• Welcome to the End
    By:
    Mary Weather Ann Black

    “What were you thinking?!” She reprimanded, steel in her voice. Even though I couldn’t see her, I knew she was crying. At times like this, I’m not Mr. Perfect. I have no idea how to comfort anyone, and…quite frankly, crying makes me nervous. “…I…” I began nervously, running my hands through my hair just to have something to do. “Don’t…” She said. “I don’t need your apologies.” I heard her slowly turn around and walk away. “Eden…” My voice faltered. Tentatively, I placed my left foot in front of me to follow. We’d had to bolt from the enemy…run to a new location, so I had no idea how to navigate without Eden. I silently cursed under my breath. What was I thinking? That me, a fifteen-year-old blind kid, could take a whole army of demons? They’re no ordinary demons, they were born to kill us angels… The technical term for the demons are obliterators, but just to anger them, Eden and I call them slave doggies, or rather, steroid slave pups. A mouthful, yes…but…it’s kept us alive so far. They’re really good steroid pups at that, in fact, I nearly got killed by a dozen of overgrown mutt-demons tonight. If Eden hadn’t of saved me…well…I don’t want to think of that…
    Why are we being hunted? I really don’t have a clue myself. I have a hunch that Eden knows why. If she does, she’ll tell me in due time, hopefully. I continued following her trail until I felt a rush of wind hit my face. She’d taken to the sky. I sighed. “Going to make this difficult, eh?” I said to the darkness around me, I gently loosened my wings, yes, I have wings and so does Eden. We’re fallen angels. Not technically, technically we are supposed Angels of Death. Let’s just say the two of us haven’t been doing our job. Maybe that’s why we are being hunted. I shook my head, concentrating on the impossible was never good for your brain. My life was so complicated. I wish someone had the answers to the questions dancing in my head. I jumped up, stretching my wings out to catch the current. Unfortunately, I misjudged it’s velocity, and a quick, icy burst of air threw me off-course. Thank you wind. I thought bitterly as I was flung to the left.
    At some point, my head collided with something hard and I tumbled a bit after the collision. When I finally got control of myself, I had no idea where Eden was. She could’ve been right behind me and I wouldn’t have known. Honestly, I didn’t know which direction the ground was. It sucked. I felt alone, defenseless, and disoriented. Everything I hated, wonderful. Eden, my only guide to the world despises me. Now she’s off somewhere moping about my last stupid stunt. Sometimes she’s too emotional… My head was throbbing to my heart-beat, thumping every other second or two. Like a bunch of teenagers in a “band” where no one knows how to play an instrument, so instead of playing an actual tune, they bang on the drums. Boom…ba-boom…boom. I groaned, convinced that a roomful of screaming toddlers wouldn‘t be as painful. I felt a hand on my shoulder, despite being lord knows how high I was in the air, I jumped ten literal feet. A familiar laugh filled my conscious, dissolving all my worries. My lips pulled up into a pained smile. “Eden, you came for me.” I breathed a sigh of relief. “You must want me alive.” I mocked. Her hand wrapped around my good hand, apparently I busted the other sometime between take-off and busting my head open. I just noticed a trail of thick liquid running down my face, I sniffed. Blood. Brilliant. She chuckled. “Why of course I want you alive, Abel.” Her hand guided mine to her face so I could feel her smile. That wasn’t necessary, I could hear her smile through her tone, but it was nice to be thought of. I sighed, trying to sound indifferent. “Well, that’s good to know. I thought you hated me.” I felt her shrug. “Eh. I was just angry. We need to get you to the hospital, I know we can heal ourselves…but, man, that head wound looks nasty.” I crinkled my nose in mock disgust. “Glad I can’t see it.” She laughed, knowing I was myself again.
