A Short Collection of Short Stories

The Angels

 It was October. The sight in one of my eyes had been deteriorating over the past few months and had become blurry and unfocused. I had no clue why this was and the doctors were no help either. It was okay for the first few weeks when it was just blurry vision... but then things took a dark turn. I started to see figures. Dark, cloaked shadows lingering in front of people's homes. I could talk to them too. They spoke in smooth whispery voices like red satin that emanated extreme feelings of dread in my heart. They had no physical form either, almost like they were ethereal beings.

They told me what they were; angels of death that lingered in front of people's homes. They waited for the people to die so their spirits could be taken to the afterlife. It scared me at first, but gradually I got used to it and the fear went away. They refused to tell me anything about my own life, but they told me all about the people that they were sent to retrieve and what their own lives were like. They were actually quite talkative and I made friends with a couple that I could recognize. One in particular named Sachiel.

He told me story after story about everything he knew. I couldn't see his face when he spoke but I could always tell when he smiled. This went on for quite a while and we became the best of friends. I even told him stories about my own life. I had a feeling that he already knew everything about me, but he listened anyway. It's safe to say that he was the only one in my life who truly understood and appreciated me. He made me feel happy again.

Then, on my 17th birthday, everything changed. When I went outside that day, what I saw chilled me to the bone. I was paralyzed and dropped to my knees in sheer terror at the sight that lay before my eyes. All down the street, in front of every house, was an angel. Sachiel stood in front of my own. I ran up to him flustered and confused. I asked him why, how, what would cause this. He just hung his head down in silence. If angels could cry, I'm sure he would have.

Then he did something completely unexpected. He raised his head and grabbed my by the shoulders. This caught me completely off guard, seeing as how he was ghost- like. What shocked me more is that when he did grab me, he looked me in the eyes... with his eyes. I could see his face. It was beautiful beyond all comprehension, but I was too unnerved to notice at the time.

He spoke to me. He told me what was going to happen in all its gruesome details... the end of the world. A war would ensue not between humans, but between angels and demons. They would fight over Earth as if it were territory. Billions will die and the sky will grow dark. The sun will blacken and the moon will shine a bloody red.

I fell to my knees and vomited, as if my body itself was rejecting the very thought. He took me in his arms and spoke again. He told me that I could live, that I could fight if I wanted to. He could give me power. I thought about it and accepted without hesitation. He took a step back and warned me that it won't be a pleasant experience, but I already assumed that.

Just before he began, I actually saw him smile for the first time. Any fear that I had in my mind was calmed. He phased into my body and the pain took over. It was excruciating, but I could take it. It was only when I heard his voice in my head that I became afraid. He told me how he was going to be banished for telling me about the upcoming apocalypse, so by bonding with my soul, he might escape punishment while subsequently giving me power. He thought they couldn't reach him where he was. He was wrong.

They came after us... all of them. We tried to run, but they were everywhere. There wasn't anywhere we could go where they wouldn't find us. The Angels surrounded us. He tried to leave my body to spare me the pain, but he was already too bonded. Their beautiful faces never looked so terrifying. I passed out from the pain of the black fires that overtook me. When I awoke, he told me he was sorry he dragged me into this, and for what I had become.

When he was banished while inside my body, I had taken the punishment too. I had become a demon just like he did. We had become one and the same, having no place in any realm. Not heaven, Earth, or even Hell. It was then that we decided to make them pay for their mistakes. They had taken my humanity, so I will take their lives.