7000 Scales

      As the water filled my lungs, my vision blurred to black. Peace at last. I closed my eyes and waited for death. It wasn't nearly as awful as people had described. The water was like a comforting blanket, and the weights that had crushed me throughout my life were finally light; buoyant even, as if they didn't even have an effect on me anymore. I let go of the last breath I held instinctively. The last thing I remember was landing softly on the lake bottom.

When I opened my eyes next, I was surrounded by whiteness. Where am I? This didn't look like any hospital I had seen. But where else could it be? I sat up and looked around. Grand golden gates lay open to my left. They sat upon pearly white clouds. Wait. Clouds?

I scrambled to my feet. What kind of place is this? Suddenly, a robed figure ascended out of the clouds at my feet. I stumbled back in surprise. The figure shone so white it was blinding. I shielded my eyes, not able to look away from the magnificence.

“Welcome to heaven,” the figure said in an angelic voice.

Heaven? There must be some mistake. There's no way I could have made it to heaven. I've never done anything particularly noble in my life. I was just a nobody - a grey nobody drifting around in the background, overlooked by everyone.

The brightness around the figure dissipated, and I lowered my hand. That's when I realized the figure was the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes on. Her brunette hair flowed freely as if there were air currents created just for the gentle flow of her hair. Her sapphire blue eyes shone with kindness I had never experienced before. She reached out her hand, and I stepped toward her, mesmerized.

“Oh, poor child,” she soothed, wrapping her arm around me comfortingly. “You must be so confused.”

I nodded absently as she led me closer to the gates. But the closer I got, the more the haze left my mind. I shook my head, stopping dead in my tracks. The angelic woman turned back toward me, her arm falling back to her side.

“Why do you stop?” she asked.

Shaking my head slowly, still not understanding, I answered, “How am I here?”

“You died,” she replied softly, as if I wasn't aware of the fact.

“I know that,” I said, my eyebrows scrunching. “But how did I end up here? In heaven. I'm nothing. Nobody. I've done nothing to earn this reward.”

“And where did you think you'd end up?” She asked curiously.

I shrugged. “I don't know. Limbo? I'm not even sure I believe in heaven and hell…” My voice trailed off as I took in my surroundings again. “Then again, I guess I have to believe now.”

The woman held out her hand to me again, a sympathetic smile on her face. “Let me show you why you're here.”

Why not? I still didn't believe I was supposed to be here, but what would it hurt to follow her? I took her hand, and she led me through the Golden Gates.

My surroundings suddenly changed. I was no longer in a vast field of clouds, but a room filled with old-fashioned scales - the same kind Lady Justice held in her mighty hand. Each of them was tipped one way or the other.

“What is this?” I asked, walking toward one, subconsciously drawn towards it.

“These,” she gestured to the many scales, ”are the scales of fate you have tipped. Each one represents somebody you touched with your actions in life. All of these are the ones you changed for the better.”

I stared at them all in awe, and my eyes landed back on the one right in front of me. I stood not even a foot from it now, and a mist appeared on the higher side of the scale. I squinted, and the picture within the mist cleared.

A familiar place appeared before me—a road I had traveled on time and time again. I waved and smiled at the stranger as I walked past. But instead of following me, the picture followed the stranger. He stood motionless, a single tear in his eye.

“Your small act of kindness saved this young man's life,” the angel whispered, coming up beside me. “He had been on his way to the bridge down the road. Instead, your kindness lit a ray of hope he had lost.”

“You mean, I made a difference?” I asked in awe, unable to comprehend that I had actually done some good in my life. I wasn't a grey nothing to that man—I was his savior. And I hadn't even known it.

My eyes filled with tears, blurring my vision as I surveyed the many scales, each one representing a life I touched. I walked among them, wondering how many there were.

“Seven thousand,” the woman said.

“What?” I replied, whipping around to face her.

“There are seven thousand scales.”

Seven thousand? There was no way. I couldn't have made a difference to seven thousand people. I didn't even know that many.

“When your acts create a ripple effect on others, more scales appear,” she explained. “For example, since you saved this young man, he turned his life around. He reconnected with family and friends waiting for him to return to them. So, by saving him, you touched all of their lives as well.”

My chest burned as if my heart itself was melting. The tears I had finally rid myself of returned, streaming down my face. I had done so much more than I thought I ever had. I had made a difference.

But then the tears magnified for a different purpose, causing my shoulders to quake with sobs. If only I had known all this before. I wouldn't have found myself at the bottom of the lake. I would have gone on to improve the lives of even more people. Maybe I could have even changed the world for the better.

The angelic hand gently rested on my shoulder, and I slowly looked over to it, sniffling. A sympathetic smile met my sorrowful gaze.

“It may be too late now,” she said in a comforting voice, “but now you get to rest. You've been through so much yourself, and you deserve your own happiness.”

Gradually, a smile spread across my face, accompanied by a nod. I was so incredibly tired. “Show me the way,” I whispered, unable to get my voice to work, blinking away the rest of my tears.

She nodded and led me through the hallway of scales and into a beautiful green valley. “Welcome to heaven,” she said yet again. “Welcome home.”