September 1996
They say when you die the memories you had on earth begin to flood into your brain, it'll be in a slideshow either fast or slow. Your brain can show all the things pertaining from the day you learned how to walk to the day you lost your tooth, to your first best friends, your first crush and the first time you started high school.
Angelo Hernandez hasn't died yet and he's already thinking about the life he's lived on this unfortunate planet called Earth. His beautiful tanned face is stained with tears and snot, and he's in the most emotional pain he's ever been in.
Angelo is the happiest soul on earth, the boy lights up the room every time he walks into it, the boy who loves music, the boy who makes friends easily. When people see Angelo their world is bright. The most depressing soul becomes cured once they lay their eyes on Angelo.
No one has ever seen Angelo cry, it's a running joke between the people who know him that he probably came out of his mother's womb laughing and not crying. He loves to laugh, laughing is the second greatest hobby after music.
This is why if anyone sees Angelo crying now they'll know something is wrong, they'll know that he's crying for a valid reason and he is sobbing for a valid reason.
The poor boy has been kicked out of the house by his parents because they found out what he is, they have finally found out what Angelo has been hiding since he was a kid.
Angelo had always had a huge crush on Michael Jackson when he was younger but he didn't know it was a crush he thought it was just admiration but when he turned fourteen everything became clear.
He didn't just want to be Michael Jackson he wanted to be with Michael Jackson. He found out he was into boys and not girls and that scared him because his parents are overtly religious people who believe marriage is between a man and a woman. They don't think gay people should exist and they keep saying the world is ending when they see a gay person on TV.
Angelo knew where his parents stood when it came to homosexuality so he never came out to them. Sure his sisters have made homophobic jokes but they've never said they hate gay people they always kept their mouths shut each time their dad said something about homosexuals.
"Los homosexuales son asquerosos." He said once and Angelo had to act like it didn't bother him.
His sisters were even begging their dad to not kill him when he found out about Angelo.
Angelo wishes he didn't keep those magazines under his bed, his mom found them and then told his dad and there was a whole lot of yelling and cursing and even attempted murder.
His father wanted to kill him, strangulation would have ended his misery. But his wife begged him by removing her husband's large arms around her son's neck. So Mr. Hernandez did the worst thing possible, he kicked Angelo out of the house instead and was told never to return.
All the emotions came running in and he began to cry, he didn't know where to go, and he didn't know where to sleep but he knew where to do it… he knew where to take his life.
He made it his mission to go all the way to Colorado Bridge and his plan was to throw himself off. What good does living do? He's lost his family the people that he loves the most so living is useless to him.
He's thankful that it's dark out and people can barely see him. He stands by the bridge in constant tears thinking of all the memories he's had on earth from childhood to his teen years.
Unfortunately, those memories don't make him stop to rethink or to live life, it doesn't stop him from taking his life. Instead, he's saying goodbye to those memories and goodbye to the people he made those memories with.
If hell is where he's destined to be then why not just get this over with? He throws himself off the bridge.
He thought he'd be falling slowly just like he'd seen in the movies but it happens as swiftly as a bolt of lightning his head touches the hard ground and his skull breaks. Angelo Hernandez is dead.
The next day he was found and taken to the morgue. They are yet to identify who Angelo is and where he is from so in the meantime his dead body stays at the morgue until they find his family, of course, that doesn't stop someone who wants Angelo's body for a dark agenda.
A dark stranger in a hoodie, a tall stranger who has an agenda that will change everything. They're in the morgue to execute their plan. They've been going from place to place to find dead bodies, souls lost to bring them back to life.
They've been looking for who their next host will be, who will be their next soldier? Angelo will be their next soldier.
The man smiles at Angelo's body and he can smell that he has been wronged by not only his family but society. A sad soul who would want revenge once he comes back, a boy willing to join him, to join the dark side, to change the world by starting a war.
He looks over the boy's head and he uses his left hand and thrusts it into the boy's chest bringing out his dead heart. He places the heart into a bag and brings out a shiny golden object that exudes glory and all things holy. A weapon that creates beauty and danger. An angelic halo stolen from heaven. This stranger has stolen a lot of halos from the holy city and is going about putting them into dead people.
He's found out that he can't bring back the people who are meant to die, so he hopes that it isn't Angelo's time to die because this stranger can see a lot of potential in him. He looks like he could be his right-hand man.
He carefully puts the halo into Angelo's chest. The halo tears his flesh off at first but it heals and covers up the halo. The stranger waits for Angelo's eyes to open up but someone barges into the room.
Nephilims.
They hold their celestial weapons tight with bravery ready to capture the halo thief. The thief tricks them by throwing a powdery substance their way to distract them. The thief goes running out the other door. The Nephilims who are more bent on catching the thief than seeing if he's put the halo into a human vessel chase after him.
The halo begins to work its wonder on the sixteen-year-old boy's body. It makes his bones stronger and heals his broken skull. It gives him powers no human should have. And the memories he had of himself on earth begin to flood in a slideshow and it's fast and this time the memories of him coming out of his mother's womb surface and yes he did indeed cry but he laughed afterwards. Because he is indeed a happy child.
His parents are happy, his mom is crying, tears of joy. He gets his first steps, he says his first words, he loses his tooth and makes new friends and he discovers his love for music, his love for Michael Jackson, discovers his attraction to boys. His first piano and guitar lessons, his first gay porno mag, his first masturbation. His dad seeing those magazines, his dad kicking him out and him falling off a bridge.
Angelo's halo lights up and Angelo's eyes open revealing his beautiful hazel green eyes.
Angelo Hernandez is risen.