Blood and Angels

Prologue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DadzAe1JVAQ (song to go with the part) Does Anybody Hear Her- Casting Crowns

Alex lay in her bed, crying. The tears simply wouldn't stop. She was bruised and cut, but the bleeding had stopped. Her hair was soaked with tears from desperately trying to stop them and sleep, but wasn't succeeding.

You have to understand that when you're abused the way that Alex was, you lose faith in God rather quickly. When you've prayed for eight years straight with no answer whatsoever with no response, that tends to happen. Her parents didn't know, but if her father did that'd surely lead to more beatings. 

But, for millions of years prayer has always been the desperate last resort of all man. Alex resorted to pray one last time. She shot up in bed, examined herself in the mirror across the room for a moment, folded her hands, and shut her eyes. 

"Heavenly Father, or whatever," she began through sobs. Her face felt sticky with tears and her head hurt from lack of salt. "This is your last chance, and I mean it. If you want me to believe in you, you'll have to send someone's fluffy butt down here to give me some answers. If everything happens for a reason, what is the reason behind all of my suffering?"

Alex opened her eyes. She looked around the room, half hoping, and half fearing for someone to be in the room. Nothing. Typical. She shut her eyes and bowed her head once again.

"I'm not kidding," she said, "I already think I'm going crazy by even thinking about talking to you. Don't make me lose all hope; I already have nearly none."

Once again she opened her eyes and searched around the room. Still nothing. She sighed, exhausted from crying so hard. Upon opening her eyes, she caught a glimpse of something in the mirror. She saw her reflection, but not as she'd remembered seeing it. Maybe it was because it was dark, and maybe it was because it was late and she was tired, but she could swear that she saw angel wings on her back, black and outstretched in all their glory.

But that wasn't all she saw in the looking glass. Sitting on the edge of her bed was a man, lean and tall with a head full of untrimmed black hair that hung in his face, wearing blue jeans and a tan suede jacket. She couldn't see his face, but he was there, as surely as she was. She turned around to see if she could see the man or her wings, but there was nothing when she looked away from the mirror. She reached out to touch the wings, but found herself pawing at the air. She looked back at the mirror to see that both the wings and the man were still there.

She stared in horror and surprise. Was this man an angel? Was this the answer she'd been waiting for for the past eight years? Her heart tried to tear its way out of her chest as he leaned forward and rested a hand on her shoulder. She could feel the hand on her shoulder as well as if he actually was sitting next to her. But he couldn't be- could he?

He whispered something in her ear that she couldn't hear. It was a short message, but the words sounded like nothing more than air. After a while, and he'd been only looking at her expectantly, she decided she was just tired and none of this was real. She laid down again, rolled over, and pushed the thought from her mind. She was just tired, and she would be able to push this off as a dream tomorrow.