Post by sonata on Feb 16, 2011 8:00:31 GMT
Uriel
The clouds rolled beneath his feet, gentle, airy, and fluffy—their thin layers were like vapors of dry ice. Uriel was standing barefoot with his back to the brilliant, crystalline gates of Heaven. His ivory skin near enveloped in the vibrancy as the sun shown like God’s eye behind him before it rolled like a marble across the still space. Its passing excited flashes of pinks, purples, and oranges before it sank below the clouds. The days in Heaven went quicker than those below though time bore no significance when God was time. Time had no meaning for as long as God gave it none. But below, time ran a different course; and when it ended for certain mortals, Uriel was the first to be seen.
The clouds converged before Uriel, boiling as a huddled form emerged lying upon its side. It was a woman, donning a purple sweater and blue denim-jeans. Her hair was pulled back by a rubber band into a messy tail as she coughed and lifted her shoulders. Her hands pushed away at seemingly nothing as she raised her head to gaze up at the celestial figure that stood a few feet away from her. Her brown eyes widened in shock, her face wrinkled by stress, stretching her drooping eyelids. Her lips parted, quivering as fear took hold of her. Any fool weaned on the Bible could recognize such a place and the creature that stood before her.
“No!” she shrieked. “Oh God, no!”
The woman hung her head and wept as Uriel slowly blinked his eyes. His argent hair draped his shoulders like ocean waves and each follicle shined like precious gold. His thin brows were knitted over eyes devoid of sympathy as he gazed upon the woman, blubbering at his feet. The seraphim said nothing as she wept and whimpered on about her friends, family…things that she hadn’t seem to care about before. So why did they matter now?
She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and grew silent except for her sniffing and hiccups. She raised her malt ball eyes that glittered with her tears to the angel as she slowly and fearfully crawled toward him like a dog. “Because of my coke addiction, I have finally died. I’m sorry for wastin’ my life away. If I could live again, I would have never picked up such a bad habit. I-I didn’t have anyone. When my family found out that I was on the rock, they no longer talked to me. I haven’t seen my mother in years. I felt abandoned. Please, what am I to do now? You’re not gonna send me to hell, are ya?”
Uriel said nothing.
“Please, I-”
A small hand reached from behind the archangel’s left leg to snag a hold of the white cloth that wrapped the lithe form of the angel. A single brown eye then peeked around his hip; a small little girl wearing a white dress was eying the woman shyly.
The woman stared at the little girl in wonder. She was such a beautiful child. Her thin, oaken hair cascaded to the small of her back. Her cheeks were plump and her lips cutely curled into her mouth. “Who is she?” the woman questioned.
Uriel finally spoke, “She is yours. Well, would have been.” His low words were full of indifference. The angel didn’t need to explain the details. He was sure that Sarah Loraine Gallagher was aware of the day and perhaps even the time she had given up the child. Her hushed cry confirmed that assumption.
Sarah clutched her mouth in remorse as she continued to stare at the child. “I didn’t want to! I didn’t have the money to take care of her and her daddy disappeared. I swear I didn’t want to.” Both of her hands were pressed to her face as she leaned over and uttered muffled cries.
Uriel’s six wings stretched out like fingers, the bones in his wings and back cracked softly as his chest swelled and sank with a tired sigh. “Do you repent? Your sins are suitable for the third circle,” he enlightened.
Sarah fearfully gazed up at the angel as she pleaded, “Yes. If I could have a second chance, I would never go down the same road again. I wouldn’t kill my baby. Please God forgive me. I just want my baby.” She hung her head and wept again.
Uriel turned his back upon the woman and started away from her as Sarah’s child followed, clinging to his robes. She gazed up at Uriel curiously before she then released him and raced back over to the woman. The little girl watched her weep before she begged softly, “Please don’t cry. You will be all right.”
Sarah stopped weeping and gazed at the little girl.
Uriel peered over his shoulder, his left wing lifting out of his view. He looked to Sarah and her child and said, “Because your child has forgiven you, God has seen into your heart and also forgiven you. You may venture with her through the gates and be with her in eternal peace.”
Sarah wiped her tears rapidly as she gazed to Uriel and then to the little girl. “Thank you!” she exclaimed. She held her arms out to her child. “Please, come here, Sweetie.”
The little girl smiled softly and stepped into her embrace. Sarah embraced her daughter tenderly, brushing the back of her head and kissing her cheeks. “Thank you God,” she wept, and then stood to take her daughter by the hand.
Uriel held his right hand out to the gates as they slowly swung open, a glorious light awaiting the two spirits. Sarah and her child faded upon passing through the gates as they then swung closed and locked with an audible clank. Uriel turned from the gates in time to see a certain angel descending to the mortal realm. Joshua, he thought irritably. If he hadn’t been busy, he would have gave the cherubim an earful for being late to work, and even more for managing to escape when he was busy with an appointment. The archangel was always busy with appointments, but if he had known that Joshua hadn’t left until now, he would have put his next client on hold. No matter. Uriel wasn’t forgetful no matter how many thousands of days went by during the cherubim’s absence.