Writing

NB: Just a short little story I did recently, to show that there is still good around. Be kind to others.

Also, for those that recognise it, there’s a TV reference to a 90’s show in there as well 😉

It was late night as Sariel sat atop the hill in Auckland over looking the stars. She generally enjoyed the quiet time that this time brought. Even for a large city, it was peaceful. She gazed up at the clear Summer sky. The stars seemed equally peaceful as their light flickered down on her. The wings on her back shimmered in the pale moonlight of the half moon above. She could sit here all the time; just watching the sky. A tingle in the back of her neck made her aware of another Angel approaching. The sensation was warm, and familiar. She smiled as she turned her head to see Raphael slowly float down to the grass.

“It’s a nice night,” He said as he landed a few steps away and came up behind her. His wings pulled from their stretched out position to pull around his shoulders.

“It is,” Sariel responded, still smiling, “I like this time of day,”

“It certainly is quiet without the human noise that usually drowns out the area,”

“You just don’t see the good in them, brother,” She told him as he folded his arms across his broad chest, and tucking his elbows under the part of his wings that had wrapped around him.

“Is there still some?” Raphael asked, “The seem to take no interest in anything except themselves most of the time. They kill each other in the name of Father, who even now only sees the best them, despite how they put him down,” He continued on as if he was speaking about a problem that needed to be fixed, “Sometimes I think Father should start over. Admit the mistake, and begin anew,”

“That would deny their free will, and ability to choose,” Sariel declared standing up for the humans as she had done many times before to her brothers and sister Angels, “He sees the good they can be,”

“Like you do?” Raphael asked, a small grin appearing on his face as he almost laughed about it.
Sariel stood up, and brushed the dirt from her jeans.

“You’re not wearing your robes again,” Raphael told her, noticing her attire as she stood.

“I prefer my jeans,” She replied, “They seem more… human, which is fitting seeing as we’re supposed to fit in and watch over them,”

Raphael shook his head disapprovingly.

“You’re changing the subject though,” She said still smiling, “They can be good. You just have to see it, or want to see it. If you only look for the bad, then you will only see the bad, Raphael. You need to have hope, that they will find their way,”

“I’m tired, Sariel,” He replied without even the hint of a smile, “The humans don’t seem to be be able to find anything worth fighting for, worth living for. They kill themselves over these petty issues, and for what, Sariel? Land? Money? Nothing they have done in the last two thousand years has helped any of it.

“Look hard, brother,” Sariel told him, “You’ll see eventually,”

“I’ve tried, Sariel,” He replied, “I don’t have the same patience as Father,”

“Follow me,”
Sariel smiled, and spread her wings wide. She lifted from the ground, and glided into the air. Raphael followed, even though he wasn’t sure what she was showing him. They dipped and weaved as the air currents around that time of day fluttered past them. It wasn’t long before they were gliding down, and Raphael recognised it as Australia. They landed on the roof of a hospital, and faded through the wall in front of them down a couple of floors below, before entering a room with a patient looking weak and sickly lying on the bed. He was dying. A young brunette woman held his hand, a warmth radiated from her face even though she wasn’t smiling. The man’s hand began to drop in hers slowly, and she pulled her other hand up to hold his in both.

“What am I supposed to see?” Raphael asked.
“Compassion,” Sariel said, “The woman is a nurse that finished her shift 3 hours ago, but she wanted to stay so the man wasn’t alone. Through her choice of will, she is staying to see someone through their final moments so they aren’t by themselves,”

Raphael shrugged gently, “Perhaps there are some that can show that. But the world shows otherwise, Sariel. Compassion is a rare thing,”

“Perhaps, but if you look carefully you will see that they all have it,” She told him as the man in the bed across from them began to fade away, “Most don’t know what to do with it, but it’s there,”

Sariel levitated herself and began to float through the ceiling of the hospital. Raphael followed.

They flew. Further this time, to a battlefield across in Afghanistan. They floated down, and landed near to an American military patrol that was out surveying the area.

“Why did you bring me here, Sariel?” Raphael asked as a man on a small cart drove towards them, and past through Raphael.

“To show you,”

“To show me how destructive they can be?”

“No, Just watch,”
Raphael turned to watch the squad of marines exit their Humvee, weapons at the ready, as they pulled up behind another vehicle of the same type. A young man wearing the same uniform exited the building, and signaled with a hand wave for them to lower their weapons. They seemed to follow the order, and the guns were brought down to point at the ground. The man stepped forward again toward his own Humvee. Behind him were three children, the youngest of which was gripping his hand tightly. He didn’t seem to mind. The man knelt down next to the children and asked them something in what appeared to be Farsi. The children nodded, and Raphael saw one of them look around before pointing and screaming something. Raphael sometimes wished his Father had inbed Angels with the ability for multiple languages, but he also knew that most of the Human languages evolved on their own since their creation so it wasn’t possible.

The kids screamed. They ran towards a man and woman across the road, and the soldier walked up behind them. He leaned on the butt of his weapon as he spoke to the couple, and smiled.

Sariel turned to her brother, “There are many like this who choose compassion over anything else. You just need to look and see it, Brother,” She told him, “If I were to show you every one, we would be here for a lifetime. But if a soldier can show compassion to someone he’s been told is an enemy, then anyone can bring that compassion out of themselves at any time. Have faith in them, Brother. They will find their way eventually. Keep hope alive. They have,”

Raphael tilted his head slightly at the sight of the soldier, “Perhaps, Sariel, perhaps,” He replied, “But perhaps you also have too much hope in them as well,”

He spread his wings, and Sariel followed as they began to float into the air.

“Perhaps, Brother,” She said as they flew up to the sky beside him, “But in the end, Raphael. Hope, is all we have”