After being thrown into the cargo bed of the old rusty pickup he must have lost consciousness a few times. Now HE was dragging him through a wooded area while SHE silently followed and watched. He knew there would be no chance of survival this time and he didn't want to. The hunger, the misery of being locked in a cage and the pain of the many beatings had just become too much. It had started in the house, HE wanted to work him with his belt again until he would beg HIM to stop until he would be completely submissive. Not this time! Fuck it and fuck HIM! It took the utmost of him not to cry out in pain and continue to look HIM pointedly in the eye without showing one sign of submission or fear. On the contrary, his eyes radiated nothing but contempt for HIM and HER. He knew that doing this and continuing to do it would be his death sentence. But he would be damned if his last act on Earth was an act of submission or fear. In the woods, he was thrown hard against the ground by HIM and when he saw HIM pull out a hammer from out of his waistband, he became strangely totally calm, a sense of peace descended upon him. At least it would be over soon enough, he thought. He felt the first two blows to his body, a flaming, sickening pain shot through him. The final blow he saw coming but did not feel it land. Everything went black.
The strange thing was that he was still kind of conscious, something he was totally not expecting and did not want. He wanted to sink into black nothingness. Never to think about anything again, never to feel anything again. He thought he heard voices but attributed that to the fact that he was probably still dying and since he no longer felt pain, he thought that was fine.
"He must go to Raphael! Now!"
"He doesn't belong here!"
"Both stop it right now and take him to Raphael!"
"But mom..."
"Do as I say Samael!
"Yes, Milady."
He didn't know how long it had been completely dark, but he could now sort of think again and sort of feel. He seemed to be floating on his back in some kind of liquid. On the one hand, it was a pleasant feeling. On the other hand, it slowly irritated him that this dying thing seemingly had to take so long. At least he was no longer in pain, and it couldn't last that long anyway. He sincerely hoped there was no Heaven or Hell. Not that he was afraid of landing in Hell. After all, what could he as a child have done wrong to go to that place? Nothing, had never had the chance to. Maybe violated the commandment "father, mother shall be honored" daily. But he thought there were extenuating circumstances for him considering his parents and what they did to him. Starved him, locked him in a cage, beaten or better tortured him, pressed burning cigarettes on him, and finally killed him by dropping a hammer on his skull. No, he had mitigating circumstances. And if there did exist a God and a Heaven and God threw the commandment at his feet then he would look at him with as much rebellion and contempt as he had looked at his father in his last moments on Earth. Was he therefore thrown into Hell? So, fucking what! And there were those annoying little voices in the distance again and they were beginning to irritate him.
"Raphael, what is happening?"
"I have never experienced this before Milady. His body should not look like this, it should already be on its way to healing completely."
"Look what they have done to this poor beautiful boy. Every time I heal him his body refuses to stay healed and goes back to the state, we found him in. How can that be?"
"I think the answer is both simple and incredibly sad Milady. I think this boy doesn't want to live anymore and that's why he doesn't want to come back, that's why he's anchored in nothingness."
He had no sense of time at all. Was it seconds since he had heard the little voices or hours, maybe days, he had no idea. God in his so-called omnipotent creative state had this whole dying thing pretty much fucked up. Either you're dead or you're alive so make up your mind already. He had gone with his father to the DMV once and this was starting to look pretty much like that. Drawing a number and then having to wait in the vestibule of Hell for all eternity. Ah fuck there are the little voices again, why can't they just leave me alone, and enjoy the black nothingness? This was starting to get more than annoying, he thought.
" Raphael, how's he doing?"
"Not good Sam. But do Mom and Dad know you're here? Does Sammy know you're here?"
"Mom knows and Sammy does not know at all. Can't you really do anything for him?"
"Mom has already tried. She has used her full power for it. I am the healer I don't have the powers of the gods. This boy just doesn't want to live anymore. I don't know how much longer we can anchor him before he slips away completely."
"Samantha, you shouldn't be here and stay away from him!"
"Silence Samael! Yes, I am your little sister but in moments with the permission of your Goddess I am also your Princess!"
