Angels Cry Too

Based on the artwork below from one of my best friends.

 

The room was dark as Oriel sat in the corner with only the faded light of her halo giving away that someone was there. Her face buried into her knees as tears fell down her cheeks. She didn’t know how to feel. What to do. She wondered as she wept how her closest friend, Tabris, could deal with so much hurt coming from the Earth below. Her contact with humans had been longer than Oriel’s.

Perhaps she had detached herself from the feelings, Oriel wondered as she attempted to pull herself together. Her pristine white wings wrapped around her forming a comforting blanket. The warmth of the feathers always made her feel comfort, even in her darkest days.

A tingle at the back of her neck made her realise that one of her family was near. She couldn’t tell who it was, but she sat up attempting to wipe her eyes before they found her. Standing, Oriel caught a glimpse of her eyes in the reflected glass of the window. They were reddened. Behind the glass sat the city of heaven glistening in the rays of light from the tower… or at least a city as she pictured it. One of the first things you learn as an angel, is that heaven appears as the person desires. Where some see cities, others see farmland, or grassy meadows, whichever they desire. It was created that way for the humans, her fathers beloved creation, and it was for them that she wept.

For their hurt. For their sorrows. For their pain.

She could feel it all.

Oriel didn’t know how to stop it.

So she wept when she was alone.

A voice called through her head, Oriel. Are you there? May I enter? The voice asked politely and she recognised it as Tabris. She knew that Tabris would be able to feel her tears. It was one of her gifts. She always knew, but she said nothing.

Oriel blinked away the tears, and smiled. As she did so her halo glowed brighter. She accepted Tabris request and a female looking figure in white walked through the closed door illusion that Oriel was seeing. Tabris didn’t see a door of course, as far as she knew they were standing in a green field. That was how she saw heaven. Oriel never knew why it was, and she never asked. That was for Tabris alone to know. All they could see was each other, not their creation.

“So, is there another job to do?” Oriel asked, showing a smile despite the sadness she felt inside and tried to push down.

“There is,” Said Tabris, “A young girl. Her name is, Samantha. Age 10, and the office feels that she needs a little push to her destiny,”

“Which is?” Oriel asked questioningly.”

“Classified. They wouldn’t even tell me,” Her friend replied.

“Well, I’m not sure how I’m supposed to nudge her without that information.”

“I’m sure you’ll do fine,” Tabris smiled and walked away back through the door.

“So, just help a girls destiny with no knowledge,” Oriel muttered to herself, “Sounds easy,”

She shrugged. The form of her heavenly body faded out and Oriel found herself on Earth. Auckland, New Zealand, to be exact. She knew the place from another visit so long ago. It had changed since then. She felt more sadness come over her and pushed it away.

Oriel closed her eyes, and felt for the energy from her charge, attempting to find her. A happy buzz came through her, that she wasn’t expecting. Oriel unfurled her wings, and flew to her. Coming to land near Sam, she saw a happy child playing in the park with toy soldiers. A woman sat on a bench nearby with one eye on her, and one eye on a paper.

Oriel was uncertain. This didn’t feel like a child that was unhappy, nor a child that needed any sort of push to anything. Oriel watched as a boy came up and attempted to take one of the toys. Sam stood to confront him, and Oriel expected violence, or her mother to come forward. Instead she said the boy could play as long as he let his little brother play as well. The older boy turned to see his brother sitting in the sawdust of the playground. He was crying. The older boy passed the toy back, and left to help his sibling.

Feeling surprised, and wanting to know more, Oriel closed her eyes and focused. Her form solidified into a similar age young girl, and she walked over to Sam.

“Could I play with you?” She asked the girl who held out the action figure the boy had tried to take. She accepted, and the two began to play. After a few moments, Oriel spoke up, “That boy tried to take your toys, why did you say he could play?”

The girl paused, and then in a soft voice said, “Just before he had stood up for his brother when others took the toys from them. There didn’t need to be more hurt. We just want to play. So I let them,”

“That is very sweet of you,” Oriel said to the girl.

“It is not hard,” said the girl, “It just helps people not be sad,”

“You have a lot of compassion for others.

“I just want to help people, “Sam told her and something inside Oriel warmed. She knew this girl was going to be alright without her guidance, but she also knew why she was here. Tabris had felt her tears. She had sent her to see this young girl on purpose.

Oriel said to Sam that she had to go, the young girl politely waved and said goodbye as Oriel walked away. When she was sure no one was close, Oriel spread her wings and ascended to heaven. She smiled as she went.

Tabris smiled when Oriel entered the small cottage that was part of her personal heaven.

“I see that you can smile again,” She told her friend.

Oriel nodded, “And I assume you did that on purpose,”

Tabris’s smile was all the confirmation that Oriel needed.

“I know how you feel around the humans sometimes, Oriel,” Tabris began keeping the smile on her face as she sat down in an old chair, “But there are special ones out there. You take on too much sometimes, and sometimes you need a reminder,”

“Thank you,” Oriel told her and smiled.

“Remember, Oriel, “ Tabris told her, “It’s ok to be sad sometimes. Angels cry too,”