Chapter Four
“No
matter how far wrong you’ve gone, you can always turn
around.”
—Anonymous
Caj
“Well?” Michael asked impatiently.
Michael
had never been known for his
patience.
Caj
didn’t want to immediately
start on the wrong foot with the ancient angel, so he spoke up and
rather quickly, “It has been forever since my sentencing, Michael.
I wish to make a plea for angel status to garner my
wings.”
Michael
clasped his hands behind his
back and walked back and forth as if he were in deep thought. He
then paused his pacing and turned to stare at him. “Your original
punishment was because you tried to take away what the Maker had
given you. Life.”
“I know I was spared and that the work I do now was my penance.” Caj paused
and gave a deep sigh. “But … I feel I have done more than my share,
Michael. I’ve seen more than my share of the burden of others’
pain.”
“We all carry
part of the burden, Caj.” The older angel glanced heavenward then
back to Caj.
“Perhaps
you can talk to Him for me. To see if I earned my wings.” Caj tried
to keep the bit of desperation out of his voice.
It
seemed however that he wasn’t
successful in hiding that desperation as the elder laughed. The
sound reverberated across the hilltop with its power. “He already
knows what you want, has always known. If you talk to him right
now, the result will be the same. His will. You must understand,
Caj, that you needed to learn a lesson. It is not your right to
take away what He has formed.”
“I know this now,” Caj replied. “I also fully understand why some of the humans
must leave before their time. This world is not for them anymore.
That the Maker has something else planned for
them.”
A
big boom sounded as it echoed from
all around them.
All three of them
knelt immediately.
The Maker had
come.
Caj had
his eyes to the ground, as he
was sure Mercy and Michael did.
“Come forward,
Caj and Mercy.”
Caj only dared to
glance up when his name was said. He squinted at the bright light
before him.
Ethereal
being was all that came to mind when Caj looked at the Maker. He’d never seen him
before this. He wasn’t even sure how many others had with the
exception of Michael and the high angels.
Caj took
Mercy’s hand as she came up
to him and he walked with her. They both kept their eyes downcast
and stopped just short of the Maker.
“This all started because of the love you two share
with one another and then the
death of Mercy.” The Maker’s form looked toward
Caj.
Caj found that he
couldn’t look this being straight in the eyes as it just felt too
daunting.
“You blamed me for Mercy’s death. I wanted you to realize that death happens
and there is some other plan in the works. Your death wasn’t part
of that plan.” The being paused.
Caj took
it as a sign that he was
supposed to speak. “You are right. I was very angry with you. Yet,
until this moment, until the death of Mina, I had not fully
realized that things happen for a reason. I mean I tell the dying
there is a reason for their passing and perhaps a chance to do it
again. Only, I never really fully believed it.”
“Your love for
her never dissipated, through all this time.” The Maker turned his
gaze toward Mercy. “Little one, your love for him has never
wavered, either. You never once complained, and your compassion and
love for everyone are well known.”
“He was
the love of my life then and he is now,” Mercy stated
firmly.
Caj
heard the conviction in her
soft voice, and he smiled. He gave her hand another
squeeze.
“You’re not telling me anything I don’t already know,” the Maker chided softly.
All-knowing and fathomless eyes stared back at
them.
Once again, Caj was
on edge, as he didn’t know what would happen. He could only hope he
would be blessed to be with Mercy.
“Do you remember what you said to
Mina?”
“My
Maker, I mean no disrespect … but I said a lot of things to
Mina.”
The
Maker laughed. “Let me refresh your memory. You said to her
that this life isn’t for you and
perhaps the Maker has another life for you to
experience.”
“Yes,
now I remember. She was scared, and I’d heard that it was possible
to have a new life if you willed it for us. I wanted her to feel at
ease.”
“My dear, dear boy. There are so many lives one can have.” The Maker smiled
again and watched them both.
Caj
found himself wondering what
the Maker was telling him. “Maker, please no more suspense. I know
it’s bold of me to ask this, but I can’t take it.” The words were
out before he could stop them, and he tensed.
The Maker’s form
seemed to glow even brighter. “A new life for you and Mercy. You’ve
both done extremely well in what I needed to have done.”
Caj
heard Mercy cry out, and he
looked over to see tears running down her cheeks.
“Oh,
thank you, thank you!” Mercy exclaimed.
“Don’t thank me so soon. You both will sleep and then you will have to find
one another in your new life.”
“My Maker, we are
willing to do whatever we have to,” Caj said
quickly.
“Starting over means you will be human.” The Maker came even closer to where they
stood.
Caj
felt himself tremble in His
presence. “Will we know each other?” He held on to Mercy’s hand as
tightly as he could.
“You will both be born and go through
life, and I can assure you that you
will find one another again. The heart knows what it wants. Are you
prepared for this and willing to sacrifice what you have
now?”
“Yes!” Mercy and
Caj both said at the same time, and they laughed.
“Can we say
goodbye?” Caj asked.
“Yes … you can,
and then it will be done.”
Caj
turned Mercy in his arms. “A
new beginning for us,” he spoke softly, pressing his forehead to
hers as he wrapped his arms around her.
“Yes.”
Mercy stood on her tiptoes and kissed him hard on the lips. Then
she pulled her head back. “Remember me…”
“I could never forget you.” He pressed his lips against hers.
“I’ll never forget you,” Mercy said.
A
heaviness came over Caj as he pulled
Mercy down with him to his knees while still holding on to her.
“It’s happening.”
“I can feel it,
Caj.”
“I love you, Mercy.”
“I love you, Caj
… my sin-eater.”
Caj held
on until Mercy closed her
eyes, and then he did the same, holding her tight until his last
breath.