Meeting an Angel

The man slowly opened his eyes. He lifted himself from the ground, and took in his surroundings. There was a distinct musty smell that only seemed to grow as time passed. Beyond the floor, nothing but darkness surrounded him.

"Where am I?"

Utterly bewildered, he began cautiously moving forward.

As he slowly stepped through the black thicket, a light arose to his right. The man quickly turned to see a mirror. He walked towards the glass. He didn't recognise his reflection.

The reflection was a short man with unkept brown hair. His eyes were a sharp green, and his brow was thick. The man began feeling his own features, only to reveal the mirrored stranger did the same. He felt his wide jaw, and his high cheekbones. His thin lips and his bulbous nose.

"Wh-Who am I?"

"Your name is James Laurie." replied a feminine voice.

Startled by the disembodied reply, James spun around to be greeted by nothing.

"You need to pay for your crimes." The voice stated with devine authority.

This caused James to spin around to the mirror, but his reflection isn't the one that appeared. In place of his reflection stood a beautiful woman. Her dark hair cascaded down her back, as shadowed wings took form behind her. She bore a garnet coloured blind fold, complete with a matching Victorian garb that was very generous to her figure.

"What crimes have I committed?" James nervously questioned the winged vision.

"Gaze into my glass, and the answer will soon appear."

As James stared at the angel, his eyes began to strain. Soon his eyes closed, and the pain stopped. James opened his eyes to reveal he was relocated. James felt in his mind that he'd been there before. He was sitting in a booth of a nearly empty coffee shop.

Sitting before him, he saw a young woman with feathery blonde hair and a sundress. She was smiling right at him.

"I'm sorry, but do I know you?" James asked the blue-eyed beauty across from him.

"Haha, Jimmy! I'd hope so!" Replied the jovial woman.

"She's your wife, Carol." Interjected the voice of the blindfolded woman.

James sat shocked. In an instant, memories of their happy life flooded through his mind.

James reached his hands across the table, and took each of hers to hold.

"I've never been more happy than when I'm with you."

"Jimmy, you're going to make me blush!"

James slid out of his seat and pulled Carol up. They shared an unbroken gaze of longing for each other. James closed his eyes and began to move in for a kiss. All he felt was the coolness of glass. Opening his eyes, he was staring at the mirror again. The winged woman was there before him again.

"Where am I?" James shouted at the apparition.

The woman silently faded away. As she left the mirror, all that was left was a small aperture of light cutting through the thick curtain of black. Looking closer at the light, the hole seemed to grow. Soon, James was in a daze as he was surrounded by pure light. In a flash, the light died out, leaving James in a new place.

There was the distinct smell of cookies. It was Christmas. He was sitting in a chair in what he recognised as his living room.

"Daddy!" A teary little girl cried as she ran up to James. It was his daughter Sadie. She was eight.

"Hey sweetie, what's wrong?"

"I-I burned myself on the oven!" Sadie said between cries.

"I'm sorry sweetie, let me help."

As James picked up his daughter, his hands clutched to nothing. He was back in darkness.

James lifted his head to see the woman in the mirror again. James had tears in his eyes, and clutched fists.

"Why are you doing this to me? You show me happiness, then you tear them away!"

The woman's face remained calm, as she removed her blindfold. She had no eyes, only empty sockets. Blood began to drip from her holes, spewing out of the mirror. As soon as James was submerged, she replaced her blindfold. James blacked out.

As James finally opened his eyes, he was lying on a bathroom floor. Pulling himself off the cold tile, he noticed blood on his hands. When he finally stood, he gazed into the mirror. Looking back was his reflection, but significantly more crazed. There's blood covering his shirt and face.

James backed away towards the living room. He walked in to see Carol draped over a chair, covered in stab wounds. Tears began to well in James's eyes. He looked down and saw a knife had appeared in his hand.

There was crying. As he turned, he saw Sadie crying in a corner.

"Nonono, sweetie, it's okay!" James spurted while walking towards his terrified daughter.

She cried intensely, which stopped James where he stood.

"You killed them. You killed both of them brutally." The woman's voice boomed. Then she appeared before him.

"No! I would never!"

"You've already done it."

"SHUT UP!" James shouted as he lunged the knife forward.

The knife went straight into the winged woman, until she disappeared, revealing the newly stabbed Sadie.

James dropped to his knees, hysterical. The woman reappeared.

"I told you. Now you must be judged."

The room changed back to darkness with the lady in the mirror.

"Now you remember your crime. How do you plead?"

"I did it, I killed both of them."

"Very well. Your punishment shall be just."

The woman summoned a golden triangle with an eye in the middle. A beam shot from the object, and collided with James's teary eyes. The regretful screams of James echoed in the darkness. After a few seconds, the beam stopped, and James's eyes were gone.

James fell to the ground in a deep pain. As he slowly died from blood loss, the angel of death before him smiled.