Stairway to Heaven

In Genesis, Jacob had a dream in which God revealed His angelic host going up and down a stairway from the earth to heaven. Did a world separate from man truly exist or was it simply the dream of man (said in the voice of an adult male)? In the bustling city of New York in a small apartment in the Bronx, a boy with brown skin and short curly hair is woken up by the sound of an alarm. He looked at his phone to realize that it was 10:00 am and that he should have been up by 8:00 to get ready for school. In a panic, the boy got up and ran to the bathroom to get ready. "I better hurry up the last thing I want is Mom to be mad at me again for being late," He thought to himself in a rush. Upon exiting his room he was greeted by a browned-skinned girl with long curly hair "Running late today again Kyle." "You're one to talk sis shouldn't you be at work today" said Kyle with a tired expression. "Today is my day off I'll be helping Mom with the store today which is something you haven't done in a while," she said to her brother, But before Kyle could get a word out a loud shout came from the kitchen "Kyle, Gabby I'll be leaving now so be there or be square!" a woman shouted. "Mom seems to be ready," said Gabby to her brother. Kyle in a frantic panic, ran to the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face and drew on any clothes he could find lying down in his room "Mom's going to kill me, mom's going to kill me" he said frantically while getting dressed. After getting dressed Kyle rushed to the kitchen to grab his breakfast and ran outside to the car barely catching his mother before she drove out. A woman with white skin and long brunette hair turned around to the back seat and said "Cutting it close to today again, aren't you?" "I'm sorry Mom I overslept it won't happen again," Kyle said to his mother with a sad expression. "Yeah right!", Gabby said with A sarcastic tone in her voice, "you said the same thing last week what did I tell you about false promises" said Kyle's mother with an angry expression on her face. "The next time you take too long to wake up the only place you'll be sleeping is outside," said Kyle's mother. Gabby started laughing uncontrollably at her brother's situation. Kyle processing his mother's statement decided to take his mind off of it by listening to some music. Upon finally arriving at Kyle's School Kyle's mother turned to him and said "Please come home early I don't like how late you came home lately especially with the recent criminal activity going on in our area." "don't worry about it Mom I'll come home as soon as possible," Kyle said with a smile on his face while stepping out of the car. "Love you," said Kyle's mother "Love you too Mom!" Kyle shouted while walking away from the car "What about mine!" said Gabby well trying to hold in her laughter, but Kyle kept walking away ignoring her. Upon entering school Kyle was surrounded by all the students getting ready to go to their first classes while he made his way to his locker he heard a familiar voice say "Look who made it early for once" Kyle looked to his right to see a short dark-skinned boy with medium length dreads and dark brown eyes "Josh I see that you are on my case early this morning as well" Kyle said to his friend "As well huh I guess your mom and sister gave you a real earful" Josh said while trying to hold back his smile "don't even get me started if I woke up a second later my mom might have killed me" said kyle with a dreadful expression on his face "well did you at least get Ms. Rose's homework done?" "Could this day get any worse?" Kyle said with a nervous tone "I'll take that as a no" said Josh what am I going to do said Kyle frantically trying to figure out what he should do. "To be honest, ain't nothing you can do but hope and pray," said Josh. A loud bell went off "Ding dong ding dong!" "well looks like it's about to start let's go," said Josh. "What am I going to do, what am I going to do, what am I going to do," Kyle thought obsessively to himself before entering the classroom "Maybe she'll forget about it," Kyle said with a hopeful face. Josh turned to him and said, "She never forgets." They both entered the classroom and took their seats next to each other in the right back corner of the classroom "For a class filled with 20 students Miss Rose's classes are always the quietest but I can't blame them the last thing I want is to get detention from her." said Josh with a soft tone. The classroom door opened and a short dark skin woman with straight black hair and wearing a gray teacher's uniform stepped into the class "I hope you all have my homework ready" she said with a serious tone in her voice. "Told you," said Josh. Kyle's heart sank to his stomach as he already knew what was to come. "After my class is