PART 6

CHAPTER 6

“Susan, please, try to stay calm, breathe!” Monica said, holding the teacher’s hand.

“... I’m gonna lose my baby!”

“No, you’re not! If you hang on in there just a bit longer, I’m sure you’ll be rescued and taken to a hospital!” the Irish angel insisted, extremely scared. Fortunately, there was still a gallon of water completely full inside the lab. Andrew filled a bowl containing fresh water and wetted a piece of cloth, placing it on the teacher’s forehead.

“It’s hot in here. I know it’s not much but the water is cold,” he spoke.

Grace found a destroyed desk took its fluffy part out of it, “She could use it as a pillow...”

“Yes, good idea, Grace. Susan, lie down a little,” Monica helped the teacher to lay down on the dirty floor, but the pain didn’t stop.

“It hurts so much!” she whispered, scaring the two angels even more.

“She’s having contractions, Andrew!”

“Yes, but she can’t have the baby here... look around us!”

“Oh, Father, please, help us!” the Irish angel closed her eyes and prayed, “Help this mother and this poor little child!”

Susan’s contractions lasted for a few minutes more, but they finally stopped. The teacher had tears in her eyes and on her face, but they were not from pain. The fear she was feeling was the greatest she had ever experienced and the angels and Grace also shared it.

Monica wetted the piece of cloth in the water and replaced it on Susan’s forehead, “You did great, Susan. Just great!”

“... I’m so scared...”

“Don’t be,” Andrew intervened, “Cause God is taking care of you right now.”

“I don’t understand... Then why did He let that happen?”

“God didn’t let this happen. Earthquakes happen everyday and it’s not the first time this city is hit by one,” Monica spoke, “And I’m glad that, this time, we are here with you.”

After swallowing hard, Susan sighed somewhat sadly, “Thank you...” her voice was a weak one.

“You don’t have to thank us. The contractions are over and right now the best thing to do is rest a little.”

Feeling extremely exhausted, the teacher drank some water and fell into a restless sleep. Although they couldn’t see the difference under tons of debris, night had already fallen down and outside the rescue team worked as fast as they could, trying their best to find the 4 lives buried under the school building.

Tess watched everything with anguish filling her eyes. She knew Monica and Andrew were on assignment and that God was always with them, but that didn’t stop her from worrying deeply about her two beloved friends. With everything in her soul, she prayed for them to be alright and, at the same time, tried to put Tom’s heart at ease by saying words of encouragement and faith to him.

By 10 PM, a couple made their way through the crowd that watched the rescue work. The woman was crying desperately while the man tried to pass through the barrier the firefighters had set. One of them came to stop him, “Sir, you can’t go further than that, it’s a risky area.”

“My daughter is there! She’s inside that building!”

“Grace Turner?”

“Yes! We went to the hospital and Mr Davis, the inspector, told us that our little girl is here!”

“We’re looking for her already, sir. We’ll do everything we can to find her.”

As the firefighter returned to his work, Tess approached the couple, “Mr and Mrs Turner? My name is Tess, this is Thomas Bale. We too have people who we love inside that building.”

“Our Grace is everything we have...” the mother cried. The angel placed a supportive hand above her shoulder.

“We’ve been praying for her and for the others, Mrs Turner. Please, pray with us.”

*

Inside the lab, beaten by exhaustion, Susan and Grace ended up falling asleep. Andrew was checking out the room to see if there was any danger of a new collapsing but, so far, he didn’t find any. Monica was sitting on the floor, next to the others and, with her hands conjoined, she had just finished to offer a silent prayer when he kneeled in front of her. The Irish angel opened her eyes and raised her head, a tiny smile already forming on her lips. Andrew was going to return her smile but, at the moment he looked at her face, the blond angel frowned with concern.

“Monica...”

“What is it?...”

He stood up and took the bottle of alcohol and some more gauze to wipe the blood that was again flowing from the cut on her temple, near her eyebrow, “You need to have these wounds treated, honey,” he said, hating when she flinched as the gauze touched her skin.

“I will, pretty soon, you’ll see,” she answered, “And I’ll even have time to take care of you!”

