Augury

Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?-Job 38:17

I closed the bible and took a deep breath soon after reading that verse. I've been reading few words of God already and it was quite refreshing to one's soul. Here I am at the park with my daughter waiting for my husband to pick us up.

Lilies near the pond mesmerized my daughter's attention in which she stretched out to get some. My eyes widened in distress when she almost fell down, leaning on the water. I hurriedly ran to her and grabbed her back. The water is nothing but a mirror, my deformed reflection created by a massive ripple effect flashed through it. I'm not sure if my eyes were playing tricks on me or I really saw a phantom hand in deep water.

"Mommy, there's a child in the water." Sinister words from her, which she rarely speaks, came out followed by cold chilling wind that got through my skin. "He has no face, his cold hands were reaching out to me and grabbing my shirt." She naively said as if those words are as usual as greeting someone. "But you pulled me back." She added. I pulled and entrapped her in a warm hug.

My daughter is not like the usual child who wants to play. There were times that I caught her talking to someone I cannot see or saying she could hear unwanted voices at night. The bible renounces the idea about these wandering souls, spirits that haunt the living. What frighten me is not what my daughter perceives but the fact that those are work of the devil that accede a human into madness, into hell. I have a God to believe in but I have fear to someone who can kill both the body and the soul in hell.

"Stop it baby, there's no such thing." I was taken aback when I met the obstinate looks on her eyes that revealed an ominous glare, far from my innocent daughter. A black furry creature came out from the bushes which distracted the menacing state of my child. She rushed to catch the squishy cat and rejoiced when she got her hands to it. She cuddled it with lilies on her hands.

"Don't do that sweetie," I warned upon pulling the black furry creature out of her arms. "Lilies are poisonous to cats."

"Really? This beautiful flower can be deadly?" She naively mumbled with dismay on her voice while staring at the pure white flower on her hands. I pulled her close to me as I placed the Holy Bible by my side and sat her to my lap while shoving few strands of her hair.

"Not all things are what they really seem to be, baby." I stared at the flower. Who would have thought that this harmless piece of flower could end a creature's existence?

The clear blue sky had darkened into faint violet and the atmosphere suddenly brought a deepening gloom. From a distant church, death knell can be heard, a slow ringing sound of a funeral bell. In few seconds, a sight of few people marching on the funeral, wearing either all white or black can be seen. The cold wind blew making my skin prickled.

"Yes Mommy, everything is not what they really seem to be." She mumbled and I trembled in fear to see her eyes with nothing but an absolute expression staring at the funeral. "This world is full of monster in disguise and eerie creatures." Supplemented by her ill-omened voice.

I'm about to take hold of my child's hand to take her away from the place for I knew that her orbs were enthralled by something that I cannot perceive when the cat suddenly jumped off me and my daughter ran to chase it. My eyes widened when I saw a familiar  vehicle uncontrollably approaching.

The world slowed down and I heard nothing but the earsplitting sound of the loud screech from the overpowering car across the street. I ran to chase her and enveloped her to my arms to brace the impact. Fear registered on my face soon as I met the same fearful eyes of my husband as he tried his best to steer the wheel of the vehicle but...it's no use. With a second or two, I felt the hard hood of the car against my body. I felt numb as I perceived the mixture of my own blood and my daughter's, freely rushing down the road then I succumbed into the abyss of darkness.