THE SHADOW OF DEATH

The door opened with a loud bang and Derrick didn't find anyone in the living room. He hurried to their room and found her wife and George in there. Joan was startled and was in shock. George who was still half-asleep and half-naked complained of the noise.

Derrick who lost all his wits jumped on the bed and attacked him. Joan started shouting. She stood up and watched George got hit on the face. When they fell on the ground, George came back to his senses. He quickly stood up and kicked Derrick on his body while he was still down on the floor. Derrick felt a sharp pain on his stomach and when he looked up, George was gone.

"I'm leaving," Joan said. She took her bag where all of her clothes were already stuffed in.

"You've been planning this all along, right?" Derrick shouted.

"Yes! And I don't plan to stay with an asshole like you all my life!" She shouted back and hurriedly went outside the room. She heard Aisha cried but didn't look back, she kept on walking outside the door.

Belial who was outside the door's house laughed hard as he watched. Derrick sat and leaned on the wall. Everything started to look hazy and he felt like he was falling.

"I'm hungry," Aisha cried.

Aisha, do you want to play outside? The man in white linen who was standing nearby asked her.

Belial shouted, "You can't save the child, Yuriel. Don't bother with it." And he laughed again.

"Get out of here you father of lies." Yuriel said.

Belial laughed as he slowly fade away in the shadow. "I'll leave everything to Saurian."

Derrick looked at Aisha with fierce eyes. Paranoid, he shouted at her.  "Hey you! Why do you look like that bastard?"

"I'm hungry," she continued unable to understand what his father was asking her.

The angel hurriedly left the house and looked for Macey. When he saw her, he whispered to her ears. Go to Aisha and ask her to sleep at your home.

"I think, we should apologize to her," Macey told Angel.

"Why would I apologize to her?" Angel said. "I'm only telling the truth."

"But still.."

"Still what?"

"I just want us to play together."

"If you really want to play then go ahead and apologize yourself!" Angel said. "But if you go there, don't ever talk to me again! You understand?"

"Why?" Macey said with a tear in her eyes.

Angel went home and Macey hesitated. In the end, she decided to follow Angel.

* * *

Macey looked at the clock, it was already past seven in the evening. She wondered if Aisha already ate her meal. When she laid back in her bed, she felt something under the sheet. When she turned around to check, she saw it was a piece of white chocolate that her mother gave her the other day. She smiled and hurriedly went outside to look for Aisha.

When she arrived in front of her cousin's house,  she heard loud cries. Shadylyn, their neighbor was standing near the stairs while talking on the phone.

"I really can't stand this! Finally it was my day-off but this kid was crying all night I wasn't able to sleep at all. Yes! I'm outside their house now to complain. Wait I'll call you later."

The girl took the stairs and pounded the door. "Hey, could you keep it down? I can't sleep at all. Stop the noise!" When no one answered, Macey went up the stairs and pushed the door. They were shock to see that Derrick was beating Aisha and she was on the floor crying, with blood all over her face. 

Shadylyn shouted, her voice trembled in fear. "What are you doing with the child? Can't you keep it down, I can't sleep at all!"

Derrick shouted back and pushed Shadylyn away, "If you don't want to get hurt then get out of my house!"

"Wait, I'm not done yet!"

"Do you want to die? Get out of my house."

Shadylyn stomped down the stairs in frustration when Mark, the usual guy who loved to run at night passed by, "Hey what's up?"

"I'm so angry! The father was beating his child and they were making so much noise."

"Really? Should we call the police?" the guy asked.

Shadylyn shrugged. Her eyes wide, "I- I don't know. We shouldn't butt in other people's business." She quickly went back to her house, furious.

Mark stood in front of the house while listening to the kid crying inside the house. Macey, who was standing in front of the door sat down on the stairs and stared at the chocolate on her palm.

Help her. Call the police. Yuriel said.  

Mark shook his head and started jogging again.

Wait! Don't leave yet! The angel called him again.

The guy stopped running. He took his phone and stared at it for a long time. He looked back at the girl on the stairs and finally returned his phone to his pocket. He ran and left.

The enemy only knows how to lead man into the destruction of the flesh, but nonetheless her spirit will be saved. Yuriel sat beside Macey and whispered.Do not fear. Go back and call your mother. It's time for us to take Aisha away.

Macey stopped crying and stood up. Once again she peeked at the door and saw his uncle beating her cousin. Derrick lifted his hands again and hit Aisha on her head. The little angels stood beside Aisha called her.

"It's time to go," they said as they flew around above her head.

Yuriel touched Aisha and said, "No more pain."

Aisha looked up and heard small voices singing. She sat down and blinked her eyes.

"Are you still hungry?" Yuriel asked her.

Aisha shook her head.

"Does it hurt?" he asked.

Aisha shook her head again.

"Then, do you want to play?" Yuriel said with a smile.

