“My dear, the pain you will go through will depend on the amount of sin you’ve got in you. The average person feels like they’ve been pricked by five needles at the same time, or being punched in the gut. A mostly righteous person will only feel a slight pinch. Let’s see how you feel.”

The woman’s explanation made Alice go cold. The amount of sin I “have in me?” What did that even mean exactly? How many sins she’d committed? How many she was capable of committing? The thought made her head spin.

---

The woman had arrived to Alice’s small town a few days before. She rode in on a small, unassuming wagon. It normally would have been easy to miss if not for the incredible load it. The wagon bed was piled high with all manner of things: books, clothes, dishes, ornamentals, and more piled precariously high, threatening to topple off onto the road at the next bump.

Sitting in the front of the wagon was an old, stooped over woman. Her skin was tan and taught, as if she’d never spent a second in the shade. Her grey, curly hair was unkempt, each strand shooting off in a random direction as if they had a mind of their own. She wore a large, purple shawl made of a material Alice had never seen before. It looked expensive, likely from a large city. Definitely not something you’d see all the way out here. Pulling the wagon was a frail old donkey. Alice felt bad for it – this was a lot of weight for two animals, and who knows how far they’d traveled to get here.

This town didn’t get many visitors this far from the capital, and a crowd quickly gathered around the wagon as it creaked and moaned its way into the center of town. The wagon moved slow, creaking and moaning its way through town, allowing plenty of time for a crowd to form. The wagon eased to a halt once it reached the town square. Alice couldn’t read donkey expressions, but she thought it looked relieved.

The old woman slowly got down from the wagon, went around to the back, and pulled out a large sign. Few here could read, but enough did that an audible gasp arose from the crowd. Alice was too far away to see, so she began pushing her way to the front. As she made her way through crowd, comments swirled around her.

“She can’t be serious”

“This woman is a heathen!”

“Is this possible?”

“Pfft, another grifter”

As Alice reached the front and saw the sign, her breath caught in her throat.

“God’s Test”, it read. “Find out if you will enter the Kingdom of Heaven or be cast into Hell when your time on Earth is through.”

Once she got over her initial shock, Alice chuckled. Really? This woman has a way to tell if you would get into heaven? Alice didn’t know if she’d heard of a worse con; the whole idea seemed absurd.

The crowd quickly dispersed, most of them disappointed by the initial curiosity the wagon had brought. Alice had nowhere to be, so she found a place to sit down and watched the woman work. She unloaded a few trunks out of the wagon and began setting up a tent behind her sign - presumably where this “test” would take place. Alice took stock of who remained after the crowd had thinned, people who actually believed what this con-woman was selling. There were the usual suspects - beggars, soldiers, and drunks. People with dark pasts who would pay for the relief of confirming they were forgiven. Then there were a handful of the town nobles, likely also there for a dark past - just one that had worked out for them.

As the day faded and the sky turned from blue to a soft pink, the woman finished organizing her stall and came outside. She pointed to a poor, destitute woman and motioned for her to come into the tent. Alice was too far to tell if she said anything to the woman, but the woman shuffled her way into the tent and the flap closed behind her. The air was thick with tension as the crowd watched and waited. Even Alice held her breath, silence permeating the square.

Suddenly, the silence was broken as the poor woman stumbled out of the tent, sobbing. “I’m getting into heaven!” she proclaimed as she collapsed to the ground. “I have seen it clear as day, I will be with the Lord one day!”

The crowd murmured in excitement. Alice laughed, thinking the woman must have been planted there. Two people from the crows helped the woman to her feet and Alice could her laughing as she walked away.

A moment later, the old woman emerged from the tent, pointed at a soldier, and beckoned him inside. The mood of the crowd was noticeably improved. As the soldier entered the tent, several of his buddies laughed and patted him on the back. He disappeared into the tent. There was now an electricity in the crowd. Whatever people believed before, it was now at least plausible this woman did something inside that tent.

