The Other Side of Heaven

by Stan Mason

  The country is in chaos as rebel troops armed with all kinds of weaponry continuously resist the Government forces so the war is a daily feature in our lives. Subsequently, the inhabitants of my country have become refugees moving from one place to another searching desperately for accommodation, food and water. Cholera is rife and many people are extremely ill and dying. They are falling as they become ill and die as we move on each day. Flies are constantly buzzing around my face and, as a result, I have started to lose the sight in one of my eyes. My stomach is distended through lack of nourishment and I do not feel very well at all. I have two other siblings... an older brother and a younger sister... but their condition is far worse than mine. We all look undernourished through lack of food and my brother does not have sufficient strength to stand on his feet.

  The rebel soldiers came close to us yesterday and for no reason whatsoever they shot eighteen innocent people. Their bodies are covered by flies and maggots and we left them far behind as we headed onwards hoping to escape into the next country to obtain sanction there. However, when we arrived at the border, our entry was barred by police because they have no accommodation and no food to offer us. I do not know how much longer we can continue before we all perish one way or another.

  We were brought up strictly in the Roman Catholic faith due to missionaries who came to our country in the past. My parents taught me all about religion as did my teacher when I went to school. Everything was God this and God that but I could not get my head around the idea that a giant supreme power governed us way up in the sky. In any case, if there was a God, why did he make so many of us suffer so much under the hot sun that blackened our skins even more every day. One afternoon, I went out to play with a friend I had met on our journey. When I got back, my mother put together some oat seeds for our pitiful evening meal and cooked them.

  ‘Where have you been?’ she asked with a worried expression on her face.

  ‘I was playing with a friend,’ I told her bluntly.

  ‘I didn’t see you,’ she went on.

  ‘Believe in what you see and think nothing of it,’ I responded blankly. ‘For seeing is believing and anything you believe in you can see.’

  ‘Where did that come from?’ gasped my mother in surprise.

  At that moment, the vision of an angel with great white wings came before me and I was momentarily filled with terror. However, it vanished as quickly as it came and I swiftly forgot about the incident.

  Sadly, we are all doomed in this place with death facing us each day showing us no kind of mercy. I know that I am not long for this world... hunger, strife and disease will soon take its toll. According to the doctrines of the Roman Catholic church, Heaven is a beautiful place where a spirit can live in peace and harmony for eternity. As such, I can only assume that my journey into the next domain will be much better than it is in this one. I pray that it will be. It just has to be! IT JUST HAS TO BE!

  THE END

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