Tell me what you think please. This was a debate to put up, if I don't get a lot of reviews I'm deleting this. Thanks. Hope you enjoy it. Though I might write another. I don't know.
Prologue
My father had patience. But lately, his patience had been running low and when I fell from Heaven purely accidental, his patience had snapped. I know because soon it happened.
I didn't understand how to get back to my home, I did not have the guts to kill myself andI was naive when it came to the human world. I was considered an Archangel but I wasn't like the others. I did not serve in his army but I was created to be his daughter, I was the daughter of the creator and soon destroyer of the human race. He had grown tired of the way his other children, my brothers and sisters, acted and disrespected each other. He had not created mankind for death and pain. He had created them out of love but not all of the humans knew that.
Father first sent a flood when he grew tired of the humans, this time though, all of mankind would be exterminated. When I fell from Heaven I had run into a bad area. Every where I turned, pain would be found. The humans my father had created were nothing but savages and pathetic creatures needing to be disposed of.
I walked around the town with no destination in mind. He would notice me soon and be angry, I did not want his wrath and when I was met with a man whom I thought would help me, I had understood his wrath of his children. The man was nothing more than a monster who wanted to hurt me and take away my innocence. I barely escaped with my life, the monster had cut me to the point I was dizzy, a feeling I did not understand. I ran in one direction. Ran as fast as my human legs could carry me. My wings had disappeared the minute I was on Earth.
There were only other monsters where I ran. None bothered to help me and I grew angrier each time. I was hurt, bleeding so much, yet I was left to fend for myself. Maybe Father was right to want to exterminate them all. If none wanted to help each other live then why make everyone suffer?At the end of my first day, I took a ride with a nice looking couple. They had a daughter around my age who looked like some of the woman who I saw wandering the streets. They were headed to Scottsdale and after my act of being lost and alone, they reluctantly, allowed me to ride with them. I didn't know where this place was but at least I would be far from the monsters trying to hurt me. The ride was silent except for the music of the radio and the quiet conversation between the woman and her husband. The girl in the back that I was made to sit by completely ignored me and just stared out the window thinking of the life she was forced to move from. I could feel what she was feeling because I could relate more than her parents. Then the woman started a conversation with me and it took my will not to spit in her face about Father's plan. They didn't need to know, the time would come soon.
"How did you end up lost Angel?" It was the name Father had thought of, I never really cared for it. "My parents," It was hard to say something so...wrong. "Left me and I'm going to be staying with my elder brother and his wife. But I couldn't call them to let them know because my mother didn't bother to give me a number." I made up the lie quickly hoping she would believe it and leave me alone She gave me a look of pity and I looked away narrowing my eyes at the desert ground. "Oh you poor thing." She turned back to her husband...Howard...and began talking to him again most likely about I was having this weird feeling and right when it hit me, the car was coming to a stop. Something was wrong. Howard was doing his best to drive but the gas was low and the car was acting funny until it stopped completely. "Goddamnit!" I flinched at the word, he used my father's name and twisted it into vulgar language. What had this world come to? "Howard calm down. Look there's a diner up ahead maybe they could fix it." The woman said, we all got out of the car. The weather was hot and dry and windy enough to get dust flying all around. "I'll stay here." Howard said as he tried to figure out what was wrong. "Audrey, Angel go to the diner and get someone to come please." I was starting to dislike the woman.
Audrey and I did as she asked, we walked the short way to the diner Paradise Falls keeping a good distance between us. She didn't like me and I was glad. I disliked her even more for dressing in such a way that resembled a woman who gave men pleasure in return of money. She made woman look shameful in the way she dressed yet she didn't care. We entered the diner, the door bell tinged and all eyes went on us. "My parent's car broke down and we need help moving it." Audrey said and two men made there way to the door and past us. I sat in a seat on the opposite side of the room where Audrey was sitting. The farthest apart was better. Five to ten minutes later, Sandra and Howard came in along with the two men that had helped. Howard passed the older man a wad of cash, "I'll have my son fix it." He said taking the wad and putting it in his pocket. His son, the younger man who had helped went out and turned the corner going into a garage. Howard and Sandra sat in front of me.
