Port A

2: Meet the Glories

A/N: I know it might seem slow right now, but trust me, things will get more interesting soon.

As we traveled up and up, my nerves only grew worse. What would they say to me, what would they even look like?

"Alright suicide boy, go on in." Roxy remarked.

"I didn't commit suicide, Roxy." I responded through gritted teeth. I made no effort to move from my place beside her, and so she gave me a small push.

"Doesn't matter, everyone on earth thinks you did and it makes for a good sob story. Now go on in you baby." She teased, and this time I listened.

I rested my hand on the golden door knob and turned it to the right. The door swung towards me, so I stepped quickly out of its path.

"Welcome, Colby Marcus." An almost robotic like voice called out. I looked around for the person it belonged to, and made eye contact with a short man.

"I'm Gadsden, the head Glory. Today we will show you some clips from your past life. These will help us to determine which job you should be assigned to."

I was taken aback by the suddenness of this statement. I expected a polite welcome, or maybe some condolences for-oh I don't know-being dead? However this was the opposite of what I got.

"Okay." I stated simply.

A click was heard in the room, and everything began to spin. My eyes widened as they set sight on a young looking version of my father.

"Hi Colby, i'm your dad. Can you say that for me?"

A light hearted giggle rang through the room, and I snapped my head to the side to see a small baby-me-in my mother's arms. The baby-I-made a gurgling noise and giggled again.

My dad laughed, and kissed my mom's cheek. "He's handsome Sarah." He assured my mom. She smiled confidently, something I hadn't seen very much in my later years, and nodded her head.

While looking down at me affectionately, she said "I know he is John. But he's so much more than handsome. He's going to grow up and be someone great."

I bit my lip, the 17 year old lip, trying to keep myself from letting a tear fall from my eyes. If someone had told her then and there that her newborn son wouldn't live to be 18, or that her beautiful marriage would be on thin ice for the whole year before he died, she wouldn't have believed them.

I blinked and it was gone, and suddenly I was in another environment entirely. I was outside of my elementary school, and I was looking upwards. This time however, I was looking upwards into the cold blue eyes of my bully, not the warm brown eyes of my father.

He pushed me down, and I didn't dare to get up. I didn't want to, I felt weak compared to this boy. I wanted someone to come and stop him, so I could just go home and read.

"You're such a girl, Marcus! Get up you baby!" He called, his menacing eyes pierced into me. I winced as he kicked me one last time, and then heard a loud holler.

"Billy! Get over here! Leave Colby alone!" My teacher's voice yelled. I silently prayed for God to let him into heaven for this.

"Hey Colby, you alright?"

I nodded in response.

"Okay, lets get you up and to the nurse."

I groggily stood up, with the helping hand of Mr. Murphy.

And then I was in my kitchen. I wanted to sit down in my chair at our dinner table, and soak up the familiar surroundings.

But I didn't have the time to.

"Colby i'm going out with my girl friends. I'll be back around 12:00." My mom swung her arm around the back of my chair and kissed my forehead. "Mom, we didn't have dinner yet, we have to wait for dad to get home."

"Dad is staying late at work honey. Plus, you're 16 now, you can make yourself dinner don't you think?" She reassured. I shrugged, and she smiled before going quickly out the door.

I laid on the couch for hours, waiting for my mom to come home. I had school the next day, but I couldn't fall asleep unless I told her I loved her. So, I waited.

At around 6am the door opened, and in came my father. He was tired, and in no mood to chat about where my mother was.

She didn't come home for 2 more days and when she did come home, my father was too exhausted to ask her where she had been.

"The girls wanted to have a girls weekend." She explained, and I didn't bother to tell her that she left on a Tuesday.

The flashes ended, and soon I was back in the room with the Glories. They were staring at me with pity, sad smiles adorning each of their faces.

"You had a difficult, and short life, Colby Marcus. Nonetheless, you made the best of it." A woman with golden hair said.

I wasn't sure if I was allowed to speak, so I kept my mouth closed.

A woman with light pink hair stood from her chair and took my hand. She led me to a platform, almost like a miniature runway. I walked up the steps, and stood there.

"You'll be needing some new clothes, I'm Gloria and i'm going to help you pick out an outfit now. If you want different clothes later, just think about what you want, and it will come."

And suddenly my clothes were off, and I fought to cover myself. I wasn't overweight, or too underweight, but I didn't feel comfortable around my own body. I was embarrassed by myself, but soon enough I was dressed.

It wasn't my ideal clothing, just a blue sweatshirt and jeans.They must have noticed this, because suddenly I was naked again. After many different clothing changes, I was left in black jeans, a white v-neck, and a black leather jacket on top. I wore all black converse on my feet.

My brown hair had been styled upward. When I turned my head, Gloria lifted the back of my shirt up. I looked into the mirror, and I had a large tattoo on my back.

The tattoo was all black ink, and it was in the shape of huge angel wings.

"Welcome Colby Marcus, you're now a Guardian Angel in Port A." The third Glory, Georgia, smiled.

And then the unexpected happened, the tattoo on my back came to life. Without trying to, I flew from the room without so much as a goodbye.