With only one more trial left to go through, Daniel calms himself for what’s to come. He doesn’t say anything despite how much his soul feels and is.
Azrael puts his hand on Daniel’s shoulder and says, “Be still, Daniel. You have nothing to worry about.”
“I know. I’m just a bit nervous.”
“If I had a wife like yours, I’d be nervous too.”
“Instead, the poor sap has me,” Cherub says.
“I think I’d like to marry now,” Azrael jokingly says.
“Do angels marry?”
“Not at all. Our lives are dedicated to each other, humanity, and God. It’s like Holy Orders.”
“All angels are like priests then.”
“And we have a similar structure to yours. There are many kinds of angels with their own special roles like how there are many kinds of humans with their roles.”
“And they all look different from you I assume?”
“Different?”
“They don’t have the same skeletal look that you do.”
“Oh, is that what I look like to you?”
“What you look like to me?”
“You can’t seem to comprehend my existence so you perceive me in a certain way. To be honest, not many humans tell me how I look when they’re here. I just wished they did. I’d like to know if I look welcoming.”
“You do. You have that coach driver look to you.”
“What do I look like?” Cherub says.
“You’re half a skull and a hat at the same time.”
“Hahaha. I do need a hat to go along with my outfit and you’re always hovering around my head and hands.”
“You might as well have drawn the word “tool” on my face,” Cherub says.
“Oh, we love you Cherub,” Azrael says as he hugs him.
“That’s right.”
“Don’t make me cry you too! That won’t happen.”
Their conversation has lasted them until they’ve reached Daniel’s final destination. It’s a flower store where Daniel first met his wife, Rosemary. He remembers getting his sick mother flowers at the time.
He also remembers his mother saying, “When I can’t take of you as well as before, you’ll find a wife who will,” before he left to get the flowers.
It seems like fate that he met his wife that day. Daniel remembers seeing Rosemary for the first time. It was as if the most beautiful rose came to life and was given human form. He confidently asked her out and eventually married her a year later.
Azrael wakes Daniel from his flashbacks, “Come on, Daniel. Your worst sin lies ahead.”
“R-right.”
Daniel’s second to last piece of luggage is handed to the store clerk. The clerk opens the luggage and takes out a rose. It’s the same rose that Daniel placed on the grave of his wife. His eyes concentrate on the rose as everything changes around him. Everything in the store is now dead and long decayed. There is nothing outside the store but the abyss as it sits on a single pillar. Daniel goes to where he found Rosemary and sees her the way he last left her. Dead.
She’s eyeless and naked. The only thing that covers her is her two twin-snakelike-twin headed children that come from her stomach. She never birthed her children because of Daniel.
“Rosemary…”
“Daniel.”
“Daddy,” The twins say.
“I’m so sorry Rosemary. I let my anger get the best of me and I couldn’t control myself and-”
“Do you still love me, Daniel?”
“I…Of course I do.”
“Then why did you do this to us?”
“We were arguing about something important. I don’t remember what it was. Everything is a blur in my head because of the emotions I felt that day.”
“No one ever found out I died. We didn’t even know we were going to get twins.”
“I buried your body in a flower garden in the forest not too far from our house. We always used to go there to relax together and unwind.”
“You told everyone that I was taken by some urban legend monster.”
“I told everyone that except for the priest at our church. I confessed my sin to him and he didn’t tell anyone, but I still did penance every day since I didn’t feel forgiven. It’s probably why I died. I overworked myself so I could be forgiven.”
Daniel falls to the ground and bows to his wife and twin children.
“Please forgive me for what I did! I can’t ask you enough!”
“Do you still love me, Daniel?”
“I do!”
“Do you love your children?”
“I do!”
“You dedicated the rest of your life to obtain forgiveness even when you had it. You did charity, helped people around, killed yourself so that people would be happier than you. You’re already forgiven if you haven’t realized it yet.”
Daniel weeps as his wife and children embrace him. The flowers in the store come to life as water rains down on it. The water also washes away the last of the sin on Daniel and makes his soul beautiful as it was meant to be. His wife and children let him go as they disappear and the store changes back to normal. Daniel exits the flower store a new man. He takes off the robe he was wearing to reveal an angelic-like body. Light shines on him and fills him with color. He also now sees Azrael and Cherub as their true angel form.
“Oh, boy Daniel do you have something to show off,” Azrael says.
“I’m sorry, do you have something to wear?”
“It’s right here.”
Azrael gives Daniel robes that a royal saint would wear.
“Now, you’re ready for Heaven,” Azrael says as he leads Daniel to the gates.
Chapter 7 – Born Again
Daniel ascends the ladder that connects Earth, Purgatory, and Heaven together. After that, he walks up a set of stairs until he’s finally at the Gates of Heaven where Azrael hands in Daniel’s last piece of luggage.
“What was in there?” Daniel asks.
“Every part of you is given to Heaven. We already gave away your sins. Now we have to give them your purity.”
“Ha, and the only thing pure about me was in one big bag?”
“It held the most valuable qualities of you, so it was worth more on its own. That’s not to say that Heaven didn’t want the rest of you including your nothing.”
“I guess this is where we say goodbye.”
“It is.”
“Don’t start crying like you always do. Because I might,” Cherub says with teary-eyes.
“I won’t, Cherub. I’m proud of what Daniel has done and…okay, I might cry.”
“Maybe I can see you when you carry another soul here.”
“Maybe. We’ll have more time together when sin has been erased from the world.”
“I wonder, can I see how my body is doing?”
“Sure, just look down from the clouds.”
Daniel looks down and it appears as if he just died.
“What?” Daniel says.
“We are outside space and time,” Azrael explains, “Things that happen up here could feel like a day while down there it’s like a year relatively speaking.”
“Oh, well I wish you luck on who you guard next,” Daniel says as he hugs Azrael.
His guardian angel hugs back, “Thank you, Daniel.”
Azrael and Cherub leave Daniel as the Gates of Heaven open for him. A crowd of saints and angels gathers to greet another soul. They are led by God Himself who welcomes Daniel into Heaven. His wife and twin children come out of the crowd and hug him. The crowd carries them to a banquet that is held for Daniel. All of Heaven celebrates the complete saving of a soul. A soul who thought that he was beyond saving because of his past, and yet, was saved.
The End
