifer’s touch would create a soul and that said soul would last forever. Your kind has always wondered why your leaps and bounds above every other species. Aliens? Hardly. Some call you hairless apes but you are now so much more than that. The first thousand years or so you were fun to watch but the boss leaves for a while, figuring equilibrium would keep your numbers in check, instead when he gets back there are 7 billion of you. Do you understand the implications of that? In the next hundred years we will have 7 billion new customers and now you want to expand to other planets, mamma Mia. Let’s say 3 billion of you make it into the light, that’s more energy than the boss has to spare but 7 billion in the darkness, no problem for the big guy. At first the boss made heaven and hell and had me judge you based on what kind of person you were. But now you all go to the darkness. “

“Peter!” The voice caused the ground to shake so violently that Chris was instantly thrown to it. “Enough. The next train is pulling up.”
“After reading your book of life, judgment is guilty.” He was pointing as if Chris didn’t know which way to go. Peter looked away unable to make eye contact. Chris got ready to protest but thought better of it. He turned left and started walking. The door to the courtroom opened, in stumbled a rather large group of people wearing the same confused look he was sure he had been wearing just minutes earlier. What a surprise most of those people were in for when they find out where they and everyone else is headed, he thought. Clueless that their fate was sealed in their births and not their actions, choices or decisions. Their faces slowly faded, replaced by the darkness.