A Series of One-Shots

The Rapture ~Angels and Demons~

This is an entry for the "Not What It Seems" one-shot contest on Freewritersandreaders.com

 (A:N: This story is in no way trying to force some religious stand point of people. It is just a tale of what I find to be the most ridiculous end-of-the-world theory. This is strictly for enjoyment.)

The Rapture

Elizabeth was late for work…again. This was her third time; her third time in two weeks, to be exact. Her third time to be written up, which was all they needed to fire her. It made her chest hurt. Anxiety spread throughout her body, making her fingertips tingle numbly. She needed her job. It was the only thing keeping her head above water financially.

As soon as she stepped through the doors, her manager descended on her like a vulture. “You’re late,” he said.

She nodded, knowing what was coming next. “I know. I’m sorry, but my grandma—”

“No excuses. You could’ve called in to tell me you were going to be late.” He looked around, noticing that his loud words were drawing attention from others. He grabbed Elizabeth’s forearm and dragged her toward the office. She followed willingly. “You’re late far too often with pathetic excuses. For now you’re suspended until I can get the authorization to fire you.” He handed her a pink slip. “You can pick up your last paycheck on Friday.”

Elizabeth felt tears well in her eyes. She snatched the slip of paper from his hand and muttered a goodbye. The short walk outside consisted of her listing every known curse word under her breath. When she finally reached the sidewalk, she began to curse louder, every word simply poured out of her mouth. People were staring but she didn’t care.

“What did I do to deserve this?” she cried, ridiculously shaking a fist at the sky. Angry tears were pouring down her face. “I try to be the best I can! I go to church every week! I take care of my sick grandmother! I keep my mom from killing herself! I’m paying for university by myself with no scholarships or financial aid! Jesus fucking Christ! Can’t one thing in my life go right?” Her ranting was interrupted by a sob. Elizabeth sank to the ground, defeated.

It wasn’t necessarily the worst day of her life, but it was not one of the better ones. She was utterly defeated. Life had thwarted her enough. She was so done with trying to make things better or act like everything was okay.

The sky above her cracked, a sound similar to thunder, but with a static sound following. Elizabeth groaned, thinking it was going to rain. Rain would be best suited for her mood, though she hated how wet it was.

But it didn’t start pouring down on her. The earth under her actually began to feel warmer. She scrubbed the tears out of her eyes and looked up at the sky. It was dark, too dark. The other people on the streets took no notice of it. She pressed her hands flat against the pavement, only to withdraw them second later. The pads on her fingers were pink from the excruciating heat emanating from the pavement.

She jumped up, a loud yelp escaping her mouth. “What the—” Elizabeth was cut off by the earth shaking. Massive, dark orbs began to pelt the earth. The quaking nauseated her. The sounds of metal ripping, the earth being struck, and the buildings around her being knock down like block towers were deafening. Chaos erupted all around her as the earth split open.

She watched, entranced, as beings began to ascend from inside the ground. There were so many of them around, coming forward out of the rubble. Elizabeth was frozen in terror.

Directly in front of her, one of the beings rose out of the hole it had created when it crashed into the earth. The beast was terrifying. It resembled a gargoyle. The skin was a stony color. The face was set in a pouty-dejected look with the lower jaw sticking out; the sharp, crooked teeth on full display; the eyes large and black but all seeing; the ears were laid flat against its skull. Large, shining, granite wings unfurled from its back. The beast must’ve stood over seven feet tall, even hunched forward as it was. A long tail skittered behind it.