I stand on a river bank. The woman at the other end is glorious. She is the person I have spent my whole life looking for. She is the person I would have been, had everything been good. It has not. She is watching me, knowing that I know.
She regards me for a moment, while I wait. This is a moment of perfect understanding, that I should not speak first. I should not throw away the moment.
"Is it better here?" she asks. She is different here. She has questions here. She doesn't know about the future that never was, when we were the same person.
"The air tastes different. The grass is higher. You look better. Is it better here?"
She puts her hands to her head. I do not know whether she is laughing, or whether she is weeping.
"Soaring," I respond.
She breathes deeply. "The sky is so much quicker here."
"The roof of Heaven is built on a sound foundation of molten Earth. It has too much responsibility. That is the price."
She picks up a stone and throws it into the river. She watches it, as it floats downstream.
"The river flows with magma today. We should go and see."
"It won't be the same there," I reply.
She smiles at me. "It never is."
We walk over to an old path. The trees on either side are silent, but somehow react as we pass. The path is in shadow, but we walk in a patch of sunlight that does not reach the trees.
"This is the path I want to take," she says, and points to a narrow series of stone steps that climb the hillside.
I look at her and frown. "Are you sure?"
"Yes."
I sigh and take her hand. We start to climb. The steps are made of a stone like no stone found on Earth. The steps have a sharp edge, and there is a continual light drizzle. The stairs take us through a country that isn't made of Earth, but a slightly different Earth. The light is funny, the temperature different, the smells alien.
The steps take us to the crest of a hill that overlooks the river. The stone steps do not end, but continue, and we follow them through the undergrowth until they disappear. The steps are made by creatures similar to you, with four hands. Each step is made from a single slice of stone, and carved perfectly round. Each step is less than a centimetre high. The steps are not straight, but follow the contours of the hillside. There are at least a thousand steps.
"I always wanted to climb these," she says, and smiles at me. "You are the only one who knows that."
I place my hand on her shoulder. "You will be here forever. Nothing will end for you. This place is just like Earth, but a little different. It will always be here."
She looks at me blankly.
"This is my Heaven." There is a huge difference between us, a barrier made of thousands of years. "I missed you, once."
She makes a face as if she wants to say something, but thinks it better to remain quiet. She glances at the river. There are new things in the river. Strange rocks float in the currents – rocks that look like slowly melting ice.
"We are in the Other World," she says.
I smile. I have been a maker for many years. I have a plan for many more. My plans are implacable. I always know what must be done.
She turns and looks at me. "I found a way to make everything better."
I make a grave face. "There is no room. It will be too much work. The only way to create is in Heaven."
"Don't you see," she says. "The way we were changed everything."
Her words make me shiver. They hint at a mystery and possibility that I cannot accept.
"It is not a new land," she says, as if that is the last word.
"But there is a new land. There is a new land where there is only you. Everything ends here. This place is too big to be my Heaven."
She laughs. Her laugh is rich and hard. "Don't make me laugh. This place will never end. I decided it. You'll still be here with me."
"No. I won't be. I will miss you." My words sound angry.
"You will never miss me," she says, and her smile is sharp and ancient. "That is what you do best. You climb on a hill and throw stones into the river. This is your Heaven. The only reality is my reality."
She takes my hand. "I am stronger than you. I am me. I am here. Every moment of every day that I am not with you is a moment of Heaven."
"I can't cross. There is a barrier. I can't enter."
She steps forward onto the stone steps. My hand slips from hers as she steps. She spreads her arms apart and casts them upwards, as if welcoming Heaven itself. It is as if she is pushing me onto the stone steps. I look at her, as if she has gone mad.
"You will never be undone," she says. "You will be with me forever."
I try to run to her, but it is too late. As I look, she is gone.
