Untitled Chapter 8 (Apocalypse)

    My eyes flicker open to the bright light of my bedroom. My immediate thought is that I’d fallen asleep after getting home from the movies. And then suddenly, the events of tonight come rushing back.
    The man…I’d hit a man with my car. He’d torn the door off and I’d scrambled out of the car…and right into Michael’s arms. I remember Erin holding the guy. I remember Gabby breaking his neck. I remember darkness and shadows and wings.
    My head is throbbing and my entire body aches.
    How will I explain this to Dad?
    That’s when I realize I’m not alone. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a slight movement and gasp, my body jerking painfully. Then I fully take in the sight of him and realize that it’s Michael sitting in the arm chair in the corner of my room.
    “What happened?” I mumble as I sit up.
    “You don’t remember?” Michael asks, standing and moving towards me.
    “I don’t understand.” I say, my voice shaking. “You’ve been sent to protect me, whatever--but from what? The shadows?”
    “The shadows are merely what you see, Lia.” He tells me.
    “Then what are they?”
    He sits on the edge of my bed and I don’t move away, because honestly, Michael doesn’t scare me anymore. If he had saved me from the shadows, then how bad could he be?
    He stares at me, making me uncomfortable. “The last time God lost faith in man, he sent a flood.
    “Noah’s Ark.” I murmur.
    “This time, he sent what you see--the shadows. The earthquakes and storms, the volcano eruptions and storms…bridges collapsing, car accidents, people dying--those are all a result of the shadows and trust me, Lia, there are worse things to come.”
    I’d noticed all of this before. On the news, of course, there’d be an earthquake happening somewhere in the world at least once every two weeks. Then a volcano had erupted in Europe. A bridge had collapsed in New York. I’d never read too much into any of it. But there had been a lot of deaths and accidents this year.
    “You’re saying this is the apocalypse?” I ask incredulously, feeling my stomach curl. The thought of that is terrifying.
    “I’m saying this is an extermination.” Michael replies. “The shadows you see are just the forms they take on when on earth.”
    “What are they?” I ask. “Demons?”
    “No.” He says softly. “Angels.”
    “Aren’t angels supposed to be good?” I ask. When I pictured angels, I see them as guardians--white wings, beautiful, safe. Not darker than pitch masses that posses people and try to kill me.
    “The truth, I’m afraid, is never that simple.” He replies quietly.
    “How do you know so much about this?” I ask, immediately regretting my question. I already know the answer.
    “Because until a few days ago, I was on their side.” He says with no emotion.
    A few things click together in my mind.
    He’s fallen, Gabby had said.
    Erin had thought Michael was here to punish them because they’d done something wrong. But why would he be there to punish them? He wasn’t their brother or boss…but Michael was in some way a higher rank than they were.
    Archangel.
    Archangel Michael.
    Amy’s aunt, who is a Jehovah’s Witness had sat me down for bible study one day. This is what I remember.
    But how could an archangel fall? Weren’t fallen angels bad guys? Well, I’d also thought that angels were the good guys, and I wasn’t so right about that. How the hell could an angel, much less a fallen angel, much less a fallen archangel be sitting in my room, on my bed, going to school with me, claiming to be here to protect me?
    “I don’t believe you.” I say. “I don’t even believe in God.” I don’t believe in anything that can’t be proven.
    “He doesn’t believe in your either.” Michael replies. “And that’s our problem. He doesn’t believe in any of this anymore.”
    “So you’re here to protect us?” The question seemed stupid.
    “No, not everyone. Just you.”
    “Me?” I ask in shock. “Why me?”
    “Because you are the only hope humanity has of surviving.” He replies seriously, looking me dead in the eyes and I start laughing.
    That has to have been the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard, but my laughing fades as does the smile when I realize that Michael is completely and one hundred percent serious.
    “Wait a minute.” I say, feeling my face turn cold as the blood drains from it. “This can’t be happening to me. I’m just a teenager. I just turned sixteen. I can’t even drive after eleven p.m. without an adult.” Surely he has to be wrong.
    “None of that matters anymore.” He says. “Either you live or mankind dies.”
    “Oh.” I say in a ‘oh-that’s-all’ kind of way.
    Was that supposed to make me feel better?
    “We’ve got to prove to him that not everyone in this world is corrupted.”
    “And how do we do that?”
    “I don’t know.” Michael says, making me fall deeper into the black pit I seem to be sinking into. “I just need a little more time. Listen, I simply don’t care what you believe. And the shadow--they don’t care either. They just want you.”
    “Is that supposed to take the pressure off of me?” I demand.
    “No, it’s meant to make you realize how important this is.”
    It’s so much to take. The weight of the world on my shoulders. All of mankind, depending on my decisions…