by Meghan Zeb
Taylor gasped, her eyes widening. “Brynn! Your hair… it’s pink!”
Jessica’s eyes widened in turn. “Taylor! Your hair… it’s green!”
Taylor and Brynn both stared at Jessica. “Jessica! Your hair… it’s purple!”
The God of Punishment gave a huff of irritation. “Yes, the shade of your hair corresponds with the color the Gods used to infuse humans with love, hope and peace. It is how power is used up here. They are the Gods of Hope, Love, and Peace and they were banished from Heaven. Their souls are in your body and you three are not supposed to be here.”
“Here?” Taylor screeched. “Where is here?”
“Heaven!” The God of Punishment snapped.
Jessica looked down and realized they were standing on a cloud and wisps of other clouds were floating by. She gulped and peered over the cloud and saw endless blue sky. “Heaven? Why on earth are we in Heaven? We’re dead?”
“Technically,” the God of Lightning answered, butting into the conversation. The women stared at him as the air crackled around his body and little zips of light flashes shot from his mouth when he spoke. “Your souls were supposed to go into new bodies, but instead they somehow seemed to have switched places with the Gods that were sent to Earth to reside in your bodies.”
Brynn frowned, her brow furrowed in thought. “You were trying to put our souls into new bodies? How dare you! What gives you the right to mess with our lives like this?”
The God of Punishment glared at her. “We are Gods,” he said scornfully.
With that being said, he took a deep breath, raised his arms and seemed to suck power into his body. He gave off a faint glow, energy crackled and made everyone’s hair stand on end, and then he jerked his hands toward the three women and shot flashes of gold light. After a moment, they opened their eyes slowly. Nothing had happened and the three women watched in numbed shock as gold sprinkles of light drifted down onto them like snow.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Jessica cried. The God of Punishment frowned in thought as he stared at them.
“I don’t know why that didn’t work,” he muttered irritably. “Stay here,” he ordered them. “I need to figure this out.”
With an almighty crack, he disappeared and the other Gods followed suit.
“Geez, he’s bossy,” Jessica muttered. She looked down over the cloud again.
“And where would we even go? We’re on a cloud!” Taylor exclaimed.
They all looked down at earth and suddenly it all sank in as they became aware of their surroundings. With a whimper, Brynn practically leapt onto Taylor. “Oh man. I hate heights and this is the height of all heights. I’m so freaked out!” she wailed.
Jessica sighed. “I can’t believe this is happening. Why are we Gods? And why were the Gods bodies we inhabit banished into our bodies?” She kicked at the cloud and watched as the little puff floated away.
“I don’t know, Precious,” Taylor replied. “But Brynn is going to end up suffocating me to death if we don’t do something.” She yanked Brynn’s arms from around her neck for the third time.
“Okay. Let's get off this cloud and figure something out.” Jessica hesitantly stepped toward the edge of the cloud.
Worried, she looked back at the other two and then reached one foot over the abyss. She tapped her foot, but it stayed on the same level as the cloud. It didn’t dip down as if she were going to fall. She reached her hand back toward Taylor, who grabbed it in a death grip. She put all her weight on the open air. When she didn’t fall to her death, she let go of Taylor’s hand and unsteadily walked to the next cloud.
“It’s okay!” she said, her voice mixed with relief and fear.
Taylor and Brynn followed suit, though Brynn still kept a death grip on Taylor. They made their way across the clouds until they came to one that had a food stand on it. It had clams for sale; only clams and nothing else. Jessica bounded across the clouds with a squeal.
“Clams! Brynn, Taylor, look! Clams!” She burrowed behind the stand that was filled to capacity with ready-to-eat clams.
By the time Taylor and Brynn made their way over there, Jessica popped up from behind the counter, butter smeared on her cheek and a happy smile on her face.
“What the…? They have clams in Heaven?” Brynn asked, confused, but Jessica just shrugged.
“Okay, we’re going to explore a little further while you stuff your face,” Taylor said. She and Brynn hopped a few more clouds when Taylor let out her own squeal.
