*Short headsup, there will be POV (point of view) switches in this chapter so pay attention!*
APRIL 2015 – LONDON
As I was looking through my physics homework I suddenly heard some noises downstairs. "He's upstairs. Something wrong?" I heard my mother ask. I frowned and stood up to walk to my door right when it barged open.
"You fool! You stupid, stupid fool!"
"What's up Gabe? Hey mate, something wrong?" I asked. He seemed quite shaken, and I had no idea if he had been talking to me or himself when he came in.
"Something wrong? Something wrong?! Oh my... My... DEAR FATHER. I just remembered everything. The way you left, the change back home, the division you created... You changed everything, don't you understand? You dived, and we did too... We followed you. Because we thought you were a LEADER! BECAUSE WE BELIEVED IN YOU!"
I took a step back and frowned at him. "Father? You met your father? Or you found him?" I took another step back and sat in my chair. "And I changed what? Gabe? You're.. scaring me mate. What are you talking about?" I laughed nervously. "Why are you freaking out like this?"
"THIS! This is what I'm talking about. This is what I'm freaking out about." He reached into his pocket and I cringed involuntarily, because for a moment I had been certain he was grabbing for a gun. He seemed mental enough for something like that right now. Wait, why was I thinking something like that? It was Gabe, and mental or not he wouldn't be able to hurt anything bigger than a fly. Instead of a gun he – luckily – took out something else. It was a purple velvet bag. I looked at it and my eyes went wide. Something about that bag, or maybe what was in it, triggered.. Something in my mind in a way I didn't like.
A certain kind of power was radiating from it, and I suddenly heard a very high pitched tone in my ears, searing itself in my brain. I yelled out and fell to my knees, hands clasping my ears. "No... No, you're lying! You're wrong! You're all wrong!" I yelled to no one in particular. The tone became louder. It seemed like I was in a crowded room and everyone was whispering all around me. Suddenly my bedroom started to shake. "Wrong, all wrong! I am not the bad guy here, I am..." the sound of my voice was drowned out by Gabe's melancholic laughter, and somewhere in my mind I vaguely wondered why my mum wasn't coming in to check on us. My glass of water that had been standing on my desk fell on the floor and broke, some books fell out of my closet and my unmade bed was creaking because of how much it swayed.
"Deny the voices all you want brother, I know you can hear them. They're there, and they're telling you the truth. You can't deny your memories! I can see it in your eyes. You know. You remember!" I stayed on my knees, quivering, shaking my head while I looked down.
"No.. No! I am not important in any way, I don't change things, and I am not evil! I am Luke! Just Luke.." I was practically sobbing right now, but that seemed to freak Gabe out even more.
"You are! Face it! You are our leader, the one we gave everything for. And what did we get in return? Huh?!" I didn't react in any way.
"You don't even have enough responsibility to make your own fucking bed! Why you of all people? Why me? Why now? Why this life? And my parents, my fucking good for nothing parents who put me in this life.. Finding them would be useless now, because they didn't put me on this Earth! Not really. Obviously my soul was already here, wasn't it? Ready to get back in another body, ready for another life, just because you made me leave my home. You made me..."
He was gasping for air and I wanted to say something, but Gabe wasn't finished yet.
"We are never going to be allowed back in!" He cried out. "But I will be. I will go back in there and they will see me as a hero because I am the one who is going to lead them to Lucifer, to the head of this useless rebellion!"
Then he stormed out. I wanted to yell after him, I really did, but I couldn't. All I could do was stay on the floor gazing at the door where Gabe had just stormed out. Or should I call him Gabriel? My brother, who fell for me, fell with me... And I let him down. I let all of them down. The rebellion he had spoken about was not even there, because I had simply been too lousy to remember. I closed my eyes.
"I am Lucifer. I am the devil they told me about in horror stories. I am... I got cast out by God," I said. Hearing it didn't make it much better. It made it even weirder. What the fuck, one part of my mind thought. Is this real? I gulped. Yes, another part thought. You know it is.
"Oh no, Father, why do you do this to me? Why hurt me so? I thought it was a dream but I... I actually remember falling, falling from heaven.. From my home, away from my brothers and sisters, all because I jumped before thinking. Oh dearest Father, why are thou so cruel?" I opened my eyes again and took a deep breath. I couldn't deny it any longer. I remembered.
Immediately as that thought had gone trough my mind something flashed before my eyes.
In Mexico, a bus driver who was giving the right directions to a misguided tourist suddenly gasped and clutched his chest. "Wat is er?" I heard the tourist ask him. "Voelt u zich wel goed? Iemand, help! Help alstublieft, hij is onwel! Help!" The bus driver looked back at the tourist. "No no, don't worry, don't worry. I am okay. I.. I just remembered..," the bus driver smiled wide. Yes. He remembered.
