by Yvi Valentin
“What about the other creatures?”
“Most of them don’t come near earth but those who do, appear to humans as UFOs and other things they can’t explain.”
I looked over at him for the first time since we got here and was amazed by what I saw. He looked like a brilliant being of white light. He still had his human shape, the only difference was that he was made entirely of light and had massive wings emanating from what I assumed was his back. It was pretty hard to tell. I stared at him for a long moment, completely mesmerized by his beauty. The only thing that would have made it better was if I could actually see Andy’s face.
“Focus on my energy and you’ll be able to see my face.” He laughed as he obviously read my mind.
“Hey! It worked!” I stopped for a moment and took in everything around me. “This is all so breathtaking. It kind of reminds me of the nights when I would see dots that looked like glow in the dark stars before I fall asleep.”
“You saw that? When?” Shock read all over his face. I was starting to get used to the constant state of shock Andy fell into whenever I told him about my experiences.
“Yeah…a few times. It started a few months before I met you again. Why?”
“That’s what we usually see when we look into our world before we actually travel here. The glow in the dark dots, as you call them are actually star children in their true form.”
“Wait, if our true form looks more like a glow in the dark dot then why can I see you perfectly as if we were still on earth?”
“It’s all about perspective. Everyone sees things differently. Since you’re new to this stuff, you need to be able to see everyone as their earthly form to be able to tell us apart but once you get used to it, you’ll be able to see our true forms without any problems.”
“That’s pretty confusing.”
“You’ve been human for far too long,” he teased. “Well I have something else I need to teach you.” He grabbed my hand. “Come on.”
“Where are we going? How do we go anywhere?”
I must have looked horrified because Andy started laughing uncontrollably. “We fly.”
“How do we do that?”
“The same way we do everything else. Just focus on where you want to go and you’ll be there in a flash.”
“Alright, where are we going to go first?” I asked as I wondered what else was around.
“Headquarters.” He was so cheerful about it that I knew something good was in store for me. “Take my hand for this first time and focus on going to the star children headquarters.”
“Okay.” I took his hand, focused on where I wanted to go, the headquarters for star children and before I knew it, we were there. “I had no idea there was a headquarters for us. Is this what humans call heaven?”
“I guess I forgot to give you those memories. But yes, this is part of what most would call heaven.”
“What’s the other part?”
“There are living quarters for those whose missions don’t require going to earth,” he explained. “Headquarters is where all of the business is conducted.”
“So what do we do now that we’re here?”
“Aimee!” a woman called from a distance. She seemed excited as she walked towards me. I wished I could have shared in the excitement, but I didn’t have the slightest clue as to who she was. “Welcome back sunshine!” She gave me a hug. She had long red hair and bright green eyes. Not as bright as they eye I saw before. She had fair skin and freckles and an air of cheerfulness about her. Even though I wasn’t sure who she was to me, there was part of me that thought she was a friend.
“Thanks,” I said awkwardly.
“Oh, I’m sorry; you don’t remember me do you?” She looked down in disappointment and I felt bad about it but there was nothing I could do.
“I don’t…sorry.”
“I’m Jen, we’re practically sisters.”
“Really, because I remember my sister and you’re not her.” I thought it was a little weird but with the state my memory was in, anything could have been possible. Nevertheless, I was still questioning my sanity. It was happening a lot. The more I learned about this world, the more I thought I was crazy and imagining the whole thing. Part of me expected to wake up at any moment.
“We’re not actually sisters. We’re just really good friends so it seems like we’re sisters.” I could tell she was being patient with me, but she was a little hurt that I couldn’t remember her.
“Right…I guess someone forgot to give me those memories,” I said while nudging Andy in the ribs.
“You can give people memories?” I could feel the hope and excitement build up within Jen.
“Yeah, my mom figured out how to do it.”
“This is great! You have to teach me how to do it.”
“I’ll teach you sometime. Right now Aimee and I have to go to critical issues.”
“We do?” I had no idea what “critical issues” was or why we had to go there. Was it because of what was happening to me?
“Critical issues? What’s going on? Are you alright?” Jen looked worried. If she knew me so well, she should have known about what Evan had been up to for so long.
“Yeah, just the usual Evan stuff,” Andy said with a smile.
“Oh right.” Jen smiled back. “Well I hope things get taken care of soon. I’ll catch up with you guys later. It was great to see you again Aimee.”
“You too Jen, take care.” I was relieved I didn’t have to talk any more. Having a conversation with someone I didn’t remember wasn’t exactly what I considered to be a good time. I turned to Andy and asked, “Why didn’t you tell me we were coming here for a reason?”
“I only thought about it when we got here, I thought it would be a good idea to let the higher ups know what we’re dealing with now. Maybe they can help.”
“I thought you said Evan does this sort of thing all the time. Have we been here before?”
“Yeah, but Evan is using other creatures to try to get to you. He’s never done that before.”