finished please bring your assignments to the front of the class and put them on my desk." Ms. Rose began to teach her class on history "I always found history so boring and never understood why people found it so interesting" Kyle thought to himself. At the end of her lecture, the students walked up to her desk and put their homework on her table. Kyle out of fear of embarrassment decided to be the last one to walk up to put his work on her desk. "Mr. Abdelaal where is your work" Ms. Rose said with a serious tone "I'm really sorry but I forgot to do it," he said in a nervously awkward tone. "Mr. Abdelaal You do know what it means by not doing my work," said Ms. Rose with a serious tone in her voice "Miss I'm quite aware" Kyle responded sadly "You'll be staying back at the end of school for an hour and 30 minutes to do the work and of course, I'll be sitting in while you do it," Ms. Rose said, sustaining the serious look on her face "that is it you can leave for lunch." Kyle walked out of the classroom and after stepping through the door he let out a sigh "This is what I get for staying up so late playing games huh?" he said to himself out loud "Maybe next time you do the work instead of procrastinating it for a week" said Josh waiting at the door for him to come out "you know you could have reminded me" said Kyle frustrated "I could have but it wouldn't be as funny" Josh said with a smile on his face "yeah whatever let's hurry up and go eat lunch." While walking outside to the field to sit on the bleachers to eat the two boys see a small boy no taller than a five-four being taxed by some senior students for money. "The same as always huh the strong take from the weak" said Kyle with a serious tone "Don't talk as if you're some cartoon superhero it's just how things are it's not like we were raised in the best place anyways" said Josh "I get what you mean but it's not like we have to be the environment we were raised in," said Kyle "says the guy we can barely get out of his house" Josh replied with a condescending tone. After their meals, the two boys return to the school to continue the rest of their classes for the day the bell rings and they walk out to their last class. "Finally done for the day," Josh said with a tired tone in his voice "Must be nice," Kyle said with a hint of jealousy "It's not my fault you forgot to do your homework but hey good luck with detention" Josh said with a smile on his face while walking away "bye to you too!" Kyle said upset. Kyle returned to Ms. Rose's classroom greeted by Ms. Rose sitting at her desk marking last week's homework without saying a word. Kyle takes his seat and pulls out his book and pen and immediately starts writing the homework. After 10 minutes of silence "Has anything been bothering you" Ms. Rose asked Kyle. With a blank expression on his face while still writing his paper "No I've been good miss" Kyle responded while continuing to write "You were always an excellent student, on time at giving in work, attentive always interested in finding something new finding out the unknown what changed Kyle" Miss Rose asked with concern. Kyle took a moment to stop writing and to think about what happened for him to stop being interested in what was around him "Was it the games no, was it my sister that can't be it, It wasn't my mother's situation.' Kyle kept pondering in his head as to what changed with him to make everything around him so uninteresting as if it felt like something was missing from him from his life from the world around him. "Kyle, me and your mother have known each other for quite a long time I'm sure you're aware that the both of us went to University together to study history and archeology and I'm also quite aware of the situation your mother and your family are in," Ms. Rose said with a concerned tone in her voice. Kyle still sitting there in silence "Your mother no Rebecca was brilliant as much as I like to put forth my knowledge on things in history I can never be as tuned to it as her, She had a bright future ahead of her but just like you know things change when your father died." Ms. Rose said sadly. Kyle's eyes filled with sadness as if he never had the time to think much about his father in the time that's passed from his passing. "I know it can be hard to lose someone close to you, someone you love, someone you care for, it happens to all of us everyone grows old everyone will die eventually it is a part of life but while we might die our legacy our memories will live on in history and other people's hearts and our love one's minds as long as people exist that remember who you are, who you were, then you're never truly gone and that person too is never truly gone." "I want to see the Kyle that I knew back in freshman year who was bright, who was brilliant not the Kyle that barely