Saving Grace

The Gates of Heaven

          Angel 5177 stood by the gates and counted carefully the children passing through it, marking the names off on her clipboard. Gate duty was always busy, but she felt it a special privilege to gather children instead of adults. Children always made Angel feel like singing. When she looked up from her clipboard, she spotted a lone little girl on the edges of the field space in front of the golden Gates of Heaven, she sets down her clipboard and walks over.





          "Lianna, you are still hanging on to life, why don't you come with me through the Gates?" she asked. Lianna looks at her then back down and points.


         The child could not be much more than eight years old. Angel looked to where Lianna was pointing and the haze parted for her and allowed her to see into a hospital room. Lianna's mortal body lay lifeless on the hospital bed. In the room was a youth about sixteen or so with tousled blonde hair and tired weary eyes wet with tears as he cried out for his sister. There was also a man there who put his hand on the boy and led him out of the room. Lianna's face crumples, showing her obvious distress.





         "Oh, Miss Angel, David has no one to look out for him now. I cannot leave him, I have to go back, please let me go back." She began to cry softly, her tears turning into mist before they were halfway to the ground.





         Angel looked  at the boy, whose shadow was so long and dark, then sighed. Such souls were condemned and he should have a Guardian Angel helping him. It was clear Lianna wasn't going to move, so Angel had to do something.





         "Lianna, if I go to check on David, will you walk with me beyond the Gate? He is calling you to Him."





         Lianna nods her assent and slides her hand into Angel's and they walk beyond the Gate together. On the other side, Lianna has family waiting for her that was eager to welcome one more of their own. Turning away from the humans, Angel ponders how to get to Earth.  She is not learned enough to go there unescorted, but she had a promise to fulfill. As she walks outside the Gates, she looks at Lianna's folder. She had an exemplary record, but then again she was still a child. Looking further she was able to grasp David's. His was more duly noted. He lost his parents at a young age, leaving him and Lianna in custody of his father's brother, Liam. David and Liam do not get along, but David had behaved because of his desire to be a good example to Lianna. He has had several Guardian angels, and he seemed to be losing his way, hence the dark shadows. His soul was in danger, and with his sister gone, David has no one else he trusts. Something needed to be done, she didn't see a current Guardian angel assigned, which meant they were reviewing applicants. Angel couldn't wait for them, the image of the pleading girl's eyes called to her. Angel walked towards the mist, holding in her mind the image of David. Again, the haze parted and she focused on a busy street. There were many people and they all seemed to look the same. She homed in on David, it looked as though Earth had gone through three of its days. The youth trudged along the street, bumping people without an apology as he moved along. With this image moving, she reaches for David.