Afterlife – Sunday Photo Fiction

Sunday Photo Fiction is a weekly challenge presented by my old friend Al Forbes.
The idea is to write a short story (200 word max) inspired by what you see in his picture (below).
This week’s photo provokes thoughts on religion, and its many impacts on our lives.
This is my view.
Click on this link to enter your tale, and see what others have written.

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Copyright Al Forbes

Afterlife

So this is heaven.
A nice lady shows us onto a bus and we get the grand tour.
It is lovely.
Parks and gardens, flowers and trees, rivers and streams, and, in the distance, snow-peaked mountains.
This looks pretty much the way I expected when I volunteered.
You see, I am, or rather I was, a suicide bomber.
I joined the fight for my beliefs, as I was taught.
And Paradise looks to be pretty much as promised.
I haven’t seen any virgins yet.
Well, that is maybe a bit unfair, I can’t really judge the ladies here, can I?
At the end of the tour we are separated, allocated different queues for our eventual destinations.
I am the only one in this queue.
It has a signpost.
Underworld.
It seems God is, after all, a Catholic.
And suicide is a mortal sin.

Unknown's avatar

About ceayr

A Scot who has discovered peace in a small town he calls Medville on the Côte Vermeille, C.E. Ayr has spent a large part of his life in the West of Scotland and a large part elsewhere. His first job was selling programmes at his local football club and he has since tried 73 other career paths, the longest being in IT, with varying degrees of success. He is somewhat nomadic, fairly irresponsible and, according to his darling daughter, a bit random. So, nobody’s perfect.
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31 Responses to Afterlife – Sunday Photo Fiction

  1. Indira's avatar Indira says:

    What fun a soul without body can have? How suicide bombers are tricked to believe in that, I wonder.Nice twist and great story.

  2. Sally's avatar Sally says:

    Thought provoking, great stuff.

  3. athling2001's avatar athling2001 says:

    Well written and great twist.

  4. rosemawrites's avatar rosemawrites says:

    Ooooohhh! Wow! The sixth sentence made my jaw drop and I like reading fictions that make my jaw drop. 🙂

    Also, I have told a story too through the perspective of a bomber. 🙂

    Great tale! Eloquently done. 🙂

  5. Dave's avatar Dave says:

    Oopsie. Here’s a penny for the ferryman, it’s a long trip down to the ninth circle.
    Assuming your bombing was successful, suicide may be the least-mortal of your sins.

  6. Wow! Not a bad idea to give a tour in heaven to make those who are going to hell regret for life. Great story! 🙂

  7. Oops — that’s propaganda for ya. Falls short at the very end — no virgins AND god’s a catholic — he’s in hell already!

  8. EagleAye's avatar EagleAye says:

    Whoopsie! Note to suicide bombers. It ain’t going to work out like you thought. Loved this one, CE.

  9. mandibelle16's avatar mandibelle16 says:

    Haha. If the God is Catholic, I too am in trouble. Lutheran’s or any evangelicals or heritics then. We haven’t been praying to Marry or any other Saints and we haven’t been doing enough good deeds, purely for the sake of getting into heaven. We’re not to keen on the Pope either as the head of the Church. Great write, pretty funny.

  10. He got that wrong then. As God is clearly a Catholic I’d better start brushing up on my latin!

  11. He got that wrong then. As God’s clearly a Catholic I’d better start brushing up my latin!

    Visit Keith’s Ramblings!

  12. Joy Pixley's avatar Joy Pixley says:

    If God is really a Catholic, I’m surprised he didn’t have more company in that line! But how nice for them to give a tour ahead of time, either way.

  13. luckyjc007's avatar luckyjc007 says:

    He may be the only one in that queue…now, but there are more buses arriving every day! Great story!

  14. The Voice's avatar The Voice says:

    Suicide bomber, huh? I’m guessing suicide may not be the worst of his sins. At least he got a look at what he’ll be missing. Not so sure he’ll find any virgins in Hell. Fun story. (Well, for me. Not so much for him.)

  15. Think he s going to be there for a hell of a long time. That’s what happens when you don’t read the small print. Great story Ceayr.

  16. Reblogged this on anelephantcant and commented:
    AnElephantCant go to church on a Sunday
    He is not a big fan of organised religion
    He is not sugar and spice
    But he thinks it is nice to be nice
    He loves all creatures even Al’s sodding pigeon!

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