The Chronicles of Jo-kiel

EIGHT: Zadkiel

I watched as the cab drove away and disappeared out of sight before I let out a deep breath and went back in search of Gabriel. We had come to the mall with the intent of evangelizing as always, and that's when I saw her.

At first, I thought she just had a little accident and was frustrated with it, but when I heard the soft voice of the Spirit whisper to me to lead her out of there. I pieced everything together and immediately dragged her out. I let out another deep breath and cracked my knuckles. I wonder who those people were.

"Are the girls gone?" I looked up at the sound of Gabriel's voice, and I made to answer him when I saw the bucket of ice cream he was holding and I arched a brow. He immediately smiled sheepishly and tried to hide the bag behind him, "well, yeah. Ruth said she wanted the Ice cream"

I sucked my teeth and brushed past him when he was done talking. "Focus on what we came for, Gab." I muttered and glanced at my wristwatch, "we have only an hour left, and I'd rather we get the best of this one hour"

"I know, I know. I'll just keep this back where I bought it, I'll take it with me later" he said and rushed past me into the mall. I watched him disappear inside and slowly shook my
head as I walked in after him.

The mall as always was crowded. That's why it's our favorite spot to evangelize, there were a lot of people so it was easy to walk up to anyone to evangelize. There's also a certain vibe and happiness attached to the mall, making people receptive to whatever you have to tell them.

I walked over to a spot, leaned against the wall,
and began people-watching as I waited for Gabriel.

"Holy Spirit, please help me" I mumbled as I kept looking around for the first person to talk to. A few seconds later, I laid eyes on a man seated alone in a corner. His lips were set in a thin line and he looked so lost in his thoughts. I didn't want to disturb him, but I couldn't help the pressing urge I felt to go and preach to him.

I took a deep breath and pushed myself away from the wall I was leaning on, I'd come here to evangelize and that's exactly what I was going to do. I looked around for Gabriel to notify him that I was ready to start, but he was nowhere to be found and I wasn't about to delay because of him.

"God please, let the words I speak to him come directly from you. Do not let me speak out of my own mind" I breathed out and began walking toward the man when someone suddenly bumped into me.

A gasp left my lips at the sudden shove and the force propelled me back so much I nearly fell to the floor. "What on Earth!" I seethed and looked up at the culprit with a glare, but all that vanished when I saw the familiar face that was staring back at me.

My entire body immediately went still as I stared at the figure before me, "Franklin?" I whispered in disbelief and his eyes widened. He immediately drew back from me and it felt like I was drenched in a bucket of cold water, it was him.

He slowly put more distance between the both of us and looked around slowly. I could tell he was trying to create an opening to dash out, and I immediately made to hold him but he escaped my grasp and took off running. "Dang!" I breathed out and looked between the running boy and the man that I was meant to preach to, every part of my being screamed at me to go after Franklin but I couldn't risk neglecting the burden I felt towards the man.

"What's going on man?" I felt a hand on my shoulder and I immediately turned around to see Gabriel looking around with his brows scrunched up I let out a breath of relief.

"I'll tell you everything later, but for now, you see that man seated over there?" He followed my gaze and immediately nodded. "Go and talk to him. I'll be right back"  once he nodded, I gave him a slight pat on the shoulders and dashed off.

If there was anything I was confident about, it was my ability to run effortlessly. In a minute, I had successfully sniffed him out. Just like I guessed, he was still running but this time the distance between us could be covered in three strides, but I found myself deliberately slowing down. I wanted to stop him and get my answers, but a bigger part of me didn't want to know.

The Franklin I knew was dead. There's no way it's him. I slowly came to a halt and stared at his retreating figure. We all had seen him die. He took his last breath before us. There is no way he lived. But what if... I balled my fists at the thought and breathed out a laugh, what on Earth am I thinking now? A dead person is a dead person.

I stared at the path he was running at a while ago and there was no one there anymore, he had successfully gotten away. I took a deep breath and palmed my face, "this is crazy, if he lived, Yaweh would have let me know."  I exhaled loudly and shoved my hands inside my pocket. The enemy just used him to distract me. I turned on my heels to walk back to the mall and complete my work when I felt the crunch of a paper that wasn't there before and my brows immediately scrunched up.

I hesitantly brought out the paper and my frown deepened even more. "what...?" My hands instantly stilled as I connected the dots in my head. He deliberately bumped into me. I quickly opened up the paper and glanced through the content that was written. And at that moment, I wished I didn't.

My hands trembled lightly when I was done reading and the paper slipped out of my hand. One sentence. That was all it took to distort the thoughts in my head. A strong wind breezed past me all of a sudden and a painful chill ran down my spine.

I instantly rushed after the paper when I realized it was being carried away, and when I picked it back up, I found myself rereading what was written there. "Ask Gabriel what happened on March 14, 2020"

That was the day Franklin died and Gabriel was the first to inform us.