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Maura and Jane walked down the dusty road on their way back to Jane’s motorcycle. It had been a long night – but a good night nonetheless. They weren’t working that night. It was a night all to themselves.
“Did you know that most motorcycle accidents happen during the daytime?” Maura asked. Jane looked at her phone. It was nearing midnight.
“Okay, why are you saying this now?”
“I don’t know, I thought maybe it would reassure you. Drunk driving isn’t even that high on the list!”
Jane didn’t laugh. She didn’t condone drunk driving but she knew she would be safe tonight. Maura was drunk. Jane was tipsy – a little. Rather than waste money on a Boston cab this late they decided together that it would be fine to drive home tonight.
They came to the bike and got on. Jane started it up and drove off back to their home in Beacon Hill. Maura hugged onto Jane for dear life and didn’t let go until they got home – and they finally did, in one piece.
Jane took off her helmet and her dark hair fell back down below her shoulders. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and took a step toward Maura, who was clearly panicking from fright during the ride. “Hey, it’s okay. Look, we got home! Let’s get inside!”
Maura stammered. “I just… I was just so scared –“
“Don’t you trust me?” Jane asked coyly.
“Of course I do!” replied Maura. “It’s just scary. We see a lot of these types of accidents, you know? It’s just… scary. I had a bad feeling.”
“I know, and I would have called a cab if I wasn’t absolutely sure if I could make it. So don’t you worry!” she lied, and took a step forward. They kissed under the midnight moon.
They went indoors, kicked off their shoes, and changed into their pajamas. When they got into bed, Maura curled up next to Jane. “I love you,” she said. And then the window broke in and a gun went off, changing everything they knew.
Maura sat up in bed, shaking once again. There was blood on them both – who was hit? She looked down at her red hands. Please let it be me, she thought. But she couldn’t see a wound. She looked up at Jane, and there it was – in her chest, a bleeding hole, not near her heart (thank god) but near the right side. She looked back toward the window. The glass was shattered and she saw someone running away. She grabbed the phone off her night table and dialed 911.
“911, what is your emergency?” the placid voice on the line spoke. Her voice was soft.
“I need an ambulance,” Maura sobbed between tears. “my girlfriend was shot… I need an abulmance ….. please help me…” She gave the operator her address and hung up. She held onto Jane and cried into her wound until the police and the EMS showed up.
Jane felt it before she could comprehend what was happening. First she felt Maura’s arms around her. That felt warm and nice. Then a sharp break in reality – the window was gone and she felt warm again, so warm. The blood trickled down her breast and began to soak through her shirt. She saw the redness and realized it wasn’t right. Where did that come from? she wondered. Then she felt the pain. A strong, burning pain coming from inside of her. The she heard Maura sobbing, Maura calling 911, Maura whispering to someone or something for her to be okay. She felt Maura’s arms around her. Warm again. She smiled. Then her body fell asleep and her mind lifted away.
She woke up in the hospital 3 days later. Maura was at the side of the bed, asleep. She looked worried in her sleep.
“Maura?” she choked out. Her voice was crackly from lack of use, but she had to talk to someone. She knew everything that had happened with no explanation. She remembered everything. She needed to tell Maura. “Maura!!”
Maura jumped with a start. “Jane,” she cooed. “You’re up. Let me call the doctor-:”
“No, don’t I have to tell you something. I saw… everything.”
“You saw who did it? Who shot you?” her voice was angry, toxic. Maura wanted to know who did this to Jane.
“No, nevermind that. I saw much more important things. I saw… what it was like to die,” she whispered
“What??!” exclaimed Maura. “You weren’t dead. They fixed you up. You will be fine.”
“I was dead for a moment, and they brought me back. But by the time the moment was over it was too late; I’d seen everything. I’ve seen heaven, Maura, and I didn’t think it existed before that night, but it’s there, and it’s beautiful, and Maura, it exists!!!” She was breathing heavily and suddenly put her hand over the chest. “Well, that’s not totally healed yet. But it doesn’t matter. This life… it doesn’t matter. I know what it’s like when you die.”
“Jane, you’re scaring me,” Maura said calmly. Just then, a nurse came in and saw that Jane was up now.
“Well, look who decided to get up today! How do you feel?” the nurse asked. He came up to the bed and checked her monitors. “Feeling any pain?”
“Yes, a lot, actually,” she said clearly.
“No matter, we’ll just get you some more pain killers. Give me one second…. There. You’ll be feeling a lot better in no time. Now I’ll leave you two alone for a bit,” he smiled and left the room.
As soon as they were sure he was gone, Jane jumped right in. “I know what it’s like to be dead,” she chimed.
“Okay, I’ll bite, what was it like?” Maura asked.
Jane slouched back into her pillows. “Ohh, here comes the morphine. I…” she closed her eyes. “I can’t sleep. I need to tell you. I was shot, and I felt the pain and I felt warmth, and suddenly I felt nothing at all… nothing physical. You know?”
Maura nodded warily.
“I saw my body laying on the bed, I saw the blood, I saw you, covered in my own blood… but I wasn’t scared. I saw a light. You know how the religious ones always say there will be a light after you die? There was a light, pulling me in. Into what I think was heaven. I wanted to go, Maura. I wanted more than anything to go.”
“You really are scaring me, you know,” Maura said.
“I’m sorry. I don’t want to die, that’s not what I’m saying. But in that moment, I felt how close death was and I wanted to go. To explore the unexplored. To see what lies beyond our world. And I caught a glimpse, Maura! I’ve seen what nobody has seen. And it has given me a hope.” There were tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry, I need to sleep. I need you. I…” she fell asleep almost instantly.
Maura reached over and kissed her on the forehead. “Finish your story when you wake up, my love. I’ll be here.”
Maura watched her while she slept this time. She got up for a bit and got a green tea at the hospital cafetieria , and a coffee for Jane, and went straight back to Jane’s room on the third floor. She sat and drank her tea, contemplating everything Jane had just told her. What could it mean? Is there really something beautiful after death? Jane’s coffee sat on the table, getting colder and colder by the minute.
{{{{{This is getting so depressing for me to write im not even THAT drunk, I think I should have picked a lighter story}}}}}
When Jane finally rose out her deep sleep the coffee was undrinkable, but she knew the thought was there and she loved Maura for it. She continued with her story. “There is no god,” she said. “there’s something else…. Lots of them. I don’t know what they are. Higher beings? But they looked more like aliens.”
“You’re telling me there are aliens in the afterlife? That’s fucking terrifying,” Maura said.
“Not aliens… you won’t be scared. They welcomed me. They wanted me. I wanted to go with them, but I felt something pull me back. Then I slept for a long time, and I woke up here. That’s all I remember. It’s very fuzzy… it’s a fuzzy feeling. But I know I saw something that did not happen in this earthly realm. This was heaven, or something very much like it. Someday you and me will be there.” She smiled up at Maura.
“You’re acting… different,” Maura said. “In a good way. I think…. You’ve found hope. I hope you don’t look forward to dying now to go to that place…”
“God no, I don’t look forward to dying. I’ve accepted that it will come, but before I was pulled back, one of the alien figures said something to me… it said “it’s not your time yet. Go, enjoy your life. It will be very fulfilling. Your life has so many exrtaoradinary thinnnnnngs to come.” He said that to ME! And I remember it as clearly in my head as if it just happened. I think this will stay with me, Maura. And I will stay with you for a long time. I think both our lifes… will be as fulfilling as he promised.”
Maura sat in the bed with her and leaned down. They kissed passionately. Maura felt in Jane’s kisses a new kind of life. One that wasn’t about to end any time soon.