The Angel of Death

I sighed as I fell back onto my bed, staring up at the dark ceiling. I had delivered the rest of the souls to my dad, but somehow I couldn’t give him Holly’s soul. I wanted to take it up to Heaven so it could stay with my mom, actually. She wasn’t a bad person. She never hurt anyone. She was just confused, tortured by the world he kept working so hard to corrupt.

It wasn’t fair, but I knew he would never listen to me if I tried to explain it.

“You have something for him.” The girl’s form faded into view a few feet away, but I turned away so I wouldn’t have to look at her. She didn’t seem to notice. “He will be unhappy when he finds out you have kept it from him.”

“Go away, Fear,” I said bitterly, tears still threatening to emerge from my eyes. “I don’t want to hear it.”

“That does not mean it is untrue.”

“So? I don’t care,” I shot back, halfway sitting up just long enough to catch her eye before I lay down again. “Leave me alone.” Really, I did care, but only because of the idea that my dad would get angry and try to hurt me again.

“You are lucky,” she continued, acting like she hadn’t even heard me. “Ray doesn’t suspect a thing.”

“Don’t bring him into this,” I said, trying not to grit my teeth in anger. I’d always hated Ray. He was my father’s perfect servant, constantly trying to impress him. It made me sick.

“I could easily tell them both,” Fear said with a smile reminiscent of my dad’s. “Then what would you do?”

“How many times do I have to tell you to leave?”

A shout echoing down the hallway caught my attention. It sort of sounded like my dad, so I went to go see what he wanted. It was darker everywhere outside my room, and I couldn’t exactly see what was going on. It looked like he was talking to someone.

“We’re similar that way,” said my dad.

“You’re wrong,” the other person replied. “I’m nothing like you. I’m not evil.”

“We’re more alike than you may think,” my dad answered. “We think alike, if you’ve not already noticed. We also speak the same.” I had to agree; they sounded almost exactly the same. Still, I could tell when my dad was talking; he never sounded afraid.

“That’s not true,” the other man snapped.

“Ah, but it is. Our language is nearly matched.” My dad turned and walked away from him, passing through a line of light stretching across the room. I had never noticed it before. It was really pale white and extremely thin. “There is one major difference between us, however.”

“And what, dare I ask, might that be?” the man asked. My dad snapped his fingers, and flames appeared on either side of the long hallway. A huge crowd of people had appeared behind him.

“The difference between you and I, Gerard,” my dad said with an evil smirk, “is that I created the Black Parade.” My eyes widened. The person he was talking to was named Gerard too? “And yet…as intelligent as you are…I can’t believe you haven’t figured it out yet.”

Now I was just as confused as…well, Gerard. “Figured out…what?” he asked.

“That we are one and the same.”

Gerard’s eyes widened a little, but they quickly closed as he fell to the ground. My dad continued smirking as he turned towards me.

“Death, take him to your mother,” he said quietly. I ran over, looking back and forth between them. Gerard looked a lot like my dad had when I’d first seen him; his hair was longer and completely black.

“Dad, what’s going on?” I asked. He motioned to the man.

“Do as I say.”

I sighed and picked him up. He weighed more than I thought, and I hoped I would be able to get all the way back to Heaven with him. I took off carefully, and as I flew up through the stone ceiling hidden by clouds, I heard my dad laugh, a deep, resonant sound that made me shiver.

I lay him down on the floor as soon as I passed through the clouds and collapsed next to him moments later. I couldn’t slow my breathing at all; the second half of the trip had been more difficult than I had anticipated. I was really happy when my mom came running into the room.

“Angel, what happened? Are you alright?” she asked, kneeling next to me and helping me sit up. I shook my head. I felt kinda dizzy.

“Dad was talking to him and scared him…and he’s really heavy.”

She made sure I was okay, then turned her attention to him. “I can’t believe this…”

“Believe what?” I asked. She shook her head and picked me up.

“It doesn’t matter for right now. He’ll be alright by tomorrow. It’s time for bed.” I pouted a little. I didn’t want to go to sleep. I wanted to talk to Gerard and find out what else my dad had said to him. It didn’t matter, though; by the time we got to my room, I was already asleep.
-
The next morning, I went to see if Gerard had woken up yet. He didn’t do anything, so I nudged his shoulder. “Hey, wake up.”

He murmured something, but nothing else.

“Hey mom! I think he’s awake!” I called. She walked over and knelt next to him, tilting his chin back and pouring some water down his throat.

“There, that should help,” she said with a smile. He finally opened his eyes and looked up at her. She smiled. “Better?”

“Nn…who…wh-”

“Don’t try to talk just yet,” she told him. “You need to rest.”

He sat up anyway and held one hand against his forehead. “What happened?” he mumbled.

“It’s difficult to explain,” my mom said, her face falling a little. “I’m not too surprised you fainted, though. I mean, he did go a little far.”

“What are you talking about?” Gerard asked.

“My daddy likes to scare people,” I told him, smiling. “He’s good at it too.”

“Your…dad?” he whispered. His eyes widened. “But that means-”

“Mikey!” I ran over to Mikey as he walked into the room. Maybe he could tell me whatever my mom didn’t want to.

“Oh my God,” Mikey said in shock. “…er, sorry.” I tried not to laugh.

“Mikey?”

“What are you doing here?!” Mikey yelled at him. “You know you’re not allowed within this realm!”

“Michael, stop it,” my mom said firmly. She stood and helped Gerard get to his feet. “It’s alright.”

