The Angel's Song

Angel's song

I wake up with the feeling of death clinging in the air. A constant pounding resonates throughout the room I was thrown in. The walls seem to be made of some kind of plaster that is solid, freshly slathered on a lumpy concrete surface.

This is no ordinary cell. It's a test, I can tell because there are no iron shackles on my feet to keep me from escaping. They are challenging my will to live, as if I will ever get free.

The small room is cramped, even more so than my last residence. A hole in the floor not even a foot away from my weak incapacitated legs. A metal door slides back and forth, closing the hole at an irregular pace like a trumpet valve. At the other end of the tiny room is thick glass window.

A window? Its been forever since I have seen one of those, and it probably means trouble. I carefully slide my body towards the window in a drunken crab-like walk. The rooms floor is dangerously slanted in a funnel shape pointing to the closing and opening hole.

I realize that I am not the first to be in here, inside the hole are dozens of amputated hands, feet, and I can even see an eye peeking behind someones toes. The sight is utterly disgusting, and the smell is indescribable. On top of this ugly mess is a key lying in the palm of a tiny hand.

Those sick people, how can they call themselves human?! Bile sloshes in my stomach as I struggle to stay on my feet. My heart thumps in my chest as I realize how close I just came to falling in the pit. I slowly scoot closer to the window, suddenly noticing the sharp noises leaking through the thick plaster-like floor and ceiling. Screeching, crying, terrible noises surround me echoing off the walls.

This place is made of pure misery. I can even hear the pounding of the trap door of other cells, none closing at the same time. There is no door or hatch visible in this room at all, only a key hole. Even a camera peaks out from one of the corners of the room. They want to watch us die, they are probably popping popcorn waiting for the show of death to begin.

Through all this noise, I hear a faint lullaby. Gruesome, yet calming. I turn my head to the small window and see a small girl singing in a corner of a room identical to mine. She looks like a little angel in her dirty white dress, arms wrapped protectively around her knees. Her limp strawberry-blonde hair frames her heart-shaped face. Tears stain her cheeks and her bright green eyes are puffy from crying. Even though her hair covers most of her face, I can see her lips moving.

There is still life in this world of agony.

Yet my heart beats with the screams.

There is still light in this dark place,

Just you wait, we'll find what this means.

My soul shall take flight,

There is always a light in a dark place.

Never lose hope, for our home is near.

Unless I die here tonight.

For me to reach inside for a key,

Maybe one of my sisters are free.

I hear their chains, I yearn for a voice,

But I only hear them scream.

My soul shall take flight,

There is always a light in a dark place.

Never loose hope, for our home is near.

Unless I die here tonight.

The song is beautiful, and the words are ghastly, yet sweet and melodic. I cry out the song as loud as my dry throat can muster. Our voices grow into a sweet harmony echoing in the rooms. I sing the song with her until my head begins to grow dizzy. I hadn't noticed that most of the screaming and crying from neighboring prisoners had stopped, a couple had even begun to sing along as we repeatedly sang the little Angel's song over and over. The sheer beauty and volume grew as each tortured soul sang along.

The girl's angelic voice resonates through the walls and apparently to other prisoners cells of torture. I sit and listen to the beautiful sound that was the hundreds of prisoners singing. Hope fills my heart, something that I hadn't felt in a long time. I take a deep breath and sing along with the sound of their voices leading each beautiful beat of my heart. I usually hated the sound, but the empty hole in my chest opened up and swallowed every word. We sang for hours, singing it again and again, over and over.

Thousands of voices singing together, almost as if we were trying to chase away the darkness with our voices. The girl seemed to finally notice everyone singing with her and looked up. Her green eyes shine and she smiles weakly at me through the thick glass. Her thin and pale arms unwrap themselves from her knees and she looks up at me. The little girls face is so hollowed out that she looks skeletal in her loose white dress. She looks like she has given up, like the mission God sent her on earth for is over. She flooded the prisoners hearts with hope. Fellow prisoners continue to sing in the background.

My eyes widen as she slowly closes her eyes, her body slumps forward the hole in the middle of her cell. My scream pierces the melodic air as she tumbles down the deadly hole. Pound on the glass hoping to wake her up beforehand is too late. I cover my eyes as I hear the crunch of her bones being crushed in the sliding door. I open my eyes and see blood splattered against the window, blocking me from seeing what was left of the little angel. I cry till I grow faint and my head rests weakly against the window sill. I sit and listen to the Angel's song as prisoners continue to sing. They finally won, and I also tumble down the hole.