She was sick, so sick. So hot she lay down on the tile floor, burning up, through the floor, down to the core. She was forged anew in the spinning ball of molten iron. Forged in sweat and fire.
She asked for a sign and opened her eyes. A rainbow spread like heaven across the walls. They carried her down the hall and she shivered on the icy sheet. She may have been awake, or she may have been dreaming. Unearthly light splashed around the edges of her sight, solidifying.
She felt the fever-sweat on the back of her neck and decided she was awake. The glow shifted and formed a shape. As she struggled to push away the blankets and sit up, the shape turned into a fan. No, it was a hand, a child’s hand, a flutter of white lace at the wrist. It curled inward, not quite a fist, beckoning. Angel lace, hidden face. She wanted to touch the tiny fingers, but was too weak to reach.
Ghosts of late seemed benevolent, a benign presence. She felt an urgency emanating from this angel though, as if it needed to impart something she ought to know. She could know, she could follow… but the blankets weighed her down like snow.
Something rang, a bell pealing in the night, swirling a silvered brush through the blackness. The sound vibrated clear and high: it was silver and twelve and the music of the spheres. In this one moment, everything became clear. Twelve was the answer, what was the question? Never mind.
Still the ringing jingled until it became snow, crystal flakes falling on her face, melting, mingling with sweat and tears. Flakes fell onto the angel’s lace, twelve-sided flakes merging with the pure white lace.
Everything disappeared. The bell stilled, lace and hand dissolved into the dark. A surge of energy flowed and sparked, and in one motion she sat up and threw off the covers. Slid out of bed, fears fed, limbs trembling, gaze searching, for what she knew not. She felt herself shaking, weak and cold, as the melted snow absorbed the heat from her skin, and the world began all over again.
(11/4/2014)
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This piece is from Going Dark, my second short story and poetry collection. If you enjoyed “Angel,” please consider purchasing the book. Thank you. 🙂