"Yes," Aisha blurted out. Yuriel stood up and pointed at the angels flying outside the window. "Come," he said and he offered his hand to her.

Aisha stood up and held his hand. When she tried to look back, Yuriel stopped her. 

"Don't look back. Just look at me," he said.

"Where are we going?" Aisha asked him.

"To Abraham's bosom," he said with a smile.

Aisha nodded and the next thing she knew she was flying. Never again would she hear the voice of her father who was still continuously beating her lifeless body below.

Nor the cries of Macey who was standing in front of their door.

She would never know that her auntie Judith who was now drunk with her friends had forgotten to pick her up while her husband who was busy with their annual meeting kept on thinking about them.

That moment, her mother Joan just arrived at George's place and immediately they had an argument. Frustrated, she took her phone and dialed Judith's number but couldn't get through. She stared at her mother's number and let out a big sigh as she hesitated to call her. She didn't know that Mrs. Jimenez had already fallen asleep after a whole day of patiently waiting for her granddaughter to come and visit her.

Shadylyn opened the door of her house and frowned when she saw Macey standing in front of her neighbor's door. "Finally, they stopped.." She walked away to meet her friends and to party all night in the club.

Macey dropped her chocolate on the floor and stared at Aisha's lifeless body with wide eyes open. "There is no God," she whispered.

A hissing voice echoed from below the house. His red eyes dilated and his golden scales briefly flickered under the moonlight. Macey ran as fast as she could, with no turning back, she sank deeper and deeper in unfathomable grief and hatred, "Welcome to the valley of the shadow of death," the lord of lies whispered at the back of her head.

21 YEARS AND I STILL LOVE YOU

For four years, I secretly watched him from afar. On the fifth year, he suddenly approached me and said I was someone connected to him. I shrugged my shoulder, what an awkward way to open a conversation. But I secretly smiled to myself. On the same year, he left. My heart was shattered into pieces.

I realized, I missed his voice that made my heart thumped and brought butterflies in my stomach.

Four years after, we saw each other again. He smiled at me again. It was a brief moment, but it seemed to last forever. But the world were we were is too big after all. There was no way we could be together.

But the way we would bumped into each other in unexpected ways, unexpected days and unexpected places brought confusion in my mind. Could it be fate? Providence? Or just a mere coincidence? And I remember, he would call me in the midst of many people, he would find me and call me by my name.

When I saw him becoming successful, I became jealous. When I saw him reaching for his dream, I became envious.

Eight years of hopeless unrequited love. Eight years I prayed.

On the tenth year I stopped waiting.

Grace felt her head was beginning to get heavy. She heard someone calling her name.

Grace... Grace..

She looked around and suddenly, a girl in white silhouette was standing in front of her.

It crawled towards her and slowly buried its fingers in her legs. It hurts.

A flaming sword appeared on top of Grace's head, it flew from left to right  She tried to reached for it, when the fallen grabbed her hands, Grace uttered a name.

Nooo! the fallen screamed.

When she fell from her bed, the fallen disappeared. Grace slowly opened her eyes, it felt like a beautiful nightmare. To dream of her first love, was it hidden all along within her subconscious, or was it someone trying to mess up with her emotions?

She looked at her watch, it was already pass six in the morning. Sean wasn't at home yet. And she wasn't even allowed to ask once he returned. Oh, yes. He got a lot of excuses on his plate. And that so called privacy and freedom, had such a high price. Again, she felt betrayed and disgusted to herself, for being a fool.

She cried and fell to her knees, ran her fingers unconsciously on her legs. The scratches were real, she looked behind the door and saw the fallen.

It called to her again.

Grace, I'm not yet done with you.

"Flee away from me," she whispered.

The fallen screamed and cursed.

A knock on the door. When Grace opened it, there was a not-so-good looking man in his early thirties- must be around five-feet-seven-inches tall. He looked rugged, lean and well-built with his plain white shirt, tattered jeans and worn-out sneakers. His dark curly hair looked like he just came out of his bed, though. His square jaw and thick straight eyebrows gave a feeling of intimidation whereas his thin lips curved in a slight smile projected slyness. What caught Grace's attention was the scar on his left eye which looked like from an animal's claw.

"How much faith do you have faithwalker?" the man asked her.

"Faith?" she asked in sudden confusion.

"If you have faith as small as a mustard seed-- then come with me to the Sanctuary. There are a lot of things you need to know."

The man raised his hand and offered to shake hands with her. "Paul," he said.

Grace slowly lifted her hands and when she touched his, behold her eyes were opened--behind Paul were hundreds, no, thousands of angels clothed in white linen riding in flaming chariots. Their body like that of an emerald and eyes like burning coal.

"What's this?" Grace asked as she fell on her knees.

"It's a new day," he said with a smile.

THE COMFORTER AT ROOM 1416

Judith left the cafeteria and headed to the hospital chapel. There were more than twenty chairs but none was occupied. She sat at the nearest chair she could grab on and stared at the big cross hanging on the wall across the room.