The twisting in my stomach never went away only intensified each passing second. A few minutes later I noticed a woman with a round belly go the Sandra and Howard.I didn't care for her but rather the bulge of her stomach. She was with child. She was carrying a child. All the hate I had gathered had left me. The reason humans were still alive was because of babies. Because of the new generation that would grow up innocent, that is if Father would stop his wrath. If the child was born then maybe he would no longer feel the need to exterminate the humans. She left the couple and I watched her. She was nearly there but it would be too late. Father was sending an army soon and no one could survive them.
So I watched her for a long while, trying to decided if humans were actually necessary. If the child should live or die. I knew I could not kill an innocent child but I knew Father would send another who could finish the job. We stayed at the diner for nearly two hours. Audrey had decided to make people aware of her existence when she leaned over the music box shaking her hips in small motions. Her parents had made her the center of attention when Howard spoke, "Audrey, your mother was wondering if you got dressed this morning with the specific intention of showing your ass off to the entire world." I shook my head disgusted at the scene I was being forced to hear. "Yeah because I woke up hoping to get double-teamed by a couple of meth-head truckers in some bathroom of a desert shithole. Its a good thing we got stuck here." I shook my head and laid my head on the table. I hadn't had a time of peace since I fell from heaven. Then all the useless arguing between them was making it worse.
"I feel satisfied with that answer, I really do." Howard said turning back to Sandra and she replied folding her hands, "I'm being punished for something, I know I am." Audrey walked back to her seat ignoring everyone. I sunk lower in my seat waiting and hoping the car would be fixed so I could leave from the diner. The pregnant waitress, Charlie, left intent on smoking without anyone knowing. A while later she came back in with a black man. I saw the way Sandra stared at him, like she didn't like him. Then I saw the look Audrey gave him, a strange look I couldn't read. He went to the older man asking for a phone when suddenly the TV had a message. 'This is not a test'.
I didn't understand. So why everyone else was fusing over the message, I kept to myself in the corner. I kept my eyes on the table or the window, I didn't see a fuss of course I didn't see as a human would. I was different, I saw what I knew was right. I saw the death and evil that occupied the world while they saw the horrible but censored version.
How could these humans take advantage of what Father had given them? I wished, once, to be apart of their life. Wished to belong. I belonged with neither Father or his children. I was merely in between. What I truly was, I could not explain. Everything else was clear. I knew I was born to be a tester, born to be what Father needed. An innocent child. A child to show him the path he would take to determine the future of the children he loved so dearly but was blinded in rage over. If life was kind to me, if I was spared the horror, then humanity would survive. If I once cried out for my father, cried for him to take away the suffering inflicted upon me. It was over for the humans.
Part of me was glad. All those suffering would no longer need to suffer. I thought of the children mostly, for they faced all the horror day to day. Children were forced to grow up soon, or lived in terrible conditions, and be forced to do things they didnt want to. EVen though i saw the love and compassion adults gave their children, the bad still heavily outweighed the good.
A good ten minutes, lots of yelling and banging, and the diner was finally quiet. I could feel the tension in the air, the uneasiness of the simple message that once flashed across the television before it was shut off. Soon an older woman came in, walker in hands. Charlie told her to sit anywhere she wanted and the first seat she took was just a good 10 feet away from me. Still, with such the long distance, I could feel her eyes boring into mine as if trying to read me. A shiver went up my spine.
When Charlie came over to get her order, she spoke like a Grandmother did, old and loving. She ordered a steak, rare. I knew what rare meant, uncooked. That was just the first part of my suspicion. Charlie came back a while later with her steak. Her name was Gladys. She was the kind of old lady you would think to be cheerful and happy, glad to talk to strangers and make long conversations. "Oh thank you dear. How far along are you?" She asked Charlie, actually paying attention.
"Oh just about there." Charlie answered not really happy about it. I could see it in her eyes, the worry and resentment of the child growing inside her. If only she knew the danger she was actually in. "The father must be proud." Gladys said in a delighted tone, yet I knew it to be otherwise. I slowly started to scoot to the opposite end of the diner, even going as far as to sit one table away from Audrey. Her eyes watched my every movement. It felt wrong.
"Nah, I wouldnt know." Charlie said rubbing her belly. "Is he..." Gladys trailed off but Charlie shook her head with a half grimace tugging on her lips. "Out of site, out of mind."
"So I take it your not married?" Gladys asked putting her hands on the table. Charlie leaned over swaatting a fly away from the steak. "No."
