God's Gone AWOL

[7] Hold My Hand

Earth.

Soon, the day of the baptism was upon them.

It was a strong tradition amongst angels —a divine coming-of-age ceremony of sorts, in which young angels would accompany their seniors to a riverbank somewhere in the Earthly realm. There, they would be lowered into the water and receive a blessing of purification to mark a union between the angel as an individual and Heaven as a community. There was nothing physically significant, it was only to appease the spirit. However, it was considered to be a very important rite of passage in a young angel's life, and could not be avoided.

Amidst the song of the never-ending river and the sweet chorus of a thousand singing birds, Ruth sat sprawled out on the rock. Her whole body stretched out beneath the sun, as the cool, fresh water rushed over her bare feet. Beside her, an attractive angel with elaborate cornrow hair sat hugging her knees. With their flowing white robes and the river sparkling behind them, the pair painted quite a pretty picture.

"It's so beautiful here on this planet," Ruth said with a longing sigh, "Ephrath, do you ever wonder why we aren't allowed down here more often?"

"The older angels say this land is sacred and is not to be inhabited by angels on a regular basis," Ephrath replied.

"Why?" Ruth sat up, "Do they think it'll be less sacred if we touch down once and a while or what? We're angels. We're supposed to be some of the most sacred things in the universe,"

Before the dawn of humanity, Earth was a very clean and holy place. The entire realm was dedicated entirely to the cultivation of life in it's most basic and unguided form. Packed to it's core with green, lush plants and fungi, and echoing with the voices of a billion different types of animal, from the littlest insect, to the largest of whales, Earth was diverse in a way Heaven could never even dream of becoming. And it was a million times more beautiful because of it.

A whole group of younger angels had gone down to the place of baptism a little early, and as a result, they had to wait around for the senior angels to show up. Most of them were doing what Ruth and Ephrath were doing; mucking around and enjoying the view on this rare field trip to Earth. All of them were dressed in traditional plain white robes, ready to be dunked in a big, sunlit river. All of them were buzzing in excitement with the upcoming ceremony.

Except for one.

A little ways down the bank, Atticus was standing perfectly still. His gaze was fixed on the water in deep contemplation. Unlike all the other angels, there was nobody at his side. Nobody to talk to. He was standing all alone, completely silent, ignoring the world as it ignored him in return.

Until Ruth spotted him, of course.

"Hey," she said to Ephrath, "There's Atticus 'holier-than-thou' pash de Ophaniel,"

"He's alone," Ephrath noted.

"Of course he's alone. he never talks to anyone." Ruth pouted slightly. "I don't think he likes us a whole lot, honestly."

"Perhaps that's because you try your hardest to make yourself unlikable,"

"That's not true! You like me!"

"I'm not sure why I do," Ephrath replied.

Ruth got to her feet. "Here, I'll prove to you that I'm the most likeable there is. I can even make Atticus like me."

"Now you're just insane,"

"You know it!" Ruth said with a wink.

Then she waved her arms over her head, drawing Atticus' attention.