    A strong aroma of antiseptic singed my nostrils, we had arrived at the hospital. In order to keep the whole “reaper” thing under wraps, Eden had advised that we phase into our human form. God’s children are so narrow-minded. Sadly, angels scare the pants off most of them. “Oh, my word! What happened to him?!” A nurse exclaimed, appalled by my appearance. Good grief, she works in the emergency room, no one’s all prim and proper, most are just bloody…like I was at the moment. An inky violet body caught my attention. Even though I’m blind…my Death Angel senses stayed with my sight. So I’m not totally useless… I can clearly see the souls that are ready to be harvested, the ones that are ready to go home. I could tell that the person on the stretcher was a female in her late twenties, she wouldn’t make it through surgery. I pulled my eyes away from the girl, I could feel eyes on me. Get it? Just some comedy for ya… Gotta act like I can’t see the souls. I cautioned myself. As I continued to observe the room, I was simply amazed at how many people would die tonight. I vaguely wondered how many truly knew their savior. Eden voice broke through my deliberation by softly informing me that we would take care of the “kids” soon. She directed me through a series of hallways that eventually led to a room. She placed my hand on a bed and told me to hop in. “The doc’ll be in soon, Abel. After you get stitched up, we’ll direct the ripe’ns to their proper place.” I raised an eyebrow. “Um, Eden? Since when did you speak slang? Oh. Sorry. Wait. Since when do you speak country slang?” I heard her clothes rustle slightly, so I assumed that she shrugged. It was so irritating when I couldn’t guess her facial expressions. Several agonizing minutes of waiting in silence, the doctor walked into the room. No one spoke, we didn’t dare. It was extremely hard to resist the urge to dash out the door and ease the pain of God’s children, that’s why we were here. It was easier just to be quiet. “So, what happened?” The medic tried to strike up a conversation as a way to ease the sting of the stitches. “Banged my head.” I said through a gasp. I’d felt pain before, but I never expected stitches to hurt as much as this. Eden chuckled quietly in the background. I scowled playfully.
    “Yeah…haha. My pain is so hilarious.”
    “Actually, your pain isn’t what’s funny.” She laughed again. “I-it’s…your…face!”
    I threw my hands in the air in defeat. She was like a brick wall when she got like this. No one could reason with her. The chick stitchin’ me up murmured something almost inaudible. I was too pissed to listen for Eden’s reply. It was my turn for the interrogation. “You what?!” I nearly screamed at her. “You said no pain meds!” I jerked my head to face Eden. My stitches tugged in the opposing direction. My eyes watered but I made no sound. That surprised me. “Ab-Marcello!” Eden stuttered, she has clearly forgotten that we had our human names to keep, for better insurance purposes. I raised an eyebrow questioningly. “Um, what did you call me Melody?” I strained her taken name. Maybe that would get it through her thick skull. Keep the whole supernatural thing un-der wraps!!! She seemed to get the idea. “Um… Sorry, Marcello. I was thinking of a character in the book I’m reading, Abel. He reminds me of you.” I heard her raise the book to let the doctor see, she nodded. The rustling of her coarse hair sounded like sand being ground in your hands. It was comforting. “What I was saying earlier is…that…you need to keep still Marcello. That head jerk must’ve hurt.” Eden finished. I grunted a reply. “She’s right, you know…” The other chick agreed. Now that I paid attention to detail, I could tell that her voice was ragged with exhaustion, and that she had French in her blood. I could imagine the beautiful face that she carried. Her bright, intelligent eyes, round and stunning. How her dark curly, it seemed, hair fell around her porcelain face. I could imagine how she’d blush every time we saw each other, those lovely pink blotches stretching from the bridge of her nose to her cute dimples… Was I playing into this too much? Yes. Would I stop. Well, that was a totally different question. The answer. Probably not… She continued to talk, mindlessly blabbing about her dogs. I didn’t really know what she was actually yakking about. All I could think of was her voice…high and angelic. What a funny term for me to use to describe another being…but I honestly could think of no other. An image of cigarette smoke came to mind. Her voice was like that smoke. Curling around consonants and vowels as fluidly as piano music. The sound was deadly, the smoke had a certain n** at the ends, something I couldn’t put my finger on. Just like the smoker, I knew that this smoke could very well harm me, yet…I was drawn to it. Her voice was my heroin, and it gave me just enough of a high that I only felt a small tugging at my temple instead of the searing pain like before. A small voice in the depths of my conscious pointed out a very plausible notion for me to consider. She might have given you morphine, Abel. I pondered that idea for a moment, sadly…the voice was right. Her voice couldn’t wield that much power…could it? Not likely. Realizing that my fantasies were useless, I dropped them.

