Peter: Bosse Gustafson, welcome to your life's review.
Bosse: Who are you, what is all this?
Peter: I am commonly known as Saint Peter, and this is where you hoped you'd end up eventually, the stairs to paradise. I am here to decide upon your fate based upon your choices in life.
Bosse: A stage? A theatre and stage of all things is the entrance to the afterlife?
Peter: For you, it is. It's made to appear as settings most fitting to making those who utilize it feel calm, and you felt most comfortable in life when doing your job, when performing as the lead part in a play.
Bosse: I am 34, I was in perfect health this morning. If I am dead, then what killed me? The last thing I remember is consuming champagne and kanelbullar while watching C-list actors struggle to breathe life into Hallmark Christmas original movies.
Peter: I will answer that soon, be patient. Now, I already know each and every detail of your life, you need simply to describe a few incidents that occurred in your life through your own words.
Bosse: That sounds extremely simple, but why not just assign me to eternity of joy or pain right now if you know my entire life?
Peter: Listening to people describe certain events that occurred during their lives allows me to hear their retrospective view of some of their actions. Now, if you would kindly allow me to begin this process, any further questions you have can be answered by whichever afterlife you end up in.
Bosse: I guess we can continue them.
Peter: Describe your social life.
Bosse: Well, in my childhood I had gotten along decently with others. I'll admit that I did not always act in a righteous way towards others, like many people did when they were children, but I was not a troublemaker, as you should know.
Peter: In this place you should be able to access each and every memory from your life. Bosse, please recall the incident that occurred between you and Nils Hellquist in the seventh year of primary school.
Bosse: There isn't much to say about the fight between us. Nils had been bullying two of my friends throughout the year. I saw him in the park one day, so I confronted him. I demanded that he stop harassing my two friends, and he refused, pushing me to the ground. So, naturally and justifiably, I defended myself to an appropriate degree.
Peter: You broke multiple bones in his lower spinal cord Bosse. He was so terrified of what you might do to him that he said a gang attacked him.
Bosse: I did, and I meant to do it. It was the right thing to do to him, what I did was righteous behavior and justice towards Nils. He didn't harass anyone else that year did he?
Peter: No, he did not, but he did become permanently confined to a wheelchair because of the incident. You decided to cripple a child because he told the teacher about any rules you and your classmates broke.
Bosse: I decided to fight back against someone who stepped out of line.
Peter: Regardless, we must move on. Recall the the events of your last Sunday night, around 9 PM.
Bosse: Around 9PM I was just driving back to Stockholm after I gave new life to a play up in Vallentuna. I was just driving through a small neighborhood on the way back when a kid ran in front of the car. It was so dark out that I couldn't see him trying to cross the road. The kid's dad ran out of their house and called for an ambulance. I didn't do anything inherently wrong, it was a genuine accident.
Peter: What wasn't an accident was bribing the officers who arrived to write their incident reports as if you hadn't been there at all.
Bosse: Hey, it was a mistake hitting that kid! I don't deserve to be punished because it was dark out.
Peter: You're right. You do not deserve to be punished because it was dark that night. You do however require punishment for your evasions of self responsibility and the violent acts you got away with. You died via poisoning, Bosse. The child you hit died from his injuries, and his father craved justice. Your fate has been chosen and you have been sentenced to eternal damnation.
Bosse: You're joking, right?
Peter: Exit stage left, Bosse. You'll find that the path to Hell awaits you there. Either walk there on your own or I will send you there myself.
Bosse starts to speak but stops himself. He slowly exists stage left.
YOU ARE READING
Testimonium
Short StoryA very short play I wrote for a uni class, this isn't the final product but I wanted to publish it anyway since I've been inactive for weeks and months.
