War In Heaven

by Jasmine Bowen

  “For as a young man marries a young woman, and as the bride groom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you,” she whispered to him as he lay her back on the bed, quoting Isaiah 62:5, something that she often quoted to people when asked. Gabriel gave her a wicked grin as his fingers wrapped tightly in her hair.

  “But if they cannot exercise self control, they should marry. But it is better to marry than to burn with passion,” he replied, quoting 1 Corinthians 7:9. Isda grinned at him.

  “And you, Gabriel?”

  “I married, and I am glad of it,” he lowered his face to touch hers. And then there were no words, only the cries of the night.

  * * * *

  “Eli,” Gabriel said, when he called Ramiel and Jinn to his home the next morning. He had barely slept, but he felt more energized than ever before. Last night, they had spent the night in married bliss, and when dawn came, both felt as if they were more at peace than ever before. And now, it was time to make the band at peace.

  “Are you sure?” Jinn asked. He was still treating him as this troubled boy that he had been the whole tour, but Gabriel felt nothing like that boy anymore. It was almost as if the person who went on tour, who was surly and snapping the whole time, was a different person. It wasn’t him, and it caused him so much pain to think that it had been him. “I know that you had a lot of concerns over him. We of course, also have some concerns.”

  “His spirituality?” Gabriel asked. “Of course it’s a concern. But he’s open, and who knows, maybe that’s God’s plan, to convert him and save his soul.”

  “And vocally, you feel he could support you?”

  “Even on my worst day,” Gabriel replied, his arm lightly draped over Isda’s shoulders. “Don’t you guys agree? He’s good, he’s great even, and someone gave us a chance once. Let’s give him a chance.”

  Ramiel looked at him, agape. “Who are you and what have you done with Gabriel?”

  Gabriel laughed. “What, you don’t think that he could do it? Last night you were his biggest fan.”

  “Last night, you weren’t. Why can’t I switch?”

  “Guys,” Ida said, tapping her foot. “You want me to call him, or not?”

  “Call him,” Jinn said, after looking into both their eyes. “Call him and tell him to get his butt right over here.”

  “Done,” Isda grinned, heading off to the kitchen to make the call. There was nothing she liked more than delivering good news, and this was almost as good as when the Ballet House called, all those years ago.

  Eli made his way over in less than 10 minutes, which was impressive considering that he lived across town. He nearly mowed down the mailbox pulling into the driveway.

  “Please, please please,” he said, when Jinn opened the door. “Please tell me I’m in. Because I think I’m going to die if you don’t. I haven’t slept all night. I didn’t even want pizza. You don’t understand, I love pizza.”

  Jinn laughed, gesturing for Eli to come inside.

  “You’re in.”

  “YAHOO!” The shout that Eli let out, was of course, vocally perfect, musically flawless. Jinn couldn’t help but shake his head as he led him into the living room, where the others were waiting.

  Once the celebrations calmed down, and they had toasted each other with soda, they calmed down enough to be able to discuss the logistics of it.

  “You’ll essentially be performing for an understudy fee, according the performer’s guide,” Jinn said. “It’s the only way we could get the record label to agree to add another member.”

  “But why?” Eli asked, fiddling with his coke can. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m super grateful for the opportunity. But were you guys just finding tour too hard, or…?”

  Everyone turned to Gabriel, waiting with bated breath. After all, this was Gabriel’s story to tell, and no one else’s. Jinn was of the mindset that since they were hiring a singer to support Gabriel, it would be rather hard to keep it a secret. But if the kid chose not to give it away, than the ball was in his court.

  Gabriel, however, took a deep breath, something he no longer took for granted.

  “You remember in the news, where I fainted on stage?”

  “Sure,” Eli said. “Everyone remembers that. There’s so many rumors about what happened.”

  “None of them are true,” Gabriel replied. “I’m going to tell you the truth once, and then you are going to sign an NDA, whether you want to stay with this band or not.”

  “Uh-oh,” Eli shifted from foot to foot nervously. “What’s going on?”

