#20570
An angel reached down for me as I struggled in the current of the Detroit River. My body ached after the beating I took before I went into the water. Who attacked me? I didn't know. What I did know, what thought I clung onto was that I didn't want to die this way. I wasn't ready to go.
"It is the end, but the moment has been prepared for," she said without speaking, her calm voice clear as a bell in my mind. She stretched her finger toward my hand as I watched. My fingers hovered above me, while I sank, trying to reach the surface, but failing as I didn't have the strength to swim up any further. The darkness below me gripped every earthly possession I carried, my own limp body included, and pulled downward.
Out of my mouth, bubbles lifted as I screamed what I thought was my last scream. I'd thought I had already expelled all that remained of air in my lungs.
"Don't struggle further. Accept your destiny," the angel said. Benevolence was the only way I could describe the softness and concern on her face. Her love for me was genuine. I sensed it. Felt it.
And I hated her for it. She hung above me, dangling her ambivalence and subservience before me as if those qualities were glorious. How dare she not attempt to save me? I needed her benevolence to live, not to die.
I'd make her help me. Fueled by an influx of rage, I shoved my hand to hers, not to accept the docile gesture she urged me to grasp. I instead reached a few inches further, catching her at her wrist. I dug my nails into her skin and dragged myself an inch closer to the surface. She would be my ladder, if not my savior.
"Why do you struggle so? I am telling you a better world waits ahead for you." The angel spoke, her voice baffled while she pulled her arm up to her chest, dragging Angelica with it. "Please, accept your gift."
Now within inches of one another, Angelica could clearly see a lavender glow emitting from the gold flecks in the angel's brown eyes. Her white wings floated in the water with no indication of being disturbed by being wet. The being before her was miraculous, a beauty beyond description, surrounded by a growing darkness. At the edges of Angelica vision, a black mass closed in, cutting off sight of anything further away than she and the angel.
"Come with me. You do not want your spirit to be left here on the earthly plane," the angel pleaded in Angelica's mind. "Your suffering shall be at an end."
Angelica pressed her nose against the angels, giving her an unblocked view into the angels eyes. She could only hope the angel could hear her response. Her grasp intensified at the back of the divine beings head as Angelica pulled it even closer, as if she could drive her will into the angel's body. "This can't be how I end. I refuse. You will take me to the surface!"
Fire erupted where the skin of the two connected. The pain struck Angelica and the angel and both their mouths opened as they screamed into the water. Their two bodies melted into one another, merging until only Angelica's remained. Her back split open on both sides of her spine as white wings burst through her flesh near her shoulder blades.
Angelica felt stronger. She didn't struggle to breath any longer, in fact, she didn't have any trouble at all. She looked behind her back noticing the wings. They expanded out to their full width and with one push, she lifted up toward surface of the lake like a bullet from a gun.
The sunlight kissed Angelica's face once she breached the depths, warming her skin the instant it touched her. No, not simply warming her skin. Energizing it. Energizing her. From her head to her toes, she could feel power coursing through her body as it never had before.
"What has happened? Where am I?" The angels voice reverberated in her thoughts. "Why can I not ascend to the heavens?"
Angelica, hearing the question in her mind, turned her attention inward as she closed her eyes. Rage at the angel for not aiding her still burned in her heart. "What's wrong? Are you in trouble? Will anyone come to help you when you need it?"
A discomfort shot through he body. Not painful, but the tightness racing through her muscles and tension in her skin repulsed her, bearing an unnatural quality. Even the new wings at her back itched with an unease. She glanced at them as they floated behind her, noting they shifted to gray and then blackening feathers rather than the white she first noticed. "Why are my wings turning black?"
The strangeness of her comment broke an barrier in her thoughts she hadn't been aware of. "How the hell do I have wings?"
As if by their own accord, the wings began to extend and flap as if trying to escape. Angelica began to spin around in the water, splashing with her arms, legs and unfettered wings.
"YOU must calm down." The angel bellowed from deep within Angelica's mind. "Your fury will only make things worse. The wings will only return to normal once you have composed yourself."
"You're the last creature I'd listen too," Angelica snapped. She continued to pound at the water with her limbs. "You were going to leave me to die down there."
"And it seems now that things have changed," the angel retorted. "It seems you must have stolen my my mantle if you bear an angel's wings. I am bound to you."
"You're insane!" Angelica howled. The angel's words began to calm her panic, though. He seemed to know an explanation for her current plight. "How in the hell did that happen?"
"That is a question I cannot answer right now," the angel said.
"What can you tell me that is useful then?" Angelica asked.
"I am an Angel. One of my duties is to escort the dead to their next destination. There are those, like you, whom I am to privileged with the position of Guardian Angel, or to some, Angel of Death. I guide those individuals to what you deem as the heavens . When I am sent to ensure others to their... less desirable destination, my wings become black as I take on the aspect of Reaper of Souls."
Waves lightly swelled around Angelica as she bobbed in the water. "Reaper of Souls?" She didn't care for that title at all.
"Yes," The angel replied. "There are those who attempt to challenge their fate through supernatural means. Our efforts then shift from guardian to that of... I think the term you use in your society is bounty hunter."
Angelica struggled with the concepts the Angel showed her in her mind. She never thought about other existences. Her life was difficult with only worrying about managing to earn enough at her job as a waitress to cover rent and college expenses. Hearing about such otherworldly concerns boggled her mind. "I think we need to get out of this water and have a very long conversation."
"Agreed." The angel within her replied calmly.
0 Comments