The Wicked End

Looking down at the frozen figure before me, I heard movement back on the stairs. A hand was placed on my shoulder. Looking behind me, I stared up into Johnny's eyes seeing the knowing look on his face. Slowly I stood and turned to him, sighing deeply the rain poured down on all sides of us, washing away all the wounds of the earth. Johnny pulled me into a hug, and I gazed up at the sky as I laid my chin on his shoulder, watching as the storm clouds receded.

"It's over, Davy... You did it," he whispered and I nodded my head slowly, pulling back from him as I still gazed up at the sky. The clouds began to thin out, and here and there small beams of the sun's bright light littered the ground.

"What happens now, Johnny? What happens to the world now that everything's... gone?" I whispered.

"Well, eventually there will be a rebirth. The world will become populated again, but with more perfect beings. There will be no evil... ever again. And as for you, you're an angel now. You have to go home so the world can be rebuilt."

"When do I go home?" I asked, seeing the beams of light grow larger and larger, the world becoming bright again as it was cleansed of all evil.

"Right now," he said quietly, close to my ear, and I felt his hand lightly touch my back, turning me away from the steps. Waving his hand slowly in front of us, I watched as the air shimmered, sparkling with specks of white until I was staring into a patch of bright gold, the light from the portal shining on both Johnny and I.

"Is that...?"

"Yeah," Johnny answered, knowing that I was about to ask. "That's home."

Standing quiet a moment, I looked up and studied Johnny's face, thinking back to all the times he healed me and showed me the right path to take.

"Johnny, are you... him?" I asked, and he looked away from the light before us.

"What, am I God?" he asked back, and I nodded. He let out a chuckle, smiling down on me as he shook his head. "No, I'm just his 'right hand man', so to speak," he answered, winking at me as he put his arm around my shoulder and looked back toward the lighted gate.

I smiled and followed his gaze. Johnny made no attempts to go toward the light, so I stayed right there with him as the rain began to settle.

Just then, I saw a shadow move inside the gateway, coming from the other side, coming toward us. Almost feeling fear inside me, I watched as the figure moved closer, and then, almost as if a layer of mist had been lifted, I could see Zack standing there, Sarah soon joining him. I smiled, knowing they were angels, and they smiled back, standing there as if they were waiting. I wanted to run to them and hug them to me tightly, but then I saw another shadow move to the side of them, and Jimmy's tall, lanky figure stood next to Zack, smiling along with them.

I felt tears fill my eyes and did my best to wipe them away so I could see, because another shadow was following him. Out of the mist, Brian stood next to Sarah, looking good as new, all evil faded from his eyes. And following him came one last shadow, slightly larger than the others, coming up next to Brian. Matt soon came forth, holding our son in his arms, and I felt the tears finally fall. There they were, standing before me, smiles on their faces as they stood in the light, standing on the other side of the gate.

"They're all there?" I asked Johnny, trying to sniffle away my tears. Seeing them all together like that made me think of how things were before the end, how we all were the closest friends, and nothing could tear us apart. Until all this happened...

"Yeah," Johnny whispered, smiling down at me as well. "They're all there, and they're waiting for you."

I looked at all my friends again, and then two more shadows moved, coming up on Jimmy's right to stand on the outside. They came forward, and I saw the loving faces of my mother and father. I hadn't seen them in seven years since they disappeared, and I almost broke out into a sprint to get to them, wanting to hug them and tell them how much I loved them and missed them.

Forcing myself to look away, I turned back to the world before me, the sun finally breaking through the clouds full force, showing that there was a bright new tomorrow in store for the next world to come.

"You ready to go home?" Johnny asked, and I nodded, turning back to the gateway into Heaven. I gripped Johnny's hand tight, and slowly be surely, we walked into the light. We were finally home.