I'll Just Wait
I'll Just Wait
~*~*~
"Ah, Alexandra Hope Jones Washington, we've been expecting you," Peter said as he looked at the book. The woman before him was middle aged, too soon to have come, but sadly so many he saw were too young.
"Oh, just call me Alex," she said with a gentle smile and Peter felt a sense of déjà vu.
"Well Alex we're ready to take you on," Peter said with a smile and the woman blinked.
"Did my husband arrive?" she asked and Peter looked at his book.
"Michael Ross Washington?" he asked and Alex smiled.
"That's my Michael," she said and Peter frowned. Michael was not going to be joining his wife for quite some time.
"I'm sorry, Alex, but Michael is not expected for quite a while. You should go ahead, he'll be here before you realize it," Peter said and Alex made a face.
"What about my mother and father?" she asked and Peter looked.
"Joyce Ann Nichols Jones and Andrew Noland Jones?" Peter asked and Alex nodded again.
"I didn't think I'd get here so soon," Alex said bashfully and Peter looked in his book.
"I'm sorry, they also won't be here for some time," Peter said and Alex looked upset.
"Oh, what should I do?" she asked and Peter smiled as he indicated one of his assistants approach.
"You should go in, enjoy yourself, your loved ones will be here eventually," he said, according to his records they were good people so their time wouldn't be too long.
"Oh, I couldn't do that," Alex said and Peter blinked in surprise.
"But, it's..." he began and she smiled.
"I promised if I got here first I would wait for them outside," she said and Peter recognized her.
"Oh, madam, I remember you now, yes, yes, have a seat. I can't say the wait will be easy out here. Inside it is much easier for time to pass," Peter explained and she smiled.
"I couldn't forget them," Alex replied.
"Your maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather have recently arrived and are waiting inside," Peter attempted to bribe her but she shook her head.
"They won't miss me much if it's as exciting as you say in there. I'll just wait here for the rest," Alex said and Peter sighed. He recognized this soul and he knew there would be no being talking out of this decision.
So Alex took a seat outside of the golden gates and watched as the people entered. She didn't peer or peek between the gates like some of the people waiting in line did, instead she scanned each and every approaching face.
Peter felt bad but he knew just how stubborn this particular client was.
~*~*~
Dmitri stood beside Peter, assisting him on such a busy day, but the youth was distracted, his eyes kept moving to the woman sitting outside the gates.
"Dmitri, focus," Peter chided and the assistant jumped before blushing.
"I'm sorry, Sir, she just has been there for twenty-"
"I know," Peter sighed as he gave Alex his own look. "She is fixed upon waiting for her loved ones to arrive before entering." Dmitri's eyes bulged in shock as he looked from Peter to the woman.
"That could take-"
"I know," Peter said. "She has done this before." Dmitri's eyes widened.
"Oh, so she just sits and waits for them to arrive?" he asked and Peter nodded.
"She is patient," Peter said. "She's only been through a handful of times because she waits each time for her family."
"How much of her family does she wait for?" Dmitri asked.
"If she arrives before her parents like this time, she'll wait for her parents and her spouse, if she's particularly fond of a child, she'll wait for them too," Peter commented and Dmitri blinked.
"Has she ever been delayed or does she come straight here?" Dmitri asked and Peter smiled.
"She is not a saint, but she's a good person every time. She has her flaws but never have I seen her held longer than two years," he said and the assistant's jaw dropped.
"Doesn't she want to join us?" Dmitri asked and Peter shook his head.
"She loves to live and experience life, a promotion to our ranks would mean she could never go through the cycle of living, dying, and coming here," Peter explained. Dmitri's wings fluttered against his back.
"So she sits outside of Heaven for untold amounts of time waiting for her loved ones to make it through Purgatory and to ascend here?" Dmitri asked and Peter nodded.
"She has done it as a man and woman, a child, an adult, and a wizened elder," Peter said with a smile at Alex. "She has even waited for a parent to make it up from Hell."
"She waited for a soul to earn their way back from Hell?!" Dmitri cried and Peter nodded again.
"Nearly a thousand years a child sat outside of Heaven waiting for the parent who avenged her death. That day I saw such happiness and joy when the two were reunited. Each life that soul promises to wait outside of Heaven until its loved ones arrive if it beats them here," Peter said.
"Has she ever been the last to arrive?" Dmitri asked and Peter's smile faded.
"Haven't you ever heard the song?" Peter asked as he looked at the names in his book. It would be another ten months added to the twenty years Alex already spent waiting before her parents arrived and another ten years before her husband arrived. Peter's gentle eyes moved to the patient and loyal woman whose soul had only gone through the loop of life, death, afterlife, and reincarnation a handful of times. "Only the good die young."
~*~*~
Author's Note: This story is very personal for me because I am Catholic but I very much like the idea of Reincarnation and the idea of enjoying Heaven and then getting to do it all over again appeals to me. I also find the idea of Purgatory possible because Heaven has such high standards that it seems unfair that Hell would take anyone for the smallest little sin. Purgatory to my family is sort of a waiting room to Heaven and Hell where you confront your sins and earn your way into Heaven. Because I am Catholic, I believe that sinners who truly repent deserve the Kingdom of Heaven, from Murderer to Suicide, if you truly regret and repent, deep in your soul, then you should be allowed in. Last this story holds aspects of my life, such as two of my grandparents died when I was quite young, so I would hope that they would be in Heaven waiting for me by the time I got there. Also my family regularly teases me, telling me that I'll be lonely in Heaven because I'm such a goody two-shoes, it's become a joke "I'll be lonely in Heaven" means "you're being so bad." Last, I promised myself that if my loved ones weren't in Heaven, I wouldn't want to be there either. If I go to Heaven and my family isn't there, I'll wait outside because it won't be Heaven to me without them.