After a particularly loud crack of thunder, however, that serenity changed to a kind of grim purpose. "Let's go, Angel babies," said the matronly black woman, burrowing herself deeper into the comforting furs surrounding her impressive, commanding form, "We've got a job to do." Andrew, the goldenly attractive Angel of Death turned to his mentor with an unspoken question in his eyes, as his auburn haired angelic cohort, Monica, began in her soft, Irish lilt, "Tess…?"
Suddenly, the sound of sobbing rose over the tumultuous storm, and out of the darkness came a struggling figure, who was running so fast that the crutches it threw in front of its body pounded the road in rhythmic slaps. The two younger angels looked on in astonishment as the girl, for the form was unmistakably that of a teenaged girl, raced on down the road before stopping dead before the rickety wooden bench that graced the beginning of the beach. The child was moving so blindly that she hardly noticed a small break in the pavement in front of her, and tripped as her foot caught. Her momentum was great enough to carry her several inches before she finally made brutal contact with the rough asphalt. Monica's first instinct was to run to the rescue, but Tess held her back. "Wait baby, she needs to do this by herself, and you need to see it."
Huddled on the cold wet ground, the girl raised her tear streaked face to the heavens, giving a great heave to bring herself to her feet. "I won't give in," she growled defiantly, ignoring the blood dripping down her scraped calf. "I won't give You the pleasure of seeing me fail, You sick, sadistic ass! You took everything from me, my freedom, my innocence, my mother, but I'll be DAMNED if You're gonna get a SURRENDER!" Andrew turned a horrified face to Tess, who shook her head grimly and said, "Not yet, Angel-boy. Watch."
Still sobbing in ragged bursts, the wet and furious girl made her way past the road and into the grass behind the beachfront bench. Then she sat down, her long black crutches hanging from her wrists, as she brought up her trembling hands to cradle her face. "Oh, Mom, after seven years, you'd think I'd get used to losing you. But it still hurts….it hurts SO much. I'm trying to hold on here, but I'm calling and there's no one here…..NO ONE!" Screaming again, the girl lifted her face to the sky and shrieked, "WHY! WHAT THE HELL ELSE DO YOU WANT FROM ME? You think You can just come down out of that joke of an afterworld and RUIN my LIFE? You KILLED her, You LET her DIE, and when You did that, You killed ME too! You BROKE me! And I HATE YOU! Do you UNDERSTAND ME? I want to die! But I can't…. " and abruptly the girl's anger was gone.
"I can't die, I've got to fight this damned disability, Eve needs me. Dad needs me. HELL, Sarah even needs me…… And I'm too much of a coward to kill myself anyway. Do you see what you've done?" The child asked listlessly to the passing storm, "Do you see what's happened to me? I'm all alone in a crowded room, a bitter old woman stuck in a child's body--THAT'S NOT LIFE…..it's a joke, a cruel, heartless, hideous joke, and I have to stick around to pick up the pieces. She's gone, and she's never coming back. I hate you…."
Tess turned to her stunned and speechless cohorts, "That's Kailyn Terris. Seven years ago her mother died of cancer, and she's never healed from it. Her father remarried, and even though Kailyn loves her step mother, she passes every November like this…..hiding her feelings from everyone but herself, and then screaming to numb the pain. We're here to help her, and her family, before it's too late."
From the bench a quiet voice was heard suddenly, a singing voice, "'Hold onto me, when you're not feeling strong. baby, hold on, baby hold on. When you cry, I will dry your eyes, when you fall, I'll lift you up high, you just reach for these arms of mine, baby, I promise they won't let you go…' Oh God, help me please. This pain is too much…..my soul is dying, and taking my strength with it…if you are up there, if you are real, please, if there really is someone up there who cares, please don't let me go through this again…..I don't want to be alone anymore! I don't want to lose who I am…..I don't want to lose my mind." Raising her hands, the girl exposed her scratched and bleeding wrists, which were only superficial, more a symbol of her despair than anything else, to the stinging rain. "Not again. Never again."
"Don't you worry, baby, help's on the way," Tess murmured, looking out over the clearing water. "Help is on the way."