The angel's eye.

The right-hand man

It was the start of any good party.
The cherubs played music on their harps.
Elvis was singing Jesus's favourite songs (he was not allowed to sing "Blue Christmas" Jesus hated that one).
Jesus (even though it was his birthday) dutifully turned water into wine for any guest who requested wine instead of holy water.
There was just one problem, I wasn't there, I was guarding the gates with Saint Peter, and it was one of the worst jobs that an angel could do.
The problem was, that I wasn't a proper angel.
Born to an angel father and human mother I was sent to earth to live my human life.
When I died, I went back to heaven and after much debate, I was made an angel.
There's just one catch..I had to work my way up.
So here I stood, at the gates of heaven, holding the gate open for any human Peter allows in.
It was very depressing, whilst the humans on earth celebrated Christmas, the humans in heaven went to the party.
But, with a halo that couldn't even light my face I stood in limbo, outside of heaven's gates, halfway between earth and heaven.
Despite being a Saint, Peter wasn't perfect, and there was something god didn't know about him.
Peter was an alcoholic.
I watched Peter in amazement as he smuggled out five goblets of wine and consumed all of them at a rapid rate.
At first everything was fine, but after a few minutes he began to sway before falling into a snoring heap.
I said some unfortunate words that I hoped god wouldn't hear as I tried, unsuccessfully, to wake him up.
If we hadn't been outside of heaven everything would have been fine as alcohol didn't affect people like it did on earth.
I didn't know if I should laugh or cry.
Here I was, locked out of heaven with a drunk Saint Peter.
When I was human and "at heaven's gates" I was terrified and stepping into the unknown.
Now, I was at heaven's gates again and equally as terrified.
I wasn't immortal yet, and I was outside of heaven.
What will I do if some angry human, er, kills me?
I stood there and weighed up my options.
Should I leave Peter and go get help?
After considering (and discarding) many options I decided to leave Peter at the gates and talk to god.
What was the worst that could happen?
Quite a lot, apparently.
After battling the crowds, I finally made it to god.
I didn't have time to sugar-coat the situation, so I simply said.
"Saint Peter's drunk!"
Unfortunately, that was when the music stopped, and my loud voice pierced the silent air.
All the guests turned and looked at me, suprise and horror clearly displayed on their faces.
"What?" God asked as his voice carried through the now-silent room.
"Saint Peter is drunk" I repeated in a squeaky high voice that didn't sound like my own.
"You left him out there alone?"
God asked in quiet voice that terrified me.
God didn't even wait for an answer, instead he simply stood up and teleported to heaven's gates.
"What's wrong?" I asked a passing angel as it too, went to investigate.
"Saint Peter is not immortal, he could die if he is outside of heaven's gates" the angel said simply.
It was only then that I realised what I had done.
I couldn't swear in heaven, but a few choice words crossed my mind.

Most people believed that a soul couldn't hurt you when it left earth.
That was a lie, if a person died with a weapon in their hands (which happened quite often) then they could take a shadow weapon with them.
A weapon that could kill souls, sending them to the Akasha (a type of limbo), giving God a lot of paperwork to fill out if he wanted them back.
Souls weren't always happy when they found out they were dead and could get quite violent, causing a potential blood-bath.
I looked at God as he tried to wake Peter, but the light of Peter's soul was gone.
I felt like such an idiot, the que to get inside of heaven was massive, several souls stood there with weapons and they weren't afraid to show their annoyance at not being let in.
As the sun rose above the earth I watched as the world below us slowly light up.
As the sun rose up so did God, his eyes looked at me and I knew I was in trouble.
He walked up to me and smiled, it was disheartening.
"Don't worry little angel, I have another job for you" he said as he put his hand on my head.
A sudden light flowed between us, I felt my halo disintegrate and my wings disappear.
"I'm sending you to earth dear one, you have two years to mend the dimensional rift.
If you fix it you will be a real angel, don't fail me my child" those were the last words God said to me as I fell to earth.
When I landed on the ground (with a painful thump) I thought over what God had said.
He had told me I would be an angel if I succeeded, but what would happen if I failed?
I got painfully to my feet and and waited for the dizziness to subside.
I had a job do, if I succeeded I would become an angel, if I failed....I would try not to think about it.

"The calm before the storm, the night before the dawn, the pride before the fall. Everything has an opposite, in the end, the biggest enemy is ourselves. Fear, hesitation, doubt, resignation. We create the emotions that destroy us"