Chapter 9
Once upon a time there was light in my life, but now there's only love in the dark…
"NO!" Andrew exclaimed suddenly pulling away barely an instant before he kissed the blond demon. "I'm sorry, Deborah, but I can't!" he said standing up and leaving the dinner in such a hurry that he didn't see Monica still standing by the window.
The angel of Death walked as quick as he could for what he felt like a long time. He didn't know when he had disappeared from the street and reappeared in a green meadow where the sun and a soft breeze bathed him. His legs grew weaker and he fell on his knees, big painful tears rolling over his cheeks. "Please, help me," he begged. "I'm lost! I no longer know what I'm doing! She was my North Star, my way to come back to You! Why do I have to lose her? I know You are the One that can comfort anyone in times of pain, that's why I'm coming to You! You know I'll do whatever You ask me to, but I also know that Monica and I being apart is not what You want because You put us together in the first place. She says she has reasons, reasons that I don't understand. Show me the way, Father, for I no longer can see the light…"
"You know He will, Andrew" Sam's voice interrupted him. The dark skinned angel placed a hand on Andrew's shoulder at the time he wiped away his tears before he stood up.
"Sam…" the blond angel acknowledged him.
"Hello, son. I was looking for you. The Father told me where to find you."
"You were looking for me?" he repeated. "What for?"
"The Father needs you. Right now. He needs His best angels and you are between them."
Andrew smiled nervously, his current state of mind not allowing him to believe he was required at the time. "I don't know if I'm ready to go back to work right now, Sam. I'm not sure I could do my job as I am supposed to. You released me a couple of days ago but the things now are worse between Monica and me, and I…"
"Andrew," Sam interrupted him. "The Father knows how things are between you and Monica. He knows both of you are hurting and He wants to help you heal. But right now He needs His angels. He's asking you to rise and do His job for He needs His loyal servants. He needs you to stand for Him as He's always done for you. You are His angel, Andrew, don't forget that."
Andrew sighed knowing he in no way could refuse to do what God was asking him to do. "I know, Sam. What is it?"
"This is a very special case, son. The Father needs the most capable angels. You won't be alone but we need you there. We all will get special help…" the dark skinned angel said.
"You say the Father needs the best angels…" the blond angel started, and then meeting Sam's brown eyes, he asked what was in his mind. "Will Monica…?"
"Yes, she will be there too," Sam replied, reading in Andrew's green eyes the pain he was feeling. "In fact she is the one that needs all our help…"
"This is about her assignment with Jamal Burgham, right?"
The supervisor nodded. "Yes. His time is over." They then started to walk and disappeared.
Monica cried softly all her way to the office, half for fear and pain, half in relief when she saw Andrew leaving the diner. She wiped the last of her tears and sighed when she reached the front door of the building, and immediately something caught her attention. All the building seemed like set on fire, people running from one office to the other, carrying papers and giving orders to everyone around. The front desk was full with people asking to meet Jamal or some of the VP's or the executives; the secretaries there were having trouble to calm the people that was surrounding the front desk demanding an explanation. Among the questions and the yelling Monica could finally get an idea of what was happening: Burgham enterprises had been declared in bankrupt just minutes ago.
Sensing the urge to arrive to her place, the little angel took the stairs to escape the multitude and then waited for the elevator on the following floor. When the doors opened, her office was a mirror of what she had left downstairs: people with stress reflected on their eyes and expressions. The otherwise calm and almost peaceful office was now a kingdom of confusion and chaos. She dropped her purse on her chair and ran to open the door of Jamal's office.
Opposite to what was happening outside, in his office there was nobody but him, seating on his chair, his back to the desk and the door. Without turning t look at his secretary, Jamal said, "Have you heard the news, Monica? It's all gone…"
"Jamal, what?" the little angel asked. "I only overheard what people is saying downstairs…"
"We lost the sell we were working on. All the inversion we did is worth nothing now. You don't have a job anymore. Nobody has one anymore…" When the man finally turned to face his secretary, he was no longer the proud, impressive man Monica had known so far. He looked pale, weak… defeated in one word.
"That's not possible…" she murmured.
"It is, Monica. I had put the enterprise with everything on it as a guarantee for the bank so I could get the money for the inversion in the sell… The sell is gone so is the money and the contracts for the providers and the sellers. I'm sorry for you, Monica, you had just started…"
The Irish angel walked to be right in front of the desk. "I'm sorry for you, Jamal… still there's something you should know…"
"What?" the man asked, somehow surprised by her the tenderness in her voice.
"That no matter how difficult and hopeless the situation looks like, God will always help you go through it…"
"God?" Jamal asked in a tone that was a mixture between sarcasm and surprise.
"Don't even try that, Monica!" Kathleen's voice thundered in the office, making both the angel and the man turn to see her.
"Try what?" Jamal asking not knowing what his assistant was talking about.
"So… this is the time, Kathleen?" Monica said with a defiant note that surprised the demon and the man. "This is the time when we'll show ourselves like what we really are?"
"Go on, angelgirl," Kathleen replied sarcastically. "I think it won't be a real surprise…"
"Show what you really are?" the man couldn't understand. "You two, you better explain yourselves right now! Why do you call her angelgirl, Kathleen?"
"Because I am an angel, Jamal," Monica said looking at him first and then at her ex co-worker at the time a soft glow involved her and her clothes changed immediately into a long white dress. "I am an angel sent by God to save you from Kathleen, Gregory and the power they serve."
