Everyone dies. It is the most basic fact of life. Unless of course you have some form of immortality. However, growing up I had no such thing. The only thing I understood from a very young age is that I was dying. It was not in the completely traditional sense that everyone is dying, but it seems an impossible thing to understand when you are young sort of way. However, in the very real the doctors say I will not live this long sort of way. It all started when I was about five years old. Like, most children my first day of school was met with both excitement and apprehension. I went to class and found that I rather enjoyed the whole experience. A chance to met other children and I do believe my teacher Mrs. Adams was the most wonderful person in the whole wide world. In the few short weeks that I attended though, I found myself getting more and more tired. One day I just sort of blacked out in the middle of art class. The art supplies scattered across the floor as I landed face down in yellow paint.
The doctors came after that so many doctors. So many theories were put out there. Until finally it was decided that I had a rare sort of genetic disease, you know one of those that are so rare that people are surprised to even learn it exists. They told my parents the best they could do was make me comfortable. I would have ten years if I were lucky, although five seemed much more likely. My body would just slowly give out. I didn’t really understand what this meant. I just understood that it meant a lot of crying and the end of my time in Mrs. Adams class. I really missed that class.
It was for the next ten years of my life. I spent my time at my parent’s house. They tried to keep me indoors as much as possible. A clean environment would mean less chance of infection, which could kill me. Therefore, I spent so much time in my room.
The steady stream of doctors came and went. My parents sold whatever they could. They borrowed money to pay for the best doctors in the world. This was how I met Dr. Michael Rosewell. Michael was known to be one of the best doctors in his field. His reputation was only trumped by the man’s massive ego and that was saying a lot. However, he made it his personal mission to save me. Somehow, his treatments did just that. He brought me back from the verge of death and I made it past my fifteenth year of life. It was the so-called expiration date on my existence.
The bills continued to pile up and Michael wasn’t a cheap man. So, he made me a deal. When I turned sixteen, he asked me to marry him. He claimed that in the course of the last year together he had fallen in love with me. He agreed to continue treating me for free until I died and promised to pay off whatever other medical expenses my parents had occurred. The last thing I wanted was my parents to be in debt for me. I didn’t want to leave them with that when I finally pasted. Because, despite his best efforts it was clear I was still going to die. I agreed. It was in part to help my parents and in part to have some degree of a normal life. Plus, I owed him. Not to mention the fact that he was decent to me. He was my only friend.
I married Michel and he did his best to take care of me. I moved to his massive estate and he brought in the best equipment money could buy to keep me alive. He doted on me. However, I was still very much alone. He had his practice and it keep him busy. That was until I met Gabriel. Gabriel was an angel. And yes, I mean angel as in sit on a cloud all day and sing angel. Although, he informs me that isn’t actually what angels do. It just happens to be the best reference I can think of. I found this to be a rather funny fact considering that my husband was a fallen angel. One who had broken some decree of god and was cast out. I never understood it and Michael was not one to talk about it. Although, I suspect it has something to do with that massive ego of his. Isn’t pride some soft of sin?
It had been snowing that day and I found myself staring out of the window. When something caught my eye and standing just below was the most beautiful man I had ever seen. He seemed lost in his own thoughts as the flakes fell around him sticking to his hair. I called down to him and he looked up at me. I knew at that moment that I was lost. I realized that I had found some missing piece of myself. It happened that after that he keep showing up. Time and time again. We would stand hours talking about nothing. Michael and Gabriel never met, but they did have many heated discussions over the phone. Michael wanted to keep me in a box. In addition, Gabriel believed that I should be allowed to do what I wanted with the last days of my life.
Gabriel also tried to save me. He used his powers to help to prolong my life and between the two of them, I lived six years longer than the best-case scenario. I was 21 years old when I died. My time with Gabriel had made me fall in love with him. While, it was true I loved Michael in my own way. I loved Gabriel in a different way. Although, they both did whatever they could to save me I was fading fast. They say some part of you knows when the end is near. It was that way for me at least. I had been so weak for so long I realized that I was not going to last much longer. I asked Gabriel to take me to the yard. I wanted to spend the last moments of my life outside. Gabriel, who had never been able to tell me no pushed me outside. I sat on the porch listening to the sounds of the birds chirp around me. My body was slowly beginning to feel heavier and heavier. My eyes began to drift shut, as even breathing became a chore. I must have tumbled off the chair at some point. I could hear the sound of Gabriel calling my name repeatedly. There was a sort of desperation in his voice. I knew not where it came from. I was beyond anything at that moment. I only knew that I wished I could heal the pain in his voice. I wanted to reach out and tell him it was all right.
The last thing I remember was Gabriel standing over me as the last ounce of strength left my body. He was begging me to do something. Gabriel had decided to try one last thing in order to save me. He gave me his blood. There is power in blood. Gabriel could heal some things but not all. Perhaps, he thought his angel blood would have properties that would help. Maybe he thought it was the purest source of his gifts or maybe it was just the last thing he could think of to do. I took the offered hand and took a drink the blood tasting strange in my mouth. However, the power surged through me and my body convulsed. The strangest sensation overtook me as I felt as if I was flying. I can only imagine it was like being high. The blood moved through my body spreading warmth and strength to me. Wings sprouted from my back as I was beginning to be transformed into something else. I could see the shocked look on Gabriel’s face. A look that said both that he hadn’t expected it would work and that he hoped it would.
However, at that moment a bolt of lightning would come crashing in-between the two of us sending us spiraling apart from one another. The pain that followed was like nothing I had ever felt before. It felt like I was dying and in some ways I was. I collapsed the last ounce of my strength gone as the world went black.
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