The Angels from Hell

Dani

If she heard another ready to depart message that wasn't for her plane, Dani was going to stand up and commandeer the vehicle herself. On the stiff, airport seats, she shifted restlessly, trying to find a modicum of comfort where there was none. Her heart was still racing, urging her to keep moving. Not even that time when the police had pulled her over, minutes after she had burnt down her principle's house, had she panicked like this. It was stupid.

Her mind flicked back to that burger place and the little girl at the counter. She half expected to turn around and see her staring with those eyes. They were old eyes, the kind of eyes that had seen the birth and end of the universe without blinking once.

A shiver worked its way down to her toes.

Ding. A woman's voice crackled over the speakers. "Flight 103 is boarding now, make your way to gate 5." Dani snatched up her carry on, grunting slightly at its weight. She slid her boarding pass from the pocket and gripped it tightly, half running, half walking to the gate, glancing over her shoulder at the people around her. Shoving her boarding pass into the hand of some airport worker, she rushed through gate five, down the corridor to the plane's opening. She didn't breath until she fell down into a seat next to some old man, listening to the dulcet voices of airplane attendants. The plane quickly filled, and she skimmed through the safety manual on the back of the seat in front of her just to have something to do with her hands. The old man by the window seemed to be asleep. He looked like he had been on the plane for hours, but he couldn't have gotten on long before she did. An image of her own grandfather flickered in her mind. When he was alive, he could fall asleep anywhere. A warm feeling crept over her. Apart from the thick grey hair and those tiny glasses on the edge of a pointy nose, the old man beside her could have been her grandfather. She breathed out slowly.

With a grinding rumble and a feeling of weightlessness in her gut, the plane accelerated down the runway and lifted off into the air. Her ears popped and her body was uncomfortably jerked around in the turbulence for a few minutes before the plane levelled out and the land below her turned to a carpet of green patches and snaking roads. There was the usual show of airplane safety, but Dani wasn't listening. She focused instead on the whir of engines. Two hours and she would land. She could disappear in a new city, another name in the crowd.

There was a tap on her shoulder.

Dani turned around to see that the old man had woken up and was staring at her. His eyes were a piercing blue just like the girl's eyes at the diner. They did not look like her grandfather's.

"Danielle Briceno," he said, unblinking.

Dani cursed silently. She had done all the precautions, surely, surely, they had not found her. Dani studied the man carefully; he didn't look like a policeman. One punch would cripple him.

"Uh," Dani wondered if she should run but the only exit entailed jumping out of a plane. She tried to think of something to say. Should she deny? Ignore? Pretend to have a seizure? "Hello," she managed instead, feeling the old man's eyes studying her.

The old man smiled. All feelings of comfort, Dani had experienced when she first looked at him were turned into indescribable dread. The green seat belt sign flickered on, and she stood up, her legs acting on pure primal instinct. She backed away from the man into the isle. The man didn't move, he just smiled revealing white teeth that did not match his liver spotted skin. Dani stumbled down towards the toilets, accidently stepping on someone's toes. Ignoring their grunt of indignation, she slammed the toilet door open and shut, sitting down on the toilet seat.

Even alone in this cramped room, she could feel the old man's eyes on her. She splashed some water on her face and her breathing slowed.

"I have a proposition for you."

Water went everywhere. The old man had appeared out of nowhere in front of her, still smiling. Something about that smile was not quite human.

"You are Danielle Briceno, correct?" Each word was heavily articulated like a posh English accent or the voice of a news anchor.

"Yes," Dani said without hesitation as if the response had been drawn out of her. The old man appeared satisfied and, drawing a clipboard and pen out of nowhere, ticked something at the top of the page.

"Are you religious?"

Again Dani spoke without conscious thought, her heart thudding so hard in her chest that it hurt. "No." The man tut-tutted at this response, shaking his head as if in disappointment.

"It is as I expected," he said, "though lack of any religious affiliation does make this more difficult. Almost all religions have some concept of heaven and hell but atheists..." Dani tried to say something but her throat appeared to be blocked.

"Hell?"

The man nodded, digging in his pockets and drawing out a hard covered book about the size of a postcard. He cleared his throat.

"By the committee of heaven and hell you have been ruled condemned by both past and future actions. In ten years you will die, and your body will be transported to hell to exist in eternal damnation. I have been sent on behalf of," he paused for a second, "a select few, to give you an alternative option."

The man was blocking the door. She could overwhelm him, he was old, but she could already picture the news article:

Serial arsonist beats up old man on flight to Australia.

There was only one option: play along.

"Eternal damnation does sound pretty bad." If she talked for long enough a flight attendant would surely come, other people would need the bathroom, or the plane would start its descent. Appearing gratified, the man continued.

"I can grant you access to heaven under certain conditions. All you need to do is sign here." Producing a scroll of paper from somewhere, he brandished it at Dani. She noticed that he was wearing a one of those fancy leather bound wrist watches. With the suit, he could have been on his way to a business conference or ready for a sales pitch.

"Sorry," she said, slightly relieved, "I don't want to buy whatever drug or product you're selling. I'm not interested in whatever cult thing you belong to. I won't be signing anything." The old man sighed as if Dani had offended his entire existence.

"Enough with the pre-tense." He gripped her wrist with such force that she cried out in pain and a new news article flashed in mind.

Serial arsonist brutally murdered by old man in airport toilet

Trying to pull away she stared into the man's eyes that were now glowing, a pure cold light white. Dani realised that is was not just his eyes, the light was spreading until the man's entire body shone like a welding iron, blinding Dani. Behind the light the could just make out a shape, something like wings crushed against the walls of the bathroom.

Something snapped in her brain.

This was not an old man; he was not even human. She was going to die; this thing was going to kill her. What had he said, heaven...hell? Eternal damnation. In the very corner of her mind, pressed right down to the bottom of her consciences, an old memory stirred. No, no. She could not think about this. The thing's grip on her was so cold she could barely feel it. The light was so bright she could barely see it. Her mind screamed out as images after images that she had tried to remove flooded back.

"Stop it," She managed to gasp out. The light died. The man returned to just that, a man.

"Let's start again," he said, extending a hand to her.

Against the back of the bathroom stall, Danicaught a glimpse of the man's shadow and swore that for a moment she saw theoutline of a pair of wings. The smile flickered back along the corners of theold man's mouth and at that moment, Dani believed everything.