A studio table was set up with cameras, computers, and everything she needed to create characters and make a movie. Eyes wide, she sat down and turned the computer on. Minutes later, she was engrossed in the special effects program Poser with wild ideas of what kind of characters she could create running through her head.
Brynn didn’t even bother to say anything to her since Taylor wouldn’t have heard her anyway. She continued on as her confidence in not falling grew, going from cloud to cloud, before she leapt delicately onto one that had her eyes widening. The sun beamed down like a spotlight on a clothing rack with a separate table that held all the yarn, fabrics, sewing needles and machinery a girl could dream of to make her own clothing. Eyes lit with glee, she ran over and started flipping through the sample book with visions of the outfits she’d design in her head.
Jessica sat back, reclining on the cloud, a buttery smile on her face. She put a hand on her stomach and gave a little groan. She was so full. She decided to get up and take a breather from eating clams. She gazed out into the calm blue of the sky and then looked down. She thought she saw something and squinted. A little shriek escaped her lips as she realized her eyes were zooming in like a camera on the world below. She saw billions upon billions of people all over the world.
Dizzy at the multitude of sights, she stepped back. Curiosity got the better of her, though, and she peeked over again. She saw people doing so many things, in so many places, and she didn’t know how to focus. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and tried to focus her mind on what she used to look like. She opened her eyes and looked down and found what she, Taylor, and Brynn used to look like. She stared in wonderment as she saw herself waking up and screaming in the mirror down on earth. ‘I wonder which God is in my body,’ she thought.
“I have to tell Taylor and Brynn,” she muttered out loud. She leaped clouds until she reached Taylor, who was engrossed with her computer.
“Taylor, I can see us down below. Or I can see the Gods who are in our bodies. You have to look!”
Taylor glanced up long enough for Jessica to see her eyes were bloodshot and glazed. Annoyed, she yanked on Taylor’s arms and pulled her away from the computer.
“Hey!” she protested weakly, but Jessica just dragged her over to the edge of the cloud.
“Look!” Jessica commanded. Taylor blinked slowly and glanced down. She pulled back and groaned. “Damn. I feel slightly nauseous looking at that many people. I don’t see us. Or them.”
“You have to focus on them and just let yourself feel. I just sort of relaxed my eyes and mind and then I saw them,” Jessica instructed.
Taylor peered over again, scrunched her forehead in concentration and then excitedly grabbed Jessica’s arm. “I see us! Them!” she cried.
Taylor jumped up and leapt from cloud to cloud, dragging Brynn with her. Soon, all the three women were kneeling on the cloud watching, behinds sticking up in the air.
*~*~*
Down on earth, the God of Love gave a tremendous squeal of glee. “I forgot how much fun drinking alcohol was!” She twirled in a circle, long red hair flying, and nearly knocked a table over.
“Oh good Lord,” the God of Hope said, head in her hands. “She’s plastered!”
The God of Peace had a severe case of the giggles and was hanging onto the edge of the bar, face red as a beet.
The God of Hope sighed, catching sight of many averted eyes in the bar. They were the embarrassment of
the bar. She turned her head to signal the bartender, but caught sight of familiar wispy, comb-over hair that belonged to Manny.
An evil grin curved her lips and she reached out a hand to stop the twirling God of Love. “Stop twirling, you freak. Check it out.”
The God of Love’s bleary eyes focused in on Manny and she grinned, too. She reached out an arm for the God of Peace and all three huddled together.
The God of Love flicked a tongue over her lips. “We should seduce him and then embarrass him in front of the whole bar. He’ll drool over us and then we can drop him like a dirty potato.”
“That’s your answer for everything,” the God of Peace replied, rolling her eyes.
“It is her answer for everything. But it just might work. I mean, look at him,” the God of Hope said with a grin. All three women looked over and watched him fiddle with his few hairs and flash a bucktooth grin at some poor, hapless female.
“Could a guy like that ever find a woman who would date him? I think not,” she added with a giggle. “I think he even curled those few strands of hair!”