I fully realized the seriousness of the situation. The next time Evan got to me was going to be the last because he wouldn’t let me get away. He had other star children and creatures on his side and I had no clue who was on my side. I wondered if there were creatures around who would be willing to help us fight. I wasn’t sure I could get myself out of Evan’s grasp if he managed to get a hold of me again.
“What will critical issues do to help us? Isn’t there a war going on? Will this situation even matter to them?” I had to ask. I hardly knew anything about the war, but I figured it would be more important than someone trying to kidnap me.
“You’re the key to winning this war…” Andy started.
“Why? There’s nothing special about me. I can hardly remember anything anyway so why am I such an important part of this war? What aren’t you telling me?” I must have been dreaming because there was no way anything like this could ever happen to me. I figured eventually I was going to wake up in an insane asylum and everything would be over.
“Will you stop questioning your sanity!?” Andy snapped. “This is all real and it’s serious. The world as we know it could cease to exist if we don’t win this war.”
“You still haven’t told me how I factor into all of this. What makes me such an important part of winning the war? I need answers Andy.” I was irritated. I kept hearing things about myself that I had no memory of and was given little to no explanation. It was all very frustrating.
Andy calmed down. He knew I was right, but I had a feeling he wasn’t going to give me the answers I wanted. He took a deep breath and said, “I know. It’s just that I’m not sure you’re ready to know everything yet. I’m trying to protect you.”
“Don’t you think I’ll end up having the same reaction no matter when you tell me? Whether or not I’m ready to know everything, you’ll never know unless you just get it over with and tell me. Things are getting more intense and I
think I deserve to know what’s going on and what I’m getting myself into.” I was nervous to find out what Andy was hiding from me all this time, but at the same time I knew it was better to know everything than to be left in the dark.
“You’re right. It wouldn’t be good if Evan got a hold of you and you were still in the dark about everything.” Andy paused for a moment and sighed. “Let’s go to critical issues first and then I swear, I’ll tell you everything.”
“Alright, but I’m going to hold you to it.” I couldn’t help but notice how conflicted Andy was. He really didn’t want to tell me, but at the same time he knew I needed to know. I was starting to wonder how bad things were going to get once I knew everything. “How do we get to critical issues?”
“Well, we can walk, or we can go there the same way we got here.” He smiled. He must have known I wanted to try flying on my own. I looked around until I eventually saw a door with the big letters “C.I.” on it in red. I focused on being right in front of the door and in a matter of seconds, I was there. I looked behind me to see that Andy was still standing where I stood moments ago. I waved at him and suddenly he was right next to me. “You did it!” He exclaimed as he gave me a hug.
“You know, it’s more like teleportation than flying.”
“So sue me, I used the wrong term,” he said playfully. “Come on, let’s go in.”
I walked through the door and saw what looked like a huge office. There was one big desk right when we walked in and behind it there were many smaller desks and separate rooms all around. I never would have imagined anything like this. It seemed too earthly to be part of our headquarters, but maybe I was wrong. Maybe earth had offices like this one because of headquarters. I had no idea, but it sounded good to me. It didn’t seem too much like a boring office space, everything seemed to be swallowed in a beautiful bright white light that left me in a state of amazement.
“Aimee, Andy! It’s good to see you again. Is Evan causing more problems?” The woman behind the desk seemed so chipper. I wondered why, considering the seriousness of the department she worked in. My guess was that someone had to break the tension and it may as well have been her.
“Yeah, you know how it goes,” Andy said with a forced smile. He was almost as worried as I was.
“I’ll go see if Michael is ready for you two.” She walked out of sight with a spring in her step. It was very unusual to me. She reminded me of the cheerful nurse who took me into the doctor’s office a while ago but there was no way she was the same woman. She had an aura of happiness about her despite her surroundings.
“She is the nurse you from when you went to see my mom,” Andy said quietly.
“No way.” I didn’t know what else to say.
“I know it’s hard to believe but it’s true.”
“So we’re here to see Michael? As in the archangel Michael?” I whispered. I was shocked at the possibility of meeting an archangel. Maybe I was going crazy but who would make up such a thing? Crazy people, that’s who.
“Yeah, he’s the one who give us our missions.”
“Right.” I definitely wasn’t sane. It seemed like such an arrogant thing, for someone to make up a world in where they were an angel. There was no way this was really happening.
“He’s ready for you,” said the cheerful receptionist. She led us through the office to a large conference room. “Here you are.” She allowed us to enter the room, closed the door and headed back to her desk.
“Have a seat and we’ll get started.” Michael towered over me by at least a foot. He had a dark complexion and nothing but love in his eyes. He wore a nice suit which confused me. I could have never imagined an angel to look like that. Or maybe I could have…if I was dreaming.
Andy and I took our seats at the massive conference table. I was so nervous about what was going to happen that I was shaking like a leaf. Andy noticed my nerves and grabbed my hand in an effort to stabilize me. It helped a little, but I couldn’t shake my nerves. I knew the feeling wouldn’t go away until after the meeting was over. I kept a tight grip on Andy’s hand hoping it would keep me calm. He must have known what I was doing because he winked and flashed a reassuring smile my way that always made my heart skip a beat.
