In the Alley

    A blast of white light and excruciating pain following, I lay there, wanting the pain to stop, wanting to die. My body went numb or maybe I finally died. Maybe I left this cruel world of war and famine. I opened my eyes. I knew it was too good to be true. I imagined Heaven as bright and sunny. It was dark; dark and filthy.. If I didn't move soon, the rats would find me. They'd come with their dirty claws and beady little eyes. The rats, close to starving wouldn't wait until I was dead.. I'd be a feast.
    I yelled for help, but  no sound came out. Over and over I tried screaming and yelling. No sound came. I finally gave up and just layed there crying. Why did this happen to me?
    I was on my way to work. I cut through the alley to save time because I was late. I hated my job. Night shift at the gas station.. It wasn't the best part of town and there were a lot of creeps.. I'm sure most of them came just to look at me.. After all, I was a twenty-year-old woman all alone in the middle  of the night. Yes, I hated my job, but at lease I had one.
    "That seemed like a lifetime ago," I think as  I lay here in the dark. "A bomb... that must have been what the light was. How many people died in their sleep tonight?  Do I still have any friends out there?" I wondered.
    The pain started coming back. The pain was like nthing I've felt in my life.
Suddenly I saw a light. Some rats ran and hid under a dumpster. A man came around the corner. I called out again, hoping some sound would  come out. Nothing happened.
    The man came closer, and my heart dropped when I saw who it was. He was my high school sweetheart. His face was bloody.. One of his arms was gone. This once handsome man I loved with all my heart was terribly hurt. He tried saying something, but I couldn't hear him. It was then I realized I couldn't hear anything. I was deaf. I would never hear music again.. Never hear sweet words whispered to me.
    My sweetheart knelt down and took me in his arm and held me close. He was bleeding profusely from a gash across his temple and his dismembered arm. We sat there like that all through the night. The last thing he said to me was I love you. I read it on his lips.
    I awoke the next day with him by my side. We left the terrible world together. There was no one else I'd rather die side by side with. Let me tell you, Heaven is a wonderful place.