Living In Two Worlds

Our Family Tree

I kept myself locked in my room most of the week and avoided all contact or conversation with her except a casual good morning and goodbye. I never knew how popular I was until the past three days.

My voicemail was full. I received over three hundred texts, even from people who never gave a shit about me. It was maybe ten to fifteen emails. Lol, of course, I'm being sarcastic.

Christian also got a surprise visit from the detectives. They were hell-bent on getting some answers out of him since he was the last person to text me. Poor guy, he must be freaking out of his mind. As much as I want to tell him the truth, it's utterly impossible. No one in their right mind would believe me. I guess I'll have to tell him something for now. Gosh, I hate to admit this. But I sound so much like my mom right now. How did she survive all this?

Azrael and Uriel took care of the police and closed the investigation. I don't know how they did it or do any of the things they do anyway, but it worked for me.

Mom finally called for a family meeting in the middle of the following week. About time too, because I needed to have some explanation to understand this mess. She felt it was probably time to set the record straight and tell us the whole story.

There we were. Sitting in the living room, staring at each other like competing at the Olympics for about five to ten minutes. It got so quiet that you could hear pins and needles drop next door.

"Are we going to do this or what?" I asked anxiously.

"I guess I'll start then," she chuckled calmly with a tiny Cedarwood box on her lap. "It all started when your great-grandma met and fell in love with this strange, particular man named Faniel during WWI. The war broke out and significantly impacted every nation. The world was in crisis.

The suffering and torture of so many lost souls somehow opened a gate from hell to here. The asylums quickly filled up with both civilians and soldiers with outrageous behavior. She got attacked by one of the demons possessed while doing a night shift at the hospital. Faniel showed up just when it was about to strike and devour her. His radiant golden light frightened the demon and immediately left the host's body. She was safe now but still had deep lacerations on her back, having been dragged up hills through the woods. He healed her wounds and took her back to the hospital.

'Wait, did she say radiant and golden light? That sounds like the huge man I saw during the accident.' Sarah murmured.

She woke up in a hospital bed, and the doctors put her on a 72- hour leave of absence due to fatigue and stress. She never spoke of what happened that night to anyone. Fearing they might see her as crazy and lock her away in an asylum. Everybody was familiar with the forsaken ones, but stating that you've been saved and healed by an angel was still heresy and a first-class ticket to hell. Forget asylum.

She'd never seen him again until that day, ten years later, she was getting off the ferry boat at the pier, and there he was. He hadn't aged a bit, but she recognized him nevertheless. They kept seeing each other from time to time, and two years later, she gave birth to a beautiful daughter. Unlike the rest of us, she didn't like her gifts and opted to live a simple human life. She had a great job, a husband, a son, and two daughters—reality struck when she received a call from the mortuary to identify her husband's remains. Killed by a forsaken on the way home from work, what she saw at the morgue changed her forever.

She went on a rampage, killing every forsaken in her way. The human casualty was sky-high during her fights with the forsaken ones until Faniel took her under his wings. He taught her how to use her divine attributes against them, and they accepted her in the circle. And we've been at this ever since. I know you probably hate me for my lack of interest in the past, but I want you to know that I loved you more than anything else." She mumbled, wiping her eyes.

She then opened the wooden box and pulled out a necklace and a ring, holy relics she once used to fight off the demons. She genuinely wanted us to have a simple life, but normal isn't Mackinnon's thing.

I didn't know what to make of all this. A couple of days ago, I was an ordinary girl minding my business and living life. I was struggling to keep my job and my head off the clouds. Now, it feels as if someone's turned my world upside down. Then came a soft knock on my door. It was Thomas, I usually would chase him away at that point, but he needed his big sis now more than ever.

"Hey, are you all right, bud?" I tapped the bed for him to come and sit by me.

"So... are you still mad at mom?"

"Don't be silly. I'm not mad at mom. I'm just mad that she was keeping secrets from us." I shrugged.

"About that... Mom wasn't the only one keeping secrets from you. I always knew we were different, I didn't want to sound like I was crazy, but I can see ghosts, angels, and demons. Remember the day mom dropped you at the audition... two angels flew by us on the highway, and the lady at the flower shop was an angel."

That must have been hard on him, being able to see things you can't explain or tell people about without being ridiculed. It's not even a month since I started seeing paranormal stuff, and I'm freaking out already.

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you, bud..."

"It's OK. Oh... don't tell mom, but just so you know, there's no way she could've won a fight against the reaper."

"And how do you know that?"

"Believe me, I know, those two are very powerful. Well, gotta go now. You wanna come and play video games with me?"

"Not now, little dude. Can I get a rain check, though?"

"OK..." he said, walking out the door.

That boy never ceased to amaze me. Here I am complaining about everything when he's been dealing with it all along. Maybe I should try the academy and see what it's all about. After all, saving the world from evil can't be that bad unless.