HEAVEN KNOWS

Ada Pelonia

            “How long have you been here?” Beck asked the girl who sat beside him out of impulse and widened his eyes when he saw the girl raise her eyebrow at him.

            “Sorry,” he said and looked at the floor. The girl chuckled. She took out her phone – probably looked at the date he thought – and said, “Three weeks and counting.” Beck nodded as he pursed his lips, restraining himself from asking any more question.

            “How ‘bout you?” the girl asked. Beck excitedly took both his hands outside the pockets of his hospital gown and frowned, stopping.

            “I don’t really count.”

            Beck looked at the window where stars twinkled brightly in the sky. The bench had always been his favorite since it was placed in a corridor not many know of and what he could see from the window adjacent to it was picturesque – far from the gloom the hospital had always brought him.

            “I’m guessing you’ve been here longer than me.”

             He was cut off from thinking when the girl talked again. This was the longest conversation he had with a stranger, he thought.

            “Probably, yeah.”

            The girl tapped the cast on her arm, creating beats as if she were making rhythmic sound that had a beautiful harmony before stopping to take a deep breath.

            “What happened?” Beck tilted his head, looking at the cast.  

            “Got out of the concert hall after a short audition, enjoyed some booze with the band, drove drunk, and hit a trunk of a tree.”

            “Shit.”

            The girl looked at him and laughed.

            “Yeah, shit. It was the worst. I thought I was going to die.” She held her cast again and looked at the ceiling. Beck saw her eyelids flicker.

           “You’re afraid of dying?”

           She scooted away from him and held her chest, her eyes questioning.

          “Are you kidding me? Of course! Who knows what’ll happen after you die.”

           It was Beck’s turn to sigh. He stared at the stars in the sky from where he sat.

          “They say heaven knows.”

          “Oh, and you believe that?”

          Beck looked at his hands, “Yeah, I guess I still do.”

          The girl shrugged. “Your choice.”

         “Right.”

          She titled her head slightly as she looked at him, smiling.

         “But hey, I hope heaven really does know.”

          The girl’s phone buzzed – a notification popping out. She told him she was being beckoned by her mom. She stood and bade him good bye. He only smiled back.

         “I hope so too,” Beck told himself as he stood – his feet not touching the ground.