    Eden
    That scared the literal crap out of me. …Well, not literal…technically, but who’s being technical here?! All I could see in my mind…was…Abel standing in front of a pack of beefed up hounds. All of which were ready to kill him. “What were you thinking?!” I screamed, flailing my arms about. Like he could see. My voice cracked and I noticed that Abel’s jaw locked instinctively, he knew I was about to cry. That didn’t help. I fell apart like some amateur actress. My sobs came out as quick painful gasps. “…I…” He began, but I needed time to control myself…so I just said. “Don’t. I don’t need your apologies.” I croaked, another fit of sobs creeping up my throat. I turned away from him, instinct. Like it mattered to him what I looked like. “Eden…” I heard from behind. Please just leave me be… I silently begged him. I faintly heard the tentative footsteps behind me. Why did have to do something so stupid?! He could’ve gotten killed!…or whatever we do when we leave this earth. They already stole his sight from him. I guess that’s why he was so eager to kick steroid-demon-slave-mutts butt. I snorted. Steroid-demon-slave-mutts? Wow, since when did the name get so long? They aren’t really dogs…or slaves…wait…scratch that, they are slaves. They just have this musky wet dog smell about them. Other than that…they were nothing like dogs. Nothing. It was too much to think about. I needed to clear my head. So I immediately threw my wings up and pushed down. My feet were instantly off the ground and I quickly rose in the air. “Gonna make this difficult, eh?” I heard Abel complain. Stay on the ground, Abel, the wind just picked up. I thought feverishly. I desperately wanted him to be here in the morning… I closed my eyes and prayed that Abel would be alive by the end of the night. I need him here… As I opened my eyes, I could just catch a glimpse of Abel being flung at a rocky cliff. “Abel!” I cried, more tears sprouting. I sickening *thunk* reached my ears. Abel’s head collided with the side of a jagged rock, his right hand hurled into the hard surface. Then he spun for a moment, his sweet face covered in glistening red blood. The emotions on his face were clear; pain, fear, isolation, loneliness, defenselessness… It was all there plastered on his angelic face. I flew to him, fighting the urge to break down in hysteria. My hand had just touched his shoulder when he…jumped out of his skin! Despite everything, how horribly damaged he was, despite the gash on the side of his cranium, even despite the buckets of blood pouring out of him. I had to laugh. Immediately, his expression cleared, which I’d have to admit pleased me. He pulled his lips into a twisted grimace, that was his smile I realized. That was the best he could do at the moment. “Eden, you came for me.” He said, slouching slightly. “You must want me alive.” He mocked. I gently took his hand and raised it to my lips so he could feel my smile as I said. “Of course I want you alive, Abel.” That twisted grimace again. “Well, that’s good to know. I thought you hated me.” I shrugged knowing he’d feel it. “Eh. I was just angry. We need to get you to the hospital, I know we can heal ourselves…but, man, that head wound looks nasty.” He crinkled his nose in mock disgust. “Glad I can’t see it.” I laughed once more, knowing that he was back to normal again.
