Chapter 4

It was surprisingly quiet.

The only noises were the faint whooshes and whines of the wind, with an occasional flap from Echo’s wings. El turned to the strange being flying beside her.

“Where exactly is Heaven anyway? Is it, like, in space or something?”

“No. It’s where everyone says it is: in the sky.” El raised an eyebrow.

“Really? Then why haven’t people seen it yet?”

“Well, Heaven itself isn’t in the sky, just the doorways.” They were now flying over the Atlantic Ocean. Echo gazed at the sparkling waters fondly, as if reliving old pleasant memories. She glanced at her companion and smirked softly. “Come on. I wanna show you something.”

Without warning, she dived towards the waves with startling force, yanking El down with her. When they were just a little less than a foot from the water, Echo came to a shuddering halt, and skimmed close to the surface. She reached out a pale hand, letting her fingers trail in the water. El reached out with her own and did the same.

“Feels good, doesn’t it?” Echo asked. El just nodded. The entire sensation of the cool water gently stinging her fingers, mixed with the realization that she was flying to Heaven with an angel was enough to send powerful jolts of pleasure up her spine. It just felt really…incredible.

“Hey Echo…” She said as she slowly retracted her hand. “What did you mean earlier when you said that the entrances to Heaven are in the skies, but Heaven itself isn’t? Wouldn’t someone have discovered them by now?”

“Oh, that.” Echo pulled them away from the ocean and back into the clouds. “The thing is that, with the entrances to Heaven, you have to look in the right places. But the right places are places that no one dares to look into, for they fear for their lives.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll see.” They began to fly higher and faster. In the distance, El could faintly see something dark with the tiniest flickers of light. Echo pointed to the black mass. “There’s one now.”

It didn’t take long for El to figure out that it was a storm cloud, and a rather large one at that. She gulped as they approached the flashes of lightning and booms of thunder.

“It’s…in there?”

“Yup. Right in the center too.” She turned to her and tried to give a reassuring smile. “Don’t be afraid.”

El nodded and in a matter of seconds, they were in a nosedive, heading straight for the storm cloud.

***************************

It was cold, dreary, and damp, just how El imagined the inside of a cloud to be like. She could still see her hand in front of her face along with Echo flying beside her, and the flashes of lightning nearly blinded her with their intensity, followed by the deafening thunder. She held on to the dark angel with a firm grip and prayed that they wouldn’t get zapped. But it seemed that Echo knew exactly where she was going as she dodged the bolts with ease, letting the wind carry them this way and that. Eventually they found a small speck of light in the darkness that didn’t fade.

“There it is!” Echo bolted for the light, dragging El along with her. They narrowly missed the lightning as they sped for the doorway. And as they got closer, she saw that the dot of light was really a huge gaping mass with edges that danced like the rays of the sun. She closed her eyes and held onto Echo for dear life as they dove right into the glaring ball of light, and broke through to the other side.

***************************

“Hey. Hey! Eleanor!” El slowly opened her eyes to find Echo kneeling over her. Her wings were gone; probably hiding in her back.

“Wha…what happened? Did I pass out again?” She very carefully sat up and looked around. Their was a bright blue sky with beautiful clouds overhead; the grass she was sitting on was cool and comforting. She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. “Sorry. I never was that good with flying.”

“Eh. Happens all the time.” Echo shrugged and helped El to her feet.

“So, are we in Heaven now?”

“No. Just Purgatory.”

“Purgatory?”

“It’s the place between Heaven and Hell.”

“I know what it is, I just didn’t expect it to be so…nice.” Echo chuckled and started walking, motioning for El to follow suit.

“I know what you mean. This is actually the highest level of Purgatory.”

“There are levels of Purgatory?” El quickly caught up, and soon they were walking through a field.

“Yes. This level is reserved for people who are good, but just not good enough to get into Heaven. Most of them are good their whole lives, but commit one or two major sins that prevent them from going all the way.”

“Seems kinda harsh.”

“It’s not so bad. The food is good, the weather’s always nice, and you get a decent place to live. It’s really just a little more than what we actually need.” El glanced at her cautiously.

“Do you…live here?”

Before Echo could answer, El saw that they were near the edge of a cliff, looming over a large black portal. She wandered over and looked down into the dark swirling mass; she could faintly see the occasional twinkle of lightning here and there.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” El jumped in surprise. She hadn’t realized that Echo was standing right beside her. Before she could ask, Echo answered. “That’s the hole we came out of. There are bunches of them scattered all over the world; constantly moving, disappearing, and reappearing. Always in the most dangerous clouds, hidden away from prying eyes.”

“Wow.”

“That’s what they all say.” She turned on her heel and started walking again. El ran after her and saw that they were heading towards a small, but cozy-looking house just over a hill. As they got closer, she saw a young woman come out to greet them. She looked awfully familiar…

Wait…Isn’t that-?