Somewhere in Germany in a small bakery at the corner of the street, a baker dropped the bread he just made and his eyes went wide. He remembered.
At the studio, in the middle of a take, a couple of people suddenly gasped and looked at each other.
At a homeless shelter, a man eating his soup suddenly...
At a primary school..
In the hospital...
In jail...
***
GABE
I ran out of Luke's home. The home that had always been so welcoming to me when I didn't want to be home alone. The home of my best friend, who had supported me through all of my misery. Who wanted to help me the best he could. He wasn't who I believed he was. Heck, I was not the same as I had once believed I was. I was an angel who fell from heaven, just because I thought Lucifer could make a change. Yeah, and see where that had gotten me! This whole time I had lived a lie. Lived the lie of a pathetic mortal. Pathetic, because he never felt that he belonged anywhere, because he felt like he needed to find his parents in order to find himself, because he had been clinging on to that tiny bit of hope oh so desperately...
I had to get back home, my real home. Back to heaven. The only problem was that heaven wouldn't let me in anymore. After you had jumped there was no way back, unless you had something to help them with. I knew where Lucifer was, but they probably wouldn't believe me if I told them. Therefore... I needed to bring someone else who knew Luke. Who could vouch for my honesty.
When I walked away from Luke's house, I saw someone cycling towards me. It was Jessica.
Jessica... She knew Luke. She could help me to get access to heaven. She only needed to come with me without knowing the reason.
"Hi Gabe! How are you doing today? Are you here to see Luke? If you want you can hang out with us?"
"Hi Jessica," I said awkwardly. How could I get her to come with me?
"Yeah, I'm going to Luke," I said slowly. Then an idea hit me. "He just texted me saying that he isn't at home, but he would come to my place as soon as possible. If you want to you can come with me and wait for him?"
"Yeah sure, thanks Gabe." She laughed. "I've never been to your place though, so lead the way." I nodded. Of course she hadn't been. Why would she? My place was so small, it surprised me she bought my lie. Then again, she had never seen exactly how small it was, so... I should stop overthinking every single thing I did. Dear God.
While we walked, Jessica talked about all kinds of stuff, and I actually found to enjoy her company. When we arrived she didn't blink or say anything nasty about my appartment, though I had always been pretty insecure about it. I didn't want to take her with me... But if she wouldn't go out of her own will, I would have to take her by force. I had to, no matter how nice she was. She was my only way back. I had to.
When we were in our living room, I took the rosary from the bag and I activated it, making a giant white sphere appear in mid-air.
The portal was working, just like I knew it would.
Jessica jumped backwards, but kept watching the portal with interest. "What is that?"
I needed to get Jessica with me, but I didn't want to drag her with me without her consent. I couldn't do that to her. What would even happen to a human in heaven? There has never been a human in heaven who was alive when they got there. Or maybe I could go alone and try to persuade Father to let me back in to heaven without her after all? I made a bad choice, but everyone deserved a second chance, right? I nodded. I would have to try this without her; it was too dangerous to take her with me.
"It's my way to my family. I am going home."
Jessica gasped. "You found your family?"
I didn't respond and walked towards the portal, but of course I tripped over my shoelace. I held onto Jessica for balance, but this unexpected movement caused both of us to fall right through the portal.
Well shit.
***
LUKE
I wasn't sure how long the flashes went on. All I knew was that all of those people I had seen, were fallen angels, like Gabe. All of them were fallen angels who followed me, beings who chose me over god, who believed living on Earth as normal human beings would be better than staying in heaven, where everything was just so wrong. Because something had been wrong and I had wanted to help. I just couldn't remember exactly what it was, but I assumed that would come to me later when I'd need to know.
I also realized that my remembering had triggered the fallen angels somehow to remember it too, and that they'd try and find me now. They'd have to.
The doorbell rang and I almost had a heart attack. They're here already.
Can angels even get a heart attack? my mind wondered as I splashed some cold water in my face. Of course they can't you dumbo, I thought. We already died enough times, we don't have to die again. Where would we go, heaven number two? A small smile crept to my lips as I was holding some wet tissues underneath my eyes to reduce the swelling my pathetic sobbing had caused. God, human emotions were horrible. There were still a few tears coming. Why wasn't there a turn off button for those?
"I'm sorry Luke but I couldn't stop her from getting up here and I just..." I suddenly heard my mother say. Mary, I mused to myself. How ironic that they put my soul in the womb of a woman named Mary.
"I demand to know where Gabe is," Amy stated. "And I think you're the only one who-.." the rest of the words got stuck in her throat when she looked at me.
"It's you."
"Yes Amitiel. It is me," I said and I swallowed. "It is me." Amy shook her head.
"No, no it can't be, it's not supposed to be you. It's supposed to be Gabe because he..."
"Gabriel left with the portal a short while ago. The shock of touching the device brought his memory back before mine had returned. He changed the pattern."
