The Angels from Hell

Ala

For the first time in the nearly six thousand years since Ala had materialized, she didn't need coffee to wake her. Though there was no sun to rise or set in heaven, nothing but the endless light streaming through the windows, she knew it was early. Lilea had still been sleeping when she left. It had been weird seeing Lilea actually sleeping. Seeing her look so vulnerable with her white hair strewn across the pillow had felt like an intrusion, something Ala shouldn't witness. She had hurried from the room into corridors where there were no angels. Down the stairs, through the bright, open expanse of heaven, she found the monitoring room where she had met Josiah and Darius. They were not here yet.

She paced around the room, lovingly touching the monitoring screens that were so much slimmer and wider than in hell. Excitedly, she slid into one of the chairs. Finding a remote, she almost unconsciously flicked the screens on and stared up at the changing images of people down on earth. She recognised nearly all of them, had studied their movements up until their death. Some of them were new, walking around their neighbourhoods or sleeping in their beds completely unaware that their life had become a ticking countdown far, far above them but Ala focussed on the familiar face. If she concentrated on them, it was almost like she was back in hell.

"You're here early," Ala jumped up from the chair and shut off the screens in one movement, turning quickly around to see Darius in the same grey suit as yesterday. Despite his welcoming smile that expressed no anger or annoyance at finding Ala in his chair, she saw that he looked more tired than before. His shoulder length white hair was messily pulled into a sort of half-up do and there were sunken triangles under his eyes, which contrasted dramatically against his otherwise smooth and circular features.

"Not many as enthusiastic as you," Darius said sidling over to Ala. "Other angels don't seem so keen to watch human death. Or..." Darius changed his voice to a light-hearted whisper, "I don't think they like sitting in the chairs. But anything's better than being a cleaner, right?" Ala nodded.

"I like humans," she said, careful to not say anything too revealing. She looked at Darius with a smile. "I think they're fascinating."

"Oh they're interesting enough," Darius said dismissively. "But I've been working here for just over a thousand years, longer than anyone else and I can't say I know them as well as you seem to." Ala scanned his eyes for suspicion but only saw that same enthusiasm as yesterday. "I have an idea," he said, practically brimming with excitement. Darius snatched up the remote and turned the monitoring screens back on. Ala and Darius studied the humans.

"Her," said Darius pointing at a middle aged woman with blonde hair speckled with grey. She was sitting alone in a restaurant, examining the wine menu with considerable interest. Her phone lay on the table next to her, front up. Ala recognised her.

"That's Clare Jamestown, 54, recently divorced." Ala said, then she hesitated. How much would a cleaner know? "At least," she added, "that's what she looks like. She's not wearing a wedding ring right now but the screensaver on her phone shows her with a ring, holding hands with a man about her age. My guess would be that she is waiting for a text from him. Possibly he is supposed to be meeting her in the restaurant, but she doesn't think that he's going to come, hence the wine menu." Ala looked up at Darius who was staring at her with amusement.

"What's a screensaver?" Josiah said as he walked into the room. Ala looked up at both of them, half abashed, half delighted. None of her managers had ever looked at her like Darius and now Josiah was.

"I'm just guessing," Ala said which was somewhat true. Except, she didn't just suppose that the ex-husband wouldn't come. Based on how Clare would die in two days, she could say with almost certainty that he wouldn't.

"What about this one?" Josiah said, rushing over to the desk next to Darius. He was gesturing at a man, a few years younger than Clare. This scene was shrouded in darkness, lit only by a few streetlamps and the sliver of a crescent moon behind clouds. The man was wobbling down the street unsteadily, gripping onto a fence rail for support. He was mumbling a sort of song to himself.

"Ah," Ala scanned the image carefully, looking for anything familiar. She had not seen him before. "Well," she started slowly, "he's clearly drunk. Given his age and steady progress suggesting this is not the first time he's tread this path drunk, I'd say an alcoholic." The man leaned over the fence retching and Ala felt a pang of sadness. He looked so fragile.

"He's on our list to go to hell," Josiah said and the feeling inside of Ala worsened. No, if she had time to study him, she was sure that he would deserve hell. Looking at Ala with some curiosity, Darius picked up the remote and flicked some of the settings. The images on the screen changed. They still displayed people of all ages living their lives but there was something almost eery about these images. It took Ala a few seconds to realise what it was. She didn't know any of these people.

"Could you tell us something about people earlier in their lifespan?"

"Darius," Josiah put a wary hand on Darius' shoulder, "careful." But Darius didn't seem to be listening.

"Let's say people who won't die for another ten years."

"This is the footage of people in the middle of their lifespan?" Ala said, thinking back to Jerim in hell. Wait. Ten years. Is that what he had just said? An image of John Castillo eclipsed all the other flickering screens of humans before her. She looked back at Darius and Josiah, becoming increasingly aware that this was not hell. These two were angels and she was not here to monitor humans.

"We have access to all the footage here. Every department does."

"Every department."

"All five hundred of them."

"Five hundred." Ala thought back to her own office and the storage disks she had worked with. If she ever got back alive, she would have something to say to her new manager. Noticing Darius and Josiah looking at her quizzically. "I can do it," Ala said confidently, "whatever you need I can do."