Heaven and Earth

Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

Two years later.

“Who is he Michael, and why does he look so sad?” Asked the angel curiously.

The archangel waved his hand and the image vanished instantly replying, “He is your first case.”

The smaller angel stepped back, shocked. How could the Father have given her a case on Earth? Why she knew so little of it, and the others were always talking about the evil that lurked down there! What could she have done to displease the Father so much that he should send her to such an awful place?

Having seen the various expressions of fear and concern flit across his young charge’s face, he was quick to step forward and reassure the child. Putting a strong hand on the smaller angel’s tiny shoulder, he wondered to himself what the Father had planned for her. Surely she was too young to experience all that she would encounter on Earth. Many older and wiser angels had been lost to the temptations set forth by the devil on Earth, and this one was so young and vulnerable. Immediately clearing his thoughts and concerns for her welfare so she wouldn’t tune into them, Michael smiled. She was very intuitive and sensitive to others’ feelings for her age and upbringing and he didn’t need her anymore upset that she already was. Michael then cleared his throat, more to catch his charge’s attention than anything.

“Lia, you needn’t worry, the Father only sends those to Earth that have earned the right. So you must feel honored. He never intended for this to be a punishment for you. Instead he feels that since you have done such a wonderful job caring for those that are chosen to come here from Earth to adjust, that you deserve a change. He thinks that you’ll be better able to empathize with those who pass on to this world from the last if you have actually experienced the former. Now this is what your case entails…”

"Ben! Phone!” Ben’s mother called from the bottom of the stairs. Ben took one last glance at his English paper that had been plaguing him for the past week, gave a sigh, and rushed down the stairs to answer the phone.

“Who is it, Mom?” Ben asked as he came down the stairs to take the receiver from his impatient mother.

“It’s Jim, I think.” At Ben’s nod she gave up the receiver and with one last look that Ben couldn’t quite discern she took her leave to the kitchen and back to a waiting casserole.

“Yeah?” Ben said into the receiver.

“Hey Ben! What are you don’ tonight?” asked Jim anxiously.

“I don’t know why?” Replied Ben, hesitant to give a definite answer.

“Well, I’m going to the club tonight, and I wondered if you wanted to join me for a couple of beers.”

“Sure, why not?” Ben replied without enthusiasm. He really didn’t want to go out, but it beat staying home all night, and seeing his mother look at him with that haunting look all night.

“Great, I’ll pick ya up in a half hour!” The phone clicked in Ben’s ear, and as he hung up the phone he wondered just exactly what he was in for tonight. It had been a long time since he’d done the clubs.

     As he walked up the stairs to his room he grew to dread the evening ahead. As he was getting dressed, Ben happened to look over at a picture that had been haunting his dreams day and night for the past year. The picture was of a laughing couple holding onto each other. The girl was looking directly into the camera with a bright smile and eyes full of life and mischief, completely unaware of the look of complete love and adoration given to her by her boyfriend. It was the last picture Ben had of Cayla. Looking at it now he was again transported back to that day at the county fair. They had been dating three months at the time neither having a clue what was to take place nine months later. She was so full of life and playfulness that Ben couldn’t help but smile at the memory. She had lost all of her money trying to win a giant yellow stuffed bear for her collections, and had asked Ben if he’d try and win it for her. He knew he’d never forget her glee as he handed her the giant bear that she’d been trying to win all day. Shaking his head, trying to clear it and the emotions that each memory brought back. What’s the use remembering, he asked himself, she’s dead and she’s never coming back and it’s all my fault. At that instant a car horn blared from Ben’s driveway, slinging him back to reality from his melancholy thoughts. As Ben walked down the stairs to meet Jim he yelled to his mother, “I’m going out for awhile. I don’t know when I’ll be back. It depends on Jim.”