Answer Me

Chapter 3: Everything

Chapter 3: Everything

"Juliett, do you know when you were born and where?"

Elron's voice still startled me but I still managed to answer.

"December 31st, in the city hospital in Connecticut." 

"True, you have the first answer partially correct. As for the second, I'm afraid you're wrong by that one."

How could I be wrong? My parents told me, I'd clearly been born there.

"Where else then? Where could I have possibly been born? Oh, a different hospital, maybe? I know you may be smarter than I ever will be, but tell me do you really know every answer?" I asked, annoyed.

"You were born in Mist. The City of Forgotten Angels. I'm guessing you've heard all about this place haven't you? You're turn to give me the answers now."

The Mist. The City of Forgotten Angels.

Of course I knew, didn't everyone.

It starts out with the ancient tale that everyone has heard from, what seemed like a bedtime story for ignorant children. If I could remember my Mother Major telling me the story when I was a Little, it went like this:

Long ago, an angel in heaven found something peculiar, a golden flower. He dropped the golden flower from the skies, curious to see if it would make it down to Earth. It did. Peaceful on the untouched ground, it lay in serenity. The soil around it sprung to life with the most beautiful flowers in the world, the most delicious fruits you would ever taste. The angel who had dropped the flower, Jaden, came to inspect what had happened after he had dropped the flower, found the place of wonder and called every one of the angels to come and spend time in the now called Garden of Eve. The garden grew into a city, surrounded by houses for the angels, who could not bare to part from the garden. Jaden, proud of his work went to inspect the golden flower, to find it still alive and well. He found great wealth due to the flower, and was greedy for more. He decided that if he picked the flower front the Earth and planted it somewhere else, he would get a whole new city! Thinking good of his "wise" decision, Jaden picked the flower,inspecting it carefully. When nothing happened, Jaden thought of how worthless the flower was, tossing the it onto the ground. The next day, the city began to turn gray. No one thought of it at all. As the days went on, the city became even more grey, losing its color like a dying flower. Eventually, the city turned to black, and the angels began to die. Jaden fled the city to save himself, coming back a year later to find nothing but black, charred soil, and on top, the wilted golden flower, lying on the ground in its undeserved fate.

"The City of Fallen angels, where the angels cried for mercy, but instead found death awaiting at their door. I've heard the stories, it's a myth."

Elron shook his head. "It's anything but a myth. I assure you, it's more real than any of us. That's where you were born Juliett. On the last second of the last minute of the last day of the year."

Alright. Strange, but what was this leading up to? "What does that mean?"

"Well, this may take a while. Juliett, have you ever heard voices inside of your head? Telling you the answers. Telling you things that you didn't need to know, yet they told you anyway? Do they tell you irrelevant things? Have you heard them?"

The look of worry washed over his face. 

He knew.

Ever since I was little, I had heard strange voices in my head. Random things. I'd be eating ice cream when an entirely different scene would play out in my head, like a movie. Sometimes, they were sweet. A little girl on a swing, laughing. A woman who just got engaged. The everyday delight. But, sometimes they turned into nightmares. The little girl would fall off the swing, land on the ground with a bone-cracking sound and die. The woman would come home one night to find her fiance her murderer. I can't explain them. I never could. So I just left it alone.

"Juliett? Have you ever wondered what those dreams mean?" 

I nodded. I'd give anything to know now.

"You're gifted, so very gifted. Like me, almost. It can be a gift and a curse. More of a curse, but one that will surprise you. You can benefit others immensely. When I tell you, you won't believe me, I know it. Juliett, you can speak to the dead. You can communicate with them. They can talk back."

Talking to the dead.

That was it.

I can talk to the dead. Dead people. People who are dead, moved on.

Is this guy crazy?

"What makes you think, that I can talk to the dead?! Me of all people! There's no proof. Prove it to me Elron!" I shouted, fearfully.

Elron raised his head to look at me. His eyes once again showed knowledge, and experience. Pain, and loss. Something that was forever alive, yet held something that told me that part of him had been lost along the way. He smiled, a pained smile.

"Because Juliett, I'm dead."