    Abel’s hand had healed by the time we reached the hospital, I just wish that that was the same for his head wound. I advised him earlier to phase into his human form. The wings would just raise speculation. We did not need that today… I spoke with a nearby nurse to vaguely explain what happened and to give the nurse his human identity. “Oh, my word! What happened to him?!” She exclaimed, mortified. Hadn’t I just said that!?! I rolled my eyes and clicked my tongue, just to play up the “teen” thing. I began to study Abel’s face to calculate his reaction to the nurse’s reaction. It was similar to mine. I could practically read his thoughts from his expression. I look like every one else here! I look like crap, what’s to be expected?! I snorted quietly. Abel was just so blunt…much like a child sometimes…
    After we’d gotten cared for, what I mean by that is that one chick finished the stitches needed to seal Abel’s head wound. I never cared to learn her name. I didn’t like her. At all. It was like she put Abel under some witch’s spell. He gawked at nothing, forever! His thoughts aren’t that hard to decipher - they’re clearly displayed on his face. I could just tell that whatever he was thinking, it was about what’s-her-face and that I did not want to hear them… I was practically fuming. What does he see in her?! I laughed bitterly. “See,” yeah right… He doesn’t even realize I’m a girl most of the time, as if he can see anyway… I thought, scuffing the floor with my shoe. “Eden?” Abel asked softly. I could see the pain in his eyes, in his soul… “The children?” I answered, and he nodded. Good, something I could handle without troubles. “Okay, we’ll split. I’ll take the teens ’round here. Um - I may not be in the hospital, so you can just hang here, k?” Somehow I always speak slang when I’m excited or high on a particular emotion. Just one of my many quirks… “A’ighty then, I’m taking the babies!” He said brightly before tailing a passing nurse. For some off the wall reason, that guy is awesome with the babies. Great. Swear it. He puts mother around the world to shame, I’ll never forget the many times I’ve watched him calm the fears of a frightened child…he was so sweet then… I sighed, this type of thinking wasn’t going to help God’s children pass into heaven, I needed to get my act together…
    “This hospital’s so depressing… I’ll work outside this building, my nose hurts because all this antiseptic they use here… Blech.” I held my breath the rest of they way out of the hospital, and only then did I breathe again. The air was so sweet and flowery, just like a meadow after a rain shower. I flicked on my Angel vision with a blink, because, unlike Abel, I wasn’t as talented…I can’t just spot dying children, I have to look really hard to find them. I glanced downward and spotted a faint set of amethyst footsteps leading into a nearby alley. “Hello? Um, can you reply? Can you see or hear me?” My gosh, I sound like an idiot. I sighed, I was never good at this… Stretching out my wings, I walked closer to the huddled figure. A teenage boy around my supposed human age, fifteen raised his head to look at me. I watched his eyes widen as he took in my whole, real appearance. He nodded. “I can see, hear, and obviously reply to you. Who, and what are you?” His voice was rough with fatigue and pain. I sat next to him, ignoring that I’d sat in a pool of his blood. “My name is Eden, and I’m going to assist you to heaven. I’m your Angel of Death.” I said simply, looking into his eyes, or rather, eye, half of his face was cloaked by thick, black bangs. He smiled, a beautiful, although pained smile. “Well, I’m glad someone cares enough to help me with anything…” He removed his hand from his wrist, peered at the damage, and grimaced. “What a stupid way to die…” He groaned, hitting his head against the brick wall he sat against. I raised an eyebrow at this. “Um, of course suicide is a stupid way to die, your not the only victim to your decision to take your life, you know…” I told him. He rolled his eyes. “I didn’t mean that suicide in general is a stupid way to die, I meant slashing your wrist is a stupid way to die. It’s painful and drawn out, and I quite honestly regret it, but it’s not like I can just not die. You’re here, that means it all over, right?” He turned to me, a ghost of a smile still on his face, I could tell that he’d talked himself into accepting his death, my job. I smiled back. “Yeah, you are going to die, but I can ease the pain if you want me to.” I reached for his wrist but he pulled it away from me. “No,” He shook his head. “This was my choice, I will follow through with it…” He said firmly. “Just stay with me…please, that’s all I ask…” He whispered, tears trailing down his pale face. His eyeliner leaving twin trails down his cheeks. He looked so pitiful, I began to cry myself. “Okay,” I whispered back. “I will, until the end.”
