Gabriel's Story - 30 November 2019

You’re gonna need more angels. The warning rang over and over in Gabriel’s mind as they waited for word on Cathy’s condition. Half the church had shown up within the first hour after the accident. The group had moved to the chapel after the lead trauma nurse at Saint Anne’s in West End politely but firmly asked them to free up space in the waiting room for the families and friends of some of the other critical patients. Not only did the church oblige, but they took names and conditions of the other patients so they could pray for them too.

You’re gonna need more angels. Gabriel shook his head as if that would help clear the fog that clouded his thoughts. He pondered the threat. It was real. He realized just how real of a threat it was when he answered the phone. Poor Cathy, he thought.

“Gabriel.” Pastor Sean’s voice broke the uneasy silence.

He looked up from his Bible to see Nancy, a trauma nurse, standing in the doorway beckoning Pastor Sean her way. The expression on her face was hard to read. He stood and walked to the nurse, hoping for the best but steeling himself for the worst. “I’m Gabriel.”

Nancy smiled a soft, short smile. “Ok, she’s awake and asking for the two of you. But I have to warn you…she’s not well. With all her injuries and her advanced age, she’s lucky to be alive.”

“Blessed to be alive.” Pastor Sean corrected her. “Luck isn’t a factor.”

“Call it whatever you have to,” She turned to lead them to Cathy’s room. “She’s this way.”

Nancy and Sean didn’t hesitate going to Cathy’s side, but Gabriel stopped as he rounded the doorway to Cathy’s intensive care room. Standing in the corner in all his glory was the angel Gabriel. Beside him another angel, older and softer in appearance, stood with his head bowed, whispering words Gabriel couldn’t hear.

“Death takes many forms. For my children, He is a comfort.” Gabriel saw the angels look his way as he heard the voice speak again. He started to ask “She’s going to die?” but his lips wouldn’t move. A quick glance at Cathy and Gabriel understood. She was already letting go.

The room was warmer than Gabriel expected, probably because Cathy was older and so exposed. A simple blanket protected her modesty, but both arms and both legs were on full view. A quick count revealed at least a dozen pins anchored into Cathy’s left leg, with another handful in her right. Each arm showed significant burns, presumably from contact with the airbag in her car. The way her hands and wrists were bandaged, Gabriel figured they were both broken as well. The doctors had shaved most of her hair to repair her fractured skull and insert the tube that was draining excess fluid from her brain. The bruises around her nose and eyes told Gabriel that she’d probably broken the base of her skull – an injury that elderly people rarely recovered from. Cathy’s head was immobilized, but she was awake and talking in a subdued whisper he could barely hear from his place near the door. Gabriel was surprised she wasn’t in a coma or too injured to be conscious.

“You’d be surprised the lengths a girl will go to to get some alone time with her good looking pastor.” Cathy tried to laugh, but Gabriel could tell it hurt too much.

“Oh, Cathy. Do you need anything? Something for the pain?” Pastor Sean couldn’t hold her hand, so he knelt at her bedside. “Do you want to pray?”

Gabriel watched from afar. Sean was so masterful in the moment. He knew Cathy wouldn’t survive the night and he wanted to be sure she was ready. Gabriel wondered if he hadn’t noticed the angels in the room. As he did, Death looked up from his prayer and slowly made his way to Cathy’s bedside.

Cathy smiled and Gabriel kept talking. She didn’t seem to hear anything he said because she didn’t even try to answer. Her attention was completely given to the smiling older man who reached out to hold her hand. Death caressed the back of her hand and knelt to kiss her exposed fingertips. “It’s almost time, my dear.” His voice was a soft whisper. Comforting.

“Oh Pastor Sean, I’m sorry you won’t be seeing me in church anymore.” She smiled and looked into Sean’s eyes. “But I can’t say I’m sorry for where I’ll be.”

Sean’s eyes began to tear up. “That’s alright, Miss. Cathy. You’ve run your race victorious. It’s time to enjoy the spoils.” He closed his eyes. “Our Father who art in heaven…”

Death stood and escorted Cathy’s spirit from her body. As she was freed from her earthly prison, she transformed into a beautiful young woman, her brown hair flowing in an unseen spiritual wind. She greeted Death and the angel Gabriel, but before she left she walked around the bed and came to stand in front of Gabriel. She smelled of strawberries and cream. Gabriel smiled.

“Be strong.” She said as she looked over to see Sean kneeling at the bedside of her soon to be lifeless body, the sound of her heartbeat slowing. “He’s going to need you to help fight this war. He can’t do it alone.”

“Yes ma’am.”

With those words, Cathy reached up and hugged Gabriel one last time. He was surprised that he could feel the warmth of her touch as she wrapped her arms tight around him. The heat buried deep into his core, strengthening him. He opened his eyes as the angel Gabriel began to speak.

