Short Story - 50 Feet

Nothing major, just something I wrote in my notepad at work over a night or two... 50 Feet by Eaglewing It was fifty feet between heaven and hell. And he would know, because he had counted. Many times. And the ease of the trip one way was alarmingly acute when trying to do it the other. An afterthought of a town with barely enough to warrant a stop sign was his home. It was that main street at the top of the hill that divided a church on one side and the bar on the other. Folks seemed to fall into one or the other on a steady basis with a thirst for something more. He had been around long enough to have noticed too that both had their regulars that always came back week after week, so he figured neither side was doing the job of quenching that thirst. On this night however, he wasn't concerned about future return trips to the well, he was only thinking of the here and now. Too much was too much and enough was enough. So with a habit he couldn't seem to break, he staggered out of that bar at closing time, planning to cross the street like he had before and confess his sins to anyone who'd listen. But tonight the windows were dark and the lights were off and the doors were closed, so he wound up making it only halfway to somewhere in the middle. Straddling that asphalt's hard yellow line, he stopped and looked up and wondered if those on either side of the street had it right. Somewhere up there he thought there was something that was more than a church could market or a bar could drown. Something, or perhaps if a millennia old book was right, Someone, was up there and looking down. Maybe somewhere beyond the stars was the Answer. Taking a deep breath, he reconsidered. Maybe it wasn't that far away. His lips moved then and mouthed words he only hoped wouldn't go unheard. Then the moment was shattered as that eighteen wheel tanker crested the hill with the hammer down and it wouldn't have mattered how good the brakes were for a man standing drunk in the middle of the road. In a heartbeat he finally beat the habit and found out the distance between heaven and hell was a lot shorter than fifty feet. The End.