Copyright © 2017 by Breanna Sloan and Stefany Lopez

All rights restricted. No  part of this publication  maybe reproduce, distributed or  transmitted in any forms or by any means, including photocopying, reporting or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

As I fell through the window of the second floor, I saw a face. A face that I recognized all too well. That face was once the epitome of all things light and brought me only pure bliss but seeing it now fills me with hatred. A hatred so deep that my blood turns to fire and my stomach grows knotted. For he was the one who put me in this situation, that conniving bastard. How could he murder my only child?

The one that I cared about most in this world, gone. And along with him went the love that once radiated off me leaving behind only a shell of what I once was. The life was suctioned out of me leaving behind only bitter darkness and a deep loathing for Nate. I hate him. I hate him even more than I hate my father. That’s what I should be thinking. But deep in my heart I know that I’ll never truly hate him, for he wasn’t the one who plunged the knife far into Jonathan’s tiny beating heart… I’m disgusted to confess that a crime so heinous was committed by the one who should have been his savior, his role model, his protector… As I stare into the mirror at the monster before me, I crave only one thing.

Death.

Reminiscing can be one of two things; it can warm your heart with jovial memories or fill you with sorrow and regrets all beginning in what if? Seeing Jonathan’s room again brought on a flood of dreadful memories. But sitting on the bathroom sink rested a solution, an escape from the pitiful part I was forced to portray in the play we call life. That heavenly bottle glistened with midday’s light beaming in through the blinds.

In my short lifetime, pain and misery are the only feelings I’ve come to know. Will I even be missed if I down the entire bottle? My biggest fear was once oblivion but now the only fear eating away at my soul is myself. The nightmares… I’m a monster.

Blood. So much blood.

This is no life for me anymore. Every night, I sit in the inkiness of this room and think why? Why am I even alive after I’ve sinned to this extent?

There is no one in my life to live for anymore. The bottle was in my grasp, so close to my lips, but I stopped. If I’m going to die, why not make it inevitable so I can’t change my mind if fear clouds my thoughts?

Tears weld in my eyes as I stand on the balcony and ease myself over the safety bars. My two hands clench the intricate details of the railing as I peer down at the long drop. I thought that was it. No more suffering, no more grieving, no more tears. But an angelic voice rang throughout my ears as my body went numb. And through the dark passageway leading onto my balcony, I saw his chiseled face.

Oh, the irony. In that moment, he was the light within the abyss. But as the saying goes, even angels can be evil.

 “This world is so beautiful,” I stare out at the city lights in awe. “Everything but me.” When I see Nate coming into my home through a distorted reflection of the window pane, all of the pain and sorrow vanishes from me. For less than a second, we make eye contact and I feel the shine beaming from him, the shine that the world harnesses.

“Meredith, wh-what are you doing?” There he stands, his silhouette slowly becoming visible to daylight once he steps onto the balcony. Midnight hair. Piercing green eyes. The eyes of a man I once adored.

He walked a few footsteps closer with caution. Nate threw his hands up in a surrendering motion. “Mere, please come down. We can talk about this,” he pleads as his tear ducts fill with water.

I feel my balance shift slightly as the wind blows my hair fiercely. I inhale one of my final whiffs pf oxygen. Ever so slowly, I release my grip on the bars and let gravity take its course. “I’m sorry, Nathan,” I choke out as I follow the wet droplets falling to the place that would lead me to peace.

“Meredith no!” The words I heard just before my panes of reality were shattered wholly. For on the balcony now stood no man, but a creature with glowing white wings and a great stance. As he flies towards me with impeccable speed, my head hits the concrete wall of the building before everything goes black.

When my eyes open once more, the room I’m in is engulfed in blackness. Yet a familiar scent gives me the answer I sought. The miasma of metal tells me I’m in Jonathan’s old room. It was a dream, I think instantly. That ended far too soon. This idea was instilled into me up until the moment Nate reveals himself in full glory from the darkest corner of Jonathan’s bedroom.

“What in the hell are you?!” I scream in horror. It’s real. I hadn’t been dreaming.

