An Angel's Memory~Milly Callum

An Angel’s Memory


I walked silently through the crowd, every single person dressed in black. I had been to funerals before, but this one didn’t seem to make any sense. I realized now that every person on this earth has two funerals. But now that I see earth funerals like this, I think heaven makes a lot more sense. There was one similarity. My name kept being repeated...Milly Callum.

We rode home from Chic-fil-a in a moderately quiet atmosphere. Aside from the sudden outbursts of Cassy in the back seat of the car and the thunder outside, the car was silent. Lisa’s cell phone was still glowing in her pocket from where she had hung it up just minutes before. We had just gotten a call from mom saying that she had gotten another e-mail from Joe. We had all agreed that it would be better off not to know what it said. But it still worried us. We were just about tired of putting up with this mess. Wasn’t it bad enough that he’d finally driven us out of the church? Why did he have to keep harassing us like this.
As if reading my mind, Lisa answered my question aloud.
“He probably just wants us to know that we can’t escape him or something like that.” She laughed, and I looked over at her. How could she laugh at that? “He’s got this “Holier than thou” thing goin on.” She finished. I started laughing too.
Suddenly I felt the seat of the car seem to slide out from under me, and in a split second, we were spinning out of control. Lisa was desperately trying to slam on brakes and turn the wheel all at once. Cassy screamed and I heard her DS hit the floor of the van. The rear wheel of the van dropped into a steep ditch and the van flipped. I put my hands above my head, but my seat belt had already caught me. I heard metal grinding and then a loud crack. The back of seat had broken and been pushed abruptly forward. My forehead hit the dash board and the headrest went crashing through the front window. I barely felt the warm blood trickling down my face before I was slung back against the back of my seat. My head flung back and I felt my neck snap just before everything went black.

I shuddered and felt the place where the dashboard had made contact with my skull. I refused to let myself remember the pain. I did, however, let myself relive what had happened next.

When I opened my eyes, I didn’t seem to resting on anything. I was more floating than anything. I tried to sit up, almost sure I would be restrained by casts and IV’s, but it was surprisingly easy to work my way to a sitting position. I reached instinctively to my forehead. No bandages. I felt the back of my neck. No brace. Most surprising of all, the pain had subsided completely. In fact, I felt as though I had never experienced any pain in my life. But was this my life? It couldn’t be.
Before, I had never noticed my surroundings. As I spun my neck around the room, I noticed a small girl sitting just a few feet away. Her curly red hair seemed to be the only bit of color in the room. I slowly moved over to her. Her head was buried in her arms and she was holding her knees. As I came closer, she lifted her head, and I was able to take in her light features. Her face seemed familiar, like a memory from a dream. Finally I found my voice.
“Where am I?” Was all I could think to say at that point. She smiled.
“You’re on the first step of your journey.” She said in the voice of a child, but with a wisdom that seemed to be of God himself.
“Where are Lisa and Cassy?” I asked, not pausing to interpret her answer to the first question.
“They are still on the earth. Their angels are watching over them.” She answered.
“What do you mean, their angels?” My voice was gaining confidence every question that I asked.

“Everyone on earth has a guardian angel. They watch over you from the moment you are conceived, until you draw your last breath. We may appear to you, but only in times of desperate need. I am your guardian angel. My name is Alana.” The words struck me like a lightning bolt. I knew where I had seen her before.
“Alana. You…you were in the woods when I…when I ran away. You told me to go back home. You saved my life.” My eyes threatened to overflow with tears, but I fought to keep them back.
“It was not your time. Tonight in the car, you had had all you could take. There was nothing more you could take. But more suffering was coming. Worse times were ahead. He took you to protect you. That is why you are here.” She said. Tears were flowing from I eyes now.
“But why did they stay? If there’s worse times, why am I the one that should escape suffering, while they stay on earth?” I asked.
“The Lord will not push you beyond what you can handle. He is the protector. He saves those who cannot save themselves.” She said. I reached up to wipe my face.
“So what happens now?” I said. She smiled a warm smile.
“You must meet Him. He will answer questions I know nothing about.” She took my hand and led me to a magnificent golden gate.

For Anything~Ali Cummings

For anything.


I know I can’t go back, but I still do. I can’t help it. It happens before I could even try to stop it, and once it does…I don’t want to.

I run up the stairs and into the church building, almost tripping on the last step on my way to the door. More stairs. I half ran, half slid down the red carpeted stairs that would eventually take me to the large room directly under the preschool classrooms above my head. I opened the door and Joe was standing at the front of the room talking. As I entered, he looked up from the paper he was holding and laughed. I figured he was laughing at the fact that I was breathing heavy and my face was probably red.
“Sit down, Ali.” He said, still giggling. I knew well enough to grab a worksheet before I sat down. I walked to the front of the class, picked up a paper, scurried over, and sort of slid into the chair beside Milly. Joe started talking as soon as I had sat down. I looked at the clock to see exactly how late I had been. Fifteen minutes. I thought to myself. Not too bad. I felt something poke me in the ribs and I looked over to see Milly leaning toward me, but still looking at Joe. I leaned over to show that I was listening.
“I need to talk to you after class.” She said quietly. I heard the rustling of papers and realized that everyone had turned to the back of the paper. I flipped my paper, and Milly followed just a few seconds later.
“Is it something with your parents?” I said, taking my eyes off Joe so that I could see her response. She nodded her head yes.

I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling. My cheek felt wet and I didn’t feel like moving my hand to wipe away the tear. My fan had started clicking in a steady rhythm now. The beat seeped into my head, and the last song in the world that I wanted to hear started playing inside of my mind. I prayed that the words wouldn’t start, but it was too late. The words were playing over and over again in my head before I could stop them. I go back to the loss of a real good friend, and the sixteen summers I shared with him, now “Only the Good Die Young,” stops me in my tracks. Every time I hear that song, I go back. I was openly crying at this point, burying my head in the pillow.
The phone ringing jarred me away from my thoughts, and I looked up, thankful that the words I so dreaded hearing had stopped. I grabbed the phone off of my bedside table, and put it to my ear.
“Hello?” I said, finally reaching up to wipe my cheek with the sleeve of my sweatshirt. I sat up on the bed and tucked my long legs up under me.
“Hey. What’s wrong?” I recognized Niki’s voice as soon as she started to talk. I sniffed quietly, trying to keep her from hearing it.
“Nothing.” I said. I switched the phone to my other ear and pulled my quilt over my legs. “What are you up to?” I asked, changing the subject.
“Not much” She said. I heard her sigh on the other end of the phone. “I was just wondering if you wanted to go to Tropical Smoothie with me. I’m gonna try and go this afternoon.”
I thought about this for a minute before looking over at the clock. I didn’t really feel like going out, but I thought of it as a possibility to talk with Niki about Milly. Maybe she was feeling the same as I was. I figured I had better answer her soon, before she asked if I was okay. I hated lying to Niki.
“Yeah.” I said. When do you wanna pick me up?” I asked.
“Um…will you be ready in about fifteen minutes?” She asked. I looked down at my grey sweatpants and Prince George sweatshirt. I figured I could be dressed by the time she got there.
“Yeah. That’s fine.” I answered.
“Great.” She said. “I’ll see you in about fifteen minutes then.” She said.
“See you” I smiled as I hung up the phone, and started to get dressed. I started to realize what I had around me, and that I wouldn’t trade it…for anything.