  “When I passed out on stage, I was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, scarring of the lungs, and it’s idiopathic, which means it’ll get worse for no reason. They don’t know what’s causing it and they assured me in the hospital that I was young and healthy and blah blah blah, it wouldn’t get any worse. But it has. My vocal range has decreased and there’s some songs I struggle on. And there’s some nights I can barely hit a song or two. That’s where you come in.”

  “Wow,” Eli plopped himself in a chair, his face stunned. “Support. Literally.”

  “Right. To be able to pick up my vocals when you hear that I can’t, to overpower me if my voice fades with background.”

  Jinn was glad that Gabriel was the one who was setting the rules, the boundaries, and smiled slightly when the old arrogance reared its ugly head.

  “But I’m the lead singer, still. That’s how the label has us written, and that’s how we’ve gotten this far. We can’t deviate from that.”

  “Of course,” Eli nodded, and his head swiveled to Isda. “You sing too, don’t you?”

  “I um…” Isda looked to Gabriel. “I used to. But when we signed with the label, they didn’t want me as any more than an occasional singer. So that’s where I stand, at the moment. I come to do Whore of Babylon every few weeks. With Gabriel.”

  “Right,” Eli sucked in a deep breath, looking around. “And you guy? Any deep dark secrets you want to share?”

  Jinn laughed, shaking his head.

  “That’s all. For now. Who knows? Ramiel has a tongue on him to make a sailor blush, so maybe’s he’s actually an alien or something.”

  “Yeah,” Ramiel rolled his eyes. “And Jinn is such a goody goody, you’d swear you were on tour with your mom.”

  “My parents passed away when I was 19,” Eli said, and everyone fell silent. “So that would be good, actually.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that, man,” Gabriel said, and Eli shrugged.

  “We’ve all been through some sort of hell, I guess. All secrets out in the open now.”

  There was a bit of a damper on the mood, and Ramiel shifted uncomfortably.

  “So are we going to talk about something happy? Like the next tour?”

  “Right, and you guys are working on a new CD, right?” Eli asked.

  “That’ll mostly be…us,” Jinn said, tactfully. “If that’s ok.”

  “No, of course, of course, got to pay my dues,” Eli replied, and seemed genuinely happy to do it.

  “But when we get started on tour rehearsals in two months, of course we’ll be working together daily.”

  “Sure,” Eli crossed his legs under him.

  “During rehearsals, we rehearse a lot during Sunday services, donating our time. It’s kind of killing two birds with one stone, giving local churches some music, and rehearsing. It’s all unpaid, the payment starts when we go on tour. And then we usually stay for the service.”

  “That’s cool. I hope me not being a Christian isn’t going to be a problem, guys. Please don’t think I’m judging or something. It’s just never been my lifestyle. But it’ll be interesting to see, really.”

  “We’re pretty open as well,” Jinn said. “Although I imagine our belief system is fairly obvious.”

  “Cool,” Eli seemed like such a easy going and open person, it was impossible not to like him. Even after he left, his happy attitude remained in the room like the scent of nice ai
r freshener.

  “Well, that went well,” Isda said, as the boys got up to leave. “Are you guys worried about his lack of religion?”

  “No,” Jinn replied. “Perhaps if he sings it enough, he’ll start believing it. Maybe it’ll open his heart to God. The bible tells us to treat non-believers the same.”

  “I’m just worried about singing and understanding some of the references in songs,” Isda pointed out. “It's so much easier to sing when you understand. Otherwise, it’s just dead eyes and belting out lyrics. And everyone knows that makes a shitty performance. I think part of what makes you guys so good is that you believe what you are singing, you’re worshipping while performing. And other people will listen because you aren’t playing a part, you’re telling the truth.”

  The boys paused, to look at each other.

  “You too, Isda.”

  She shrugged, nonchalantly.

  “I’ve accepted my fate. Although sometimes, with some of these law clients, it’s like they’ve never heard of a God at all. And they make me so angry, I wonder if the commandment of thou shalt not murder was just a suggestion.”

