Once I considered myself a good Christian. I was sure I would rise up with the other good Christians on the day the Lord Christ appeared in the heavens. After all, my family dutifully attended church every Sunday. I volunteered at an old age home with the youth group at my church. I turned the other cheek when girls in school called me rude names.
I was ready for the Rapture. Or so I thought.
It was a bright, sunny day in the summer. A few scattered clouds drifted across the sky. The weather was warm, but not humid, so it felt comfortable. Unexpectedly, that day would turn out to be The Day. And to my horror, I wasn't at all prepared.
Oh, I was called up, all right. I rose, with all the others. Yet I wasn't ready.
My best friend Gabby and I were taking her dog to a dog park that had just opened. We had never been to one, and we were curious to see what it would be like. We hoped Chester would make lots of friends with the other pups, and we were looking forward to throwing a frisbee around to him without worrying that he wasn't on a leash.
At 10 am, I pulled up to her house in my dad's car, which he often let me borrow. Gabby and Chester bounded into the car, excited. Chester went into the backseat, and Gabby sat in the front, beside me. She grinned at me and showed me the green frisbee that Chester loved to chase.
"I hope the other dogs don't try to steal this from him," she laughed.
"I hope not," I replied.
Gabby was Christian, like me, but hardly religious. Also, she was of a different denomination. She and her family only went to church on Easter and Christmas. They didn't pray very often, except if something bad were happening, but I had never thought about these things. She and I were friends from school, and we got along well. I'd never considered her religious beliefs or practices. I'd never even thought about whether or not she would be saved.
I never imagined what I would witness that day.
As we drove along, Chester looked out the window, letting the wind blow his floppy ears around. Gabby and I chattered about school, about family, about a movie we wanted to see next week. I kept my eyes on the road to be safe, periodically checking the street signs so we would turn at the right spot.
All at once, I felt very strange. I didn't feel sick or nauseous; I just felt very light. From the corner of my eye, I noticed through the windshield that the sun looked brighter than normal. What was going on? I shrugged it off, because I was behind the wheel, and I couldn't afford to pay attention to anything else right then. I would think about this after we were parked.
I tightened my grip on the steering wheel, and saw that we were approaching a red light, so I gently pressed my foot to the brake.
Or I tried to.
With a startled cry, I started to feel myself rising. My foot couldn't reach the brake. I stretched out my toes, but they wouldn't reach! I was being lifted up! I gripped the steering wheel, and to my shock, I saw my fingers, like those of ghosts', pass right through it!
"The Rapture!" I realized, watching as the car sped closer and closer to the intersection. I chanced a glance at Gabby. Her mouth was wide open in shock; her rounded eyes followed my gradual flight.
She wasn't being raptured with me!
"Gabby!" I choked out fearfully. She would crash! "Drive!"
My ethereal body passed through the roof of the car, but I saw her hands through the windshield seize the steering wheel and attempt to gain control of the car.
"Gabby!" I kept crying out, praying she would hop over into my seat and get her foot on the brake in time. Chester, becoming smaller and smaller below me, howled in a frenzy of panic, running from one side of the backseat to the other.
Other cars started careening out of control as well. I watched one crash headlong into a street sign and bring it crashing down onto its roof. Another crashed right into a fire hydrant and sent water spraying onto the street.
Soon I was moving through the air faster and faster, and suddenly I found myself surrounded, in the sky, by several other people, some of whom I recognized from my church. In fact, my pastor was there.
"Welcome, welcome," he said, beaming at me. "I knew I'd see you here, Leona."
"Wait, put me back!" I cried out, still watching my dad's car as it sped along the road, dodging other cars that had gone wild. "Let me save Gabby!"
"She is not one of those meant to be saved," the pastor said. "She had all the chances in the world to turn to our Lord, and she didn't take them. The Lord is patient, but she deserves whatever He has in store for her now."
I was barely listening to him. My eyes were still glued to the car. Suddenly the car stopped short - she must have pressed the brake!
Yet, just ahead of her, a car, driving the wrong way down the road, sped right for her, its own driver amongst our little circle in the sky.
I let out a shrill scream. "Let me out!" I begged. I tried to move downward, but I was held immobile, I supposed by the hand of God.
"Leona, there's nothing more -" the Pastor began.
"Let me go! God, let me go! Gabby! Chester! Noooooooo!"
Just in time, Gabby turned the car and drove out of the other car's path. She pulled over and parked, and I saw her getting out of the car, then opening the backseat door on the driver's side, reaching for Chester's leash.
"Gabby!" I cried, watching another car, this time behind her, speeding in her direction. It would sideswipe the car and hit Gabby, who didn't even see it! "God! Have mercy! Let me out! Let me out!"
Suddenly one of other members of our group, a woman I didn't know, seized me by the shoulders and shook me. "Get it through your head, she doesn't deserve to be saved, or she would have been! How dare you tell God to put you back! How did you even get up here?"
"God, where are You? Where is He?" I asked the woman.
"He'll be here soon," the pastor said gently. Suddenly a blindfold went over my eyes; how did a blindfold get here? Who had brought one with them? "You must understand this is the will of God," the pastor went on.
"What about Gabby?! What about God's mercy? What about His kindness? How could He do this? This is a trick! My God doesn't do this! This is an imposter! This is a lie! My God would want me to save Gabby, my God wouldn't do this!" I cried. I struggled and tried to reach for the blindfold to get it off, but strong hands held mine down.
"Gabby is a sinner, and hell is her destination," the pastor patiently told me.
"No, my God doesn't do this!" I repeated. "We've gotta help her, if we tell her, she'll pray more, she'll be more devoted, God doesn't give up, how could He let any of His children be thrown to hell? He's gotta give her another chance! Gabby!"
"Her blood will stain God's robes, which is what she's got coming to her," a man in the group cruelly laughed. "Heaven will rejoice. God's faithful has returned to its rightful home, and the sinners will burn in hell for eternity! This is our just vengeance!"
At those words, I gave a tortured cry, and at last broke free of those that held me. I ripped off the blindfold, but perhaps it would have been better not to.
Gabby was clinging to the windshield of the other car, as it drove, driverless, toward a raised road, on either side of which was dense forest.
Another car slammed into Gabby's car's side, sending her and the car into the metal railing. She and the car toppled over the busted railing, about tumble down the steep sides of the forest. Chester, barking, ran after her down the sidewalk, attempting to rescue his beloved human.
And then the car burst into flames.
"Gabby! Gabby!!!!!" I screamed, putting all my devastation and fear into one long breath until my lungs ran out of air, and I was left, sobbing, on the floor of Heaven.
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