2,724 Words
Point of View Change (Azariah)
Abel, Ithuriel and I were watching a movie on the couch when I suddenly asked, "You won't leave, right?"
They were pretty startled, but Abel responded, "We aren't ever leaving. Unfortunately for you, we're staying with you forever."
"That's also what my friends said, too, but they didn't care when I left. OH, did I say that out loud? Sorry... I didn't mean that..." I said, playing it off as nothing.
Ithuriel chimed in, "That sounds terrible, but, I promise we aren't like that. However, there's no definite way of promising th-"
Abel interrupted her, saying, "Nope. Let's not say that like that. What she means is that we're gonna be here for as we can. Basically, until we die."
I smiled, "Thanks. But, what does happen when angels die?"
"We don't know, but it's impossible to die in heaven. But, if they take you to Earth or heck, they can kill you indefinitely. The same goes for them. If they come to heaven or if they're on Earth, we can kill them indefinitely. So you just have to stay here and they can't kill you," Abel responded, curling up into a ball.
I smiled, "Thanks," I hugged myself, it was pretty cold in Heaven sometimes.
THE NEXT DAY
Point of View Change (Leah)
"Father, why must I be hungry?" I asked Domiel, collapsing on the couch.
They shrugged their shoulders, "I don't know. It's probably important, though."
"But then why does it smell so good?"
Zadkiel walked in, "If we knew why you weren't eating, we could help you."
"But I can't! We've been over this, it's a secret!" I yelled, draping my arm over my forehead.
I went to headquarters again, "Why do you think we're so dependant on the food?" I asked, sitting down in the office.
"I'll tell you this, you'd end up being super weak and you'd eventually die."
I jumped from my chair, "Thanks, this helps a lot." I rushed to Azariah's house and knocked on her door, "Oh, Abel, I need to see Azariah. We're going to be early today so we can work out. It's a part of this experiment I'm doing."
"As long as she doesn't die, I think it's fine. I'm putting her life momentarily in your hands. Go ahead in, I guess," Abel replied, letting me pass.
"Thank you, sir. I'm just gonna... guess, I guess," I said as I got to the hallway.
He shook his head, "Nope, second down on the right."
I nodded, "Ok." I walked down the hallway and entered Azariah's room, "Good morning, Azariah."
"What?" she groaned, curling up into a ball, "Why are you here, Leah?'
"We're gonna go exercise!"
"Oh, so you are a figment of my imagination. Interesting stuff, Leah."
"No, I'm not a figment of your imagination! Let's go! Get up!" I exclaimed, pulling on her blankets.
She looked at me with wide eyes, "NO, do not take my blankets. Sure, you can take my sleep, the morning I usually get with my new parents or even the tiny moment I get after work, but for gosh sake, please, don't take my blankets!"
"Fine, but you still have to get up."
She nodded, "Just one more hour."
"Nope, you need to get up now."
"You probably just need to sleep more, too. Come on, just... sleep," she said, scooting over in her bed.
I shook my head, "Nope, I already got my 12 hours. Now... come on." I pulled on her arm as much as I could. She slowly got up, her hair all over the place, "Do you not use ponytails?"
"I'm scared it'll make my hairline go ALL the way back, so no."
"But you have bangs..."
"Whatever. I'll get up," she groaned, getting up. Then she grabbed a dress and turned back to me, "Can you leave while I get dressed?"
"Nope, I can't go out there. It'd be way too awkward. Please don't make me."
"Fine, turn around, head in the corner." I put my face in the corner and, after a while, she said, "Ok, you're fine now."
I turned around, "AWWW, you're so cute!"
"This is what I always look like, Leah."
"But that doesn't change the fact that you look so cute!" I said, putting my hands on my cheeks.
She rolled her eyes, looking at the ground, "Fine, let's go."
"You're so grumpy in the morning," I said as we walked out the door.
Before we left, Azariah went to her parents' bedroom and told them, "I'm going now. Good morning, Ithuriel Good morning, Abel."
Ithuriel apparently wasn't satisfied with that and she ran up to Azariah, "Good morning!"
"Ok... let's go, Leah," Azariah said, grabbing my hand. We walked for a while, still holding hands, until Azariah stopped, "What?"
"What do you mean? I didn't say anything."
"You aren't talking and I'm pretty sure we're here."
"OH, I was just... surprised. I didn't know that friends held hands," I replied, "Ok, ya, we're here."
"Ha, ya, I think they do," she replied as we walked inside.
Point of View Change (Azariah)
"So, what are we doing here?" I asked, walking in the building I didn't know was here before now.
"It's for my experiment," Leah replied.
"No, what are we doing here, not why."