had the will to even come to school." Kyle still sitting in silence "You can go home Kyle I would like my work by tomorrow Ms. Rose said with a stern tone of voice. Kyle with slight tears in his eyes grabs his bag and gets up out of the chair "Thank you Ms. Rose have a good rest of the day" and walks out of the classroom to go home. While walking home Kyle took the time to think about Ms. Rose's words "Maybe it's time I do move on and accept the loss of my father maybe it is time I move on." He took a deep breath I looked up to the sky and said to himself "Today is the last day with a new positive attitude in mind let's rush to get home as soon as possible to greet Mom and sis as the old Kyle I used to be." While running he got a call from his sister "Sis is calling me, Mom must be worried about why I'm still not back yet" Kyle said to himself. Upon answering the phone Kyle said "Don't worry sis I'm on my way tell Mom that I'll be there in about 30 minutes, I know I'm late but I'll explain everything" A faint but sad voice almost heard crying said "Kyle can you please come to the hospital it's mom something happened to her" Gabby said with sadness in her voice. Kyle with shock on his face immediately hung up the call and started running to a local hospital finally in the hospital he told the front desk his name and they sent him to where his mother was. He entered the room "Gabby what happened to Mom?" he asked with fear and anxiety in his eyes and voice "I don't know I left the store to go pick up some groceries for Mom and came back and saw her collapse on the floor" Gabby said while holding back her tears "what did the doctor say do they know what happened to her" Kyle said anxiously "they don't know they're still trying to figure it out, all they know is that she's in a coma and that's it" gabby responded. Kyle gritted his teeth and said "Why this? why do bad things always happen to us why can't we just have a normal life why, why!" Kyle thought with anger and frustration. A doctor stepped through the door "Ms. Abdelaal Could you please come fill in certain information so we can make the right arrangements for your mother?" said the doctor. Gabby wiped her tears "Give me a couple of minutes I'll be coming back soon watch over Mom for me" she said to Kyle as she stepped away to go with a doctor. The room was silent and all you could hear was the sound of a clock ticking Kyle sat in the chair with no thoughts all he could do was look at his mother and feel sadness and frustration. Suddenly the clock ticking stopped "Looks like the clock stopped working I guess what are you to expect from a crappy Hospital" he said to himself but an unfamiliar voice came out of nowhere "As much as I'd like to agree with you about the hospital the clock is not broken" as a bright light flashed in the hospital a man with goldish hair and full white clothes and bright white angle wings descended from the ceiling. Kyle in shock jumped out of his chair "What are you?" Kyle said nervously and scared what does it look like I am? I'm an angel he said with a condescending tone he concealed his wings and looked over at Kyle's mother. "You're an angel well if you are you should be able to heal my mother right aren't you all supposed to be holy protectors and messengers of God or something like that?" the angel looked to Kyle and said "I'm sorry but that's not how it works I can't just simply heal her because there's nothing physically wrong with her" "Then what is wrong with her why is my mother in coma," Kyle said frantically trying to find answers "Your mother's soul was taken" the angel said with a serious tone "taken are you kidding me, taking souls is that even possible" kyle said in disbelief "Your talking to angle right now and last time I checked humans can't Slow Time" the angel said. Kyle at first didn't realize it but time truly did slow down the clock didn't stop working it just slowed down. "Okay if my mother's Soul was taken how do I get it back" Kyle said eagerly "I'm glad you asked to get your mom's soul we'll have to retrieve the artifact that was used to take it you see your mother was in a possession of a very powerful ancient artifact that reverently speaking should not have been in the possession of humans in the first place but things get lost over time and it just happened to fall into your mothers hands unfortunately we found out too late of the position and somebody else took it and took her with it" the angel said "so this artifact where is it? is it anywhere in the Bronx area" Kyle asked "Unlikely no it's very far from the Bronx area to be precise It's actually in a place that you humans call Heaven" the angel said. "Heaven as in the place you go when you die," Kyle said in concern "Not the exact Heavens as you humans think of it as it's a lot