The InBetween

Eleven Minutes With Mum (Connie's POV)

"Where are we going?" Connie asked between sobs as Destiny flew her away. 

"Like I said before, a place that'll cheer you up."

"The bottom of a ditch?" Connie guessed.

"No, much better." the angel replied.

Minutes later, they arrived at the backyard of a little bungalow. Connie recognized the house from old pictures her Uncle showed her. "This is where my uncle and his family grew up."

"Indeed it is. There has been somebody waiting for you ever since you ascended the stairs."

"Who?" Connie was already eager to meet this familiar stranger.

"Wait out here, she'll open the door and meet you," Destiny spread her wings again, prepared to leave. "I'm so sorry Connie. But don't let what you can no longer control dominate the eternal happiness you have now."

With that, the angel soared out into the sky, leaving the girl in the yard to face this stranger alone. She looked at the long blades of grass and wheat as it waltzed in the gentle evening breeze. The girl sighed and sat in the soft sod, wondering why on earth this had to happen to her. Of all kids in the world - not that she would wish for this to happen to any other innocent child - she just wondered why it had to be her.

Just then, a young woman opened the back door and gasped at the sight of the child. Connie looked at her, and she could've sworn she was looking in those type of funhouse mirrors that make you look older. This woman had her brunette hair in a low braid identical to Connie's. She wore a checkered dress that flowed with the breeze the way the grass did. Her moss green eyes filled with joy as she spread her arms out for the child. "Constance dear, I've missed you so much!"

Wait a second.

Constance dear I've missed you so much!

Our sweet Constance...

Comparing the voices, Connie knew instantly who this woman was. Her mother sighed and scooped up the girl in her arms. All Connie could do was squeeze and embrace the woman she never got a chance to. Tears spilled out again without meaning to, and soon both girls stood in the yard crying and hugging like there was no tomorrow. "I wish I came better dressed for this meeting." the child joked between the tears. Her mother laughed and stroked her hair "You look perfect. Oh my-"

She pulled away to examine Connie's oversized coat "Is this Joshua's? It fits you perfectly!"

Connie solemnly nodded as memories of events leading up to the fight with her uncle came racing back. She felt waves of guilt about it before, but none as strong as this one. But even past all of that a tinge of resentment stayed for all the secrets about her mother he kept from the kid. Connie looked up to her mother's matching green eyes. Now it was time to get her answers.

"Mum?" the name sounded weird to say for the first time "Please, I need to talk to you about our lives and deaths."

"I think it's time we did." Connie's mother agreed. She walked her around the house to the front. A clear country road led out to some clouds. She put Connie down, taking her hand instead. The pair walked down the lane with little conversation until eventually reaching the strange destination.

The mother's house was on a pair of rolling hills with a dirt road leading down to a wider lane made entirely of clouds. Other people who lived near by walked on these clouds - either alone or with loved ones - and parted the clouds to laugh or smile or shake their heads in disappointment at whatever was underneath.

"You see daughter, I had...complications when giving birth to you." The woman explained. "I had to pick, save my life or yours. I only had a moment with you in my arms, my sweet. Your father-" she paused, like remembering him cause physical pain "I guess your father couldn't handle the loss very well. Seeing as he abandoned you."

She bent down and pushed the clouds apart, creating a hole in the lane. All of time and space filled Connie's vision. She saw the planet earth, she saw as the hole zoomed into a certain spot in Wisconsin, United States. There, a man with blue eyes and mossy brunette hair in baggy pants and a vest was at an outside café, about to order coffee and a bagel.

"Even so," Connie's mum sighed "I still check on him every now and then. He was my first and only love in life after all."

Connie wasn't sure what to think. She never knew her father, heck until she was six she thought her uncle WAS her father, hence why she only asked about her mother so much. Now learning he was a grief-ridden deadbeat...it evoked so much emotions she didn't know she could feel for someone she'd never met. Sympathy, rage, guilt for technically causing all this. "I'm sorry I was so hard to give birth to..." Connie whispered. Her mum crouched to her level and tilted her chin so they were face to face.

