Levitating downwards into the heavenly apparition, I was confronted with a very different sight than Robbie's heaven. A marigold field stretched out for miles, as I landed in the centre of a knoll beneath a radiant white sky. An old oak tree grew from the centre of the hill, its spiralling branches curling and twisting around themselves, reaching for the stars. As I planted my feet firmly on the ground, leaves crumpled beneath my feet, and the scent of morning dew lingered on the air. It was a serene yet earthly world. Beneath the tree, sitting beneath one of the many stretching arms of that elderly oak, I could see a woman with cherry-blonde hair and ochre skin, wearing a denim jacket that draped into the leaf-litter. She was at least 30 or 35, maybe older, and wore an expression of wistful wisdom. She smiled.
"Are you here for me?" She asked. "Like an angel, or something?"
"I guess you could call me that, Andy," I replied. "My name is Malarie, and I've been watching over you for a long time."
The spiel got a little tired after a while. I guess it wasn't entirely inappropriate. I had technically been watching over her for a long time, and by "watching over her", I meant I'd viewed the highlight reel of her life - shortly before puking into a bucket like a kid who'd drunk a half-bottle of emetics.
"Hmm," she said. "It looks this is the end of the line then, isn't it?"
"It seems so," I replied.
As I wandered over, I picked up one of the fallen leaves. Staring down at the browned leaf, I could see the dark veins running through the leaf, like the crimson veins beneath human skin. They reminded me of my past. As I sat down against the tree next to the woman, I handed her the leaf.
"You know, each life is like a leaf, falling from a tree," I said. "Do you know much about nature, Andy?"
"I guess," Andy replied. "I know a little about it, but not too much. I just liked sitting under them."
"When a leaf falls to the ground, its story doesn't end," I began. "As animals wander across the fallen leaves, the leaf-litter is crushed - mixing in with the soil and ground. Slivers of fallen leaves sit beneath the soil, becoming part of it, making it more fertile. In a way, the dead leaves nurture new life as they leave their trees behind - becoming one with the soil, becoming one with the seed that germinates from it. In nature, no leaf ever dies... it's just part of a new life. Souls are the same."
Sitting beneath the canopy of the oak, a small leaf fell gently from the trees, landing on the surface of the leaf-litter before us. As it impacted with the leaves, it rested neatly on the surface of the ocean of leaves - little more than a speck amid that autumnal field, taking on its new life.
"I'm here to give you the opportunity to have a new life, to reincarnate into a new world," I said. "One that's right for you."
"Don't worry, you can save yourself the spiel. You seem like a good person, but I've lived long enough to know when a person's hiding behind flowery words," Andy replied. "That's why I like the outdoors, you know? There's no nonsense out here in nature."
Andy sighed as she stared up at the canopy of the tree, looking up through the branches, staring at the traces of sunlight seeping through the gaps in the leaves. Listening to the soughs of the wind against the rustling leaves, Andy looked blankly at the heaven around her for a moment - an optical illusion created to appear like some idyll simulacrum of her own personal paradise. Authentic or otherwise, nothing could detract from the bewitching enchantment of this place. Its artificiality could never strip it of its beauty.
"You're telling me I'm dead, aren't you?" Andy continued. "Sure, I'd be happy to take you up on that offer and create a new life, but... I only just managed to fix myself in the life that I had. I wanted to live a bit longer. I wanted to show the kids I raised that you can outrun your past, that you can change. I passed before I could show them that..."
"Sorry, but I can't return you to the life you had, I'm afraid," I stated. "I can't reincarnate you into the same world, and I can't reincarnate you as the same species. Those are the rules which we have to abide by."
"You say that like you've got some sort of boss breathing down your neck," Andy said.
"You're might be more right than you think," I answered.
Andy picked up one of the fallen leaves, as the sunshine passed overhead, the narrow beam of light shining down through the canopy as the sun rose through the sky. It illuminated us. As it did so, Andy held the leaf to the light, looking at it.
"I'm not keen to let my old life go," Andy replied. "I'm not sure if I'm keen to move on, either. This place is nice: it seems nice, anyway. I wish I could stay here for a while, and think it over. Throwing away everything you've ever known, only to start over again..."
She looked toward me as the sun began to fall, moving past the gap in the leaves. It begun to grow a little darker beneath the canopy again as the light faded.
"It isn't easy, you know?" Andy remarked.
"It isn't easy for any of us," I replied.
As we sat underneath the branches, staring out at the sea of leaves, I could see a rustling in them - as three small brown squirrels scurried from out of the depths, moving across the leaves, crunching them beneath their tiny feet. I watched as they ran off down the hill and through the field of marigolds, scurrying off into the hinterlands of the limitless fields. Andy smiled.
"I think though... I wouldn't mind living a simpler life, Malarie," Andy stated, as she looked out at the fields stretching out toward the horizon. "Living out here, in nature. I think that'd be nice. I could get used to that."
