Faith
"Will we ever see you again?" Jeep asked, breathless.
Michael had only looked at him, and said, "Have faith." From there, he spread his brilliant wings and soared through the sky, high into the heavens and riding the winds like the seraphim he was.
I didn't know this until Jeep told me while we drove out on the highway. He hadn't mentioned Michael at all since a few months back when he'd rescued me and my baby, Elijah. I'm not sure whether Jeep had been afraid to speak about Michael, or if the angel had ever crossed his mind. Whatever the reason, when he spoke to me about Michael, my heart skipped a beat.
"He said to 'have faith,' and that we should find the prophets to translate these tattoos." Jeep told me with that thick accent of his. I listened, and gently rocked Eli in my arms as we kept driving on. The sun was beginning to set, painting the sky in hues of pinks and orange, until it meshed with the natural cerulean blue sky. I'd never seen such a beautiful shade of blue, not since I'd seen Michael. Michael…..
"Are you here to protect us?" Audrey had asked.
Michael had glimpsed at her, before his eyes met mine. And he said with such a force that shook me to the core. "Not you, her."
"Me?" The thought of me being worth protecting seemed impossible, improbable; Why at all would an archangel come down from Heaven to protect me and the bastard child I was carrying?
Back then my Elijah was a nuisance; but not anymore. Michael had made sure I had realized how precious this baby was to me, and not just the world. I began to remember giving birth to Eli, how Michael had held me against his chest as I screamed and screamed. He'd instructed me with such a soothing voice. Thinking back, I don't think I could've done it- any of it- if he hadn't been there for me. Who would have thought that a nobody waitress in the middle of nowhere, knocked up by some nameless jerk, would be held by one of the infamous archangels of heaven? Or would even care for some nobody like me?
I glanced at Jeep. Yes, he was sweet. He was kind. He would take care of me. But was he my true guardian? I could never hurt him, but I never felt my fingers itch to trace his skin, my mouth never yearned to touch his, my heart never ached to love him.
That was for another man entirely.
I was shook from my day-dreaming as the car stopped. Why did we stop?
"Sorry Charlie, I know how you don't like to stop but we both gotta' get some shut-eye." I looked out the car window to see night's blanket of stars had already fallen over the horizon, and Jeep had stopped at a small, dilapidated old motel. The sign was supposed to say "Hellen's Motel," but ironically the ENS lights in Hellen's were out. Hell Motel.
Shit.
Jeep led us to room 13 (figures) and plopped down my duffle back full of baby assortments and my suitcase. "I'm real sorry about this Charlie, but we need gas and more supplies before we keep going."
I want to be angry, to yell at him and tell him we had to keep moving. But I couldn't. I was too tired to even care and clutched Eli to my chest as I slumped to one of the two beds in our room.
An awkward silence fell over us, broken finally by Jeep when he scratched his head and mumbled "uh, be right back." I watched as he walked out the door, but not before he remembered to lock the door.
I turned my attention to Eli. He was already so big and full of life. His thin, flaxen hairs ruffled a bit as I gently pushed them from his forehead, and bent down to kiss that soft forehead of his. Elijah…. His eyes lay heavily upon his cheeks as he slept deeply, but as I looked around, I noticed his car seat was nowhere to be found.
"Well," I whispered to my baby. "We'll just have to rough it out huh?" I placed Eli down next to me on his back, and lay pillows all around him, making sure if he moved, the pillows would shelter him.
I sighed as the weight of him left my arms. The child who would save us all; he was my baby. My responsibility… But I knew, after all the things I'd done, this was worth it; He was worth it.
I lay down next to Eli, watching him breath softly in and out. And just like that- sleep fell upon me.
I was running, Eli in my arms.
Running? What could I be running from? Was it the angels? Was it Gabriel?
No. Then what was it? I didn't glance back in fear of slowing down. Whatever it was, it was gaining on me. I ran as quick as I possibly could, holding Eli close to my heart.
I thought I could make it.
I knew I could make it.
But before I could realize where I was headed, a cliff side came before my path.
NO! My feet could not stop fast enough, I had too much speed. I fell from the edge of the cliff, the dark abyss at the bottom welcomed its next victim.
But, I knew, there was one man- one soul- who could save me. I yelled out a desperate plea.
"MICHAEL!"
I awoke, breathless and sweaty, the sheets clinging to my form. I placed my hand upon my chest, trying to steady my heaving lungs. I swallowed dryly, "it was all just a dream." I told myself.
A nightmare was more like it, but no matter, it was over, just a little scare. I wiped more salty sweat from my brow, about to sink back into the bed when I felt the door being unlocked.
I froze.
Jeep would've told me he was coming in, wouldn't he? Yes, it was probably Jeep, just Jeep. He would be back this quick, it had to be him.
It wasn't.
The door swung open, protesting as it's practically fell off it's hinges from the impact. But there, standing in the door way in all his glory.
Michael.
"Hello Charlie."