Those little voices were starting to get very fucking annoying now, and he hoped they would stop soon. Suddenly bright blue streaks of light blazed through the darkness as if they were blue asteroids shooting through the dark night. Although he did not feel his body, he wanted to grab one of them and at that moment all hell broke loose. He gasped for air like a drowning man. Again, felt all the burning pain in his body from the last beating. The pain in his head was unbearable. He could see again and in his confused state, it seemed as if he was in some kind of hospital. He wanted to fight, scream that everything was too much, hurt too much until he saw her. The most beautiful blue eyes he had ever seen, and two thick tears had formed that rolled slowly down her cheeks. But her sight, her beauty was mesmerizing, reassured him. Panic left his body he began to think coherently again. He wanted to get up on the bed, but a strong hand stopped him:
"Calm down kid, sitting up is not good for you."
He wanted to struggle but she came up beside him and took his hand. Softly she said:
"Please do as Raphael asks. He is our best healer."
Reassured by her hands around his, he let himself fall back. The next moment an elegant, beautiful lady with a warm smile stood beside the girl.
"Hello Alexander, glad you decided to stay with us. If you want to lie quietly for a while, Raphael and I can heal you. Don't worry, it won't hurt, just a kind of warm peaceful feeling in your whole body. Okay?"
He struggled to understand everything that was happening and to nod slowly. The next moment he felt the lady's hands on his head and chest and those of what he thought was a doctor on his stomach and legs. She had not exaggerated; it was feeling like a warmth moving through his whole body and it was peaceful. After a few minutes, the feeling stopped, and he could think coherently again. In a raucous voice, he asked:
"Where am I?"
The elegant lady spoke:
"The infirmary."
"How long?"
"Two days."
"Great, I'm dead as a doornail."
"What makes you think you'd be dead?"
She asked with a warm smile. Alexander closed his eyes for a second or two and then replied:
"Oh not so much actually. Let's see. After the beating I had to endure, I should have been in the ICU if I had survived. Here, however, there are no machines in sight that would normally seriously get on my nerves with their beeping. No tubes going in or out of my body and I don't feel any bandages anywhere. The last three blows I received must have at least splintered my femur, broken a couple of ribs, and probably punctured my lung. Let's not forget that the last blow I saw coming must have left a serious hole in my skull. None of you wear the scrubs that ICU doctors wear. The terminology you guys use would make absolutely no sense on Earth and I'm pretty sure that just hands would not really help my wounds. People who are not immediate relatives would never be allowed near an ICU patient and certainly not a girl."
At which he pointed to her and saw that she still had tears in her eyes.
"Not to mention that Spicy Red here put that grump in that corner in his place by suggesting to him that she is a Princess. Samael and Samantha? If she is a Princess and you are her mother, that makes you the Queen. Since this is way too neat and soothing, I don't think Hell but Heaven. So, unless the Bible is very wrong then you are not the Queen but the Goddess. But if Red is your daughter then there must be a God hanging around somewhere too."
After those words, the Goddess and the Healer stood looking at him amused, and relief and pleasure had appeared in Red's eyes as he had christened her.
"That's a remarkably keen observation ability for someone your age Alexander."
Said the Goddess as she gently placed a hand on his bare shoulder. His reply sounded much more bitter than he would have liked:
"You learn fast when you have to assess every day where, when, and how the blows will fall..."
The Goddess squeezed his shoulder encouragingly and tried to distract him a little. He realized it but let it happen, he didn't want to think about all that misery for a while.
"And you don't seem shocked that there is a God and Goddess?"
"Nah, why would it, maybe one of the very few things the Bible has or should I say had correct. I once read that in the original Genesis, don't remember in what language but at least ancient, and before it was filtered out it said - And THEY created man in THEIR image. The last time I was in school they still struck plural. And why should God be different from what He created? Male and female everywhere. God and Goddess, absolutely normal yes."
He looked at the Goddess sternly for a moment:
"The only thing I can't figure out right now is why the Goddess is at my bedside. An incredible amount of people around the world die every day and unless they all go to Hell, which I can't imagine, why would you here in Heaven go round to shake hands with the newcomers one by one?"
"That's the one question I'm going to answer today, Alexander. Your soul has a lot of healing to do, and you need rest."
Indeed, he felt himself becoming very sleepy and slowly nodded.
"I am here with you Alexander because you are very special and because we want you healthy and well. Close your eyes boy when you wake up, we will talk further."
The Goddess gently placed her hand on his eyes, and he slipped into a pleasant sleep.