different from what you think it is like," the angel said to Kyle "so how do we get there I don't have to die do I," Kyle asked the angle in fear "fortunately for you there's a way to get there it's called the stairway to heaven it's the one passageway between the Earthly Realm and the Heavenly Realm," the angel said to Kyle "okay so how do I get there how do I find this portal?" Kyle asked "I'll take you there but before I do is there anyone you want to talk to or anything you want to get," the angel asked "I do want to collect some things from my home do you mind if I go over there and collect them and then you take me there," Kyle said back to the Angel "alright!" the angel said to Kyle he put his right hand on Kyle's shoulder and both of them began to Glow in a golden hue a light flashed as bright as Lightning they suddenly apaired at Kyle's house "how did you? what when did we get here," Kyle said frantically in confusion "don't worry too much about it collect what you got to collect and let's get going" Kyle ran to his room grabbed his bag and put some books and clothes and other supplies that he could find around in his house. He stepped out to the angle he said okay I'm ready and they both proceeded to walk out of the house. Upon exiting the house by surprise, they were greeted by Josh standing outside the door. "Josh, what are you doing here" Kyle asked "My mom told me that something happened to your mother and I came by to check on you to see if you're okay also who's the tall blonde guy next to you?" Josh asked but before Kyle could say anything "I am an angel to be precise I am the angel Uriel" he said with a serious tone Josh with a blank look on his face "Are you being serious right now?" he said in this disbelief "Joshua Williams age 16 deeply afraid of water because he nearly drowned at the age of 11 while riding a kayak" Uriel said with a condescending tone "okay fine I believe you no need to bring up bad memories so you're an angel what is this have to do with Kyle's mother wait you didn't come to take her to you know Heaven did you she's not dead right?" Josh said frantically "No my mom isn't dead she's only in a coma which by the way I forgot to ask but is she going to be okay not have a soul?" Kyle asked with concern "She'll live but only for so long you see a human needs a soul without a soul they are nothing but an empty husk her body will still function but she won't be able to do anything because there's no one there to Pilot it" the angel explained thoroughly. "What do you mean her soul was taken just asked out of curiosity?" Josh asked "My mom's soul was taken and I'll be going with Uriel to a place he calls heaven to go collect my mom's soul and find whatever artifact they took from her" he explained quickly to Josh "This is too much for me to understand," Josh said in confusion "what about your sister are you just going to leave her and school you can't just drop everything and go to wherever you're going" Josh said out of worry "heaven we're going to heaven" Uriel said "I don't care what the place is I'm not letting my best friend go to a unknown place by himself." Josh said. "I'm sorry Josh but I have to do this I know it's dumb I know it's selfish but I can't leave Mom like that I just can't," Kyle said with determination in his voice "Let's get going," said Uriel the angel rested his hand on Kyle's shoulder and once again they disappeared upon opening his eyes Kyle saw he was at a rundown old abandoned building with the roof exposed to the sky "this is it," said Uriel "I don't see a staircase or any doors or portals," Kyle said "maybe we shouldn't trust this angel person after all," said behind them Kyle hearing a familiar voice turning around he realized it was Josh "what are you doing here how do did you even get here?" Kyle said out of worry "I grabbed the angel when I saw the bright light I thought whatever was going on I should at least follow along, so I decided that I'll be coming with you to this Heaven place he calls it" said Josh "I don't trust this Angel guy and I'm not leaving my best friend alone" Josh said with confidence and determination "I don't know is this going to be okay" Kyle said while looking at Uriel "it shouldn't cause any problems it might be for the better as I said before the heavens isn't really what you might think it is." "As for the staircase it's right in front of you," the angel said he reached out his hand and started saying words that neither Josh nor Kyle could recognize as a bright glow formed around him and the area "What is he saying," says Josh to Kyle "how should I know Ive never heard a language like this before" Kyle said in response after Uriel was finished chanting a white staircase leading up to a bright door going up to the sky formed this is The Stairway to Heaven.