Page 7 of An Unexpected Ascension (A War Between Worlds #1)

The Angel

I’m starting to lose track of time, but according to the damnation countdown on my wall, it’s been more than a day since I saw Will last.

He was supposed to take me to venture out into the land, show me all the other places that are worth seeing. I know I could explore on my own, but I wanted to wait for him.

I’ve already recited 87 Hail Marys since I came back home yesterday and decided to really take this penance stuff seriously after what happened with Marty.

Though, I can only say the same prayer so many times before my tongue stops working and my brain shuts down.

It’s a bummer Sarah May already moved to her new home, otherwise I could have asked her to join me on a walk and there was no way I was going to ask John.

If guns were allowed in Heaven, I could see him sitting on his front porch just waiting for someone to come onto his property.

That man has zero tolerance for humankind.

I also haven’t seen Anthony in a while.

That thought lingers as I make my way out the door and head to the falls myself. I really hope he doesn’t become another Marty.

Soon enough, the sweet smell of flowers envelops me, and I finally feel a sense of relief. This time, I don’t even bother removing my clothes, I just dive straight into the pool that holds me like a comforting hug.

Submerged, my mind reels, replaying the last few years of my life on Earth. As I do, a strange, muted feeling surges inside of me, similar to the one Will described when speaking about his wife.

My mother.

I was so blindsided by the fact that I was dead that I forgot to ask about my own mother! It’s been years now since she’s died and knowing her, she’s here. She has to be.

I just have no idea how to go about finding her. Now that my memories are starting to piece back together, I can picture her more clearly again.

“Gyllian Sanderson,”

I bark her name in a firm tone.

To my dismay, nothing happens. The breeze remains subtle, barely bothering the blades of grass near the edge of the pool.

There’s a sudden void hollowing inside my chest at the realization that I failed to do the one thing any daughter should: find their mother.

It slowly starts to overshadow the beauty of the warm, silky water.

I emerge, breaking the surface and make my way to the shoreline.

Reminiscing seems like something you do while overlooking Heaven’s landscapes. So, I pull myself up onto the rocks and climb the side of the cliff.

Halfway through my ascension, I notice a hollowed-out cave behind the rapid waters.

Curiosity gets the best of me, and I find myself shifting toward the opening.

I didn’t notice this last time we were here.

I look around Galsip Falls to see if anyone else is around and like last time, it’s empty, allowing me to succumb to temptation.

I maneuver myself onto the ledge, then crawl onto the safety of the cave’s floor.

Despite the crashing sounds of water, the cave is relatively quiet and the wall of water blocks most of the light.

It’s comfy in here, like a little nook carved out in Heaven just for me.

Dark, cool, and there’s a looseness in the air that differs from the rest of the realm.

A looseness like a stretched-out rubber band that’s softened over time.

Lowering myself to the ground, I study the way my heart beats, the way my chest retracts with quickened breaths, the thin film of perspiration to coat my skin...

These are things I haven’t felt since I stepped foot in this world.

What was it that Will said about basic needs and feelings?

As I try to recall, a shift in light blinds me.

My mother’s image moves against the blanket of water falling at the cave’s mouth like a movie. Her pale face, sockets sunken with sickness, stares back at me. Her dark hair shimmers with grey streaks and those hazel eyes twinkle like she knows I’m watching.

“She’s lovely.”

The deep vibrations of the stranger’s voice elicit a startled gasp from me. My head whips back to find a man leaning against the far wall of the cave, half hidden behind shadows. He steps a bit closer, nudging his head at me to return my gaze forward.

She clasps my hands in hers, whispering her promise for eternal love, even though this is the last time I will ever see her on Earth. I watch her with tears streaming down my face as my younger self slips into her bed beside her. She holds me, even as she dies, she holds me and gives me one last comfort to take into a new day.

With my ear to her chest, I listen to the last tick of her heartbeat, I listen to her leave me as the cancer eats away at her bones, poisoning her until there’s nothing left.