    We talked for what it seemed like hours, about anything and everything in between. I knew so much about him now, and vise versa. I knew his favorite color, which just so happened to be purple, his birthday, name, and everything I could have possible imagined. I knew him as well as I know Abel, and I know Abel… I let my barriers down, and really talked with James… He told me his name in the first few minutes of our conversation - what a gentleman! I even started talking about Abel, and all my worries and troubles with him. He held up a crimson coated hand. “Hold it, who’s Abel again, and…is he like you?” He asked, positively intrigued, or rather, he was desperately trying to get his worldly pain off his mind. I nodded a response to the second question and replied sheepishly to the first, “He’s um, my friend…” James shot a wayward glance at me, one that said “I know what you really mean by ‘friend.’” I blushed a deep scarlet and he waved a hand, splattering blood just over my eye. I ignored it, and so did he. “Don’t worry about it, if he’s anything like you, sweet, kind… Everything’s bound to turn out alright.” His sapphire eyes twinkled happily and I had to smile back. “I’ll take your word on it…” I laughed a little, nudging him slightly in a playful manner. “You better take my word on it, I’m James the All Knowing.” He said flashing me yet another smile, one as pure and genuine as the first I’d seen from him. We sat for a moment or two, just enjoying each other’s company. I closed my eyes and sighed, leaning my head on the brick. “Eden?” James whispered harshly, the sound was wrong and forced. I’d been watching him die for the past half hour, this couldn’t be the end. I dared myself to look at him. His complexion had turned pallid and waxy. James had turned into a freaking wax doll! Crimson blotches highly contrasted with his now cobalt lips. Tears pricked behind my eyes, willing them to fall. I wouldn’t, I had to be strong for him. No matter how much it hurt me. James peered at me for a fleeting moment before he said, “I’ve never had the pleasure of kissing a girl before, and I have most certainly never kissed anyone outside of my species, may I kiss you? As my dying wish?” He asked softly. I froze. Kissing? James?! I’d never kissed anyone myself, so it would be a first for the both of us, but…did I really want to share anything that intimate when he was going to die minutes after? It was my job to fulfill the wishes of the dying…unless it was unethical or impossible to do… It was his dying wish? I was created to grant that wish, but, the question was…would I do it? “James…” I moaned, slumping my shoulders. “I really don’t want to… I-” I began to explain why, but he cut me off. “Then say no more, I don’t want to force you to do anything you don’t want to…” He stated quietly. He was so sweet… I held my arms out and motioned him forward. “Come on, gimme a hug, James.” He looked to me, to his wrist, then to my open arms. He gave a small smile before flinging himself into the embrace. It was as if he could pretend no longer that he was going to die, that he couldn’t hold it together anymore. “I don’t want to die!” He sobbed, burying his face in my chest. That got to me. I broke down, and those awaiting tears fell eagerly while my heart rose to my throat. “It’s okay, James, you’ll be fine, you won’t hurt anymore, you’ll be free…” I chanted to him, trying to make myself believe my words… His crying ceased after I finished repeating the words that were supposed to make everyone feel better three or more times. “Thanks Eden… You’re the only person who bothered to get to know me. You treated me like I’m human, and you didn’t judge me… You’re my best friend and I love you.” He admitted, choking back another urge to sob. Why did my job have to be so hard? He didn’t deserve this painful way to die. I didn’t deserve the pain of watching him die painfully… We didn’t deserve this pain… “ What kind of person would I be if I didn’t do all those things?” I exclaimed, still in hysterics. “You would be like everybody else, normal…” He replied. I kissed his forehead, allowing my tears to fall freely now. “I love you too, James…” It was all I could say, there was nothing else I could do for him. I just hugged him tighter, trying to keep him here with me, if only for a moment longer… “I’m not afraid anymore, Eden… I know I’ll be safe wherever I go, because you will always be in my memories to comfort me…” He explained, closing his eyes. “Goodbye, Eden…” He said after a moment, “Goodbye, James…” I whispered back, stroking his matted hair. I continued to whisper words of comfort long after James stopped breathing, I wanted to believe them myself - that he would no longer feel pain…that would be happy and free - but it just wouldn’t sink in. The boy in my arms was James no more, James had gone… All he left was the shell of himself. His worldly body. I laid his body down on the earth he cared so much about, the earth he fought to protect. “Little goober, trying to fight global warming alone…” I said to him, placing his hands over his heart. The most beautiful thing about him… I stayed there, knowing I should leave soon, before anyone sees me. I stayed and wiped away his tears that were still streaming down his sallow cheeks; he looked like a true angel. I never thought that one person could have such an impact on my life, in such a short time at that… “You’re free now, James, that what you always wanted, no one can hurt you now…” You’re no longer bound to this earth and its cruel inhabitants, you’re truly free… I finished in my thoughts, standing up. “Can’t walk out of this alley, I’m blood-soaked, I guess I’ll have to fly…”