“Cathy Diane Yost-Miser, Saint Peter awaits your arrival at the Gates of Heaven.” A light began to shine above the angel’s head. “To all who hear these words…”

Movement in Gabriel’s periphery drew his attention. When he looked down the hallway, he saw dozens of spirits standing, listening. Some were human, others supernatural. One appeared to be a child in tattered clothing. Another was clearly evil, looking like a smaller version of Abaddon. There were angels and demons mixed in with otherworldly spirits – all listening.

“…know that she has been a good and faithful servant. Cathy Diane Yost-Miser will be admitted into Heaven and will receive her just reward.”

At the end of the short speech, the angels, demons and spirits all returned to their business. Gabriel noticed the smile on Cathy’s face – her body’s face – grow larger, and then fade as Sean prayed and as the monitor in her room signaled a flatline. Gabriel smiled too, watching Cathy take Death’s hand once again, escorted by the angel Gabriel, and disappeared from the room. The lights returned to their natural glow as the sounds of the ICU came rushing back in.

Cathy was gone, but her contribution would never be forgotten. As Sean and Gabriel left the ICU to inform those in the waiting room that Cathy had passed, he glanced into the room where the child had been and found her standing on the foot of the bed of an elderly man. His face was contorted in a look of fear and pain not caused by the shackles cuffing his hand to the bedrail or caused by the corrections officer standing beside his bed.

Gabriel paused as Death entered the room. As he crossed the threshold, he changed from the old, gentle man who met Cathy to a large, fierce looking cross between the Grim Reaper and an executioner of old. In his hands he held a bloody axe. Already inside the room stood two large demons who reeked of sulfur and garbage. Neither paid Gabriel any mind as they tormented the man in the bed. After Death entered the room he turned to address Gabriel.

“This man will never repent of his sins. He is lost. Be on your way, Gabriel. His torment shall not weigh on your conscience.”

Death closed the spiritual door to the room and Gabriel was no longer able to see, hear, or smell anything but death. His stomach turned. He’d seen enough for one afternoon anyway.

At the end of the hall, Lucifer played catch with a little boy whose mother was in the ICU recovering from a car crash caused by an oxycodone overdose. Hers was the car Agares’ minions had used to kill Cathy. They had wanted to collect three souls, but the boy was unharmed in the accident despite his mom’s car rolling down a steep embankment after T-boning Cathy’s. When Lucifer arrived at the scene, Abaddon reported that the angel Saraqael held the boy and flew him from harm’s way when the car plunged over the embankment.

“Little boy, do you know Saraqael, the angel who saved you?” Lucifer’s voice was soft and sweet.

“Yes, sir. He visits me when I’m scared or when I’m in danger.” The little boy tossed the ball into Lucifer’s ungloved hands.

“Where is he now? Aren’t you in danger now?” Lucifer caressed the seams on the ball, spoke a word to it, and tossed it back gently.

“No.”

Lucifer laughed. “No! How do you know I’m not dangerous?” He looked up in time to see Death close the spiritual door to another follower’s room. He would need to collect that soul soon.

The boy looked back and forth from the ball to Lucifer. He cocked his head to the left and then whispered his own word into the ball before tossing it back. “Because my daddy says you’re only dangerous to bad people, and I’m not a bad person so you’re not dangerous to me.”

Lucifer caught the ball. It burned his hands and he dropped it. He looked into the room at the boy’s mother, still recovering from the overdose but otherwise uninjured in the crash. When he looked back at the ball and then at the boy, he realized he’d made another mistake. In his haste, he had allowed his army to pick a protected family. The price for that mistake would be high the next time he visited Heaven.

“And where is your daddy now, little one? Why isn’t he here with you and your mommy?” Lucifer’s tone turned ugly as his true hatred seeped out.

The boy looked at the ball as it sat on the floor, rocking from the inertia it held when dropped. He remembered the last words his daddy had told him before leaving for Afghanistan. “Daddy loves you.” He said. “And I will always protect you, no matter what.” He looked up just as the Archangel Michael and Saraqael arrived.

“He’s in heaven, mister, so his prayers don’t have as far to go as they used to.”

Lucifer backed through the wall and descended to the street as the angels drew their swords. He was surprised and a bit relieved when they didn’t pursue him. Though he was the smartest and most beautiful angel ever created, and he had millennia of combat against God’s army of soldiers, he was no match for two of his brothers – God’s elite archangels.

As he walked away from Saint Anne’s and headed towards the Ten Cities Church of the Nazarene, he summoned his legions. If God was sending half his archangels to Ten Cities, Lucifer needed to be ready.