“She was.”

Footsteps sound behind me, creeping forward until I can feel the heat of his body hovering near.

“What are you doing here?” he asks.

“I-I was just climbing to the top when I found it. The cave just sort of called to me.”

He joins me on the ground, but I don’t dare tear my eyes away from my memories that I’ve now finally figured out how to play.

Alone. I was so terribly alone after her death. Her coffin now lowering into the ground.

“Why am I sad? How can I feel all of this right now?”

“The wonders of this cave.”

I nod, wiping the tears from my face.

I can feel.

Yes, this cave was to be my new Heaven. This is where I would feel and mourn and wither under the life I once knew.

“Where do I find her?”

“That’s the tragedy in death, you don’t. One day maybe you’ll cross paths, but the love you once knew will be nothing but a strange twinge in your chest, like a thought that sits at the tip of your tongue but never comes to fruition.”

“That’s horrible.”

Another tear rolls down my cheek.

“Or perhaps that love is stronger than you realize, and the pull will be there. No way to really know until it happens.”

“I will find her.”

I assert, but to him or myself, I’m not sure.

“What are you doing here?”

“Just dropping in. Heaven has a grander state of landscape. Hell can be a little hot.”

I glower at him.

“Wouldn’t a sanctuary like this be off limits to evil?”

“A sanctuary like this isn’t owned by a single God but acts as a bridge between worlds. Unknown by many, quiet, hidden. I quite like Galsip Falls.”

“I see.”

I nod, paying him little attention.

I quickly return my eyes to my memories, and he watches with me, despite the lack of invitation.

Dark bangs brush my forehead, the rest of my hair pulled back in a pink scrunchy, my lucky scrunchy. Gifted from my mother before my spelling test. She said as long as I wore it, I would have all the luck in the world, and I aced that test. I never left the house without it, not for years. Not until it faded with overuse, the felt fabric rubbing thin, the elastic eventually snapping and along with it – all that luck.

Before me sat a small cake, vanilla and round with white frosting and sprinkles. Bright pink icing adorned the top – Happy B-Day, Bry! The words squished together, taking up the entire top layer of the cake. One candle sat in the middle, just between the words so they wouldn’t get ruined.

My mother smiled from the seat next to me, an apologetic look wearing her face. Checking her watch again, she sighed, standing. With a parting kiss, she leaves me there alone to call my father one more time.

He wasn’t coming. I didn’t care though because I didn’t want him to, anyway. My mother doesn’t know what I saw two nights ago before he stormed out of our house, before he broke the hinges on our door and never said another word.

She didn’t know I was coming to ask for help with my homework, didn’t know that I stood behind the ajar door of her bedroom as my father berated her again about money. How the loud crack of his fist against her cheekbone rang in my ears like the high-pitched whine of a faulty microphone.

But he did.

As my mother crumpled to the ground, his eyes, a mirror image of my own met mine. Fear, fury, regret. He stilled, realizing slowly what he had done, what he had been doing to his daughter’s mother.

Before this day, I had never thought of him as a bad man, he was never great either. Just there. He provided, kissed my forehead before work, tucked me into bed at night. Occasionally showed up for dance recitals, but I never looked at him the way I did this particular night. With a hatred so raw it rendered a heartless man guilty.

I don’t know what it was that he read in my stare, perhaps it was the blaring truth, that he was no longer welcome in this house. He was no longer a part of this family and if he ever returned, I would kill him myself. Or so my nearly-seven-year-old self-declared.

So, I sat there in front of my homemade birthday cake while my mother desperately tried to get my father to come home, knowing she was just wasting her time. After sneaking a few sprinkles off the top, my mother finally comes barreling back into the dining room.

Throwing her hands in the air, she sighs.

“We’ll just have to start without him.”

And I smiled.

The cake quickly vanishes, the images blurring before my house appears again several years later with subtle changes, like a new couch and the dining room now a soft blue rather than the harsh outdated brown.

