“Thank you, dear, I have to get going I am stopping by Nellie’s apartment on the way down, she said she might join me at church group tonight. I’ve been trying to get her to go, we’ll see.”
Momma walked over to the table and kissed both Onya and Sarah on the top of the head.
“I love you guys,” said Momma.
“Love you too Momma.”
“Love you nana!” said Sarah with a beaming smile and mustache of milk.
“Come lock the door behind me, dear,” said Momma.
Onya got up from the table and followed Momma to the door.
“Tell Nellie I said hi.”
“Of course.”
Onya locked the deadbolts behind her, then pulled on the door for good measure.
Momma walked down two flights of stairs and arrived at Nellie's apartment. She knocked on the door, Nellie opened the door.
“Hello dear. Please come in” Said Nellie.
Momma walked into the apartment which was identical in layout to her and Onya’s apartment. As she walked in she saw Ed, Nellie’s husband fully reclined in a big comfy chair. He looked asleep or maybe passed out as there was a bottle of whiskey on the table next to him and a short glass with just a bit of whiskey remaining.
“Well I just stopped by to see if you’d join me tonight at ladies church group?” said Momma.
Nellie paused, looked at Ed then looked back at Momma.
“You know, I really should stay. Tonight really isn’t a good night.”
Suddenly Ed piped up and spoke without moving his head or opening his eyes.
“Go ahead and go Nel, I’ll be fine.”
His speech was slurred and barely understandable. Momma knew what Nellie was dealing with.
“Oh I think I am going to pass this time, but wait, I did bake some cookies that I was going to bring, please take them for the group,” said Nellie.
“Well, your cookies smell great, but I’ll only take them if you promise to join Norma and me for tea or coffee tomorrow morning at my place,” Momma insisted.
“That sounds great, it’s a deal, I promise.”
“Great let’s say around 9:30 or so, I have to drop Sarah off at school in the morning.”
“How is the little angel?”
“Full of energy as always,” said, Momma.
Both Momma and Nellie walked to the door. Nellie opened the door, as Momma walked out, they exchanged smiles.
“See you in the morning,” said Nellie.
Onya and Sarah had completed the few remaining bites of dinner. Onya washed off their plates of any remaining food and placed the dishes in the sink. As she turned back to the living room, Sarah had already picked a book and was on the couch ready for Onya to join her. Sitting with her legs crisscrossed, Sarah looked at Onya with the book held up to her chest, the cover facing Onya. Sarah’s big grin melted Onya.
“What are we reading tonight, munchkin?”
“Noah Saves the Animals!”
“Sounds great. Can mommy lay down?”
Sarah jumped off the couch as Onya walked toward the couch. Onya noticed her Biology book on the old coffee table near the couch. She knew she’d have to devote some time to that after getting Sarah to bed, but right now nothing would get in the way of her time with Sarah. Onya propped up a pillow on the side arm of the couch and laid down, her head slightly elevated.
“Okay, mommy’s ready.”
Sarah jumped on top of Onya laying on her chest face down. Her head lay on Onya’s shoulder with both arms and legs wrapped around Onya’s body. Sarah gave Onya a body hug with both arms and legs. Onya rubbed Sarah’s back then moved to her side, using her fingernails as she tickled Sarah’s side. Sarah began to wiggle.
“Mommy! That Tickles!”
Onya laughed then wrapped both arms around Sarah and squeezed hard.
Onya whispered into Sarah’s ear, “I love you munchkin.”
“I love you too mommy, now will you read my book?”
Momma had made it down to the second floor. As she reached the stair landing between the floors, two young boys came storming up the stairs like balls of fire. The boys, about 12-13 years old lived on the top floor and could run from the first floor to the seventh floor in under a minute while making enough noise to wake up everyone on the way.
“Boys you stop right there!” Momma said with a commanding voice and scowl on her face. The boys stopped in their tracks. Although a little wild, the boys were always respectful.
“Yes, ma’am?” The boys said as they stood straight with their heads slightly bowed, knowing they were in trouble for running and making so much noise.
“I have something for you young men.”