“I know about your reoccurring problems with Evan and for you two to be here again there must have been some new development.” Michael looked at me and I froze in my place, unsure of what to say.
Andy squeezed my hand, calming me down and answered for me. “Yes, I think Evan has recruited other creatures to support him in his efforts to destroy humanity and kidnap Aimee again for their own purposes.”
“What makes you think that?” Michael asked.
“Tell him about your experiences,” Andy said softly.
“Which ones?”
“The eyes.”
I turned to Michael and said, “One night I saw a big green eye in my dream and when I woke up, it was still there staring at me for what seemed to be a long time. A different night I had a vision where Evan had kidnapped me and one of his followers, Gina, was there holding me down. And shortly before we came here, I was unpacking and saw a pair of orange eyes in the doorway. My only guess is that it was Gina.” I felt a little less nervous, but I was still shaking because I didn’t know what to expect next.
“This is worse than I thought,” Michael started, “if Evan is working with other creatures, he’s going to try to end the war soon and he can’t do it without you, Aimee. Evan will try to get you to fight for his side very soon. This is all happening faster than I expected.”
I didn’t want to ask the question on my mind, but my mouth worked faster than my brain. “Why can’t either side win the war without me? What’s so special about me?”
“She doesn’t know?” I could feel Michael trying to stifle his anger followed by a return to his loving nature.
“No, I was going to tell her after we talked to you, but if she needs to know now, you can tell her.”
“She might take it better coming from you. I doubt she even remembers me.” I blushed at the realization that Michael could read my mind too.
I felt Andy’s nerves build up which meant mine were too. I was about to find out what he had been keeping from me since we reconnected. Anticipation bubbled over as I waited for him to tell me what he had been dreading for so long.
He turned to face me and took a deep breath. “It’s your dad. He’s the one who started the war. He thinks we’re better than the humans and should be the ones inhabiting the earth instead. You have other abilities that none of us have and your dad wants you to fight alongside him, but you refused and started the fight to keep him from destroying the human population. He sent Evan your way hoping he could persuade you to join his efforts, but it backfired. Since then, it’s been his mission to get you on his side.”
“So I started the war? This whole thing is my fault?” I felt the waterworks starting and failed to suppress it.
“No, Aimee, it’s not your fault.” Andy kept a hand on my back in attempt to make me feel better. His intoxicating energy hardly helped.
“It is,” I snapped. “I started the fight against him and now he’s doing everything in his power to get me to work with him!” I was hysterical. It was all too much for me to handle. I couldn’t fathom the thought of starting a war. Despite all of that, I remembered Andy mentioning that I had other abilities and I had no clue what they were. Curiosity quickly took over my hysterical mood. “What kind of other abilities do I have? I haven’t done anything special so far.”
“You will in time,” Michael said. “We are going to have to draw it out of you fast if we’re going to win this war.”
“But, what is this ability and how is it going to help us win the war?” I was on a rollercoaster of emotions. I wished I could have picked one emotion and stuck with it, but my body didn’t let me.
“You have the ability to control things,” Michael explained.
“What kind of things?” My mind raced
with the possibilities.
“People, the weather, you can control just about anything you want,” Andy said. “I’ve seen you do it before.”
I was shocked, frozen where I sat and unable to speak a word. I was really questioning my sanity after hearing that. No one had ever been able to do such things, at least no one I’ve ever heard of. There was no way I could do something like that. After a moment, I calmed myself down and managed to ask, “How do I do it?”
“Pretty much the same way you do everything else.” It seemed like that was Andy’s answer for everything.
“You need to practice. I recommend you come here at least once a day to do so. You can report to the training floor starting tomorrow.” Michael seemed slightly less intimidating when I realized he was only trying to help me. I could feel the full extent of his loving nature when my fear had fully subsided. I felt a little ridiculous about being scared of him before but I needed to put it in the past.
“I think she would do better practicing at home.”
“It’s too dangerous. She has no clue what she’s doing at this point and could hurt someone or herself.”
“Good point. We’ll be here first thing tomorrow,” Andy said without so much as a glance my way. I hated when people talked about me like I wasn’t around. But what was I going to do? I couldn’t refuse to learn how to use all these abilities. Part of me was excited. If it wasn’t for the circumstances, I probably would have felt a whole lot better.
“Great, I’ll let Raphael know.” Michael shook our hands and walked us out of the room.
Chapter 11
I found myself sitting on the couch. It felt like I had been asleep for hours. I realized I was cradled in Andy’s arms, which was exactly where I wanted to be. After everything I had learned, it was just what I needed.
“What was that?” I asked in amazement of what I had just experienced.
“Humans call it astral travel,” Andy explained.
“So we were just in another dimension?”
“Yeah.”
“But before you said we were basically in outer space.”