Welcome to the final instalment of Done Deal! You can read Part 1 here: http://myrandommusings.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/done-deal-part-one-beginning.html Part 2 here: http://myrandommusings.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/done-deal-part-two-darkness.html and Part 3 here http://myrandommusings.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/done-deal-part-three-it-is-time.html if you missed them.
Done Deal: Part Four: Judgement
'Are you sure
you want to be in the meeting son?’ asks the man as he walks towards the boy. The
boy is only 8 years old, so young, so fragile, so alone and the man’s heart
goes out to him. These meetings were intense and he had seen people much older
than the boy crack under the pressure.
‘Yes,’
replied the boy, forcing himself to turn away from the viewing window. ‘I’m
sure. Is she ok?’ He inclines his head towards the viewing window.
The man steps
forward to look, placing a reassuring hand on the boy’s shoulder. ‘She’s fine,’
he replies, ‘the simulation is over now and to all intents and purposes, she is
just sleeping.’
The boy senses
he is missing something. Something in the man’s tone tells the boy he is
worried.
‘Come,’ says
the man, ‘We must begin.’
He turns and
leaves the room, walking down a long corridor towards a door marked meeting
room. The boy follows anxiously. Nearing the door, he takes a deep breath, and
straightens his back. He has nothing to worry about. He has passed the test and
he has no doubt that his mother will have passed too.
They enter
the room, and the man takes a seat at a conference table, already filled with
people. He motions towards an empty seat and the boy sits. He takes a sip from
the glass of water there, glad to have something to do with his hands.
‘Just waiting
on the boss,’ says the man, smiling at him ‘shouldn’t be too long. You
understand what’s going to happen, right?’
The boy does.
His mother’s fate is to be decided in this room, like his was only moments ago.
He nods. He
is still trying to get his head around the whole process. When he had completed
his simulation, they had told him what had happened. He and his mother had been
in an accident. They had been standing in a bus shelter, waiting for the number
3 into town when a car had lost control and ploughed into them, killing them
both instantly.
He had woken
up here to the good news he had passed judgement day and would enter Heaven
shortly. He was given the option to wait for his mother’s judgement, which he
had accepted readily. He wasn’t sure he could face this alone.
He still
found it hard to accept that judgement was passed this way. The recently
deceased were hooked up to machines, and a simulation was played in their
minds. Their reactions were measured and fed back into a computer, and the
results of this decided your fate.
The boy
remembered his simulation well. He had been hit around the head as part of a
mugging. A man appeared to him and offered him the chance to live in exchange
for his soul. He had said no immediately, souls aren’t something to be gambled
with!
The man who
seemed to be looking after him explained each simulation was specifically
tailored to the individual, and everyone gets two chances to pass. If he had
accepted the deal, and failed the first time, he would have fast forwarded to
the time when he would have to pay the price of the deal, and spend a bit of
time in the darkness of Hell. He would then be offered his greatest desire in
return for sacrificing someone else. If he failed again, that would be the end
of it.
He knew his
mother had failed the first time, but he knew she would never sacrifice someone
else, so he was confident how the decision making meeting would go.
When all this
was explained to him, he had told the man he thought judgement was more like
how it was taught on Earth. The man had laughed, but not unkindly.
‘Son,’ he had
said, ‘it never fails to amaze me that the human race think their technology
betters ours. It’s not the first century anymore!’
The door to
the meeting room banged open, startling the boy back to the present.
‘Apologies
for my lateness gentleman,’ said The Boss, the one they had been waiting for.
Noticing the boy, he continued ‘Greetings son.’
The boy found
he couldn’t speak, so he merely smiled at The Boss. This was some man. He
radiated power and goodness, and the boy felt instantly humbled.
The Boss took
his seat and waved his hand. A screen appeared before him and the boy found
himself watching his mother’s simulation.
His heart
sank as the action unfolded. The playback ended, and the boy knew what the
outcome would be before anyone spoke.
‘Case number 458235612566. Subject failed to
make the correct moral choice twice and will be leaving us shortly,’ The Boss
announced, purely a formality as everyone in the room knew what had to
happened. He stood and began making his way towards the door.
The boy knew
he had to do something. He had to speak up. His mother had tried to save him
and now he had to do the same for her.
‘Sir,
please,’ he begged, tears forming in his eyes. ‘She wasn’t being selfish. She
only wanted to save me.’
The boss turned
back and looked at him sadly. ‘The first time, so she was, and that is we
always give people a second chance. The second time, she was merely giving in
to her desire to see you again. She knew who she was dealing with by then, and
she made the wrong decision. If she had only had had faith.’
‘But…’
The Boss held
up a hand to silence the boy. ‘Unfortunately, rules are rules. She will be
leaving us in approximately 10 minutes. You may say goodbye. I am truly sorry
son. She would have made a lovely angel. It always saddens me to hand over the
ones who came so close.’
I would love to hear what you think! I hope you enjoyed reading the story half as much as I enjoyed writing it.
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