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arms would not respond. Suddenly, the wind increased again and pulled
her away from the old maple tree, and she tried to resist, but the wind
was stronger. It pulled and crushed her at the same time. The maple
tree vanished and she sensed being pulled downward at tremendous
speed. A tiny flickering orange light appeared below her and slowly
became larger and brighter. The light reflected off the walls of a dark
tunnel covered in stringy, translucent arms that whipped out towards
her as she descended. She lunged toward the wall and stretched her
arms out as far as she could to stop her falling, but she couldn t reach the
wall. As she moved closer to the glowing orange light, she could feel the
heat and her skin beginning to burn. At first, the pain was like severe
sunburn, but as she was thrust closer, the burning increased. The pain
became unbearable and there was no escape. Then she stopped moving
and found herself standing on a rim of a pool of red-hot molten liquid.
Several beings oozed out of the hot liquid - they were black and
resembled human forms, but changed shape constantly as their skin
blistered and oozed, reformed, and deformed. Their large bulbous eyes
were filled with pain and horror. The figures floated out of the red-hot
pool and landed next to her. They stood on each side of her on the
narrow rim that resembled a slate walk. She was trapped, she thought. If
she stepped forward or back, she would fall into the molten liquid. One
figure reached out and touched her arm. Mary jumped back and
screamed. Her arm began to blister and burn. The being on the other
side touched her shoulder, and it turned black, collapsed and reformed
200 Absence of Faith
again disfigured. Suddenly, the pain stopped and her arm and shoulder
went back into its original shape. The beings vanished and a bright,
brilliant light shown overhead. The light was the size of a man and its
shape changed constantly. The light communicated to her, not with
words or sounds, but with thoughts.
"Come," it said.
Mary reached up toward the light and was lifted upward. The pain
and heat vanished and she felt a tremendous amount of love coming
from the light - an unconditional love without judgment, without
boundaries; a love that transcended space and time and clearly extended
into infinity. A profound peace seeped into her and she felt that she had
arrived "home." The light brought her to a plush, pastoral field with
rolling hills of green grass and endless white roses spreading out into the
horizon. Mary breathed in the sweet scent of the roses and the hearty
smell of the fresh grass. She could hear birds singing in the distance, and
the rustling of tree leaves. She spotted a tiny valley shaded by two large
maple trees. Three small children played in the fresh grass with a small
rubber ball. The little girl looked up at Mary.
"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" the tiny girl shouted.
The two little boys looked up and shouted the same words. They all
began running towards Mary. Mary ran to them with outstretched arms.
She hugged them all. She had never felt such an intense love - the
emotion seemed to stream through her like water rushing over a
waterfall. She knew instantly that these were the children she had lost
to miscarriages over the years. If only Matthew hadn't been so stubborn
about that operation, she thought. He was sure it would have killed her,
but at least one of her children would have lived.
Mary looked up and saw Matthew stooping in front of one of the
trees. A woman dressed in a light cotton long-sleeved shirt and blue
jeans was curled up on a wooden bench. He was crying; she had never
seen him so sad, so emotional. His pain stabbed her like a knife. She
wanted to run to him, to hug him, to sooth his pain away. Instead, she
hugged the children again and experienced the profound love and
wisdom that she had sought all her life. She was finally at peace. A
being of light appeared from behind one of the trees and approached
Mary. The being was translucent and the light moved like smoke in
windless air. Mary jumped back remembering the clear arms in the
tunnel that burned her skin.
"Will you come now or later?" said a melodic voice from the light.
Anthony Samuel Policastro 201
Mary looked at the beautiful faces of her children and then at
Matthew's face covered with tears. Her house suddenly appeared in
front of her - movers were bringing in more antique pieces; then she was
hosting a dinner party with doctors from the hospital; she was
gardening; her and Matthew were on a trip to Italy - Matthew was the
key speaker at a convention in Naples; more dinner parties; a luncheon
with other doctor's wives - all in lonely, isolated silence. The scenes
rushed past her like a kaleidoscope of memories. Mary looked at the
children again - their wide, beautiful eyes beckoning her, their tiny
smiles giving her unimaginable joy.
"Now," she thought.
The light being became more brilliant and everything vanished
except the three children. They held each other's hands and walked into
the glorious light. Mary suddenly realized where she was. The part of
the world she had just left and the world she was in now were one. She
had an increased appreciation of life and death and a renewed purpose
of existence. She was more loving, more caring, and more
compassionate than she had ever been in life, and she had her three lost
children to share her feelings with for all eternity. All the pain and
discomforts from her life on the earth melted away into a peace she had
never experienced before. She came upon a profound wisdom that all of
the Earth and the universe were one; that time with its past, present and
future were merely an illusion because all events just exist - nothing
happens or occurs; that good and evil are also one because without evil
there is no good, and without good there is no evil, and that all forces in
space and time are in harmony with each other. She followed the light
being into eternity, her children beside her, her life fulfilled with the new
world ahead of her.
Frank Tessler - Chapter 33
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