Escalator to Heaven

Right in front of Turen reaching high up into the clouds out where no end could be seen indeed appeared an escalator.

"How does that even work?"

"Eve's magic"

"Right… yeah Rosa mentioned her. Isn't she like a god or…"

"Come on," the devil girl said taking Turen by the hand again and getting onto the escalator. Turen could feel a freeness in her spirit as she sat on the escalator's railing.

"Apparently before they built this thing, they had a boring stairway instead. A stairway to heaven. Can you believe that?! Who has time to walk that far? That's about as boring as that song they keep playing on TV here by what's that group, red zeppelins or whatever?"

"If there is a god of music please forgive this woman for her sinful opinions," Turen whispered grasping his hands together in prayer.

"Uhhhh what are you doing?"

"Nothing, nothing," Turen said separating his hands. He looked over the railing of the escalator where clouds seemed to go all the way down.

"Aren't you scared?" Turen asked looking over at Xing Yue uneasily on the railing

"No, why would I be?"

She leaned further down the railing.

"Wait no careful or you'll…"

Without warning, Xinghua threw herself off the escalator. Turen's heart stopped for a moment as he ran to the rails.

"XINGY… huh?"

"Bwahahaha your face hahahahaha."

To Turen's amazement, Xing Yue was floating in the air as if gravity had no effect at all. She had flown above Turen going along the escalator next to him.

"You… you can…"

"What, fly? Yeah, no shit silly. This is the afterlife, we're souls."

Turen was flustered looking at her giggling expression. Her emerald hair glistened beautifully contrasting with the clouds behind her.

"Oh yeah," Turen said looking away, "Right."

"Hey get down from there! This is a no-fly zone!"

Turen turned around to see on the other side of the escalator a scientist going downward on the escalator glaring at the devil girl.

"Urghhh…" Xing Yue replied begrudgingly getting down to stand next to Turen.

"Devils I swear…" Turen heard the scientist say under his breath as he passed by.

As they ascended the escalator and the scientist descended further down, Xing Yue turned around sticking her tongue out and making a dirty face at him.

"Ahaha right… so can everyone do that?"

"Do what?"

"This whole flying thing."

"What? Yeah of course. We're all souls"

"Uh-huh…"

Turen attempted to jump into the air but he immediately fell back down nearly tripping on the steps.

"Bwahahaha what are you doing?"

"Ummm… how exactly do you do this whole flying thing?"

"Hmmm, guess I never thought about it. It's just something I was able to do when I got here."

As if perfectly natural, Xing Yue's body levitated again into the air. Turen's body, however, appeared still heavy as a rock as he failed every attempt to do the same.

"Maybe you just need to imagine yourself flying." Xing Yue said getting next to Turen. "Look over the edge of the escalator. Imagine yourself out there like a bird. Flying free and doing loops amongst the clouds."

"Like a bird," Turen thought as he peaked over the edge. He couldn't see any traces of ground beneath him. Try as he might to imagine the freedom of being airborne, he couldn't help but feel terrified of the fall downward.

"Like a bird, like a bird," Turen said to himself as he flapped his arms, "I don't know Xing Yue, maybe for you, it's easy but…"

"Like a bird!"

"Wait no Xing Yue…"

Without warning, the devil girl gave Turen a hearty push off the escalator.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhHHHH"

Turen screamed as he began entering free fall.

"Huh… guess he really can't do it."

"What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck," Turen thought as he continued to fall.

"Oh god, I'm going to die I'm going to die. Wait but if I'm already dead how does that even work? Am I going to be the first person to die twice? Oh jeez, hopefully, this won't…"

"Gotcha!"

"Hurt?"

Turen looked up after a pair of toned hands grabbed under his arms. With no effort at all, Xing Yue lifted him into the air.

"Can you warn me before you do that next time?"

"Sorry," Xing Yue replied, "I've never met a soul that couldn't fly before."

As Xing Yue soared him through the air back towards the escalator, Turen got a good look at the surrounding landscape as the cool wind hit his body. It really would have been majestic if his heart wasn't still racing from the terrifying experience. Xing Yue eventually dropped them off at roughly the spot where Turen fell from.

"It's probably because I'm not actually dead yet." Turen said, "Am I even really a soul right now?"

"Who knows, maybe you're like a half soul."

"That's possible!?!?"

Turen looked upwards, where the escalator appeared to still have no end.

"So how long is this supposed to take? And for that matter, where is it we're going? I think Rosa said realm 2047 or something."

"2063 and about half an hour. Plenty of time to kill."

"Right…"

The two stood in silence again for a bit as 1000 questions raced through Turen's head. Of all the ways he imagined the afterlife to be like, this certainly was not one of them. What is Realm 2063 even going to look like? Is every realm like it? Maybe he'd even be able to see his dead grandpa again once he got there.

"So…" he said finally breaking the silence and looking at Xing Yue who had sat back on the railing. "What's it…

"It was a red taxi right?"

"Huh?"

Xing Yue continued to look in the distance.

"The taxi that hit you, it was a red taxi right?"

"I didn't get a good look by I think so. Aren't most taxis red in Beijing?"

"Yeah, that's true."

"What about you, how did…"

Xing Yue turned back to face Turen as he asked the question. Her pretty face made him blush again and look away.

