Purgatorium (9 page)

I walk on, lost in thought, over the bridge. I arrive at my apartment building, walk in through the front door, and over to the elevator. I get in, still fixated on and vexed by the memory-dream of Madi in the coffee shop.

The elevator doors open revealing the rooftop and I am surprised to see a man, late-forties, with long, dark hair parted down the middle. He stands beside a dining table set for two—two bowls of soup, two plates with steak on them, and two glasses of wine. The man is stylishly dressed but gives off a casual indie vibe. He is wearing dark sunglasses, a black sports coat, and a V-neck shirt. I see the King of clubs sticking out of his jacket’s breast pocket. I don’t know if it should make me feel less afraid or not. The only thing that seems off-balance about his attire would be his bright orange socks that I can see from a distance away.

I walk, hesitatingly, through the elevator doors onto the rooftop. The man looks up at me.

“Do you still feel content?”

I uneasily shake my head no to him.

“Then let’s play a game, you and I. Five
minutes,
starting…now!” My watch beeps at that exact moment.

50 Minutes

The man sits down at the finely decorated table on the opposite side facing me. I can’t help but see him as a man full of panache and variety. He seems classy and self-assured, but definitely trending toward bohemian.

“First and foremost, I’m
Gabriel
. And you? Well, you’re all just screwed up in the head, aren’t you? But you already knew that from what this whole day has been like for you and all.”

Gabriel cuts a piece of steak, lifts it on his fork to his mouth, and then stops. He puts the fork and steak down, sticks his hand into his pocket, and pulls out a silver and white wrapper. Reaching into his mouth, he takes out a chewed piece of gum and folds it into the wrapper.

“That would have been bad,” Gabriel says.

I see the name on the wrapper: “Tredstones.” Where do I know that name from?

“What question can you never honestly answer yes to?” Gabriel asks, taking a bite of the steak. “I’ll answer it for you if you sit with me.” He offers the seat opposite of him, welcoming me with a wide gesture. “Have some food and drink. You never seem to want to eat or drink. Some would question how you’re still alive, but we know better. Please, sit.”

I am somewhat curious as to what the answer is as I go to sit, but do not eat.

“If you don’t eat or drink, then you make the host—me—feel very unappreciated and obliged to withhold any dinner talk.”

I look at Gabriel. Better to appease him, I think. I look down at my plate and take a bite, chewing it slowly. I notice that I cannot taste anything. I take another bite—still no flavor.

“The answer to the question, What question can you never honestly answer yes to, comes accompanied by two other questions.”
Gabriel
takes another bite, savoring it delightfully. “Wait, did you say something?”

We look at each other for a moment in silence. The sunglasses hide his emotions.

“Oh, okay, never mind. Now where were we? Ah yes! The answer comes in two questions being… Are you asleep? Or are you dead?”

That was it?
I think. I am foolish to have even sat down. I should leave before I find out that I have been drugged once again by a crazy loon.

He repeats himself, “What question can you never honestly answer yes to? Answer: Are you asleep? Or are you dead? Do you get it? Because I feel like you don’t truly get it. Though that is why we are here. For...you…to…get…it.”

Gabriel takes another bite of his steak as I feel troubled for what he is trying to apply.

“To taste something is God’s greatest gift to man. I would divulge more, but time is of the essence.”

Gabriel
cuts the last piece of his steak and sticks it in his mouth.

What’s happening to me?
I think as panic sets in again. Gabriel crosses his silverware on his plate and uses the napkin to clean off his lips.

“Now how should I begin? Let’s start with you being in an accident.”

By now, not trusting anything I have seen or heard, I do not react.

“Did you hear what I said? You were in an accident and I am not talking about your little shaving accident.”
Gabriel
eyes my neck and looks at it with wonder.

“You’re acting more strangely than usual. Well, change can be good. Moving on! Let’s start off small and work our way up. You see, there are two types of souls that exist here: a lost soul and a soul survivor. A lost soul is someone who has given up on life. A soul survivor is someone willing to fight for their second chance on life. But you still haven’t decided which one you are. You see, to be either, you must be half dead, which, I’m sorry to say, you are.”

I can’t believe what he is saying. I stand up about to walk away when Gabriel magically appears in front of me.

How did he do that?

“You’re neither asleep nor dead. Merely a hollow shell of a man. Do you get it now? That’s right, my boy, you’re a comatose patient at St. Vincent’s Hospital, room 505, where you’re fed through a tube. We have one week from today to get you back together again. Meaning your mind, body, and soul.”

I deliberately don’t react, not knowing what he would do if I decide to make a run for it. I hear Gabriel scream from behind me, “You have eight days!”

I stop.

“Eight days! Eight hours to be exact till your life plug gets officially pulled. In the final minutes leading up to that eighth hour it can either be your rapture or your despair, depending on what you do at this very moment.”

I turn to look at him, worried at the thought. I take a couple steps towards him, letting him know to continue talking.

“As I was trying to say before you rudely made a scene. We’ll get to how you got here at a later date. Let me try and explain what this place is, though.”

Gabriel takes out an already unwrapped candy bar from his coat pocket and bites into it.

“My personal attempt of describing said place would be stating that it’s a soul made reality inside the mental workplace of the mind. Its purpose and functionality is to give a soul the opportunity to earn a second chance at life by testing their willingness to survive. So in short, everything you have experienced, encountered, or witnessed in these last couple of days…well it’s all in your mind.”

Hearing those words again send a tremble down my spine. I continue to listen, just to find a way to get back to the elevator.
Gabriel
goes over to the rooftop ledge, reaches his fingers out, and curves them back towards him, as if holding on to something. Something I cannot see.

