It was ironic, Jack thought as he lay in the hospital bed, that four months ago he had been given a life term. At 45 years of age, that would have translated into 30 or more years in prison. Now, it appeared that number would be more like four months.
He knew he had cancer when he abducted and raped Karen Anderson. And when he left the 18-year old tied to a tree deep in the forest, beaten and dying, he had planned on beating the disease. He had put up with the chemo, and the retching and vomiting that accompanied it, but upon his conviction he decided that the unpleasantness of the treatment wasn't worth it. He chuckled to himself, the laugh sounding like a death rattle as his fluid-filled lungs strained for air. Society had hoped to keep him in prison for a long time, but now he would be free shortly, dead but free.
He had the feeling someone was in the room with him and when he opened his eyes, he saw a young lady standing at the foot of his bed. Very nice, he thought to himself. The girl, not more than 20, was dressed in a somewhat conservative dress and had long, blonde hair. He thought for a minute what it would be like fucking her. He always liked the young ones.
"What do you want?" he asked/coughed.
The young lady smiled at him. "I'm here to get you," she replied.
"Where am I going?" Jack asked. He wasn't scheduled for anything. In fact, the morgue would probably be his next stop.
"You're going to heaven, Jack," the young lady replied. "I'm here to take you."
"You're taking me to heaven? Jack asked. "What are you, an angel or something?"
"That's right," she replied.
"Where are your wings, angel?"
"Common misconception," the angel answered as she walked to the side of Jack's bed. "We appear in a form that is most similar to the beings we are bringing to heaven. For people, it is the human form, without wings of course since there aren't any humans with wings. For animals, we take their form. For beings on the planet Krael, we take the form of a Kraelian."
Jack looked at her amused. "You're joking, right?"
"No," the angel answered. "Watch this." The angel stood still for a second and then morphed into a cloud of mist, reappearing as a bear. She then morphed again to mist and reappeared as a strange looking figure, 7 feet tall and thin as a stick. A second later she reappeared in human form.
"That last one was a Kraelian. Pretty cool, eh?" she said smiling.
Jack looked at her convinced that she was what she said she was.
"Well, if you are here to take someone to heaven you are probably in the wrong room," he said to her.
"No, I'm in the right spot. Jack Berger, age 45, grew up in San Francisco, left high school when you were 14, served in Viet Nam for two tours, almost beat your first wife to death, shot a man in a hold up and hid in a trash bin to escape, kidnapped and raped a girl and left her to die. Are you the right Jack Berger?"
"OK, so you got the right guy," Jack replied, "but I don't think I'm going to heaven. More likely I'm going to hell."
"Another common misconception," the angel replied. "There is no hell, only heaven."
"If I knew that was the case, I would have lived a wilder life," Jack smirked.
"Looks like you already did," the angel replied.
"So, what do you do, hang around until I die and then fly me to heaven?"
They were all the same, the angel thought to herself.