  Jinn laughed, shaking his head.

  “I’ve got to get home for dinner, or the kids will eat all the food. Come on, Ramiel, I’ll give you a ride home.”

  Once goodbyes were said and they left, Isda turned to Gabriel, a smile on her face.

  “Well, that was very big of you.”

  “To be a civil person?” he asked, and she shrugged.

  “Did you mean it?”

  “I have to, Isda,” he replied. “I have to be able to get along with him, even if it tears at my soul, because it’s the right way to go about things. It’s the way things are meant to be.”

  “Yeah, but no one is going to pretend it’s not going to be difficult,” she replied, standing on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek. “Especially when…if…things are going to get worse.”

  He shook his head, brushing a lock of hair out of her face.

  “Let’s try to live in the present. There’s you and I, alone in the house. I can think of several things to do.”

  “Gabriel!” she cried, blushing. He raised an eyebrow.

  “I was referring to playing Guitar Hero, what were you thinking of, you naughty girl?”

  “Guitar Hero?” she whined, as she followed him into the living room. “But you’ll whip me at that.”

  “I know, that’s why I want to play it,” he grinned, setting it up. “I wonder if real bands play SingStar or something to practice.”

  She choked.

  “You are a real band.”

  “Doesn’t feel like it,” he said, as he turned on the TV, and pressed start on the game. “I can’t believe all this is real. And not the bad stuff. The good stuff. We’re famous. We’re musicians, and we can play our own music and people come to our own shows. And I’m married to the most beautiful girl in the whole world, and nobody’s parents are telling me it’s late, go home.”

  She rolled her eyes, picking up the second guitar, “Gabriel, that hasn’t happened in years.”

  “Yeah, but saying goodbye to you is the hardest part of my life,” he said, turning to her and looking into her eyes with complete honesty and purity. “And it was the most dreaded part of every day. It still is.”

  She kissed him lightly, her long eyelashes meeting his piercing eyes. Those were the eyes that so many girls dreamed of gazing into, and they were hers. She couldn’t believe it, when she went online to see the fan girl posts, and drooling, and how much people obsessed over this boy, this man. These were not ugly girls, either, these were pretty girls with shameless pictures that he could have had in an instant. And at the concerts, the way the girls dressed, they would be condemned in church. Even the ones with gold crosses on, nestled between their breasts, displayed in push up bras and low cut tank tops. But Gabriel, she knew, never looked that way, never even showed a flicker of interest. He was hers, all hers, and she couldn’t believe it.

  “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  Guitars forgotten, they enjoyed not saying goodbye that night

  * * * *

  “And so I’d like to introduce to you Elijah, the prophet, our new backup singer,” Gabriel said to the press before the first concert of the new tour, his arm slung around Eli’s shoulders. All four boys (Gabriel had to get used to the fact that they were now a group of four) had their sunglasses on, and for good reason as they were bombarded with flashes.

  “Gabriel, why the change, musicality?”

  “Eli, tell us about yourself?”

  “Jinn, I hear your wife is pregnant again! Congrats!”

  “Ramiel, please, a moment!”

  The paparazzi screamed their questions over each other, and jostled for spaces through the sea of flashes. The boys did their best to separate one question from another and answer each question separately, but it was hard to even hear themselves think.

  Eli seemed particularly overwhelmed, but he did all right for his first time, stunned by his sudden rise to fame. Whenever he didn’t know the answer to a question, he referred to Jinn or Gabriel, who answered for him, but always included him.

  By the time they made their way out of the press room and backstage to eat before getting ready, he felt like he had run a marathon.

  “How in the world do you guys do that every day? That was insane! I think I’m blind from the flashes.”

  “Ear plugs, prayer and sunglasses,” Jinn replied, as he made his way to the buffet spread that had been laid out before them. In the hallways, roadies were running to and fro to set up for the concert that night. “Seems like they love you, kid.”

  “Pressure, pressure,” Eli replied, as he made himself a sandwich. “Wow you guys get fed good.”