Her mind was black she couldn't utter a word. In fact, she doesn't know what to pray anymore. She had said all the things that she wanted, now she felt so weak and tired. She decided to stand up and return to Cara's room instead. When she turned around, she saw a young girl wearing a school uniform from Central Region Junior High.

She tried to ignore the girl but her legs wouldn't move. She heard soft voices coming from the floor beneath her. She looked down and saw that the girl was standing on her shadow. Judith started to perspire.

Closer, Angel. Stand closer to her.

The feet is mine.

The back is mine.

I'll take the front.

"Hi Judith," the girl finally spoke. "Remember me? I came to visit our cousin," she told her. "But the nurses said, her body was already taken away. She must be dead."

"Angel.."

The girl smiled, "So you do remember me. Hmm..well, no one was expecting her to survive anyway. Uncle beat her up until she could no longer move and just left her to die. It was mom who found her and brought her here. But I guess it's too late."

"That happened five years ago!" Judith blurted out still trying to move her feet.

"Even God must have abandoned her. Its either, he is a cruel God or he doesn't really exist at all. My twin sister said, our cousin's face was so beat up, she can't even recognize her at all."

"You- you are also a believer, you just hate his existence," Judith said feeling sorry for the child.

"Oh, right. You and I we are the same," Angel shrugged. "But you know what, I think its better that Aisha died, so she wouldn't suffer anymore. Some children suffer longer, even years. That's even more cruel. Imagine to watch your child suffer for many years. I wonder, what God is doing in all those years?"

Take her!

Be patient. She's starting to break down.

I'll go first.

Judith noticed her shadow slowly getting bigger and bigger. Her eyes widened as one of the fallens came out of the shadow and grabbed Judith's left ankle. She felt a sudden pain in her legs  and tried to open her mouth. When she looked up, Angel was gone.

One by one, the unclean spirits stretched their arms to Judith. As they came closer, she felt her stomach twisted. She tried to scream but no voice came out of her mouth. And when she fell on the floor, the doctor's words echoed through her mind. 

"Mrs. Judith, Cara's leukemia has already progressed to the point where infections could become a real threat to her life."

"How about transfusions?" Ethan asked the oncologist.

"Well," Doctor Scott paused and let out a big sigh, "We may opt for more transfusions, but her immune system is extremely weak right now. I can't tell you in all honesty if she is likely to live for a few more weeks or months. However, there are a lot of things that we can do so that she doesn't experience pain and suffering for the next few days."

"Are you saying my baby is going to die?" Judith shouted. "Is there really nothing that you can do right now?"

"Judith, Cara's illness is terminal. It has reached the final stage."

What is God doing, exactly her thoughts. Her eyes became darker, she began to felt depressed as slowly more fallens crept closer to her.

What is God doing? The fallen whispered as it held her feet.

Your poor child, suffered for two years now. He must be punishing you. Another fallen said putting his two hands on her shoulder.

Another one embraced her, Your God has abandoned you.

Judith's hand shook as she stood up and walked slowly back to her daughter's room.  She wondered why she felt so heavy, suddenly. Was everything a lie? She wondered.

When she reached the door, she held the doorknob but couldn't open it.

"Let us in!" the fallens screamed trying to break the unseen walls created four days ago.

Judith shouted and started to curse, "What's wrong with this door?"  Fallens clung tighter on her. There were around forty of them already.

After a couple of minutes, the door finally opened. Judith cursed again as she entered the room. She looked at her daughter and cried beside her. One of the fallens went to Cara and attached itself to her chest. The little girl woke up in pain.

"Mama, I can't breath," she cried.

Judith was surprised to hear her daughter spoke. She came closer to her, "I'm here baby," she caressed her and slowly rubbed her chest.

Cara rolled up the sleeves of her pajamas and showed Judith the tiny red spots all over her legs. "It hurts," she said.

"I know, baby. I know," Judith whispered.

"Ma-ma. W-what happened to your eyes?" she asked as she stared intently at her.

"Why? I'm fine," she said ignoring her.

One by one, the unclean spirits transferred to Cara. The kid cried and complained. She made rattling noises at the back of her throat. Judith pressed the nurse call button and asked for help.

When Michelle came, she quickly examined Cara. The little girl's pupils were dilated and had a glassy gaze. Her lips became bluish grey and her arms and feet turned cold. She opened her jaw and slowly breathed through her mouth. Her body began to twitch and her hands curled up in pain. Michelle slowly turned Cara's head to the right side and adjusted the bed to keep her head elevated.

"Please wait while I call her attending physician," Michelle told Judith.

"Wait! That's it?"

"Please wait while I call Doctor Scott," the nurse insisted impatiently. She quickly left Judith who in her fury didn't know that slowly, the white of her eyes had started to be filled with pitch black color.

As her shadow lingered above her head, Judith took her phone and called her husband, "Come back here, I need you."

Next Page