"The pattern?"
"What are you guys talking about?" my mum suddenly intervened. I couldn't help but smile a bit. Humans. Never understood anything even if it was happening right in front of them.
"It's nothing mum, just a school play we have to discuss. We'll talk in my room," I told Amitiel. She nodded and followed me, both of us leaving my mother alone and confused in the bathroom.
"So, let me get this straight," she said after I explained everything. "You're saying you jumped from heaven, then somehow went back in time and got forced to live life after life here on Earth."
"That is correct," I nodded.
"You don't remember exactly why you jumped," she continued.
"That is correct too."
"And you say that now Gabriel somehow changed the... Pattern." She looked at me and I nodded. "And he changed this pattern you were talking about," she continued, "simply because he took the portal from my locker and therefore suddenly remembered everything before he was supposed to, and then he came here and forced you to remember everything too before you were supposed to, but you have no idea what that means?"
"I suppose you could say he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time which led to him finding your device," I said and I couldn't help but have a small smile appear on my lips again. Typical for Gabe. Gabriel, I corrected myself. Gabe doesn't exist. Or he does, he's just not Gabe because he never was Gabe. Although he also is. I frowned. This was giving me a headache.
"And you're telling me I'm supposed to believe all of this bullshit?"
"What?" I blinked.
"Don't be a fool Lucifer," Amitiel sneered. "I know all about you and your rebellion. You did make quite a story of it though, I must give you that, but I don't believe any of it."
I just stared at her. She was the only other angel I had actually told everything, and she didn't believe me. "But Amitiel, aren't you supposed to know when someone lies? Can't you tell that I am telling you the truth?" Amy hesitated for a moment.
"I can see you're not completely lying indeed, but that would be expected. Even you wouldn't be as stupid as to lie straight to the angel of honesty." She shrugged. "Since Gabriel stole the portal I think he will be going back to heaven soon and send other angels to come and get you. All I have to do now is make sure you stay right where you are."
I shook my head in awe. Was she really that shallow? Could she really mean what she said? And Gabe, I knew he said something about going back and leading them to me, but for what? To stop a rebellion that didn't even exist? Yes, he had been quite mental when he came here.. I looked at the broken glass on the floor. But that didn't mean he would sell me out, right? We had been best friends for so long.. As humans nevertheless, but still. I shook my head and decided to go for a run. Maybe that would clear my head for a bit.
"Where are you going?" Amitiel said when I got up.
"I gotta clear my head. You can come if you want." She frowned at me and crossed her arms, looking annoyed. I took off my shirt and searched for my running gear. Where had I put it again? I went running pretty often but since I kept forgetting to put it in the laundry I bought a second and third set so I wouldn't run out of clothes before my mom had washed them. "Ah, there it is," I said and I started to unbutton my pants.
"What are you doing?" Amitiel said, seemingly even more annoyed than before.
"I'm changing, can't you see? You could turn around if you want." I laughed when she actually turned around. "Really? Humans got such a grip on you that you already feel embarrassed by the human anatomy now?"
"Just hurry up," she snapped. I frowned and the seriousness of the situation dawned on me again. Yeah, I really needed that run to clear my head. Hopefully she would be able to keep up with my speed. I glanced at Amitiel's human body. She looked quite frail, but I figured she would be stronger than she looked, being an angel in disguise and all. I shook my head. There were more important matters I had to wrap my head around. "You all done?" she asked and turned back around again. I nodded and walked down the stairs, realising this might be one of the last times I'd actually be in my room.
I swallowed as I went into the kitchen. "See you mom, I'm going out for a run." I looked at her kind face and took it all in, forcing myself to memorise every detail.
"Alright dear," she smiled at me. "Take care. I'll be home when you get back if you want to talk." I nodded. She knew me well, and had already figured out there was something more going on than a mere school play Amy and I had been talking about. Though she probably thought I had a fight with Gabe about something petty.. I frowned and went for the door.
"Oh, see you Luke!" my sister said just before I went outside. "Mom, dad just called, he's going to be home at six."
"Alright thank..."
That was all I heard before I actually was outside and slammed the door close. My feet quickly found a steady rhythm as I made my way to the woods close by. Breathing in the fresh air I thought about what had happened and almost tripped a bit when I realised this might've actually been the last time I had seen my human family of this life. I hunched my shoulders and ran a little bit faster, panting softly. That would be a problem for another time. First, I'd have to try and find a way to ditch her. I glanced sideways and saw Amitiel running just a step behind me, seeming to have no trouble keeping up. I knew these woods. Maybe I could lose her...
I let out a small gasp as I looked in front of me again and saw two other beings on the path before me. Shit. I was already too late.
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[A/N]
The story is unraveling now... Only a few more chapters to go! Comment to let us know what you think, and don't forget to vote if you liked this chapter! (:
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