“Though now you’re wondering who I might be. Let me oblige you then. Let me reintroduce myself. ‘And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord,”
he
recites. “And the angel said unto him, I am
Gabriel
, that stands in the presence of God, and I am sent to speak unto thee, and to show thee these glad tidings.’”

Gabriel grins, licking his lips, moving his tongue around his mouth to check for any pieces of food and then swallowing. He takes his used gum out of the Tredstones wrapper and puts it back into his mouth.”

I just keep looking at him confused, not understanding what he is talking about. I look back to the elevator waiting for it to come back up.

Frustrated Gabriel yells. “I am Gabriel! THE Gabriel, God’s holy messenger. Ring any bells?! Why did the reapers have to go and erase ALL your memories? They could have at least left the ones from this soul-made reality world so we wouldn’t have to re-teach you everything again for the billionth time!”

This can’t be true
, I think. Angels aren’t real.

Gabriel calms down and says, “That’s right, my boy, you are standing, or I guess sitting, in front of a pure blooded Archangel. We are super fast, super smart, and we know a few things about karate. So don’t try anything foolish.”
Gabriel
does a few karate hand motions.

He is just as nuts as all the other people I met today.
Gabriel
immediately stops what he’s doing after he sees the confused look on my face.

“I know the clothes and the no-wings kind of throws you off. We would have told you the truth about us from the get-go but all the times, before this day, when we did tell you, it never turned out well. We have been trying this new approach of easing you in to all of this one day at a time. Each day we break you, layer by layer, till you can think straight again. We have almost got it down to a science. It has been working much better, considering. Still needs some kinks to adjust, ergo why you are still here right now. But, it’s true. You already met the other Archangels today. They’ll each visit you again in the eight days you have remaining. I even made you a calendar!”

Gabriel
reaches into his jacket and takes out a calendar. He opens it and places it on the table in front of me.

“
Michael
will give you a lesson on emotional therapy on Sunday,
Gabriel
—that’s me—will be breaking the barrier to your mind in human studies on Monday,
Raphael
will build your courage as your physical instructor on Tuesday,” he says.

This guy is crazy
, I think. I need to leave now while he is distracted. I push the calendar across the table toward Gabriel and try to make a run for it.
Gabriel
quickly is back in front of me.

“Now, where were we? Uriel will tackle human anatomy on Wednesday and
Sealtiel will focus
on social behavior on Thursday. And then there is J
ehudiel
’s lazy butt, he will try to be presentable on Friday for your ethics in art class. Finally,
Barachiel will be your study buddy on Saturday before the Final test on Sunday.
Each Angel demonstrates a different trait that will be handy to your survival and memory loss.”

As soon as Gabriel finishes, I swiftly run around him. This time
I make it
toward the elevator. The doors open as I approach.

“We are here to detox your soul!” he shouts just before I board.
Gabriel
suddenly appears in front of the elevator doors, grabs on to me, and drags me to the edge of the rooftop. I try to scream but I can’t. Gabriel says with a calmer voice, “We are here to help you.”

“I’m afraid I’m going to need your full attention after all.” I look over the edge and imagine what my body will look like after it hits the pavement below. I begin to squirm to try and get free.

“Listen damn you! This is our last attempt to help you out. Do you understand me?! You only have eight days left! Or else!”

I stop squirming as Gabriel takes off his sunglasses and shows me his glaring green eyes. “Or else you are stuck here forever. In eight days, next Sunday, the day of the Sabbath, your life support gets pulled, your heart pumps to its last beat, pushing up daises, biting the dust, to give up the ghost, and my personal favorite, to cash in one’s chips. Do you feel me? No more redo’s. No more retrying. No more restarts.” He gets really serious as he concludes, “This is your last chance to live and time is not on our side.”

I start to panic, not wanting to believe what he is saying is true. I try to get loose again. Gabriel tightens his hold on me.

“Wait! Did you say something?” Gabriel taunts me, knowing full well I cannot speak. He looks at me, waiting for an answer.

“Oh, okay, never mind.” Gabriel smiles and promptly pushes me off the rooftop. I try to scream, terror shaking me to my core as I fall quickly toward the street. As my body strikes the pavement, my
watch
beeps.

55 Minutes

For some reason I am not hurt. Just like when the car hit me. I check my body, but nothing is broken or even cut. I look up, bewildered, and see Gabriel standing right beside me. A coldness spreads around me as he looks far into the distance to see something coming.

“Feeling numb? Out of breath? Like you’ve been dropped from the Titanic into the North Atlantic? That’s what they do when they’re close. They make you feel it. This isn’t one of your silly nightmares; this is what’s real coming for you right now. This isn’t fire breathing fiction I am spreading to you. This is cold-hearted truth and their truth will not set you free.”

Oddly, it begins to snow around Gabriel and me. We soon can see each other’s breath in the cold air. I hear a screeching noise somewhere behind me and I turn to look, seeing black, hooded creatures, vaguely human in shape, their faces obscured in darkness. They float above the street, moving rapidly toward the two of us.

The hell is that!
, I think, disbelieving but yet horrified. I see that everything the creatures move past becomes covered in frost.

Gabriel looks to me and says, “You not being where you need to be at this certain time forces them to correct the situation at hand. Meaning they are on their way here to snatch you and your memories away. Poof! Like everything you just learned today never happened.”

I freeze, too scared to move.
Gabriel
tries to pull me up, but I have turned rigid and unyielding.