After a bout of giggles, the God of Peace stood up, smoothing her dark hair. “Well then, ladies. Shall we?” The God of Love and Hope stood as well, fluffing and smoothing hair, and plastered come-hither looks onto their faces.
The God of Hope leaned against the bar, stretching out her Amazon legs for full effect. Manny turned, saw who it was, and his eyes narrowed. “Now Jessica…” he started to say, but lost his train of thought when his eyes focused on long, bare legs.
The God of Hope smiled. “Hi, Manny. My friends and I were wondering if you’d like to join us for a drink.”
She flipped blonde hair over her shoulder, and the God of Love moved in. She knew how to work it. She had spent eternity introducing people to the wonder of starry-eyed love. Twirling a lock of red hair around her finger, she pursed her lips.
“Please Manny. You may be our ex-boss who fired us, but there aren’t any hard feelings.” She leaned over and let her shirt dip down slightly.
By this point, Manny lost the capability of speech. He still loved Faye, but he figured he could spend some time with these women with no harm done.
Adam’s apple bobbing, he blinked rapidly. “Well, I suppose I c-could.”
The God of Peace twitched her hips ahead of him, an evil smile playing around her lips. She led them back to the table near the dartboard where a rather large biker guy was playing, his Barbie-like girlfriend next to him. The God of Peace waved the waitress over.
“I’ll have an appletini,” Manny said. “What would you l-like ladies?”
“I’ll have a Sex on the Beach,” the God of Love cooed, winking long lashes at Manny.
“I’ll have a Margarita,” the God of Hope answered.
“Cosmo, please,” the God of Peace murmured and while everyone was distracted, she reached behind her and pinched the blonde Barbie’s behind. She quickly and casually had her hand on her lap before the blonde whipped around. Barbie narrowed her eyes, but didn’t say anything.
Noticing what the God of Peace was doing, the God of Love lightly tapped a finger on Manny’s hand. “So, Manny, are you dating anyone?” She left her finger there and continued to stroke his hand.
He flushed and his brow was shiny with sweat. “Well, um, not really…” he trailed off, his eyes widening as the God of Hope ran a bare foot against his calf.
The God of Peace again reached behind her and with a move fast enough to impress an Olympic athlete, she pinched Barbie’s behind once more. This time, Barbie whipped around, eyes narrowed at Manny.
“Hey, punk. You’re sitting with three women. Stop pinching my butt!”
Both Manny and Barbie’s boyfriend swung to look at her. Then Biker glared at Manny, his moustache twitching. “Are you pinching my girlfriend’s butt, you punk?” he growled.
“N-no, of course not,” Manny answered, his eyes resembling a large, unpleasant bug.
“Yes he is!” snapped Barbie. “He did it twice now.” She fisted her hands on her hips and narrowed her green cat eyes.
In an impressive move, Biker snatched Manny out of his seat and held him high. As the three Gods eyes widened, Barbie rounded on them. “It’s pretty sad not one of you can keep that twerp busy.”
The God of Love stood, her eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?” The God of Hope and Peace stood as well, lips pursed in irritation, ready and willing to get in their first bar fight.
“You heard me,” Barbie answered, tossing her blonde hair.
No one was quite sure who threw the first punch, but tables were being crashed into, there was yelling and biting, and Manny was howling as he was pinned to the wall with a bunch of darts by Biker and his friends.
*~*~*
Jessica, Brynn and Taylor were howling with laughter as they watched themselves flying about in a fury in the bar down below.
“Oh man, this is too funny,” Jessica giggled, wiping tears. “I mean, look at us! I’m like a kung-fu ninja on crack!” She threw her arm out to gesture and a wisp of purple puffed from her finger.
“What the heck was that?” Taylor asked eyes wide. She reached out to inspect Jessica’s finger and a puff of green smoke trickled from her own finger in the process.
Eyes widening, they stared at each other. Brynn flicked a finger and pink streamers wafted around them. “What does this mean? Do we do something with these puffs of color?”
“I have no idea. Let’s try it out, though,” Jessica said, curiosity getting the best of her.