"That's too bad." Her voice was growing differently. "I prefer it that way. Don't need a man telling me what to do." Charlie meant it as a joke, to lessen the tension forming around her. "But what about the baby?" Gladys asked suddenly very serious. "I got it under control." Charlie reassured, smiling.
"But its going to burn." My heart leaped out of my chest at the words, it couldn't be. Charlie just stared at Gladys in total shock and anger. "What did you just say?" It was a rhetorical question but Gladys answered anyway. "I said your fucking baby's gonna burn." Her voice was cheering, too cheery for the words she spoke and the satisfaction of what she thought was coming. The whole diner went silent, even as Charlie slammed the check down onto the table. "Go to hell lady!" and walked off to the back.
Gladys began digging into her steak cutting the meat and chewing erratically. She dint mind the flies flying around, she just continued to use the vulgar language I would never understand. We all just watched, mortified and shocked. "All the lil babies are gonna burn." She chuckled and I met her 1 second gaze. Thats when I saw it. The slight flicker of another inside her, the slight flicker of excitement. Then I knew.
"Whoa." The man cooking said, staring at Gladys, or the thing called Gladys. Sandra decided to but in, "Uh Gladys..." But before she could get her words out Gladys spoke up. "Shut up you stupid fucking cunt, all you do is complain, complain, complain!" I could hear like an echo, like someone was forcing Gladys, controlling everything she did, said, or saw.
"What?What?What?" Howard looked between Sandra and Gladys as he said that, appauled and angry. He wouldnt let someone back talk to his wfe, even if it was some old lady. He stood up much to Sandra's protest. I went to say something but it wouldnt have mattered. He would still ended up on the floor.
"I don;t know who you think you are but I want you to apologize." The angel inside attacked. The sharp teeth attacked his neck, Howard fell to the floor, blood flowing freely from his wound. It was a nasty sight. He was coughing on the floor, Sandra screamed as did everyone else at the sight of him and the Angel. Suddenly a frying pan was thrown at her, Gladys' head snapped in half healed soon after. She looked pissed now, far beyond than before. She suddenly jumped at the wall, climbing up onto the ceiling near Audrey and I. I moved away fast, if she found out who I was, Father would know and he would send for me to be brought back home so I wouldn't be killed along with the humans.
Bill, the owner of the Diner, grabbed a shotgun and fired at Gladys. He missed every time, and finally she jumped down, dropping behind him. When Bill turned around, she smacked him away, he went flying over the counter from the force. Angels were unusually strong. The shotgun flew across the floor, landing in front of Jeep, Bill's son. He grabbed it and aimed it at Gladys. She opened the small counter and walked out, stepping closer to him with such evil that I doubted whoever possessed her was an Angel.
"Shoot her Jeep!" The cook, Percy, hollered holding another frying pan in the air as defense against her, like it would actually work. Jeep steadied the gun, getting into position. I inched closer to him. He didnt have the guts to kill her, didn't have the guts to take a life. I saw how his finger shook over the trigger. "Shoot the bitch!" Percy yelled once more and then Gladys was going at him. I tried to run to him but a shot fired and I saw Gladys fall to the ground, lifeless, at last.
The owner of the gun was the new black man that came in just before Gladys. He was shaking, the gun in his hands moving with his nerves. Everyone looked at him until Sandra finally screamed. "Help! Help me!" She kneeled beside him, her hands desperately trying to help her dying husband. A pool of blood lay beneath her husband, he was already a goner. Soon he would just die. I watched everyone work to save Howard, I just sat. Even if I could help, what could I do?
The black man who had shot Gladys, Kyle, took Howard to his car along with Audrey, Sandra, and Percy. Bill and Jeep went to the back along to the bathroom, Jeep needing to empty his stomach. Charlie was in the bathroom, trying to calm her nerves.
Another chill ran up my spine. It wasn't over by a long shot, it was just beginning.
Bob and Jeep came out a little later, refreshed but still shaken up. Bob had went outside when I noticed the car that was supposed to be pn its way to a nearby hospital, rushing back. But then I could see the large black cloud approaching the buzzing that followed. Clouds didnt buzz. Six people came running in, two helping Howard inside. The doors were shut any area where bugs could enter were closed off. Flies. The buzzing and cloud had been flies. A sign of the beginning of the end.