Her cheerful tone of voice caused a tiny smile to appear on his worried face, “Not that I wouldn’t like it, much on the contrary, I would love it; but I’d rather take care of you instead.”

The Irish angel took his hand in both of hers, “You’re already doing it.”

He finished to treat her cut and gathered his dearest friend in his arms, kissing the top of her head repeatedly. Monica also held him tightly and both angels remained in this embrace for some minutes.

“I would’ve never imagined that something like this was going to happen,” the blond angel said, after some time, always soothing her hair.

“None of us would, Andrew. Please, don’t think that you could have done something to stop it, cause nobody could!” she replied, resting her head on his chest.

“I know... It’s just that I’ve seen things like this happen before and all I could do was wait to take people Home, after much suffering...”

Monica raised her head and looked deep into his sad green eyes, “As an angel of death your gift is to bring peace and comfort to the ones who are in pain, Andrew, and take them to the Father’s presence. But everyday I raise my eyes to the sky and thank Him for allowing you to work with Tess and me, as a caseworker. That is a gift I treasure with all my heart.”

Her kind words were like a warm embrace and filled his heart with a sudden sensation of peace. “I’m so eternally grateful for the truth that comes from you, Monica. It’s amazing how it’s always there to bring comfort to my heart whenever I need it,” he said, carefully placing the palm of his hand on her cheek.

She covered his hand with hers and, always smiling, continued to talk, “And I believe that’s why you’re here now, as a caseworker and not as an angel of death. God sent you to stay with this little girl and if you hadn’t found her when the earthquake started, I don’t even like to think about what could’ve happened. Not to mention what you did for Susan and me a few hours ago.”

Andrew placed some strands of hair behind her ear, “But then, again, what would I do without you, my angel?” he placed a tiny kiss on the tip of her nose and a loving kiss on her cheek, and held her close one more time.

“Then I guess it’s my turn to tell you that you don’t need to worry about that, because I too have no intention to go anywhere away from you and Tess for the next few centuries... and in the ones after these!” she replied, burying her face in his shoulder.

“I would never let you try that anyway!” he joked, causing a small giggle to escape from her.

*

Another hour passed by and the Irish angel ended up falling asleep in Andrew’s arms. He was holding her closer and each and every time he looked at the ones around him, the blond angel felt his heart clench with sadness and a slight sensation of guilty. Despite Monica’s words, if he just had gone after Grace some minutes earlier he would have found her and all of them would’ve left the school building before the earthquake started. He sighed deeply and wished those thoughts would go away when he suddenly heard a tiny voice right beside him.

“Andrew?...” Grace murmured, with a sleepy and confused face.

“Hey Grace, are you feeling ok? Is there something you want?”

“No...” she placed her glasses on and sat up straight, “... just had a dream that I was at home, doing some paperwork on my computer.”

“Well, that’s what you’ll be doing very soon, sweetie!”

“You and Monica always make people feel better.”

He managed a small smile, “Well, concerning Monica, I can say you’re perfectly right. About me, I just can say thanks.”

The little girl looked down at the Irish angel and straightened her glasses, “I have to tell you something... A little secret I’ve just found out...” she said, with seriousness.

“What is it?”

“I guess Monica loves you!” she completed, and it took Andrew a lot of effort not to laugh at the solemn tone on her voice and at that conclusion.

“Do you really think so?” he asked, as serious as her, as if he too was surprised with that statement.

“Yes! Haven’t you noticed the way she looks at you?”

“Well, to be honest, I had a suspicion about this... But now that you’re telling me that, I’m quite sure!”

Giggling, and sure she had solved a mystery, Grace continued to talk, “And do you love her back?”

The blond angel smiled and looked down at the sleeping angel, “Yes, I do. With all my heart.”

“So, are you going to ask her for a date?”

Chuckling at the girl’s insistence, he rolled his eyes to figure out how he would explain his relationship with Monica, “Well... We’ll see about it later...”

Suddenly, a low noise interrupted their conversation and both of them nearly stopped breathing: the firefighters were working somewhere above them.