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| Photo from RGB Stock |
Some days it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed. This is one
of those days.
My day
started with being woke at 3:00 am to my bed shaking. Yes, you read right, the
bed was shaking. Not an auspicious way to start my day let me tell you.
I opened
one eye and then glared at the glowing figure standing at the foot of my bed. “Goddammit,
Gabe!” I snarled. “It’s the middle of the fucking night, what now?”
“Good
evening to you too, Angel.” His voice was mellow, too mellow for 3:00 am in my
opinion.
“I repeat,
what now?” The damned Ascended had woke me up the last three nights, always at
3:00 am. I had a good mind to kick his translucent ass for doing it yet again.
I groaned
and rolled over on one side before forcing myself to sit up. I pushed my hair
out of my face and waited for Gabe to tell me what he needed my help with now.
He wouldn’t be here unless it was important and I knew that, but I was becoming
seriously sleep deprived.
“There’s a
child spirit trapped on the East Side. She
won’t let any of us help her, and I’m hoping that maybe you can convince her.”
I sat up
straight. Children could be the worst to cross over, especially if they’ve been
trapped for a long time, and or didn’t want to believe they’d died. “How long
has she been trapped?”
Gabe gave
me a sheepish look. “She died in 1880.”
“You’ve
tried everything?”
“Yes. We
think she needs a woman’s touch.”
“And you
don’t have any female Ascended that could fit that description?”
“You know
we do.”
“Then why
aren’t you using one of them?” Yeah, I was grumpy.
“We’ve
tried but the child is not responding well.”
“What makes
you think she’s going to respond any better to me, Gabe?” There had to be a
catch, a reason, Gabe was coming to me instead of one of the female Ascended.
Gabe sighed
and his glittering light dimmed just a bit. “She doesn’t believe she is dead,
and no amount of proof on the part of any of the Ascended seems to be enough to
convince her otherwise.”
I took a
deep breath while my exhausted mind worked things out. “So…what? You want me to
convince her she’s dead? Can’t it wait until tomorrow? I haven’t had a decent
nights sleep in three days.”
“I know
you’re tired Angel, I do, but this can’t wait, it comes from higher up.”
“Shit.” I
said quietly as I rubbed my eyes. Then I looked at him. “How high up?” I wanted
to know if we were talking about Angels who were some of the closest to the
Creator, or just his superiors, Ascended who were higher up in the chain of
command.
“The
highest.”
“So are we
talking Angel high?”
“Higher.”
“Okay,
higher, like the Creator higher or like between the Angels and the Creator
higher?” There was a group for which I wasn’t even allowed to know the name of
that was between the Angels and the Creator. If they wanted something you
couldn’t say no because it came straight from the highest level of the
afterlife.
I watched
as Gabe appeared to take a breath, keep in mind he was already dead so
breathing was out, the Ascended just liked to keep up appearances. “Does it
matter?” He finally asked.
Still feeling
grumpy, I muttered, “Not really. I just wanted to know.”
“You mean
you wanted me to clarify just who made the request?”
I knew that
this was probably not for me to know, especially if it came from that unnamed
group I mentioned earlier. Humans like me were only allowed to know so much
before the whole system sort of shut down and no one would talk anymore, and
that included my personal Ascended, Gabe.
“Fine.” I
stood up in a less than smooth motion, and tipped slightly sideways before I
got my feet under me. “Let me get some coffee so I can at least think.”
I stalked
into the bathroom stood in front of the sink and stared blearily at myself in
the mirror. I had dark circles under my eyes and there was a pallor beneath my
dark skin. In a few words, I looked like hell.
I leaned
down and turned the cold water on and then cupped my hands under the free
flowing stream until my hands were overflowing before lifting them and
splashing the cold water onto my face. It took a few seconds but I began to feel
more alert.
“I’m sorry,
Angel.”
I didn’t
respond right away just grabbed the towel and wiped my face dry before turning
to look at Gabe who had followed me into the bathroom.
“Not your
fault.” I said finally. “We all have to do what we’re asked to, and they don’t
give us more than we can handle. That’s the theory anyway.” I ended wryly.
“I hate
seeing you this tired.” This wasn’t Gabe my Ascended talking, but Gabe my lover,
and husband from several past lives that I now only remember bits and pieces
of.
“Yeah, well
we both knew what we were getting into when we signed on for this gig.”
“That
doesn’t make it any easier for me, Angel.”
Gabe’s
countenance was sad, and I tried to cheer him up. “Hey, it’s only for another
seventy years or so!” I joked.
Unfortunately,
it was clear from the fact that his eyes didn’t clear that he didn’t think my
joke was that funny.
“C’mon,
Gabe, seventy or eighty years is a drop in the bucket for an Ascended. It’ll be
over before you know it. And who knows with my line of work I may be back with
you sooner than you think.”
“Don’t talk
like that!” He scolded me. He hated the thought of my dying even if it meant
I’d be with him sooner rather than later.
I took a
deep breath, rolled my eyes at him and reminded him, “I was joking, Gabe. I
have no intention of dying anytime soon. I still have too much to do on this
plane of existence.”
“Oh.” Now
he looked hurt and I figured I just couldn’t win. The whole thing just made me
cross again.
“Look,
Gabe, you can’t have it both ways. As long as I’m here and in a physical body
then we’re never going to be anything more than Ascended and Student. You know
that. You’ve always known that, and you’ve reminded me of it on more than one
occasion.”
“I don’t
have to like it though.” He said softly.
I softened.
“No you don’t. I don’t like it either Gabe, but it is what it is. As I said we
both knew what we were getting into, we both volunteered. You to stay behind,
me to be reborn. Of course this whole ability to see and communicate with
ghosts thing, I think if I knew what that was going to be like, I might’ve
changed my mind.” I rolled my eyes at him before heading to the kitchen.
“Coffee, I
need gallons and gallons of coffee.” I muttered to no one in particular.
I grabbed
the coffee pot from the coffee maker and filled it with water, lifted the lid
and poured the clear liquid in.
Just as I
leaned up to reach into the cabinet to get a filter, I banged my toe on the
lower cabinet door. “God damn it!” I yelled, dropping the filter and lifting my
foot and shaking it, hoping that and the cuss words and the shaking would
somehow make the pain zinging up my ankle stop.
I looked up
to see Gabe with a little smirk on his face as though he found the whole
situation humorous. Well, at least I made
him feel better.
Copyright (c) 2013 by Regina Paul. All Rights Reserved.
