Dark Romance

Chapter 7~Pureos

I woke up in what looked like my uniform from school, but it was silk instead of the polyester fabric that my parents paid for. I didn't know where I was because, in a second, I go from being in St. Mary's to ending up in a nearly translucent white room. I was in a bed and there was no covers. I sat up and swung my legs over the side of the bed. Walking out of the room, I ended up in a hallway that seemed to shine like a mirror. I looked into the wall to my left and saw that I still looked the same and that nothing in my appearance changed either. I was still Pureos. My hair was worn though. The white hair was dry and seemed more natural than my usual gelled look.

I exited the holy holding area. I turned back and it was like a palace or more like a giant church. I cocked my head. Everything about this place felt pure and true. The strange thing was that that was all I felt. No sin lay buried in any of the people that crossed my way and they all looked happy and serene. I decided to walk up to a couple. They were hand in hand and making very small conversation about the Holy Father and the nice weather, which was only blue sky. Or at least I could guess because it was hard to get a lucid image of the sky through the stained glass window to my right.

"Hello, I was just...," the couple took one glance at me and bowed to me like I was royalty. I raised an eyebrow at them and the lady, who was the first to bow, looked up at me. Her brown hair was shielding the sides of her face. She looked fairly young, maybe late 20s at the most. The man who bowed at her side had black or really dark brown hair that was cut at a decent length.

"Do you need some help finding, Father," the woman stood straight. Her hazel eyes showing happy concern.

"Who's the Father?" I didn't have a clue on who she meant. Why would I be bowed to? Is this a place where everyone bows to each other? It seemed interesting. I've always been a curious young man, but I never dared to follow my curiosity. When I kissed Sierra Black, the girl who was claimed to be the dreaded Devil's daughter, I followed my curiosity and ended up in a place I would never have thought was real.

She nodded to the man next to her and he took a half bow and made a hand gesture to follow him. The girl smiled and walked in the opposite direction. There stood the big church again and we walked through a different entrance than the one I exited from. In the distance, I heard the faint song of angels and my mind grew more and more tranquil. In front of us now were two tall, white plated doors. The man in front of me opened one of the doors and swept his right arm towards the door and allowed me to enter.

The holiest of people sat on a throne in the center room of the whole church. He had his eyes closed and rocked his head slowly to the angels song. I didn't see any angels in the room, but I felt their presence as the song kept playing. Father saw me, almost immediately, and his smile grew wide. He was like a giant in front of my eyes. All of this was starting to make sense. I couldn't believe my eyes.

He got up from his throne and he towered over me. He reached for my shoulders and he appeared to shrink to a near human size, but I was smart enough to figure out that nothing about this place was real. He was two feet taller than me in his human form and his brown hair and beard was long and curly. His voice boomed, "PUREOS, MY SON. YOU HAVE RETURNED HOME TO THE HOLY GROUNDS. HAVE YOU ENJOYED YOUR TIME ON EARTH?"

I took a step back and his hands fell off my shoulders and, as if he was my father, I nodded and replied, "Yes, it was a very insightful experience. Many people had the potential to become sinful, but I purified the many who were already sinned." I shook my head suddenly. Did I just say that? I didn't purify "the many who were sinned." I hardly did anything, but stay locked up in a basement and plan my future once I was released.

This made God smile even brighter. "THAT IS MY SON." He placed a hand on my shoulder and I felt the strength in his hold. I looked into His eyes. I couldn't tell what hue they held. It seemed to change every second. Sometimes it looked like many colors at once or none at all.

God started to turn me around and I allowed Him too. The music was causing me to become numb. The feeling of confusion was beginning to dissipate. The feelings that I every human feels began to be replaced with serenity.

He led me to a garden in back of the great room and He offered me to sit on a marble bench, but I refused politely.

He nodded in understanding and spoke again in His booming and superior manner, "AS YOU KNOW, YOU ARE DEAD AND WILL NOT BE ABLE TO RETURN TO THE WORLD THAT YOU LIVED IN FOR 16 YEARS. I HAVE A SURPRISE FOR YOU, MY SON, BEFORE WE BREAK INTO EVEN MORE THREATENING NEWS."

Once He finished, He raised His hand in the direction of something and that's when I saw an all-too-familiar face.

Majestic slowly walked into the view of me and Father. Her golden blonde hair was completely down to the lower back and she wore a halo like crown on her head. Her hands laid folded in front of her as she walked toward Father. He took one of her hands and took the other as He said a prayer of hope to her. That's when she was free to come up to me. I pulled her into a happy hug. She giggled a bit and hugged back. Her yellow eyes glared at mine and her overjoyed expression turned to sadness.

"What is it," I questioned.

She shook her head and it looked like she was about to cry, but no tears came out of her eyes.

"Sorry, I can't be produce tears or scream or fear. We are in Heaven, after all. It's just that you're here because of Siera. I don't know what she did to you."

I put my hands on her cheeks and looked at her happy eyes that shouldn't be that way. "You shouldn't be the one to worry about me. I died when I was meant to. You were supposed to be alive. What happened?"

Her frown turned into a nervously silly smile and she even laughed a little. She took my left hand and we sat on a nearby bench. She placed her palms in her lap.

"It's kind of a terrible story. I was so sad and heartbroken that you died so suddenly that I went into the nurse's office and filled up a needle with poison, just in case Sierra decided to come back to life to hurt us like she did with you." She started to gather her silky dress in her hands and continued on.

"Well, I wasn't really focusing on my surroundings and another student came in and was apparently asking for me. I had the needle facing my arm when the student decided to come up to me and pat me on the shoulder. I jumped and my hand pushed the needle into my arm and released the poison."

She looked down at her hands and released the fabric, allowing the skirt to fall past her knees and onto the ground by her feet. I looked at her face in complete shock. My hands were frozen and, as I climbed back to the surface, she looked at my face and smiled, shyly.

I shook my head and placed a hand on her shoulder, "That was very stupid of you to seek revenge. Revenge floods your soul with anger, which leads to committing sin. Since I died, the person who killed me would, too. You didn't have to ruin your life for me."

She nodded and Father decided it was a good time to come to me and he had a frown on his face, "PUREOS, IT'S TIME I TELL YOU WHAT IS THE TERRIBLE NEWS. SINCE THIS IS HEAVEN, WE ALSO HAVE AN ENEMY WHO GOES AGAINST ALL OF MY CREATIONS." He looked at me and sighed. "WE ARE AT WAR WITH HELL, MY SON."

I couldn't believe what I heard. I've just arrived and already the Devil has shown it's mark on life's most important resource. I looked at Majestic and she looked at me. She knew that we were at a great risk and she could do nothing about it, but I knew I could.