She leaned over the cloud again and aimed at herself down below. Taylor and Brynn followed her lead and did the same. Purple, pink, and green streamers twirled downward on a gust of wind in a colorful spiral. The streams that they intended for themselves ricocheted off their bodies on Earth and bounced around the room, smacking off of other people.
They collectively gasped when more chaos ensued below. All the humans in the bar began to fight. There was so much love in the room that it caused more than one person to fall for someone else. Love made people do crazy things. Some humans were plowed over in the fight as they just sat around in a peaceful daze. Manny was still being tormented by Biker, and Barbie was now being chased around the pool tables by a few men who were overdosed on love and hopeful she’d be their one and only.
“Make love, not war,” Jessica commented when one woman was caught in a big, slobbery kiss by a lovelorn man. They all giggled in unison.
“What in Heaven are you doing?” a voice roared behind them.
They whipped around and again found themselves at a loss for words as they faced an even more furious God of Punishment.
His face was a mottled red, and his lips were pressed together so tight they had turned white.
“I… we…” Jessica unhelpfully stuttered.
“I specifically told you to stay where you were. And what did you do? You conjured up stands of interest for your own use and then created even more chaos on Earth than those… Gods, if you want to call them that! You’re all hopeless!” His chest was rising and falling rapidly with anger.
Brynn found her voice, though it was a bit breathless. “You mean the clams… and…” she sputtered to a stop. Then she rushed on. “We didn’t know we could do that, though. It was an accident. And we didn’t mean to create problems below…”
“It’s always an accident. Always. And now there is a mess for us to clean up. We found a way to send you back, though, thank God,” the God of Punishment snapped, his voice lowered now, but still laced with annoyance.
“How are we getting back?” Taylor whispered.
“I’m going to have to tap into the powers of the Gods on Earth and your powers up here. For some inexplicable reason, the six of you are connected in some way,” he muttered irritably. “Maybe by the power of screwing up. Who knows?”
“Hey!” Jessica said, finding her voice. She quieted down when he gave her a quelling look.
“The three of
you hold on to each other,” he said, stretching his arm out and gripping Jessica’s shoulder. They did so, and he stretched his other arm out toward the three Gods below. Lightning crackled along his limbs with the magic he pulled from one hand to pass through his body to distribute among the girls.
A piercing scream rent the air as the girls souls were pulled from the three Gods bodies. They had the sensation of flying and seeing wisps of white clouds pass them by. Before they knew it, they woke lying on a sidewalk.
“Oh my God, my stomach,” Brynn groaned. She pushed herself to her feet and stumbled. Jessica and Taylor followed suit and stumbled as well, not used to standing on solid ground.
“Oh man, I don’t feel so good,” Jessica whispered.
“Me neither, Precious,” Taylor moaned. All three rushed for a nearby bush and got sick, heaving and groaning. After they emptied the content of their stomachs, Taylor blinked blearily.
“He couldn’t even have the courtesy to deposit us at home? He dropped us on a sidewalk!” she groused. They were still stumbling around and clung helplessly to each other.
An old woman passed by and gave them a disgusted look. “Drunkards,” she muttered.
“Hey, I’m me again! And look! There’s a tree! And there’s a house! And look, the clouds are above us!” Brynn squealed suddenly, fully realizing what had happened. “We’re home!”
They cheerfully ran through the green grass of the neighborhood where Taylor’s home was. They jogged past thick oak trees with sunlight speckling through green leaves, stopping to stroke a cat, which ran off terrified.
They reached Taylor’s house and flopped onto their backs on the grass, staring up at the clouds they had just been perched on. It didn’t even feel real.
“That was beyond the most bizarre thing that ever happened to us,” Jessica said, stating the obvious. “And for some reason that makes me more determined to do what I really want to do. I’m going to start calling fish markets and see what I have to do to get into the business, so I can sell and eat lots of clams.” She wiped a bit of drool from the corner of her mouth.
Taylor grinned and squeezed her hand. “I feel the same way, Precious. I’m going to start working with the programs necessary to create characters and start submitting stuff to film studios if I can. It’s going to be long and hard, but I have to try.”
