Romy by Shanara Phillips

Romy by Shanara Phillips

The leaden sky opened up and let a drizzle of rain fall over us. Despite the downfall, the air fell still and the atmosphere was eerie. I felt as though I were drowning in the sorrow around me. As if their tears weren't enough, I could really feel their pain as they wept. Shimmering tears, as bright as a diamond. How could something so beautiful to look at carry such a hurtful meaning behind it? "Ashes to ashes..." My eyes gazed at the crimson coffin that laid six feet into the Earth. I looked up into the sky, and as my face became moist from the rain I went into a deep thought. This soul that we had lost should be resting in the heaven of Somya, but because the crossing had been broken there was no longer a pathway. Now the souls of those who die now linger neither here nor there, but instead they are trapped in the never ending abyss of nothingness. "Dust to dust..." All of this could have been prevented. If I had fought harder during the rapture, I would have brought everyone to Somya. God had sent me down to lead some angels to gather his people left of Earth, and bring them to Home. But there was a deadly battle between us and Lucifer with his spirits of the darkness... Our army had nothing against them. We were fighting a losing battle. They eventually over powered us and broke the crossing between Earth and Somya, leaving us angels and a few humans trapped here. What happened to those humans? They all died. They were too weak to withstand the dark angels. We still had our angelic powers but they were not as strong as they were supposed to be, so we just about managed to survive. We ran as far as we could away from Lucifer and found a secluded spot called Tye, somewhere in the rural parts of Hiko. But we were still never safe, we never knew when we could come under attack again, and that is why this angel is dead. I threw my rose down onto the coffin along with everyone else as Ling lead the cortège. I slowly drifted away from everyone else and headed in my own direction. I couldn't be around them anymore, not with this guilt still hanging on my shoulders. As I continued to walk away, I soon felt an arm gently grab hold of my shoulder and spin me around. "Where are you going?" he said angrily. "Away from everyone." I made my way to go but he stopped me again, this time grabbing both of my arms.

"Don't you realise how disrespectful that is?"

"No, it would be disrespectful of me to stay. I'm the reason why she's dead." I said coldly. He squeezed my arms tighter. "When are you going to stop blaming yourself?" "When we go home." "But you know that's never going to happen." "Well then I won't stop blaming myself." I pushed him off of me and walked off. I heard the little puddles on the ground splash as he ran up to me again. Only this time he walked beside me. "You can't live the rest of your life blaming yourself for something you couldn't control." I stopped dead in my tracks and stared him in the eye. "But God chose me," I slapped my chest. "God chose me to lead all of you down to Earth to save his people," Tears were beginning to swell in my eyes. "But I failed Him. I was supposed to bring everyone back to Somya but I didn't. I failed Him, I failed all of you, I failed the humans and I failed myself." "We were no match against Lucifer and his army. There was nothing that we could do!" "Well maybe if I fought-" "Just stop it Romy!" He yelled. His voice echoed through the sky. A flock of crows emerged from the trees and fluttered away into the distance. "Are you done now Zeke?" My voice wavered. He let out an exasperated sigh and shrugged his shoulder. "I'll take that as a yes then."

It was raining even heavier now, so much so that I couldn't tell between my tears and the rain. I wanted to get out of here quickly. I couldn't show my face to any of them again. But most importantly, I had no real purpose to be with them anymore. "Just please don't go into the forest by yourself. It's not safe." I acknowledged him and left to catch up with cortège. Zeke followed closely behind. I pushed my way through the solemn angel's to get to Ling- the elder. Once I was at the front, I put my arms out and screamed with all my might. "What's the matter Romy?" Ling said slowly. "We can't go back to Tye." I panted. Everyone began to mumbled among themselves, and Ling looked at me anxiously. "We need to go back to our real home in Somya." "Oh Romy, we've been through this before..." "No!" I cried. "I'm not going to let you all risk your lives living here anymore." "Trying to get back to Somya is much more risky!" Someone called out. "It's my duty to get us all back home, I know it'll be tough but," The sound of everyone's groaning and hiss drowned me out. "What's wrong with you all? Where's your hope?" I looked at Zeke who was doubtfully shaking his head. "You'll come with me right?" I stared at him. He didn't respond. I clenched my fists. "Fine. I'll go by myself, you can all stay here if you please." I walked off. I covered my ears to silence their jeering. I had completely given up with them all, especially Zeke. It broke my heart to know that they had all lost their faith. But I didn't. I wasn't going to give up like them. Even if I died trying.