Lee Goldberg - Hell in Heaven

The chant grew louder. Matt could see the giant’s lips move, but he couldn’t hear the words over the shouting. Matt put his ear to the giant’s lips.

“I want to live.”

Matt turned to the crowd. He held up his axe, and they fell silent.

“It’s over,” he said. “It’s all over.”

The road curved down the mountain in front of him. Matt walked slowly toward the switchbacks that led away from Heaven. He was feeling pain now, but he knew that would ease as his body healed.

He couldn’t tell if the people of Heaven had been sorry to see him go. He hadn’t stuck around to find out. What he’d seen at the very end had filled him with such disgust he couldn’t bear to stay another second.

It had been while the giant was down on the ground and Matt was waiting to see if he’d yield. The whole crowd had been pumping their fists into the air, calling for the giant’s death.

And on the porch of the general store, Mouse and Orfamay had been united in bloodlust, calling for Matt to murder the Vetch champion. And the girl he’d rescued, the girl who had been stunned into shock by the violence that had been done to her and her lover, was yelling with them.

He’d done what he could. He got them to agree to peace after so many years of war. The looks on the faces of both family leaders told him they might be killing each other again soon.

Or maybe not. Maybe he really had made this place better than it was before he got there.

As he passed beyond the town limit, a thick fog had come down and settled over Heaven and blocked it from his view. When the fog lifted he wasn’t even sure the town would be there anymore.

What he did know was that he wouldn’t be around to find out.

Matt made the turn around the first switchback, heading for the highway and never looking back.