Faintly I heard Bill and Percy talk, "I gotta get my bible." PErcy said about to run inside the diner. "What for?" Bob asked confused. "Somebody's gotta start prayin." And ran inside. I smirked, he got that right. But it was too late.
Gladys was covered in a sheet, nobody wanted to look at her monster corpse. "She's burning up," Bob said, stunned. "I dont understand. She's been dead almost an hour." The wonders of a possessed person. I had never actually seen one happen, but I knew one thing, I didnt want to see it happen again. Kyle glanced at the body of Gladys and then back at Bob, "I don't give a fuck how long she been dead. Bitch just walked on the ceiling. She ain't staying in here."
Evenutally I helped them. I opened the door while Jeep, Bob, and Kyle hauled out her body. I stood outside, the sun beating down onto me. I watched them but the body of Gladys near the shed and I noticed from the distance a car coming towards us. I could see LAPD on the car. The men discussed it, suspicious of what LAPD was doing there. Soon the car drove up to us. Charlie had come outside, smiling, thinking it was help. All three men went to block Charlie, mainly Jeep who had went first. He loved her, that was easy to see.
The man behind the wheel slowly stepped out. I kept my gaze on his face, his hard expression oddly familiar. I had never met a human who I remembered without some sort of reminder. Then I recognized him. The way his hard eyes gazed on me, the reminder of who I was. "Take one more step closer and I'll drop you right where you stand." Bob threatened, aiming the shotgun at the man,
"Is that how you treat all your customers?" He asked with seriousness in each word but relatively calm. "Mister after what we've been through today you're lucky we don't shoot you first greet you later. Now let me see your teeth," Bob demanded, his hold on the gun never releasing.
He didn't do anything, just stood there staring at the end of the shotgun barrel. I wondered if he was the other, an Angel to possess a human. "Your teeth goddamn it let me see them!" Bob shouted fed up with him. The man finally did as Bob said and showed us his teeth, a set of normal human teeth.
I stared at him, while the others talked to him. I was caught in his gaze. His icy blue eyes were familiar as was his voice yet I couldn't place it. The human mind could only know so much.
After much talking, I finally tuned back in. "You really don't know, do you?" He asked, shaking his head at us. "Know what?" Kyle responded.
Charlie chimed in, "We don't know anything. The radio and TV aren't working. Neither is the phone"
He sighed, shaking his head at us. The way he sighed sounded like he was exasperated already. "We're running out of time."
Deep down inside I knew what he was talking about. I knew he was talking about the end of the world they knew, the end of all the suffering. And when he took a step forward, to Charlie, everything cracked.
"Back off fella." Bob ordered, aiming the shotgun once again. But this time he reacted. Instantly, the man snatched the gun out of Bob's hand and aimed it at his head. We all stilled, unsure what to do. "C'mon dad just tell him your sorry." Jeep pleaded but Bob remained quiet.
The way he reacted sent me tumbling down memory hill.
I remembered a room, white room, where I always stayed in to think. Nobody bothered me there, only when Father called for me. The only people I allowed to visit me were Michael and Gabriel, my two closets brother. Gabriel was the loyal son, doing all he could to please father. Michael was the rebellious son, doing what he thought to be right even if it meant going against Father's wishes.
The same man from my memories was the same man standing before me, threatening a human. Out of the corner of his eyes could I see the deep thought he was in, the way he took in my appearance the confusion. I spoke quickly then, the words falling from my lips before I could acknowledge that it happened.
"Michael my brother enough."
The phrase had been so simple but it held such meaning. He just stared, as if words couldn't describe the situation. I found myself moving closer to him, avoiding the hands that grabbed for me. I wanted my brother, my family, to hold me. I needed to feel the warmth from something I knew. Needed to feel like what I was doing held meaning.
I fell into his open arms, he held onto me. Hugging me tightly. My arms went around his waist and I buried my head into his strong hard chest. He didn't look so different than when he was in his special armor.
"They're here." He pulled me away, handing back the shotgun to Bob. And just like that, the sense of belonging I longed for was over. "You're going to need this."
"Who's here.?" Charlie asked. I answered instead, my secret no longer needing to be one. "More like Gladys." The look of horror spread across their face sent me another chill.
The beginning of the end was here.