Visit from an angel
Chloe sat in her room sorting through her things. As she did she came across the dusty bible her mother had once given her. "It had been passed to me by my mother." She had commented to ears that were not fully listening, did not fully care. Chloe stared at it for another second and then put it in the toss pile. She was cleaning her apartment for a friend from school.
A door opened behind her startling her. She turned to see her brother, Remi. "Remi! What are you doing here? I wasn't expecting you. Where are mom and dad?"
"They aren't with me." Remi said matter-of-factly. "I came to see you on my own."
Chloe was concerned. Why would he be here by himself? And their parents- "Remi, what are you thinking? I need to call mom and dad. God, they must think-"
"Do not use God's name like that Chlo. That's exactly why I'm here. Please, just listen and then I'll go. I'll go back home right away if you would just listen to me. Give me five minutes before calling mom and dad."
"But they must be worried."
"Think time Chlo. I'm supposed to be at school. They won't know until you call them. Please, five minutes." Chloe's heart wrenched at how he pleaded. She knew that she could give him five minutes. She waved him over and he sat down next to her. "Chloe. I am about to say some things that may upset you, but please just listen. I want to help you."
"Help me?" Chloe started, but her brother's gaze stopped her.
"Chloe, God has impressed me to pray very hard for you over the past few weeks, but I do not feel like my prayers are working. I know you think this whole religion thing is stupid, but I do not. I believe that God could use you if you'd just believe. I don't want anything to happen to you while your faith is weak. I am afraid."
"You do not have to be afraid for me!" Chloe scoffed. "I know what I am doing. I know what I believe. Why should I believe in your God? What has he done for me?"
"My God, my God! Chlo, it's your God too. He created you and he watches over you. What more could you want? Jesus even died on the cross for you. You just have to have faith."
"How can I know for sure? I have not seen God. How can I know he exists?"
Remi got tears in his eyes and Chloe knew she had said something wrong. He looked at her with caring eyes. He suddenly reached over and put a hand on her chest. "He's right here. Your faith. You need to look at yourself Chlo, please. I know on the inside you'd know if you tried."
"I know nothing. Here take this back to mother when you leave. I'm done talking. I'm calling home and then I'll take you back to the airport." She handed him the bible and she watched as he stood with a superiority she had not seen before. He held the bible as though it was worth something, even though Chloe knew it was just a cheap bible.
The phone call didn't take long, but her mother had taken it better than she thought it would. She had not been hysterical, as she had imagined her mother being. Her brother didn't seem to mind being taken to the airport either.
Little did Chloe know it, but he had done his job. The seed he had planted in her would later come to be used. To some it may have seemed too late, but it wasn't. Her brother had done exactly what he was supposed to do according to God. And Chloe became the martyr she had because of him and his words. They were some of the last running through her head as she died.
As she died she couldn't wait to see her brother, to show him what his words had done for her.
The car ride seemed so short back then, taking him to the airport. But as it replayed itself in her mind as she died it seemed to take forever. He was the reason she had been born again and she couldn't wait to see him again.