"We're gonna get super buff and strong!" she exclaimed, throwing her fist into the sky.
I nodded, "Ok, now, why are we doing this? What's this experiment you mentioned?"
"It's an experiment where I figure out what the food does. It doesn't matter and I've already said too much," she responded, "Let's go run as fast as we can on the treadmills even though that'll probably make us exhausted."
I nodded, grinning happily, "Yes, that's a great idea, Leah." We both got on the treadmills and put them on the highest we could. After a few seconds, I said, "NOPE, I can't do this," and turned it off.
"Ok, ya, let's do weights, then," she responded, turning hers off, too. We walked over to the weights and I grabbed two ten pounds, "So, why am I a part of this, too?"
"Because I wasn't gonna just leave you at work. Besides, if I'm right, I don't wanna end up stronger than you."
I smiled, "Thanks? I mean, I kind of wish I didn't have to wake up so early, though." I lifted the weights over my head, not realizing that my arms were locked and I couldn't move them. Then I could feel myself start to fall.
"Azariah, why are you falling?" Leah asked, trying to stop me, "Let me take the weights!" She tried to pry them from my fingers, "Let goooooo!" I slowly tilted to the right, off the bench, as I thought to myself, 'If I let go, I'll fall.' I didn't let go, but I definitely fell off the bench. Leah was definitely mad about the whole falling on the floor and hitting my right arm with the weight in my left hand on my way down. For a second, she thought I got the bruise on my fist from falling. After work, I walked home with Leah and I hung out with Ithuriel and Abel when I got home.
"Today's been pretty good," I said, smiling.
"Good, us too," Ithuriel replied.
"I'm really glad, Ithuriel. Oh... hey dad."
"Oh, hey, didn't see you there, Azariah. It's like you were invisible," he responded, wiggling his arms and making ghost noises.
Point of View Change (Zadkiel)
THE NEXT DAY
I walked through the tunnel to headquarters. I went over the words I was gonna say to The big man in my head. I got there and immediately went into his office, "What'd you say to Leah?"
He sighed, "I told her the truth. Now, what did you wanna talk about?"
"Leah's been keeping a whole bunch of secrets and you know better than anyone that she shouldn't be keeping secrets. She's already hiding so much!"
"I know... but I can't tell you. It's not gonna be that long until she's done. And, no one else can know what she knows... it's super important."
"In what way?"
"She's the only guardian of something that's important, which makes her the only one qualified to know," The big man explained.
I slowly nodded, knowing he was right, "We can tell Leah about Earth, right?"
He laughed, "I don't know why not! I mean, angels watch over angels on Earth like all the time. It's literally the only TV we have. Those were definitely the days, though! Definitely my better times."
"Thanks... I'll leave now..."
"Bye."
I went back to work and I walked back to our sector, "How was the meeting?" I turned around to see it was Domiel.
I smiled, "He said it's because of what she's the guardian of. And, we can tell her."
"That's awesome! Not Leah keeping secrets, but... the other thing, that's great! Did he say how long this was gonna have to keep happening?"
"Yes, he said she'd be done soon. Oh... we have to thing of something to do so we don't think of the fact that our daughter is hiding something from us."
"Oh no, babe, you know we such at planting, right?" Domiel asked.
"Then what do you suggest?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest, "You know that planting is a passion of mine."
"But you're terrible at it, Zadkiel."
"HEY!" Ithuriel exclaimed, boosting herself up, using our shoulders, "What's going on?"
Domiel shrugged away from her hand, asking, "What aren't you working?"
"Why aren't you working?" she asked, grinning.
"I just got here, what's your excuse?" I asked.
"I was gonna visit Abel. He hates working there. He doesn't even do anything there! It's actually kind of weird that he hasn't moved back after Azariah," Ithuriel responded, groaning at the thought of guarding the gate of heaven.
"We'll go with you! We could SO have dinner or something since Leah and Azariah are friends, now," Domiel exclaimed, smiling, "And, we wouldn't have to work!"
"But... we're SO behind," I commented, not wanting to walk all the way to the gate and back right after.
"Oh, ya, sorry, could you just ask him if we could have dinner for us? Leah doesn't eat, though, she has this weird experiment going on."
She laughed, "Oh ya, I assume that's why she showed up early this morning and took our daughter. And, I will, bye!"
Once she left, I asked Domiel, "What do we do now? See? This is why I need to go back to planting. One of these times, I'm gonna plant a successful plant."
"A dandelion, maybe, but... babe, with all due respect, you suck at planting things."
Point of View Change (Abel)
I just sat here, waiting for the stairs to appear when I heard, "Babe! I'm here!"
I turned around, "Someone has an excess of energy!" I stood up, holding out my arms.
