City of Angels

Chapter 1: My Existence

"All endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time." - Mitch Albom

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My life began at the end of another.

I say "my life" as I consider it vastly different from "my existence". I had already existed for millennia and would continue to exist for many more...

But I had only LIVED once. Existing is not living. To be alive and to truly live a life worthy of the very terminology was a treasure that could not be fathomed or named by mere mortal words or attempts at explanation.

To live is to open yourself up to the vastness of the entirety of the universe with and without fear. To live is to feel fear and yet be willing to open yourself up to the vastness of the eternal universe in which you are but a mere speck. To live is to be broken, and to be whole, all at the same time.

I did not know what it meant to live. I knew what it meant to die. It was the purpose that I served - to guide peacefully those who have come to the end of their tether. I am a messenger of the hereafter, and I retrieve those souls that have been summoned.

Humans often call me the Angel of Death, but I am simply named Becca. I linger in shadow, but never interfere. My job is not to interfere, not to take, not to make decisions of any sort. My job is merely to serve, to take a passing soul by the hand and guide them along peacefully.

I call them "passengers", as they are in transition between life and death, their souls being transported from one extreme to the next.

The great commanding voice of all sentient creatures merely whispers a name into my ear from total nothingness. And from that nothingness, an ending approaches; an ending that was once something. I do not question the summons. I only obey. It is all I know.

After all, the lifespan of a mortal is but a mere dot on the line of eternity. And when there are so many dots, how can just one make a difference or appear significant in any way?

And it was with this mindset that I once more visited upon earth, only to have the very meaning of everything change for me within the blink of an eye.