Your Heart Rests Here, Kyle Jackson

Your Heart Rests Here

by Kyle Jackson

I died. Not an unusual occurrence. I often die, and my dreams end. But this time, my death was only the beginning.

When I awoke, I found myself in a rather large airplane. The plane had a glass floor, and I was alone in the cabin. I looked down and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was the Earth, but not the one I remembered. Vast forests sprung up from the ground and covered everything, causing the land to appear green. Animals wandered around foraging and living in harmony with one another. I saw lions, elephants, rabbits, and dodo birds. Any animal that was extinct breathed once more. I saw behemoths roam the land, and leviathans reclaimed the waters. In the center of everything was a large temple with smoke rising out of the top. As I marveled at this strange, new world, the plane arrived at its destination. I stepped out of the plane and turned around to get a better look at the Earth, but a brick wall materialized out of thin air. The words: “your heart rests here” were etched into the brick. I turned around and saw that I was in an airport terminal of sorts. There I saw many familiar faces: my friends, teachers, classmates, and family. Although, for an airport terminal, it was hushed. The people stood in a line facing forward in complete silence. The only sound was the scuffling of boots on the white tile floor. The airport was surprisingly clean and sunlight filtered in through large overhead windows. As I got closer to the front of the line, I noticed people behind a counter directing traffic and typing on computers. I saw two paths, though not many people were heading to the right. I left my place in line and started heading down the path. After I broke out of line, several of the employees stared at me and started whispering amongst themselves. “Does he know?” “Why does he have the letter X?” Self-consciously I glanced down to see a red-letter X appearing on my left chest just over my white hospital gown. I paid the strange mark no more attention. “He’s one of those, is he?” “He isn’t marked like most of them.” Still unfazed by their gossip, I continued to follow the arrows. I was about to enter an escalator that looked like it would possibly take me to the ground floor, but a man put his hand on my shoulder and pulled me away from the stairs.

I didn’t look up to see the man’s face, but he steered me towards the line again. This time I was behind the line watching other people get sorted. However, no one paid us any attention. It was as if they couldn’t see us. We entered a narrow hallway with seven stanchions. As we walked, each rope opened without either of us touching them. We passed the crimson, white, purple, yellow, silver, and even a solid gold stanchion that fell down as we passed. Finally, we arrived at the end of the hallway, where only a black stanchion remained. The rope on this one did not fall down as the others had. It seemed almost sentient in its refusal to fall.

“Do you believe this one will fall like the others?” the man asked. I thought for only a moment before I had my answer. “Yes.” The rope blew away like thick, black soot. I turned to thank the man, but he was gone. I stepped forward, and suddenly I was no longer at the airport terminal. I found myself in an endless room filled with brilliant, white light. I tried covering my eyes from the blinding light, but it was no use. I fell down with my face on the floor. Eventually, the harsh light subsided, or maybe my eyes adjusted, and I saw that I was not alone in what appeared to be a throne room. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of winged creatures were all around me, and though they had no faces, they were singing joyfully. I turned to the center of the room, and I saw the light source. An entity of pure light appeared to sit on the throne. Suddenly, my chest burned with a searing pain. It felt as though my very heart was on fire. I knew in that instant that I was done for. As the creatures continued to sing, I glanced around the throne room as best as I could, trying to take it all in. The light became bright again, and I woke up to the sun streaming in my room. The sunlight formed the letter X on my floor. I had many dreams before but none as real as this. All I could do was reflect on everything I had seen.