Claudia

Claudia would swear she’d seen the face of God, and she communicated with him every night through a portal behind her closet door. She met him when she was very young when the choir sang and she knew that GOD IS THE LIGHT THAT EXISTS WITHIN US AND AROUND US ALL EVERYWHERE, THE SAFE PLACE YOU CAN GO WHEN YOU ARE AFRAID, THE MAGICAL THINKING THAT KEEPS US ALL SANE. And she claimed that when you stay awake long enough doors will appear before you and open up and show you strange dreams and suddenly you will understand everything. When this happens, you will want to share it with everyone, but you cannot. When the portals opened her parents became concerned, but the hospital staff did not understand a single word. God put a curse on Claudia by showing her his face, but she was always smiling when I sat with her on those cold days in the parking lot after school, and I still thank her every day for that time when she looked at me in the eyes and told me “I promise you that there is so much to look forward to. Wake up! Look around!”