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.