"How did..."

"How did I die?"

Turen turned back to her and nodded. Xing Yue sighed.

"Sorry, I can't answer that like you did, it's not something I like talking about." She replied flashing Turen a weak smile. The two of them stayed silent again for a while as they continued up the escalator. A part of Turen's heart dropped as he looked at Xing Yue's expression. Her eyes especially showed only sorrow.

"Sorry, I asked." He finally said.

"No no, it's only fair you did right? How about this then."

She held up 1 finger.

"I'll give you one question IOU. The next time you have a question you want me to answer no matter what, I'll answer it, okay?"

"Uhhh… okay I'd like to use it then."

"Already? Okay, go ahead."

"What exactly is realm 2063 or any realm for that matter in heaven even like?"

She rolled her eyes.

"That doesn't count, I was going to answer that for you anyways."

"What? What's even the point of the IOU then?"

"I just don't want to feel indebted okay? Not that debt is even a concept here."

"They don't use money in heaven?"

"Nope. There is an unlimited resource for absolutely everything. All created by Eve."

"Even alcohol?"

"Yeah but, that's only available in hell, which is only open on weekends."

"What? How does that work?"

"Hell probably isn't what you're imagining. Were you religious?"

"Not particularly"

"But you have an image of what hell would look like right?"

"Sure, it's a place where people suffer after living sinful lives right?"

She shook her head.

"The truly sinful souls get reincarnated as bugs."

"Bugs!?!?"

"Yeah or bacteria, I mean all living things have souls."

"I guess that makes sense? What's hell like then?"

"The opposite of how it's depicted. It's a place to indulge in sin rather than punish you for it."

"Explain more,"

"So where we're going now right? One of the heavenly realms. You aren't allowed to sin. Or rather I suppose, you can't sin. Now Turen this is a warning, you are about to be punched in the stomach."

"Wha…."

**bam**

Following through with her warning, Xing Yue delivered a swift punch to Turen's stomach.

"I did give you a warning this time right?"

"Owwww what the heck why… wait."

Instinctually he had held onto his stomach. Turen soon realized, however…

"I… I didn't feel anything."

"Yeah, they sort of take away your nervous system here. You can't feel physical pain or pleasure. So no real point in committing violent crimes. You'll just end up being mildly annoying. Ah, but of course, that means we can't bang up in heaven either."

"I'm sorry?"

"Bang, screw, fuck, make love, sex, the language can't have changed that much in the 4 years I've been dead can it? Yeah, we can't do any of that there as much as I'd want to."

"Sorry!?!?!?" Turen turned away blushing intensely,

"Urgh…" Xing Yue rolled her eyes, "you a virgin?"

Turen nodded.

"No wonder. What did you even work as before coming here? Sex isn't that big of a deal you know. Not like you can reproduce here. It's just another form of pleasure."

"I… I was a writer,"

"You were unemployed?"

"No!" Turen shouted back, "I… I drove a taxi part-time too."

"Bwhahahaha of course."

She looked at him and smiled.

"You have a dream to write well then?"

"I mean… yeah I guess."

"Nothing to be shy about in my opinion. Having a dream is nice don't you think?"

She turned away as Turen saw her expression change.

"Even if they can never come true."

The two of them stayed there in silence for a while.

"Xing Yue…"

"Sorry sorry," she said, "I got a little off-topic, didn't I? What were we talking about before? Oh yeah, Hell. Yeah, that place is only open on weekends."

"So tomorrow?"

"Hmmm, yes actually. You want me to take your virginity there at a hotel?"

"Hu… huh!?!? What I…"

"Bwhahahaha your face," Xing Yue laughed as Turen turned away flustered again, "joking of course. And plus…"

This time it was the devil girl who turned away.

"You should save it for someone special… unlike me," she said under her breath.

"Sorry?"

"Nothing nothing, but yeah, you should come with me to hell tomorrow. It's an amazing place, hard for me to describe, you'll just have to see for yourself. And yes, they'll be plenty of alcohol."

"You only had to say that last part to be honest."

The clouds around them had begun to thin out a bit. As Turen looked up, he could finally see far in the distance what looked like a gigantic gate on top of a large platform.

"Is that…" Turen began pointing at where the escalator was headed.

"Yep, that's the pearly gates of realm 2063."

"Why does that sound like a game server…"

"A what now?"

"A game server. You know? Realm 2063 would be like one of many worlds in an MMORPG game."

Xing Yue shook her head.

"I've never played a computer game before."

Turen looked at her in amazement.

"What!?! How is that possible? You said you died 4 years ago. Surely you had a computer?"

Xing Yue sighed, "I did but it's complicated. Like I said, I don't like talking about my last life. Well not like computers matter here, they don't have that in the heavenly realms. No internet either in fact."

"What? How do you even survive? Is it a fantasy world where you can go on quests at least?"

Turen's face lit up in excitement as they approached closer and closer to the gates.

"Yeah no, if that were the case we wouldn't need hell."

"Then?"

"It's boring as fuck is what it is."

The two were only about 100 meters from the gate now as Turen's heart raced in anticipation.

"Well guess no real point in explaining. You'll see for yourself soon enough." Xing Yue said finally getting off the escalator's railing.