“EL!” She was cut off mid-thought as a mighty force crashed into her, wrapping its arms around her body. She stumbled backward, nearly losing her balance; then the attacker let go as quickly as it came. “Oh gosh El, I’m sorry! Did I hurt you? Are you okay? It’s so good to see you! I mean, not good; it’s terrible! What happened?”

“Uh…uh…” She blinked stupidly, trying to gather her thoughts. “Um…Hi Amanda.” Her eyes widened as she realized what she just said. “Wait, Amanda?! Is that you?”

“None other!” The girl twirled dramatically. “I guess you didn’t recognize me. I got a makeover; do you like it?”

“Oh, yeah. It’s very beautiful.” El gaped. The Amanda she had known had had long, straight dirty-blonde hair, with a tanned complexion and tiny waist. Now the hair had been trimmed, curled, and dyed a brighter blonde with a few brown streaks, the skin was paler, her waist even tinier, and on her face… “Is that a nose job?”

“Oh you noticed! My old one was ugly, so I decided to get a new one.” She smiled brilliantly. “It’s really easy. I’ll show how to do it sometime.”

“Uh…” Before she could finish her reply, Amanda’s eyes found Echo.

“Echo!” She waltzed over and hugged her. El couldn’t help but notice that Echo looked slightly uncomfortable at the idea of hugging Amanda, but still hugged her back. “So nice to see you! How’ve you been?”

“Good, good. You?” Amanda released her from her stranglehold and beamed.

“Marvelous!”

“Wait, you two know each other?” El stared at the odd sight before her.

“Uh-huh. Didn’t Echo tell you? She was the one who brought me here when I died.” El suddenly remembered how Echo had said that one of her friends had known her; she must have been talking about Amanda. “That reminds me. How’s Mom? And Robin? And Mrs. Manwell? Are they okay? What happened?”

“They’re fine, they’re fine.” El reassured her. “Everyone was shocked, but they’re getting better. Robin took it pretty hard, but she’s gonna be okay.”

“Oh thank God.” Amanda visibly changed. Her happy-go-lucky demeanor was gone; in its place was a sad, nervous girl. “I was so worried that something might happen. I’m glad that she’s moving on.” She sighed heavily, almost on the verge of tears.

“I’m sure she’ll be just fine.” El placed a comforting hand on her friends’ shoulder. “She’s got a loving family and plenty of friends. They’ll take good care of her.” Amanda looked up at El and nodded.

“Yeah. You’re right.” She smiled softly and hugged her again. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.”

When they pulled back, Amanda was back to her cheerful self.

“Come on. I gotta show you around. It’s so awesome you’re not gonna believe it.”

“Sounds good.” They started to make their way to the building when they both remembered something. “Are you coming?”

Echo smiled and smoothed her dress.

“Sorry, but I’m afraid this is where I leave you. I do have other work to do.”

“Well at least come inside and rest a little bit.” Amanda begged. “I’m sure you’re awfully tired. Virgil just made cake, and it’s to die for.” She blushed as she realized what she had just said. “I mean, it’s really good.”

“Well, when you put it that way-”

“ECHO!” She whirled around and saw a man with wings just like her own flying towards them.

“That‘s not good.” Echo whispered warily.

“Who is he?” El asked.

“Just a co-worker.” She stepped forward as the man landed in front of her. “What is it?”

“There’s this huge train wreck in New York; the whole thing’s turning into a panic.”

“Resistance?”

“Yeah. Hellions are there too and they’re not going down easily.”

“Oh dear.” Echo sighed and slumped her shoulders. In that instant,  El didn’t see a sixteen year-old girl; she saw an old woman who’d been through Hell and back. Someone who’d spent years dealing with the anguished and suffering, while also getting into a few brawls every once and a while.

“Alright. You go get reinforcements. I’ll catch up in a minute.”

“Right.” And with that the man took off. Echo turned to them and gave a sad smirk.

“It’s been nice seeing you again Amanda.”

“Stop by sometime, okay?” Amanda smiled.

“Of course.” She turned to El. “It was a pleasure to meet you Eleanor. I hope our paths cross again someday.”

“Oh, please; call me El.” Echo nodded.

“Very well…El.” She turned to run back to the storm cloud, but the hole was gone. “Crap.”

“Echo!” They looked up to see the man from before flying overhead, a group of more angels in tow. “There’s another opening closer to New York over here!” He pointed to something in the distance, where El could just barely see the glow of a doorway. “Come on!”

“Coming!” Echo waved one last time to the others before her wings popped up, this time much faster than before, taking a little less than five seconds. She gave a mighty flap and shot up into the sky, El and Amanda watching as she followed her party over the horizon and out of sight.