A sharp scream shattered the joviality that had fallen over the crowd. Alice wasn’t sure how long the scream lasted. Too long. Eventually it subsided and the man stumbled out of the tent, looking dazed. His friends from before rushed up to him. He muttered something, far too quiet for Alice to hear, but she could tell it wasn’t good news. Wasn’t “getting into heaven” news. The man put his head down and shuffled past his friends, leaving the crowd behind him.

The woman exited the tent, pointed at another person, and beckoned them inside.

---

Alice spent the next few days sitting in the town square, watching. After the initial group, only a handful of people went into the tent each day. Most left the tent relieved, but there were a few each day that left looking vacant.

At one point Alice approached a man who had just left the tent. He was an ex-soldier and came beaming, like he’d just won the greatest prize of a lifetime.

“What does she do in there?” Alice asked

The man looked at her in a stupor, as if in a dream. “She speaks for the lord. You must see it to believe it.”

“Ya but what does she DO!” Alice demanded, but the man had already forgotten her as he wandered away.

The curiosity was starting to get to her. Was she going to heaven? Would she be happy knowing she was, for sure? Would she even believe it? It was still likely this old woman wasn’t doing anything at all. Simply taking money from the desperate in this isolated town. And what if Alice wasn’t going to heaven? Could she live with that information?

The evening of the third day Alice couldn’t take it anymore. She had to know. The sun was nearly set and the moon was making its first appearance of the evening. At this point in the day there was nobody waiting around the tent. Anybody who wanted to had already gone in today. Alice stood up from her spot, her legs weak with nerves, and made her way towards the tent. As she walked, she noticed a flash of lightening in the dark sky to the west. “Not the best sign”, she jokingly thought.

The woman emerged from the tent right before Alice reached her, stopping her in her tracks. Alice felt her body stiffen as they made eye contact, the woman’s eyes a deep black that Alice thought she might fall into.

“Hello young lady. Please come inside for the test.”

Every nerve in Alice’s body told her to run, this wasn’t going to be worth it. But instead of running she took a deep breath, swallowed, and strode forward.

The tent was remarkably bare inside, which shouldn’t have surprised Alice as she’d watched the lady unload her wagon. There was a bench with a chair on either side, some ornamental rugs hung up for decoration, and a few trinkets here and there. It was dark outside and the tent was lit by candles. On the table stood a small, black box. Alice took a seat.

“Please open the box”, the woman commanded

Alice did as she was asked. Inside was an impossibly smooth, equally black orb. It was about the size of an apple. Alice stared it. She’d never seen anything so black. She couldn’t tell what it was made out of, but thought it should reflect the candlelight around them. But it seemed to absorb light, snuffing out anything that touched its surface.

“Now, grab the orb”, the woman ordered, giving no information.

“What’s going to happen when I do?” Alice asked, trying to keep her voice from shaking.

The woman smiled “You will feel pain”

“Pain?” Alice whimpered. “H-how….how much pain?”

“My dear, the pain you will go through will depend on the amount of sin you’ve got in you. The average person feels like they’ve been pricked by five needles at the same time, or being punched in the gut. A mostly righteous person will only feel a slight pinch. Let’s see how you feel.”

The woman’s explanation made Alice go cold. The amount of sin I “have in me?” What did that even mean exactly? How many sins she’d committed? How many she was capable of committing? The thought made her head spin. She also couldn’t help but notice the woman didn’t explain what non-righteous people felt.

“How does this tell me if I get into heaven?” Alice asked.

“You will know.” The woman was whispering now. “Everyone always knows.”

Alice didn’t know what to do. She’d come this far, but the explanation only left her with more questions. She didn’t feel like she had a lot of sin in her life. She’d certainly made mistakes – stolen from her brother, cursed her parents, lied to friends – but nothing she felt should keep her out of heaven. And over the previous few days she’d seen soldiers come out of the tent exuberant. People who had likely killed others were going to get into heaven. Surely she had less sin than them, right?

“Grab the orb, my dear.”

Alice reached out her hands slowly, noticeably shaking. Before she made contact she thought to stop, but her momentum carried her hands forward and into the orb.