"Connie, if there weren't any complications, I would still risk my life for you in a heartbeat. You are my creation, and I was sure you were destined to live your life to the fullest."

"Well I'm sorry for ruining that for you."

"How did all this happen anyway?"

Connie explained the shadow-imps to her mother and how the boys she'd met roped her into all of this. She told her about arriving at limbo, losing Jacob and Tyrone, meeting Destiny and eventually regaining her memory and getting here. When she was finished she ranted about how guilty she felt for all the horrible things she'd said to her uncle. Also how steamed she was at Miguel and the other two for ruining her life and taking away her chance to say sorry.

As soon as the story ended, Connie's mum just frowned. "Connie, blaming those boys for your death is like me blaming you for mine."

"What?!"

"Think Constance. They never knew they were going to die that day either. And if they did, they would have never dragged a girl they've never met into it before."

"But they did! They knocked me in the river!"

"And I'm sure they're paying heavily for that. This Tyrone and Jacob you told me of, where are they again?"

"Hell. Being sacrificed."

"Do you really think they deserve a punishment like THAT for a totally unintentional, indirect manslaughter?" 

"No..." Now the kid had two things to feel guilty about: Telling off her uncle and NOW telling Miguel she's glad his friends are burning at the stake.

"I'm sorry if I'm being harsh," The woman smirked "I just never had the chance to tell you off before."

"So, who's fault is it?"

"In both these instances? Nobody. But if you really want to blame somebody...blame Life and the shadow-imps. They're the most unfair players in this cruel game of existence."

Connie couldn't agree more. The two sat in silence as they watched her father eat his sad bagel and browse his phone. "How did you do that?" Connie asked.

"Do what?"

"With the clouds. How are we seeing him right now?"

"This is loved ones lane. There are multiple scattered across heaven for souls to peak down on earth at their loved ones and how they're doing. Y'know how people always say your deceased relative is looking down on you? Well, this is sort of what they mean."

"Did you look down on me like this?"

"Everyday. You, your father, your uncle."

"Can I see my uncle?"

"Of course, dear. Just give a swish of the clouds."

Connie brought her hands to through the clouds until a new image formed. The twin sized mattress in a room with wasting walls instantly reminded Connie of home. A man entered the room holding Connie's schoolbag. He tossed it in a corner and flopped on the bed to let out a few cries. Connie's heart hurt to see him like this because of her. A knock on the door startled the man. "Sorry," a woman came in wearing a suit and handed her uncle some tissues. "I'm sure she'll come home. We just need to find her. That's all."

"We've been searching for an HOUR, Kaylee!" Her uncle snapped, swiping the tissues and blowing his nose.

"An hour?" Connie echoed. "I've definitely been dead for more than an hour."

"Heaven - and the great beyond as a whole - is outside the space time continuum. It moves very differently compared to earth. Sometimes it's like it slowed down, sometimes it's like it's sped up."

"So...how long have I been dead?"

"I have no idea. I'm still trying to wrap my head around how long I'VE been dead. I'm just figuring out from your age it's been almost a decade."

"Wow."

"Time passage won't bother you the longer you're here. After all, you've got all of eternity."

Connie looked out the landscape of clouds and the people strolling across it. This peace, this endless land of serenity, she could enjoy it with her mother for as long as time shall exist. Still, now her mind brought it up, she couldn't stop thinking about Jacob and Tyrone. How much t*****e have they endured since they got here? How long have they even been here? Do they have family here in heaven waiting for them to join. What if an aunt saw them die through these clouds and have been waiting for ages now for them to come up the stairs.

Snap out of it, Con. She thought to herself They couldn't have been here that long. 

Maybe it's only been an hour.

Maybe it's been three.

Three and half?

...Four??