Chapter 3

Pre-note: I personally like this section, as it's the first indication that this Heaven is anything but perfect. Enjoy :)

PS -- please comment! I love getting feedback :)

Chapter three, section one:

I could describe Heaven, but I don’t see the point. It looks like earth. There’s a blue sky, trees, birds, people walking dogs.

It makes it difficult to remember you’re dead, really.

There are a few key differences between earth and Heaven, however. The first and most noticeable is the fact that every human has a pair of white wings folded behind their back. Dogs, birds and squirrels all resemble the ones that walk the earth; only the people look like the angels they are.

There’s another alteration as well. You wouldn’t notice it the first time you glance out the window of the hospital you wake up in, or as you walk down the road to your Guider’s car parked outside a bakery. You may not even notice as you drive through the city, or at least, not at first.

At first, it looks like a normal city. There are buildings that reach to the sky in reflective, mirror-like metal with a hustle of busy people crowding the streets below in dresses and blue suits. Trees line every street and each road is paved a perfect pitch black. The cars resemble the cars we drove in 2010 on earth, yet they are advanced in technology, emitting no pollution as they zoom past you in dark gray blurs. The buildings become smaller and less ominous as you drive out of the city and hit suburbs and other residential areas with perfect, white-picket fenced yards and two car garages. By then, however, you start to realise the small difference between this world and the one you came from: the repetition. Cars vary in size, colour and kind; there are three shades of shiny gray to pick from, a van, car or SUV and three not-so-distinct brands. Office buildings may vary in size, shape and height, as long as you pick from one of five pre-made plans. Houses are the same way, except lawns must also be picked from pre-planned arrangements. Colours of flowers include tulips or roses, in either yellow, white or red, or white hydrangeas; I never saw a mauve violet or pink wax flower here.

As Jake drove me through this world, I started to notice the repetition. I didn’t know of the pre-made plans or limited colour choice of flowers at that time, but I noticed that something with this at-first-glance ideal society was a little off.