“I-I can quit.”

“No. No! You’re not quitting. We’ll find another way.”

“Mom,”

I drawl softly.

“You’ve been trying to find another way for at least a year now. If we don’t have the money, then let me quit. I don’t even like dancing.”

It was a lie, but a necessary one.

“I thought you loved dancing. Briar, you’re incredible at it. You have so much potential. Imagine the scholarships that it could bring!”

she argues, her arms folding over her chest as she leans against the kitchen counter.

I face her on the opposite side, leaning against the doorless frame to the dining room.

“I’m starting high school in just a few weeks. I’ll join an extracurricular. Cheerleading is similar to dance, right? Or maybe I’ll try out for the school play. Those things don’t cost nearly as much and will require less driving around. I’m already convinced.”

To quit dancing is to quit breathing, to cease living, but only on the inside. To keep dancing is to cease living for real, to quit eating and affording necessities. Really, there is no choice. I have already made up my mind.

My mother nibbles her bottom lip in thought, her eyes assessing me, squinting as if she could see right through the charade. I give her a soft, reassuring smile and she relents.

“I want you to be one thousand percent sure.”

“I am.”

“Okay, then I want you to send me all the details for tryouts. Whatever you decide to do, I don’t care, but keep that college resume building.”

“I will, Mom.”

She closes the distance between us, her lips planting firmly against my forehead, a silent understanding of my sacrifice.

“How entirely noble of you,”

the demon teases.

I ignore his jibe and push myself to stand. I won’t be sharing any more intimate memories with the Devil’s minion. It’s bad enough I’ve entertained him this long.

Following my lead, he rights himself on his feet and shuffles towards me. With each retreat of my foot, he moves one step forward.

Darkness soon engulfs us as my back flattens against the far wall of the rocky cave. His fingers brush my collarbone before catching in my hair. He twirls it, rubs it between his fingers, then brings it to his nose.

“There’s something about you.”

“What do you mean?”

I choke out.

His head dips between my neck and shoulder. I almost expect him to bite me or maybe even kiss me, but instead, he inhales deeply through his nose.

“There’s this feeling in my chest that I get. It buzzes, like a little vibration alerting me to fulfill a duty. But with you... with you, there’s a tug. It’s different.”

Sweat begins to bubble along my hairline.

“There’s no way. I just got here. I’m not going to Hell.”

Pulling back, he finds my eyes and with the tilt of his head, he graces me with a devilish grin.

“No, Angel. You’re not due in Hell.”

I let out a relieved sigh.

“Then why are you here?”

“I can’t exactly say. But this is the third time I’ve felt that incessant tug. Once at the gates, then as I spotted you in the crowd not long ago, and now.”

I pinch my lips shut as his face ever so slowly lowers to mine, his hands on either side of my head. Mere centimeters, he hovers, our mouths just a breath away. I don’t dare speak a word for fear that they just might brush with the movement.

“You’re trembling. Are you afraid?”

“No,”

I barely whisper.

“No? Does your heart not beat twice its speed?”

“I have nothing to fear.”

He chuckles, flashing a set of brilliantly white teeth. God, he’s so close I could almost taste him.

“And here I thought you couldn’t lie in Heaven.”

He tuts.

“You must be delighted that you’ve found yourself in a perfect little sanctum hidden from the Gods, but if you can lie, then imagine all the things I can do without ever being caught.”

An inked hand curls around my hipbone in a firm grip, pushing me even further into the wall. I shudder as his thumb brushes the skin beneath my shirt.

“You wouldn’t dare,”

I warn him.

“I think you forget where I come from. Tell me, Angel, do you think demons have morals?”

I shake my head.

“No, they don’t, but that’s all fun for another time, yeah?”

He pushes himself off the rock, creating space between us, and my body is suddenly doused in a slight chill from the loss of his heat.

“See you around.” He winks.

In the flash of an eye, he’s gone. Just disappears into thin air, leaving me sweaty, panting, and alone.