I sat alone once more on my cloud, my face buried in my knees, desperately trying to stop my sobs. The scene at the Convenience store played over and over again in my mind. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t shake the mental image of Brian’s face as he looked down at my dying body. His eyes were filled with so much pain - as if his heart had broken into a million pieces right on the spot. And it was all because of me. I hated myself for dying on him, for leaving him in a cruel, bleak, and cold world that would swallow him whole in his vulnerable state of mourning.
And still, I couldn’t help but wonder what he was doing right now. Was he all right? Did he find a new girlfriend? Had he gotten over me? My heart hoped that he had, for his own sanity. But my selfish mind prayed that he hadn’t - that he spend the rest of his life alone and then be with me for all eternity when his time comes. I rubbed my eyes and sat up, looking down upon the world. It was a dark place full of hatred, hostility, crime, famine, and horror. So why did I long to be back there when I was now in “Paradise”?
“Miranda,” came a soft voice from behind me. “Are you okay?”
“I guess so,” I answered softly, turning around to face Maria.
Maria took a seat next to me. “I bet you’ll be happy when you become an Angel.”
“And why is that?”
“We Angels don’t feel emotions like mortals do. We get to live in emotionless serenity, while mortals suffer because of theirs.”
I looked at Maria with disgust. “Don’t you get it?! I don’t want to be an Angel, I want to be human again! I want to feel emotions, to live my life all over again, and this time not take it for granted! And most of all, I want to be with Brian again.” Tears filled my eyes again. “He was my one true love and now... now he’s just a faded memory.”
“Miranda honey, Brian was not your one true love, nor were you his. Eve is his true love.”
“Would you stop bringing her into everything!” I yelled in frustration. “I am not completing that task, not now, not ever! I don’t care if I never become an Angel, I’m not doing it!”
“Miranda, please just listen to me. If you don’t make any effort to complete this task before either one of their time comes, you can’t stay here any longer.”
“What are you talking about? Stay where?”
“In Heaven. You’ll be sent well, down there.”
“You mean...”
Maria nodded solemnly. “I’m sorry Miranda, but those are the rules. Are you more willing to give it a try?”
“I guess so,” I answered reluctantly. “But only on one condition.”
“What’s that?”
“That you let me go down there and talk to Brian first.”
“I’m sorry, but I cannot allow that. The only person you are allowed to show yourself to is Eve. You can have no contact whatsoever with Brian, or you’ll fail the task.”
“But that’s not fair!” I cried.
“I told you this task was not going to be easy. Now, are you ready?”
“I guess so. Is there anything I need to know before I leave?”
“Yes, but only a few things, the rest you must figure out for yourself. Your job is to help Eve and Brian fall in love, but you can only appear visible to Eve. You can do anything in your power to get them to fall in love, except for explaining the story to Eve. If you do that, you will fail the task. Good luck Miranda.” Maria gave me a brief hug. “I know you can do this, and I'll be down every night for you to give me a status report.”
“Thanks Maria. I promise I’ll do this. Now how do I get down there?” I asked, peering down at the world. “It’s kinda a long way down.”
Maria laughed. “You can’t get hurt silly, you’re already dead. Just jump. You’ll end up where you should be, I promise.”
“All right. Good-bye Maria.” I took a deep breath and jumped off the cloud towards my fifth task and all of my greatest fears.
