The Archangels

Prologue

The universe throws curveballs to anyone who seems to be having a good streak for a period of time longer than a month. So when Val seemed to be having a seemingly perfect two years, he would constantly be looking up at the heavens and wonder when the other shoe would drop. He had just accepted a job to work for a major construction company that controls construction of thousands of properties across the country. His new boss had hand picked him between ten other candidates to manage a percentage of the builds. His new wife, Giselle, was working as a waitress at a diner she co-owns with her childhood best friend and between both jobs, the cash flow into their new home was pretty extensive.

In the small town of Serenata, everyone knew everyone and it was very hard to keep a big secret such as a pregnancy from all of your neighbors. It was only an hour after leaving the clinic that Giselle and Val were already receiving good graces from almost everyone across town. And even though she was only seven weeks pregnant, she couldn't help but be completely excited for her future child. She worked up until her water broke in the middle of the diner floor and a random neighbor had taken her to the emergency room in his truck. Val was following closely behind.

Their first child had been born. A beautiful baby girl with black hair just like her father and light brown eyes like her mother. A tiny Adelina was thrusted out into a world full of possibilities and bright colors. As he held his sleeping girl in his arms, he looked up at the heavens and thanked God for such a perfect life and, once again, wondered when the other shoe was going to drop. It seemed like it would never drop. For two years the shoe has been dangling in the air waiting for the perfect time to hit the ground and shatter this new family's storybook life. At night he prayed for health, for love, for happiness, and for the shoe to stay in the air a little while longer so he can enjoy it a little bit more.

On one breezy, beautiful, perfect Sunday morning that shoe had finally dropped.

Giselle had fainted in their kitchen while making breakfast. Val rushed her to the emergency room and for the next forty eight hours, they would both receive news that would burn their storybook life to ashes and nothing would ever seem perfect anymore. Giselle had been diagnosed with stage four breast cancer and had already spread to her other organs including her brain. Val would overhear doctors say that the scans lit up like morbid Christmas trees and that no matter what they did, she was going to die... soon. After multiple discussions, Giselle had somehow talked Val into letting her live her last few months at home instead of in hospitals with drugs pumping into her veins that would inevitably kill her even if it were slower than the cancer itself. And that's what they did. Val slowly watched his wife wither away as he took over all the care for their daughter who was full of life and completely unaware of her surroundings.

By the time Adelina was nine months old, Giselle had died in her sleep and Val wanted nothing more than to drown his sorrows in whiskey and possibly drive his car into a pole. But he had a daughter to take care of. A living, breathing daughter that needed him.

As more months went by, Val had lost his job and the diner was no longer making enough money to stay above ground without Giselle's beautiful smile hosting dozens of guests who only ate there to see her. Val was still drowning in hospital bills, mortgage payments, and car payments as all his remaining money went straight into taking care of Adelina. As the town was preparing for a famous business owner to take a tour for a possible business venture, Val was preparing his daughter for another trip to the cemetery on Giselle's birthday.

Val put a fresh bouquet of sunflowers in front of Giselle's tombstone as he let out a heavy sigh. It's a chilly Sunday morning, the grey clouds haven't let up for a few days now and everyone is waiting for the rain to finally come down. Adelina is two years old now. She kneels next to her father, her hair in pigtails with a bow at the end of each braid. She's wearing a blue dress today, she wanted to look good for her mom. Val starts telling Giselle another story about Adelina and her new interest in collecting receipts. He smiles thinking of the wooden box under her bed overflowing with receipts. Adelina moves closer to her dad as she sees a very tall man in a black suit walk toward them. She tugs on her dads sleeve. Val turns to face Adelina but soon looks at the man making his way toward them.