Azrael

Part Two

                  Things go back to real-time as Azrael walks forward, approaching the young boy whose life has just been cut so short. His mom screams his name again, dropping to her knees and cradling her baby boy in her arms. His head rolls backward, the bone in his neck creating a gruesome sight. Tears pour down her face as she screams for someone to call for help, too preoccupied with the little man in her arms to notice the woman with her already on her phone with emergency services.

Rocco sits upright- or his soul does anyway, having finally detached from his body. He looks around before getting up to stand beside his mother, his tiny hand attempting to fall on her shoulder but passing right through.

"Whoa." He looks at his hand before turning his attention back to his mother, voice tiny and squeaky as he speaks to her. "What's wrong, Mommy?"

"She can't hear you, Rocco." Azrael's voice is gentle as she speaks up, catching his attention for the first time.

Rocco turns to look at her, his head tilts to the side. "Who are you?"

Azrael gives him a gentle smile, still keeping her distance for the moment as she introduces herself to him. "My name is Azrael. I am here to help you."

"Help me?" Rocco asks before his mother lets out a gut-wrenching scream. He jumps as his attention is forced back to his mom. "Mommy? Why won't you look at me, Mommy?" He tries to call for her attention. He hasn't seen his body yet. 'He doesn't know that he has died.'

"Rocco, Buddy, your mommy can't hear you anymore." Azrael tells him, finally approaching him and squatting down next to him. "Do you remember waiting for your turn on the slide?" A nod comes from the boy. "Okay. Do you remember falling down?" Another nod. "Do you remember what happened after you fell down?"

Rocco shakes his head, turning his gaze to Azrael yet again. Confusion shines in his big blue eyes and she has to force herself not to lose it. She bites her lip as she holds eye contact with the little boy, wondering if Rocco can remember. Then realization shines in his eyes. "Oh! I was scared and then my head hurt for a second and then I woke up in Mommy's arms. And now Mommy is crying. Why won't she look at m- woah!" Rocco finally notices himself in his mother's arms. "There are two of me!" He turns back to Azrael and gives her a big childish grin.

Azrael swallows. "That's right, Rocco. There are two of you." She nods. "But the one that your mommy is holding right now is sleeping. He is going to sleep for a very long time." She starts.

"How long?" Rocco asks her.

"Do you know what forever is?" Azrael asks him.

"It is a very long time. Mommy told me so. She said she is going to love me forever." Rocco grins, proud of himself for remembering. "And now she can love two of me!"

"What would you say if I told you there is only one Rocco? That you and that Rocco are the same." Azrael asks him, not really sure where she should start with Rocco. Every child is different. The only thing that is the same with all of them is that younger children don't truly understand death.

Rocco shakes his head. "No. There are two of us. See?" He points to his lifeless body and then to himself. "Two of us." Like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Azrael is forced to smile at him. His childish charm gets the better of her. "Yeah, Buddy. I see. But you are the Rocco that makes that Rocco move around. Do you know what death is, Rocco?" 'That might've been too forward, Azrael.' She resists the urge to smack her forehead.

"It's when you go to Heaven and you see your family members that live with the angels." Rocco explains to her.

Oh, okay. Good. "That's right! You're very smart, Rocco." She praises him. "When you fell down, you got really hurt buddy. Remember your headache?" He nods. "Now it's time for you to go live with the angels." Azrael knows that it is only a start, that Rocco probably won't go along with it, but she needed to find a starting point. Something that would help her gauge just how much the cute little fella understood.

"No. I'm not ready to go live with the angles. I'm gonna stay with Mommy." Rocco turns away from her before quickly turning back to look at her once more. "Oh, but thank you though!" Then he goes back to attempting to get his mother's attention yet again.

Azrael is dumbfounded. Well... at least he has manners. I've never had a soul tell me "No thank you" before though. Valkyrie is doing some sort of cat laugh beside her.

Azrael stands up to regroup, planning her next move. She watches Rocco carefully as he desperately this to get his mom to look at him. He calls out to her and waves his hands in front of her face. Of course, his mother doesn't see these actions. The ambulance and officers all arrive on scene, parting the sea of people as they try to reach the young boy to attempt to save his life. Rocco watches as the EMTs work on his body, his mother breaking down in the arms of the woman that was sitting beside her earlier on the bench. His mom begs them to "save her baby boy," either not noticing or attempting to ignore the grotesque way his neck bone is bent under his skin. All the while, Rocco stands beside her, asking her what was happening. Realizing she wasn't going to answer him, Rocco turns to Azrael for answers.

"Why won't my mommy answer me?" He asks her, tears pooling in his eyes.

"She can't hear you anymore, Buddy." Azrael tells him, "You got hurt and now you're an angel, Buddy. Your mommy can't hear or see you anymore."

"But I'm still standing here with her." Rocco says.

"Yes, you are." Azrael nods. "People have this thing inside them called a soul. It lives in their bodies while they are living and when they die, their souls become angels and they get called home. To Heaven with the other angels. Your soul is being called home." Azrael tells him.

As Rocco takes in the information that Azrael gives him, she scans the park yet again. Most of the parents have ushered their children away from the gruesome scene. Loading their own children into their vehicles. Some stand farther away, cradling their children to them as they watch the scene unfold before them. Some stand there, recording the first responders and the small family. 'Why are they always recording?' Every time something happens the phones come out. 'What is so great about watching a child die and his mother grieve him? Humans... you disgust me.'

Rocco opens his mouth to speak but is cut off when his mother screams as the first responders tell her there is nothing they can do and that her son is dead. They load his little body up on the stretcher to take him to the hospital to get him out of sight of the public eye. The officers and the other woman try their best to console Rocco's mother as she breaks in front of them. But how can you truly console a mother who just lost their child? Especially in such a gruesome manner.

The tears rush down her face causing Rocco to finally let his fall too.

Azrael flinches. 'I hate crossing over children's souls.'