Samuel had been bed ridden for the past month. His family was standing around him, struggling to smile with hopelessness in their eyes. Eyelids were pulling shut and Samuel drifted away from consciousness. It was suddenly peaceful, like flowing with a river current. Distant pulses were felt and Samuel heard shouts asking him to wake up. But he liked the river more and kept drifting away. Eventually he hit the shore and found himself in a dark place. It was pitch dark and he could not see anything.
Samuel moved ahead until he hit the wall. Passing his hand over, he found it was like glass. He followed the wall in one direction and kept going on. After a while, feeling dizzy, he sat down on the floor. Removing his shoes and placing them against the wall, he slowly went around the walls once more. Minutes passed before his legs hit the shoes. Now, Samuel was sure he was in a square shaped room with glass walls. He then went on to search the floor and found that it was made of glass too. After hours of futile searching and eventually giving up on means of escape, Samuel sat down and leaned against the wall.
He started recollecting his life on earth. The last year was the most painful. After being diagnosed with liver cancer, the chemotherapy sessions seemed endless and he hated treating hospitals as his home. The last year was very frustrating for two reasons – one being the disease itself and the other being the repercussions of diagnosis. As a positive person, weeks after diagnosis, he figured that he could live longer if he forgot he had a problem in the first place. But his wife, kids and parents went on consoling him with a look of pitiful mercy. As the news spread, more relatives and infinite consoling stretched time by so much that he wanted to die right then.
He liked it in here, this room, dark and silent, felt nice after so many moments of torture. He recalled other such moments, like the numerous fights with his wife when he couldn’t attend his own son’s graduation and his late hours at work. Suddenly he heard a sound and a clank of metal. The silence made the sound echo for a long time. Finally locating the source of sound, he found a plate of fruits. Moving aside the plate, he checked the floor for any trap doors. Finding none, he went on to enjoy his meal. He kept the clean plate near him lest the plate should disappear, he could escape too.
He picked up his thoughts from where he left off and drooled on his misfortunes. After his third meal, with three plates by his side, he remembered the first time he met Elle. He knew that she would be his wife once he laid his eyes on her that very first time. He recalled their wedding in California and their honeymoon in Austria. Then Stefan came along and Samuel still remembered those tiny fingers brushing against his rough palm. Every day that Stefan grew, Samuel grew with him. When Mathew was born five years later, the house was perfect and seemed too good a dream to live in.
Feeling the room less darker, Samuel woke up with a surprise. He told himself that this could be because his eyes have become adjusted to total darkness and then went back to his musings. As years rolled on, he remembered the day when Stefan came home with his job offer and how they all celebrated that night. Few years later, Mathew was awarded a scholarship to pursue his degree at Carnegie Melon University. The house had felt strange without all the noises. Samuel and Elle grew accustomed to the lonely house as time wore on. Then came Stefan’s wedding followed by Mathew’s six years later. A month before he was diagnosed with cancer, he had become a Granddad.
Scanning the room, Samuel was now pretty sure that the room was dimly lit. The glass panes on the floor, walls and the ceiling were radiating light. Now he could see a door in the opposite corner of the room from where he was standing. The door had no knob and the door frame was very thin, which made it impossible for him to detect the door during his initial scanning. Samuel pushed the door and a bright light hit on his face. Hearing a voice nearby, he could make out a figure standing next to him a few feet away. The figure introduced itself as Bob and handed Samuel a cooling glass.
“It will help you adjust to the bright sorroundings.”
“Where am I? And what was that room?”
“You are now in heaven. That room is called the Glass Room. It was installed a few years ago.”
“What for?”
“Mankind has advanced by leaps and bounds through the last century. While technology and everything else made life easier for man, it also reduced the effort required to earn an identity. The availability of ample free time led to increased dissatisfaction and frustration which in turn led people to focus more on their losses and their misfortunes than their gains and on their fortunes.
That room is made of special glass which echoes a soul’s feelings about his experience on earth. Once the soul starts recognising his past fortunes and starts appreciating the fact that he had lived on earth, the room will grow brighter and will reveal the door.”
“I was of the opinion that one’s actions are enough for getting an entrance pass to heaven.”
“They are very important. But tell me how will the heaven be if its full of disgruntled and dissatisfied people who are good at heart. The fuel source for the lights in heaven is the degree of contentment of the residing souls.”
“Interesting”
“Anyways, welcome to heaven and I will now give you a quick tour. After that I will take you to your friends and family.”
Looking all around like a kid in a candy store, Samuel silently followed Bob into the invisible palaces in the clouds.
