One Stop at the Station

One Stop at the Station

"Bienvenue. S’il vous plaît allongez-vous et relaxez-vous."

Roger slowly opened his eyes. His vision cleared, but surprisingly there was nothing to come into focus. It wasn’t dark, in fact, a pleasant glow emanated from literally everywhere; there just wasn’t anything to focus on. Shifting his eyes, first left, then right, he could detect nothing but the warm, soft glow, nothing beyond that, nothing but the light.

"Willkommen. Bitte Lehnen Sie sich zurück und entspannen."

There was the same voice, but a different language. Could that be German?

Roger felt like he was lying upon some sort of table or bed. It was hard to tell though, it too, was part of the same soft glow that was literally, everywhere.

"Benvenuti. Menzogna Si prega di ritornare e di relax."

There it was again, same voice, different language again. Italian? What the hell?

Animal grunts and growls, avian chirps and mechanical sounds; whirrs, clicks, and snuffles were abundant. Though not understanding them, Roger knew they too, were languages of a kind.

Yep, I am most certainly losing, or have lost, my mind!

"Welkom. Gelieve te blijven zitten en ontspannen."

What the devil is going on here?

Roger felt frustration creeping slowly through his mind. Shifting his eyes slowly from left to right once again, something else entered his mind.

Why the hell am I not afraid? Waking up in a strange place with a strange voice talking to me? Why am I not bolting upright in panic? Oh my God! I’m not bolting anything! Am I paralyzed?

"Tervetuloa. Ole hyvä ja makuulle takaisin ja rentoutua."

That voice! Where the heck is it coming from?

Slowly, Roger raised his right arm, then his left. Carefully, he wiggled his toes.

No, not paralyzed, just somehow completely and utterly relaxed.

Letting his arms drift comfortably back to his sides, Roger concentrated a moment and with no great difficulty, sat upright.

"Witamy. Prosimy o klamstwie, powrót i relaksu."

There it was again, a voice, coming from nowhere and yet, everywhere. What the hell is going on?

"Bem-vindo. Favor voltar mentira e relaxar."

Okay, this is getting just too damned weird!

Moving his head slowly, Roger looked to the left and then to the right. He spoke softly. “Hello? Who are you? Where am I?”

“Ahhh, Mr. Waldren. You are awake now? Welcome. Please lie back and relax.”

That same voice? Perfect English?

“You didn’t answer me. Who are you and where am I?” Roger felt again a small sense of irritation run through his mind. Still, surprisingly, no panic though. In fact Roger couldn’t remember feeling so completely relaxed and so completely...

What? Well? Healthy? Shot through with a quiet, yet total, vitality? That is just too damn weird!

“In good time, Mr. Waldren, things will be explained. May I call you, Roger?”

“You can call me Holly Go-lightly for all I care. I just want to know what is going on. Where the hell am I? How did I get here? Who the fuck are you?”

“Now, Roger. There is no need for profanity and there is no need to feel distress. Everything will be explained in due time.”

Strangely, the voice sounded almost....

What? Amused? In control? Ominous? I don’t feel distress. Why the hell don’t I feel distress? Shouldn’t I be filled with panic? What the hell?

“Roger? Do you remember… before? Before you woke up here?”

Roger thought for a moment.

Hmmmm, before I woke up here? Where was I?....The hospital! I was lying in bed at the hospital, there were tubes and wires. Beeping sounds! The rustle and swish of people coming and going, Nurses? Doctors? I was in the hospital! I was dying! The more or less steady, beep-beep followed by a single tone, a long single tone. More swishing and rustling, more hurried, more rushed. The calm, but insistent, voices. The last words I heard were... “We’re losing him! Get that cart over here, stat! Where is that syringe? Hurry up, Betty! Hurr...”

Roger came out of his reverie and looked sharply upward, then side to side again, searching through the steady warm glow for something..., any...thing.

A face, a machine,... anything? Some...,thing?

“Am I dead? I’m dead? I died?” Though he felt he should rightfully be filled with panic, Roger's mind held nothing but sure steady calmness.

Why am I not filled with panic? My life was good, but my life was long, the last years a steady physical decline, lots of doctors, lots of hospitals. Was that it? Is that why?

Tilting his head back, Roger looked into the glow. That incredible, warm... glow. “So, I’m dead? This is heaven? Or is it...?”

“Yes, Roger. Your time period in that life has ended. But no, this isn’t heaven, hell either. That is just a superstition, something your kind needed to sustain you through your earthly life period. You are at the..., station, I guess would be the easiest way to explain it. A Way Station if you will; the beginning of what is to come after.”

“You’re bull shitting me? Right? This is some kind of a joke?” Roger willed himself to smile, then to laugh out loud.

“No, Roger. It is quite true. Your time of being alive in that sense has come to its end. You must now begin preparation for the next.”

“The next?” Roger felt the need for some kind of fear, some kind of panic to fill his body. Something to fight against, something to hold onto.

Something! Anything!

But no, just the steady calm, the warm glow surrounding him, the warm and calm voice talking to him and the utter, what should be totally, maddening ...calmness, filling his very being.

“What do you mean the next? The next what?”

“The next stage of your being, Roger. What you experienced on your planet, in your lifetime, was just a small part of what it means to be. There are many stages and many states of being. When your life ends, you come to a station and begin the next stage. When that stage has come to it’s end, you will then come to this or another station to begin another and when that one ends you will still yet again transcend. Simple, yes?”

“Simple, no!” Roger felt some kind of enormity engulf his very being, yet strangely steadied by the unending all encompassing calm.

Damn! I must be drugged! This can in no way be happening.

”I’d say, no. This is not possible, this is not...just not, in any way possible.”

“Oh, but it is possible, Roger. In fact this is not your first stop at a Way Station, nor will it be your last.”

“What do you mean not my first? I don’t remember any other lives, any other stations.”

“Of course you don’t, Roger. That wouldn’t make sense in the world, the life, which you experienced. After you leave here and begin your next, you won’t remember that life, that existence either. To do so would surely drive your consciousness insane. You existed then as Roger Waldren, a male human. What you experience in the next, may well be, most assuredly will be, something entirely different.”

“Okay now, you’re really just fucking with me, aren’t you?”

“Most definitely not, Roger. I am here only to make sure that you are comfortable and calm before you move on. In reality, Roger, I am not really “here” at all. Neither are you. Your body, all that was left of you, is still in that hospital where that body died. This is just a stream of consciousness, a Way Station of transference.”

“Huh?” Roger felt that he really needed to panic now, this was most definitely the time for all out panic, at least some kind of hysteria. All he really felt was all consuming calm.

‘Now, just lay back, Roger. Please lie back and relax. Before you know it you will be on your way.”

Despite any misgivings that should be setting off millions of stress and panic sensations, Roger did what he was asked. As he felt the last bit of objection and rejection of this crazy bit of business leave his mind, the steady glow that surrounded him,... became him.

The light steadied and grew brighter as it reached into the outermost edge of space and time.

A bright new star joins the heavens.