I fluttered my eyelids open, a bright light blinded my sight. Before I could perceive what stood before me, a few dozen colorful lights danced chaotically, and when I finally escaped from the blast, I could see where I was. It was the road to infinity. This was the life after death, more commonly known as 'paradise'. I was standing on the path taken by souls who have died, we may choose whether or not to be born once again into the world. If we didn't choose to breathe again, then we could rest in silence for the rest of eternity.

A man stood in front of me, His eyes blazing like stars and his body glazing like the cosmos itself. Was this man, the universe? Was this man, the God I worshipped before death? To me, a stranger was what He is. A stranger who was way too familiar, and yet I had never laid my eyes on Him as far as I could remember. I took a moment to acknowledge my location before speaking to the Man before me; I wouldn't be here forever, so I might as well take a look around before I go back down there to live my second life. Both above and below, and all around me were stars and the endless depth of the universe, and nothing else. It was a breathtaking view.

'You had lived your life in sin,' the Man said. 

I turned my head towards Him as soon as I heard His voice, 'and you will proceed to sin. A life is not a life if it is not filled with sin, and therefore if you choose to live again then you choose to sin in another lifetime.'

I had little idea of what He was saying, but I thought He meant to say that I had sinned many times, and if I chose to live again then I would sin again. If I died, then I would be redeemed from all mistakes and I would have forever and until the end of time to rest. I would be free from the name of sin, and that was the path I should take. But the path of sin called me louder than the path of freedom, and so I would answer to the path of deceit. The world is cruel and it would rip me to shreds, bear its fangs into my bones, and feast into my flesh. The world was cruel but it loved me. The love of the world would come in many forms, and I was willing to die a second time to embrace its warmth one more time.

This was the end of my last story and this would be the beginning of my new one. 

'I know,' I replied to the Man, 'but it's not just going to be a sin that I bury myself in.'

I proceeded past the Man and onto the forbidden road, and He watched as I started my next 'once upon a time'. I feel that He's going to wait until my 'happily ever after' too, and I hope He will be here to welcome me when I'm ready to close my eyes for the rest of eternity.

By: Josephine Confido, Secondary 2 Integrity