I poked Mikey’s leg to get his attention. “Are you going to help me with my flying today?” I asked. He knelt down and looked straight at me. “Not right now, but soon. Tell you what; why don’t you go practice, and I’ll meet you out there, okay?” Mikey said quietly. I nodded and ran out of the room.

“Be careful, Angel,” I heard my mom say. I didn’t need to practice, though. I could already fly okay. I waited outside the room and listened to them talk.

“Why is he here?” Mikey asked. He sounded really mean.

“Gee went a little overboard,” my mom answered, sighing. “He scared poor Gerard here so badly that…well, let’s just say he couldn’t handle it.”

“I don’t know, wouldn’t you be freaked if you found out that you were- or…you in the…future…uh…what?” Gerard said. I laughed a little. It was funny hearing him be confused.

“Don’t put too much thought into it, Gerard. I’ll speak to him about it.” My eyes widened. I didn’t think she could talk to my dad. Either she was lying, or she just never wanted to before.

“So… Who are you?” Gerard asked.

“I’m God.”

I glanced around the corner just enough to see his reaction. “You’re…”

“Yes, I know,” she said, interrupting him. “Not what you had in mind, was I?”

“No!” Gerard exclaimed. “I just-”

“It’s fine,” she answered, laughing a little. “I’m used to it. But enough about me. Are you alright?”

“What do you mean? Except for…this…I feel fine,” he answered, pointing to a spot in the middle of his chest. It looked like he had been hurt.

“I’m afraid I can only take away the pain…” My mom put a hand over the injury. It didn’t look like anything happened, but he stopped cringing whenever he moved. “…But not remove the source.”

“…Thank you,” he said slowly. “But…what is it, exactly?”

“He didn’t tell you?!” she nearly yelled. “He’s so frustrating sometimes!”

“You should probably calm down,” Mikey said with a shaky voice. “You don’t want to cause another earthquake down there…”

“Right, right,” she said, taking a deep breath. “Sorry.”

Gerard looked scared. “…What happened?”

“You were shot, Gerard,” Mikey said. It sounded really mean when he said it. “Back home in Jersey. I don’t know how you could forget that.”

“You know exactly how,” my mom snapped. “No one can remember dying unless they committed suicide. You know that better than anyone, Michael.”

“Dead?” Gerard asked, whispering. “I’m…dead?”

“You’ve been dead,” Mikey said flatly. “In fact, I can’t believe you didn’t realize it s-”

“THAT IS ENOUGH!!” I stepped back a little. I had never heard my mom yell at him like that. “I will not have you insult him for one more second! Leave immediately!”

“But-”

“Not one more word. Leave.” I reminded myself never to make her that mad. It was almost scary. “Go teach my son how to fly until I can deal with you.” Mikey sighed quietly and floated over to where I was supposed to be flying.

“Why aren’t you practicing?” he asked me, acting like nothing was wrong.

I smiled. “I don’t have to. I’m really good at it already.”

“Oh, is that so?” he asked, spreading his wings and flying high into the sky. I tried to follow him, but I couldn’t get very far. It was annoying, going from having full sized wings to ones small enough for a bat.

He helped me for a few minutes, but I got bored really fast. I landed and made my wings disappear, hiding behind the wall to listen to what my mom and Gerard were saying.

“Look…I don’t want any part of this. I never did. Is there any way I can just leave?”

“Humans are all the same,” she muttered. “They think Heaven’s supposed to be perfect and I’m supposed to fix all their problems. If there’s one thing I won’t do, it’s make everyone else’s lives better. Don’t think you’re going to get out of this just because I love you. You’re not off any easier than anyone else as far as I’m concerned.” I was more than a little surprised to hear her say she loved him. He wasn’t my dad, but they were a lot alike…

“What are you talking about?” he finally asked.

“You need to make a choice. Heaven or Hell. There is no other option.”

“I already tried to make a choice,” Gerard answered. “But I was told it wasn’t the best one, and then I was brought here. I have no control over what’s happening to me every minute of the day. I don’t want to go to Heaven or Hell. I want to be done with this.”

“Angel, don’t go in there,” Mikey whispered, suddenly right behind me. I shook my head and walked closer to the doorway.

“Look, I can’t do this for you. I-”

“Mommy! Mommy!” I shouted, hoping things wouldn’t get any worse between her and Gerard. “I can take off from the cloud now! Wanna see?!”

“I tried to stop him, really I-”

“Oh, shut up Michael. That’s wonderful, Angel,” my mom said, sounding happy. “Let’s see.”

“Okay!”

I made my wings appear and bent my knees, then jumped as high as I could and started flapping them. I was already tired, though, so I started falling just a few seconds later. I crashed into the floor headfirst. I got to my feet, shaking my head a little.

“Okay…so it’s not perfect yet. It’s easier outside though,” I said, smiling a little.

“I’m sure you’ll get it soon.” She smiled and picked me up, spinning in a circle. I laughed and made my wings disappear so she could spin me even faster. Just before I started getting dizzy, she stopped spinning and hugged me.

“Can I go visit Dad today?” I asked.

She sighed. “Well, alright.” She pointed at Gerard. “Why don’t you take him with you?”

“Okay! That’ll be fun!” I squirmed out of her arms, landing on my feet, then ran over to Gerard and grabbed his hand. I started running really fast. My mom called after me and told me to be careful again. It was easier once we got outside. I made my wings appear, taking a few more giant steps just before leaping into the air over the edge of the cloud.

Maybe this time I could figure out what was going on.