2019
"What happens when you die, Momma?" Clara once asked.
Her mother looked down at those big steel-grey eyes and paused. For a moment, the pain in her mother's eyes was visible, perceptible even to someone so young.
"Well—," her mother said before wiping her eyes. "People who pass away go to heaven."
Clara continued to look into her mother's eyes even as the predictable question came to her lips, "Heaven?"
What is heaven? Not the easiest concept to explain, especially when one's husband had just been lowered into the cold hard ground. Questions were natural and to be expected, but this was a daunting task for a mother who could barely keep it together.
"Well—," her mother said. "Paradise, a place where all your loved ones are waiting for you. Where you will wish for nothing as everything you desire will be there."
* * * *
"Almost had it right," Clara said in response to that faded memory.
Clara was perched at the edge of a balcony. This particular vantage point gave her a pristine view of the mortal realm below. Even from this distance, she could make out individual landmarks and people going about their lives.
This was her favourite hangout, enabling her to see how chaos still reigned on the mortal plain. People continued to be born, grow up, fight wars, and die. The only difference was advancements made in technology and medicine. Funny how those advances only made life more complex.
That curiosity and drive to understand the world is what interested Clara. She often wondered how life would have turned out if she were born in the twenty-first century. All of that knowledge available at her fingertips, but would she use it?
Everyone here had access to the knowledge of creation, but many remained blissfully ignorant. Would she do any better without her educational foundation? Or would she achieve her goal of committing the perfect crime?
"I thought you'd be here," Gabriel said.
Clara did not turn around. Instead she continued observing the world. Wait! Were her eyes deceiving her? Clara could have sworn that she had just seen a shockwave emanating from North America's Eastern seaboard.
"The easiest way to be found is to stay in one place," Clara said with a smirk. "What brings you here Gabriel?"
The man was tall and built like a Greek god. There was not a single flaw to be found. His hair was always perfectly trimmed, his muscles developed and cut. Even his wings were flawless, white and without a single feather out of place.
Was he the angel Gabriel from scripture and lore? Clara did not know and had never asked. Curious how that particular question had not come to her until now.
"There's been a violation," Gabriel said flatly.
Clara raised an eyebrow. Any violations on the mortal plain meant that someone was not playing by the rules. Free will was an aspect respected by both sides. Violations meant that someone had not been given the opportunity to choose.
"Sounds serious," Clara said in hopes of getting more information.
Gabriel chuckled before responding, "You look down all the time and yet you cannot see."
"And miss out on this rare opportunity to learn from your wisdom?" Clara asked.
For a moment, there was silence and Clara's discomfort grew. Had she managed to get under his skin? That would certainly be one for the record books.
YOU ARE READING
The Van Helsing Paradox
Fantasy"A gal has to look after herself after all." Clara Grey's parents once said that the world was a dark and dangerous place. There was more truth than fiction to those words. There were things that lurked in the shadows which defied the laws of nature...
