Page 23 - Tank

“He had to.”

Matt jumped. His heart beat in his chest like a hammer. An impossible woman
stood next to Tank. Looked down on him. Petted his hair. Offered the dying man
words of comfort.
Annabelle smiled. Held onto Tank’s hand tight. Said something to this impossible
woman. A woman who smiled like ten thousand suns. A woman who was so
beautiful it hurt Matt’s eyes. A woman who possessed things no one on earth could.
The woman had wings.
"Momma?" was all Matt could say.
Annabelle giggled. Nodded her head. Matt just stared.
"Momma?" he said again. She was real? Matt was in awe. The light around
Momma got brighter as he looked. He had to turn away.
"I'm sorry Matt," he felt more than heard. Felt the power of this woman who
wasn’t a woman. Matt couldn’t bring himself to call her what she was. He didn’t
believe in God or the Devil or Angels.
“Just because you don’t believe in something, doesn’t mean it’s not real,” the
Angel said.
The light around her diminished. Her wings folded into her back. Her eyes
changed from orbs Matt couldn’t bear to look into, to normal eyes. In seconds, the
Angel he’d seen was replaced by a normal, everyday, ordinary woman.
“Better,” Momma asked. “Tank could handle my true visage, but I see you cannot.
I will stay like this until we are finished.”
Matt looked around. The world had stopped. Only he and Annabelle moved.
Annabelle’s momma in the middle of sipping her coffee. Matt couldn’t help it. He
waved his hand in front of the woman’s face. Touched her shoulder. Jerked back
when he understood the implications.
"Annabelle has lived this same day a thousand times. Died each day,” the Angel
said. “Always in that intersection. What you would call Satan, Demons, the Devil,
Darkness, Evil knows she is one of God's gift to this world.”
“However,” Momma continued. “Annabelle is not strong. She needs a protector.
The one you call God created a way to test for a suitable protector. He placed her at
the intersection. Allowed the forces of evil to have her. Forces which won every
time. Until today.”
What must it be like to live the same day over, and over again? To know each day
you get up you will be hunted by monsters hell bent on killing you. To know you
were the target of Satan himself.
“This is the first time anyone saved Annabelle,” the Angel continued. “He will
protect Annabelle now like I protected him.”
The woman who was an Angel transformed once again. This time Matt was able
to see her in her full glory. Trembled at the sight. He feared this creature even
though she meant him no harm. All he could do was watch as she spread her wings.
Laid them over his friend. Let her light flow into Tank.