"If you are an angel, then Kathleen…"
"Yes, Jamal, I am a demon!" she said, her clothes changing into black ones. "Or… a fallen angel, better said. I was created by the same God that created her… but I decided to serve the master you chose too."
Time seemed to be still for Jamal as he couldn't fully understand what was going on. He had an angel and a demon with him, yet he was aware he had promised his soul to the Devil… then why had God sent him an angel and at that exact moment? "Why are you here, Monica?" the man asked incredulously. "I thought…"
"You thought that when you neglected God, He had also neglected you, that when you turned your back on him, He had turned His back on you too, but that's not true, Jamal. He still loves you, He still believes in you…"
"But you have a promise, Jamal!" Kathleen interrupted. "The master gave you everything you asked for: money, power… Now, you have to fulfill your promise!"
"N-now?" the man stuttered. "You mean I-I'm going…" he took a deep breath, "… to die?"
He was now looking at both Monica and Kathleen. The first had tears in her eyes, the second was smiling in pride and nodding. As if asking for a confirmation, Jamal looked at Monica, who managed a quick nod as the only answer.
It happened in barely a second. A sharp pain hit him in the middle of his chest, right on his heart. A heart attack, Jamal knew immediately. His breath caught in his throat and he lost consciousness for a second, until he felt he was waking up in a place that was no longer his office but somewhere else in the middle of two roads, one in absolute darkness, the other in the brightest light.
"It's time to go, Jamal," Gregory announced standing by Kathleen's side. "The master is waiting for you."
Jamal couldn't utter a sound. All he knew was that he was terribly scared for he had the feeling of the horrible things that awaited him in hell. Never before he had regretted his promise, specially when he had gotten what he had wanted: more money than he could spend, the power to dominate whoever he wanted to, in particular those who could compete with him in business. He had also had a lot of women he had conquered just for a few nights and then forgotten. Still all those things had left him feeling empty. No matter how much people admired him as a successful man, he knew his life hadn't been whole and at that exact moment all he wanted was another day to live and try to find what he had rarely had: love. He looked at Kathleen and Gregory with pure terror written on his eyes. He couldn't move, he didn't want to!
The sudden soft touch of a hand on his made him react and turn to find Monica looking at him. "You can change your decision, Jamal!" she said in a low, tender voice. "There's still time…"
"No, Jamal! A promise is a promise!" Kathleen interrupted.
"Ask for forgiveness! God will forgive you! He already has!" the angel said.
"Satan wants what you promised to him!" Gregory added. "He will fight to see the promise fulfilled!"
"God will fight for your soul, Jamal! Who do you think is more powerful than the all mighty God?"
"God hasn't beaten the Devil, Monica!" Kathleen said. "You know better than that! You've faced Evil more times that you can count!"
"But wars are won one battle at a time, Kathleen, and I'm here to fight this battle!" the Irish angel said with a conviction in her voice that finally reached Jamal's heart.
"Oh, God, what have I done?" Kathleen and Gregory heard Jamal murmur before they could stop him.
"NO!" the female demon shouted reaching to take Monica by a wrist, grabbing it so hard that she was hurting the angel. "You think you won but you didn't, little angel! Gregory, take him!"
Jamal reacted trying to run but the demon was faster and caught him, circling the man's neck with one arm and bending him arm towards his back. "You're coming with us, wanting it or not!"
"You can't manage the two of us alone, Mony," Kathleen said bending the angel's wrist so bad that she fell to her knees.
"But she is not alone, Kathleen!" Tess' voice thundered as if announcing a storm. "And you better go away!" The dark skinned angel took the demon's wrist and easily made her release Monica. When the little angel opened her eyes, she saw that not only Tess was there but also Rafael —who had managed to free Jamal from Gregory's hold—, Emma, and many more angels standing at the beginning of the light-full road.
Kathleen and Gregory seemed taken off-guard all surrounded by angels, but who seemed now more impressed than ever was Jamal. He was on his knees too and was studying carefully some of the angels. "You…" he told Rafael. "You are that boy that came to ask for a job last year and…"
"… and you ordered there was no job for Latin people in your enterprise…" the young angel told him. "Yet, I gave you a message…"
"That God was watching what I was doing…" Jamal said in a regretful voice.
"The exact words I told you the last time you went to visit your mother…" Emma said now. "Five years before she died, with cancer, alone in that nursing home where you abandoned her…"
"See, Jamal?" Monica interceded, walking and kneeling in front of the man. "God hasn't lost hope in you. He has sent you an angel once and again to make you see He will love you until the end. You have neglected that love because you have been waiting for one in particular…"
"How could I believe in God when He had taken away from me the woman I loved the most?" Jamal asked now crying openly. "She was my happiness! She left me for somebody new! Somebody with money and power! That's why I looked for them! For money and power so I could have her back!"
"And who gave you that, Jamal? Don't forget it!" Kathleen spoke. "He gave you what you wanted and more!"
"But he never gave you Sheila back and he will never do" Monica said in a loud voice, "for Sheila is waiting for you by God's side and you'll see her if you ask for His mercy!"
Of all the news, this was the one Jamal expected the less: Sheila was dead! "She can't be dead!" the man whispered still in shock. "She can't be! How do you know! Did you take her Home!" he shouted to Monica, grabbing her by the arms desperately.
"I did!" Adam's voice said and everybody turned to see a new group of angels arriving: Sam, Adam… and Andrew.
