Knockin' on Heaven's Door (Axl Rose)

21: Deals and Snapshots

I was falling upwards. It was a dream, but it also wasn't. I could feel things and see my limbs still, which never happened in dreams. I was falling through the clouds, up to the soft, golden pathways of Heaven. Oh, we're back here. I sighed, wondering why I'd been brought back instead of being banished to Hell. Obviously, the only reason why God couldn't have just spoken to me from where I was is because Axl, being a mortal, cannot see a Heavenly being. 

I crossed my arms, blinded by the light of Him. "Why have you brought me back here?" I asked. I wasn't playing dumb, I genuinely didn't understand his motives. 

"You have failed your mission badly. Though I needn't point that out to you. I'm curious, why do you think I've let you stay?"

"Because I'm happy there?" I offered. "You love me enough to let me stay?"

He looked at me blankly, as though my answer were the dumbest thing He'd ever heard. "You haven't made the situation hopeless. You've changed Axl a little bit, but not religiously. I'd say it's about time you were taken away from this."

"Then I'd like to make a deal with you." He wasn't the Devil. He would never make a deal with me, no matter who I was. But He made a gesture, signaling me to go on. I was surprised. "You give me one simple task to fulfil. If I can do it successfully, within two months, you let me stay on Earth forever." I desperately hoped that he would agree. "But, if I fail, you get to keep me here. You never let me see Axl again."

"One simple task?" He repeated. I nodded. "Very well then, I shall hold up this 'deal.'" He paused for a moment, thinking deeply. "If you can get Axl to read one verse from the Bible, and believe it, you can stay."

"One verse?" I shrugged. "That'll be easy."

"And believe it," God repeated slowly, making sure that I understood that detail in particular. "He must believe it for you to be able to stay. The last thing I need is for an angel to go galivanting around with some atheist bad boy."

"That's exactly what you sent me to do," I reminded him.

"I thought that you could get him to believe. Clearly, even a mission so simple as that is difficult for inexperienced, and I say this in the most respectful way possible, idiots." I looked away from Him, hurt by the fact that He could say something like that. What a fool I'd been, looking up to Him for all these years. 

"Are you going to send me back?" I asked, looking around me. I was starting to sink back through the ground, as though I was to heavy with sin for Heaven. 

"Of course. You may leave." God snapped His fingers, and I was sent back down to Earth. 

As soon as I was out of Heaven, I was right back to where I'd started. A little bit of time had passed now, and the Sun was coming up. I was still resting my head on Axl's shoulder, and it looked like I'd fallen asleep. It was almost as though my whole interaction with God was a dream. I slowly got out of Axl's bed, leaving his room to find my bible. In the kitchen, I found the junk drawer first. In there, there was a highlighter. I took the highlighter out and brought it to my room. In my dresser, under a few skirts, was a black book with a cross on it, reading Holy Bible. I took it out, flipping through the pages. I could find a verse. One simple verse. I stopped in the book of Mark, knowing that this was definitely the verse I needed. 

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours," I read aloud. I ran over it with the highlighter. This was not the first verse I'd done this to. Other verses that had stuck out to me when I'd first come here had been run over with the bright yellow ink, long forgotten now that I had Axl. I found a strip of fabric in the drawer from when Steven was cutting all of my clothes, and I tied it around the bible. It made a make-shift bow. This would make for a nice going-away present, I think. I'd give it to Axl as soon as he woke up. 

"What's this?" Axl asked, sticking his nose up at the book. "Why are you giving this to me?"

"Well," I started, not knowing how exactly to play this, "I thought since, y'know, I'm an angel, this might remind you of me when you're gone." My voice cracked a little at the end. Holy crap, I was going to miss him so much. Even if the tour was only for a month, we hadn't been apart since I'd gotten here. That was almost three months ago, now. 

"It's sweet, really." He put the book on the counter. "But I've got other means of remembering you."

"Like what?" I raised an eyebrow. Axl held up a polaroid camera. 

"I got a dress for you to try on. I figured I'd get someone to take our picture." As if on cue, there was a knock on the door. "He's a little early, I see." He pointed to his room. "There's a dress on the bed. Put it on."

I nodded, going to his room to do as he said. The dress reminded me of the one that Izzy had bought for me. The dress was a deep red with a strappy neckline, and the skirt barely covered my thighs. There was a large hole in the back under my bra, revealing skin for anyone who wanted to see, and leaving a perfect place for Axl to put his hand and make me start thinking inappropriate thoughts. There was also a pair of glittery black flats by his bed. I put those on as well, emerging from the room. 

A man with crazy black hair who looked a little wobbly on his feet stood in front of Axl. This man had a few inches on him as well, but he was still shorter than Duff for sure. "I'm Nikki," He introduced himself. He barely sounded sober.

"I'm Lucy," I said, holding out my hand for him to shake. He looked down at it, but he didn't take it. At this point though, that wasn't very strange to me at all. Nikki was already holding Axl's polaroid camera. 

"Where do you wanna take these pictures?" He asked. 

"On the hood of my car," Axl said, a small smile playing on his lips. 

After the photoshoot, Axl was looking through the polaroids. Some of them were just me sitting cross-legged on the hood of his car, and some of them were of him holding me while we looked at the camera. "I like that one," I said, pointing to one where I was sitting in his lap, giggling about some joke that he'd told me.

"Me too," Axl agreed, smiling. "I like this one." He held up one of just me. I was smiling with my tongue between my teeth, winking one eye. It was hard to believe that it had happened. It was actually natural though. The camera had gone off on accident. He handed me the one I said I liked. "You keep that one, and I'll keep this one." He grabbed the rest of the pictures, too. "Actually, I'll keep all of 'em." I laughed at his comment, and he smiled too. "You're very photogenic."

"Why thank you." I bowed playfully. "You aren't half bad looking yourself."

His smile disappeared. "I'm gonna miss you."

"I'm gonna miss you, too. Maybe I'll come out and surprise you," I foreshadowed my plans. 

"I sure hope so."