The boys were sure they were in for a talking to, or maybe worse. Momma paused for at least 10 seconds staring at them with her best poker face. The boys couldn’t maintain eye contact, it was too uncomfortable. Their eyes wandered about the place. Just when uncomfortableness reached unbearable levels, Momma reached into the bag she was holding. She pushed the napkins to the side that lay on top of the warm cookies. She pulled out two cookies. As soon as boys saw the cookies, they looked at each other and smiled. Momma handed one of the cookies to one of the boys. He immediately tried to take a bite, but Momma stopped him.
“Wait!” She said.
The boy stopped and pulled the cookie away from his mouth as Momma handed the other cookie to the other boy.
“Thank you ma’am!” both boys said.
“I want you boys to do something for me, okay?”
The boys were sure it would be instructions to walk and not run and to be quiet. Instead, Momma reached into the bag again and took two cookies and wrapped them in a napkin. She took the napkin and handed it to one of the boys.
“On your way up I want you to deliver this to apartment 611,” said, Momma.
The boys’ enthusiasm deflated. Any joy or satisfaction that these warm cookies were going to offer the boys suddenly seemed not worth it. Both boys considered giving the cookies back instead of making this terrifying delivery.
“Ma’am, that is Mr. Sid’s place, he’s mean!” Said one of the boys.
“And scary!” Said the other boy.
“Here’s what I want you to do. Set the cookies on the napkin in front of the door. Then pound on that door really hard and run off!”
Suddenly, the boys went from being in trouble to getting warm cookies and now being told by an adult to play doorbell ditch. It couldn’t get any better. The boys looked at each other and smiled.
“Yes ma’am!” the boys said.
“Now off you go, and don’t walk, run, we don’t want those cookies getting cold.”
"Thank you, ma’am!” The boys took their first bites of the cookies and bolted off up the stairs. Momma closed the bag and continued her descent down the stairs.
Onya reached over and took the book off the coffee table. She held it up with one arm over Sarah’s back. Sarah couldn’t see the book or pictures as she was lying face down on Onya’s chest. It didn’t matter, both Sarah and Onya knew all of the books by heart. Onya would usually just put the book down after the first couple of pages and recite the rest by heart until Sarah fell asleep.
Before Onya could read the first sentence of the book, a slight rumbling noise started to emanate from the building. The building always had noises from the elevator, the train behind the building, and of course the plumbing, but this was different. It was a noise neither Onya, or Sarah had ever heard before, and they could not pinpoint where it was coming from. Onya set the book back down on the coffee table. She wrapped both arms around Sarah. She could tell Sarah was scared, Sarah squeezed Onya with all her strength.
The rumbling noise became stronger. A vibration now accompanied the noise, and the building began to shake. Onya considered getting up to leave the building but didn’t think her and Sarah could make it out before whatever was happening either caused the building to collapse or simply passed.
“Mommy!” Sarah said with panic.
“It’s okay honey, it’s a plane or train,” she whispered to Sarah while squeezing her tight.
Onya thought it might be an earthquake, but she had never felt one, so had nothing to compare it too. The shaking and rumbling became more intense. A picture of her father fell from the wall cracking the glass. She began to hear things from the apartment above her fall on the floor. She heard Sid yelling at Nancy.
“Let’s get the hell out of here!”
Onya became scared and began to rise up to take herself and Sarah out, hoping she could make it down the five floors. The lights began to flicker then went out. Onya was now scared that there was no way she and Sarah could make it down the stairs in the dark. She laid back down with Sarah on her chest and embraced Sarah.
In an instant, the shaking and noise stopped. The room was dark and became completely silent. There was not a single sound, no screaming or noises of people trying to evacuate down the stairs, nothing. Onya could feel Sarah’s heart beating intensely against her chest, her breathing was fast. Sarah was squeezing Onya tighter than ever.
“It’s okay honey, it stopped,” Onya whispered to Sarah.
“I’m scared.”
“Mommy’s got you. Let’s say a little prayer together.”
“Dear heavenly father please watch over Momma, Onya and Sarah. Please keep us safe and be with us – Amen.”
“Amen,” whispered Sarah.