“Please don’t say anything yet. I couldn’t bear to see another one go, especially not you. I am what you humans refer to as an ‘angel’, sent by my commander. I have to explain something to you…” He paused for a moment to heave a reluctant sigh. “Your child was the antichrist. That is why you felt such deep hatred for him and wanted him gone. I’m sorry that you have to find out this way but I hope that this will help you overcome the guilt you’re feeling.”

For a while, I only sit tin silence as I’m utterly bewildered. Up until this moment, I blamed myself yet he was born this way.

Is it because I didn’t believe in God? Is this a vulgar, twisted punishment for not worshipping an unseen being? Nathan is an angel. Yet I’ve known him all my life. How didn’t I learn this sooner? All the sweet moments we’ve shared…were they even real? Did he implant artificial memories into my brain? Was it all a lie?

I loved Nate but I still married another. Up until a few moments ago, I felt disgusted with myself because I still regretted it even after he convinced me to kill Jonathan.

I don’t even know what this thing in my room is. I can’t even manage to form words for a long time. I can only stare at the stained sheets sitting in Jonathan’s crib contemplating my life thus far. My memories start coming back in floods. I don’t want to believe Nate. Hell, I don’t even want to believe that two wings are on his back and that he just so happened to come back into my life a week ago when I became widowed and convinced me to kill my own kin. But a flashback from the day Jonathan was born said otherwise.

After the doctors cleaned him and smacked his bottom, he didn’t cry. Oddly, Jonathan only laughed. They smacked him repeatedly but still, the baby would not cry. Only a menacing laugh escaped his tiny lips. They ran several tests and nothing was genetically wrong but he would not cry. At the time, I was too delighted to even notice the queerness of the whole ordeal and brushed it off, just like I brushed off the time that I came into his room and saw his little red rocking chair levitating. All that I could conjure was the theory that I was simply dreaming. I thought I could have even been hallucinating after endless nights of staying up with him. But what Nate just told me began to sink in just as reality hit me like a brick. As crazy as Nathan’s story sounded, the wings on his back supported his claim of at least a supernatural world existing.

“But how is this even possible? I mean I watch shows and movies about ghosts and angels but I can’t believe it’s all real!” I began frantically ranting as I always do.

Nate chuckled. “It’s not like the movies. It’s far more complex…” His voice faded as memories of the antichrist came back into his mind. “Meredith… There’s something I must tell you. Please don’t faint,” his eyes grew dark as his tone shifted to a more foreboding one.

I was completely oblivious to the fact that his next few words would completely change my life forever.

“What is it, Nathan?” The room grew dead silent. No longer did relief swarm over me but instead an impending feeling of dread sprout from my stomach. A flash of light quickly shot up into the dim room and in it was a clear globe that displayed distorted images of Jonathan. “It’s Jonathan… The antichrist…” I stutter as my heart nearly stammers out of my chest.

“Yes. He’s… Well, he’s not really dead.” A thick silence absorbs the room. How is that even possible? He stares at me with concentration and seems to read my every thought. With base in his voice he continues. “There is only one way to truly kill him. He was simply reincarnated once he left his body. But you were his first re-bringer. The next few things I’m going to say to you may sound insane or even downright cynical but I speak only truth. Listen carefully, there isn’t much time left.” I stare up in horror as Nate draws the curtains and alas turns on the lights.

“It is June third, year two-thousand and six. In just three days, the day of June sixth, year two-thousand and six will be upon us. On this day, the Antichrist will reach his full power and become nearly impossible to stop. As of right now, he is defenseless. To kill him, we must gather five items.

1. The holy grail

2. Ash of the cross

3. An angel’s feather

4. Blood of a first-born son

5. Blood of a virgin

       “With these five items, the Antichrist can die once and for all. All I need is your help,” he stares at me with big pleading eyes. I avert my gaze to the globe showing my child. The one who brought me pain and misery but still, my own kin. I have no idea what to do. “Do the right thing. He will bring the world great suffering and has the power to even annihilate the entire human race. He is not Jonathan. He is the antichrist.”