She hugged me super tight, "Yep! OH, Domiel and Zadkiel wanna have dinner with us."
"Really?! That's so awesome! We're gonna make friends!" I exclaimed, throwing my arms in the air, "Oh, there's a new angel. I'm waiting for them right now."
"Ok, I'll come with you."
"Apparently, she's never been to heaven before now since she was born on Earth. She's from the Johnson family."
"Wow, that's pretty specific."
I dropped my head solemnly, "Ya... this is so boring."
Point of View Change (Jenna)
"Bye, Jenna!" I heard Kelly yell out.
I slightly smiled, looking back, "Bye Kelly. Tell Alexa she's the worst sister when she wakes up!" Then I heard Kelly yelling about how I smiled for the first time.
I kept walking up the glowing set of stairs. Linda told me all about the people there. I guess she even had had this kid from when she was still human. She told me everything about them. Apparently, they didn't even technically have a gender somehow... which weirded me out. That did matter, though, since I knew everyone would look at me differently just because I'm the guardian of darkness. So, I came up with a plan to not make any friends, to find Zadkiel, and make him tell me how to get done with this whole dark heart situation. I haven't and won't let anyone pity me. That would be just... pathetic. I just wish I could stay on Earth the whole time where no one cared about how I had a dark heart. As I walked up, I saw two angels walking down. I didn't really know why they were there, so, I just kept walking.
They said, "Hey." I nodded and kept going, "Umm... Jenna, sorry, I'm Abel. I'm supposed to show you around."
"Nah, I'm good. Bye," I said, still walking. But I heard a small voice in my head 𝐉𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐚, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧����𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬! I rolled my eyes, I can't believe I can hear him, too. And of all times, right now?
"Hey, I'm Ithuriel! Trust me, you're gonna need help... it can get confusing," the other angel told me, struggling to keep up with me. She was tall and had... light blue hair?
I rolled my eyes, "Fine, you can show me around. Do you know Zadkiel?"
Abel's face lit up and he said, "They're our neighbor! They have a kid, too."
I shook my head, "Nope, no thanks. I just need Zadkiel to help me get rid of this thing." I held onto my dark heart, rubbing the glass part.
"Why Zadkiel?" Ithuriel asked.
"Their parents were Bob and Linda, too. Zadkiel was their first child." Abel looked super confused, so I elaborated, "He's the guardian of a dark heart."
"Oh wait, can I see your necklace? It's so pretty!" Ithuriel exclaimed, smiling really wide.
I slowly nodded, "Don't lose it. It's important?"
"Do you ever feel like just throwing it away?"
I laughed, "That's funny! I guess it'd be ok if you thought life would be better without the sun... which it isn't, by the way."
"Oh... ok. Well, what color will it be?" Abel asked, probably trying to change the subject.
"Probably black," I responded. But then I heard him again, 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞? 𝐎𝐡 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭, 𝐈 𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤. "Shut up!" I yelled, turning to where I heard the noise. Which meant looking down, sadly. I moved to the middle of the stairs, suddenly really scared that I'd fall.
"What?" they asked, turning back.
"Faster. We need to go faster," I said, moving around them so I could be in front. When we got up to heaven, I turned to them, "Ok, can we go see Zadkiel, now?"
"After the tour," Abel replied.
"Ok, let's go," I said, walking down the road.
They didn't follow me, instead, saying, "We have to make supper, first."
They made me help make their nasty food and when we got done, they decided we also had to go to... headquarters? Who in their right minds would have a headquarters? It just seems lame to me. I can tell you now, nothing good could come from that. We visited The big man and he told us that Abel and Ithuriel would be my parents for the time being. They showed me around and we went back to their house. Apparently, they didn't go to work today... I hate my parents already.
While I was in the bathroom, I heard Ithuriel yell, "Azariah!"
When I got out of the bathroom, this girl asked, "Who's that?"
"She's new, too. She's only temporarily our daughter. She's like your step-sister!"
"Ok..." she replied, pretty uneasy at the last sentence for some reason. She sat down next to me and smiled, "Azariah. What's your name?"
I shook my head, "Nope."
Ithuriel laughed, "Her name's Jenna. She... probably doesn't hate you."
"I can hear you," I grumbled.
There was a knock on the door and someone yelled out, "Hello?"
Azariah walked over and opened the door, "Leah! YAY! There's someone new... again!"
The girl smiled at me until I said, "Jenna... my name's Jenna. Where's Zadkiel?"
"My name's Leah..." she replied softly. Then she turned to Azariah, "Definitely didn't handle that well." I rolled my eyes, walking over to Zadkiel.
"Zadkiel, how do I fix this?" I asked, showing him my choker so he could see the dark heart.