Momma was three stairs up from the bottom of the first floor just as the building had begun to shake. She stopped in her tracks waiting and thinking. Momma was less scared of the elevators than Onya and would normally take the elevator up, but always took the stairs down. There was no way she could take the stairs back up quickly enough to get to Onya and Sarah. She thought it best to wait for Sarah and Onya to come down the stairs.
Onya and Sarah laid on the couch. After several seconds Sarah’s hold on Onya became weaker, she was relaxing and calming down. The room was pitch black and completely silent. Onya was trying to remember where they had a flashlight or candle she could light.
Several more seconds passed. Onya began to feel a warmth coming from below her as if she were laying on a heated bed or electric blanket. The warmth was comforting. At the same time, the room became noticeably colder, so cold that she could now see her breath. Sarah noticed and squeezed Onya as if to squeeze the warmth from her mother into herself. Onya noticed the warmth began to penetrate her body from below, moving through her. The warmth was more intense in her midsection but began to spread toward her feet and head while at the same time warming the core of her body. Onya never experienced anything like this. She should be scared, but fear was not present.
“Mommy? I feel something,” said Sarah.
Onya whispered softly to Sarah. “Shh… Quiet my love, just take a deep breath.”
As the warmth completely engulfed her body a white translucent sphere of light began to appear, rising from Sarah’s back. It was larger in diameter than their couch, big enough to enclose a small car. It continued to rise completely engulfing both Onya and Sarah until they were in the center of the sphere, then stopped. Part of the top of the sphere touched and passed through the ceiling while a large portion passed through the floor. The sphere was suspended in the building, encapsulating Onya and Sarah as if they were in a cocoon.
Sarah’s breathing slowed, and her heart began beating slower, she was completely relaxed. Onya could see out of the sphere into her apartment, she noticed that for as intense as the light was inside the sphere, the apartment was only dimly lit. She noticed frost forming on the windows. Onya had no interest spending any more time looking outside of the sphere, that seemed like a different world now. She contemplated that she had died or was dying. She didn’t care, as this place was nothing but pure peace and love.
Although it seemed impossible to Onya, the light became even brighter and more intense, so bright that she could no longer see outside the sphere. When this occurred Onya and Sarah became aware of a deeper love. The love they shared for each other was completely revealed to both of them. Both Onya and Sarah could now communicate without speaking as if they were connected. They were connected to each other, and every soul here as well. They shared the feeling of joy and happiness with the others. There was no need for Onya or Sarah to say they loved each other, this place was love, and they were engulfed in infinite love. Onya didn’t need to comfort Sarah, because fear did not exist in this place. All sense of time was lost, and Onya knew this light and peace had existed for an eternity. Onya felt that this place was home like she had been here forever. Yet she remembered the life she had lived and the pain and suffering that existed before. The length of that life was like a single grain of sand on an infinite beach. That life seemed like an eternity ago. She thanked God for the gift of her life and how by living that life she could fully appreciate this place and the comfort and peace here. At the same time, she saw the world as a place of pain and suffering. A world where man had put the interest of himself over others and God. She saw many souls trying to find peace on earth and the pain of others.
Momma took the remaining three steps to reach the bottom floor. The glass door at the front of the building, only steps away, separated her from the safety of the outside and the confines of the building. A man approached from the outside to enter the building. He grabbed the door handle, feeling the vibration he immediately stopped and let go. He made eye contact with Momma standing at the bottom of the stairs then motioned for her to come outside to escape the danger of the building. Momma dropped the bag of cookies she was holding and stayed planted where she was. She smiled at the man while a white light began to engulf her. The man took several steps back. Her eyes broke contact with the man as she gazed upward, she lifted both hands out as if to welcome someone she had not seen for an eternity.
Onya began to see two figures in the light, dark silhouettes against the intense, pure white light. Momma’s short stature and portly outline were unmistakable to her. Momma was holding the hand of a young girl with a ponytail, Sarah. Momma’s other hand was held out to welcome another who’s figure approached Momma from what seemed to be from behind Onya. Momma embraced her hand, and the three turned and walked into the light. As they became smaller the light engulfed them until they were no longer visible. Onya felt peace and joy.
Then, darkness.
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