Ever wonder what's beyond the Pearly Gates?

The last thing I can remember clearly was looking to my right and seeing his Dodge Ram speed into the intersection as I made a left turn. The rest is a haze. The lights, the sirens, the screams, the throbbing. I hung upside down with my seatbelt still strapped to my body. I can faintly recall the face of the police officer rushing to remove me from my car. By then I knew that it was over for me. I sudden warmth took over as the pain faded, I felt a comforting presence above me and reached out to it, my soul leaving my body. I looked down at my lifeless self surrounded by officers, bystanders, EMTs. I said my final goodbye accepting that I would no longer live on this earth.

I woke up feeling unbelievably refreshed, surrounded by soft light and a sweet aroma. I felt no pain, no grief, no anguish. Pure bliss. Instinctively, my body rose and guided itself toward a brighter light ahead of me. Every step felt like I was walking on a cloud. As I moved closer to the light, I was comforted by an intense feeling of serenity.

As I reached the end of the light I could see a massive glimmering structure in the distance.

Pearly gates.

Well I’ll be damned, I guess Heaven really does exist.

A figure moved toward me. I squinted, the wind nearly knocked out of me when I realized. My grandmother stood in front of me, her warm smile greeting me.

“Come,” she said. “It’s time to see the others.”

She led me to the rest of my beloved family members. My mother, my sister, my childhood best friend who took his life at the young age of 14. So many of them. They each took their turns catching up with me, asking how I had been. But I soon realized they all already knew the answers. Questions about my life that they had not been a part of. Comments on events that they were not around for.

It became clear, they had always been watching.

The questions started becoming more sinister.

“How did your wife feel when you cheated on her for a second time?” My mother asked.

My cousin chimed in, “whatever happened to that poor boy you hit on his bike? Wasn’t that a hit and run?”

“How did you manage to get rehired after you stole funds from your company?”

“Doesn’t your son wonder where his father is?”

The questions were relentless. The cold eyes of my family members pierced into my soul.

And that was when I realized. Heaven wasn’t a place for eternal joy. It wasn’t a place for long-awaited happy reunions. It was a place of judgment. A place to relive your greatest sins.

I was here to atone.