  “Are you nervous?” Ramiel asked, making himself the biggest sandwich known to mankind. Despite the fact that he was now out of his teenage years, his metabolism showed no signs of slowing down and he continued to eat them out of house and home every night. If the mini fridge in the tour bus was stocked before they spent all night on the road, it would be empty by the time they made it to their destination.

  “Kind of. I mean, it’s no different than playing any other show, right? You guys do all the hard work, I’m just the back up.”

  “Actually, we thought that you would do all the hard work, a one-man show, and we’d just sit back and collect the checks,” Jinn grinned.

  “Guys, I’m really easy going, but not that easy going,” Eli plopped on the couch, biting into his food. “Although if you keep feeding me like this, I might do anything that you ask. Food’s scarce when you live on your own. No wives to cook for you. Right, Ramiel?”

  Ramiel shrugged.

  “I just go to their houses.”

  They seemed to get along well enough, but when the time came to go to makeup and wardrobe, Gabriel felt the butterflies in his stomach.

  “Jinn,” he said, catching the older man’s arm as he went by. “I don’t know…”

  “Gabe,” Jinn clapped an arm on his shoulder. “You need to calm down. It’s going to be ok. All he’s going to do is play some keyboards and hum along, unless he hears that you aren’t all right. Are you all right? Are you feeling good?”

  “Yes,” Gabriel said.

  “Then you’ll be fine. And for God sakes, Kid, if you feel it coming on, give him the signal. Don’t hold off because I’ve given him permission to jump in if he sees it without you signaling. And you’ll answer to me.”

  “Yes, sir,” Gabriel replied. He wasn’t 14 years old anymore, but when Jinn gave him an order, he still listened. He liked that some of the dynamics of the band hadn’t changed. Jinn was still in charge, he still kept them grounded. He still reminded them why they were here and what their purpose was. He liked that no matter how late the show was, no matter how far they had travelled, they still found churches every Sunday. War in Heaven meant they had to keep fighting on earth too, not just make prett
y music for high paychecks.

  He didn’t like makeup any more than the next guy did, however, and it took a lot longer when he squirmed. Eli seemed content to sit and let the pretty makeup artists have their way with him, closing his eyes and listening to his IPod.

  “What are you listening to?” Gabriel kicked him in the boot.

  “You,” Eli replied. “The first CD.”

  “Why?” Gabriel was aghast. “If you don’t know the words now, you surely won’t on stage.”

  Eli shrugged.

  “I do. But you guys were always on my play list before shows. It helps me calm down.”

  “Really?”

  Eli stood as the makeup artist finished with him, pulling his leather jacket over his shoulders.

  “Because you guys are good? Because you’re soothing? Because it’s a lot better than puking from nervousness?”

  “Really?” Gabriel was just so surprised. “That’s uh…that’s nice to hear, thanks man.”

  “And maybe a little bit to learn the words,” Eli gave him a guilty smile and Gabriel swatted at him, although it was playfully. Perhaps this wasn’t going to be a disaster all.

  He touched his wedding ring, reminding himself of Isda, who would soon be looking at him from her place at the front of the concert, her matching wedding ring on her finger. Isda with her beautiful eyes and perfect voice, who would love him no matter how many songs he sang or didn’t sing tonight. It was for the love of her he kept going, even when things got hard.

  “War in Heaven, you’re up next,” a stagehand stuck his head into the makeup room, telling them that the opening bands were done. Someone else stuck microphones on their heads and beckoned for their attention through the dark backstage area to the wings.

  “Ready?” Jinn clapped Eli on the shoulder. “Because there’s still time to run.”

  Eli laughed, a bit nervously.

  “I’m ready. I won’t let you down.”

  “I don’t doubt it. Thank God we found you,” Jinn smiled. “Now, boys, come here. One last prayer before we show the world our new War in Heaven.”

  Jinn could see Eli awkwardly moving to grab their hands, unsure of what to do. But he didn’t resist, nor did he seem entirely uncomfortable. And when Jinn whispered a short but firm prayer, Eli mouthed ‘Amen’ with the rest of them.