Read Online When Death Loved an Angel by Cheree Alsop - Free Book Online

mom wasn’t looking.
    Death watched them, taken by the happy scene. He was puzzled as to the cause of Julia’s death. She appeared healthy and young, an active mother enjoying her daughter’s company.
    Death was about to turn away when a rumble filled the mall. People screamed as the ground began to shake. It was a city unused to earthquakes, and no one knew what to do. Glass storefronts shattered, mannequins in expensive clothing toppled to the ground, the skylights of the mall shifted and broke, sending glass and wooden beams raining down on the rushing crowds. Screams and cries for help filled the air.
    Death lost sight of Julia and her daughter for a moment. When he spotted them, Julia was trapped under a corner of ceiling that had fallen from the second story. She didn’t appear to be in a horrible condition until Death drew close enough to see a piece of rebar sticking straight through her stomach. His knees weakened though they shouldn’t have. He shouldn’t feel any weakness at all. It was all he could do to force himself to Julia’s side. Her daughter held her hand, pleading with her.
    “Are you alright, Mommy? Someone will help you get out. You’ll be okay. Trust me, Mommy. I’ll take care of you while you get better.” She held her mother’s hand, unwilling to look at the bar through her mom’s stomach or the way Julia’s eyes drifted past her unseeing.
    Death stood above them. Julia’s name was on the list. Chaos thundered all around, but Death felt as if he and two girls were the only beings in existence. He knelt slowly next to the little girl. He was about to reach out to Julia when the little girl looked up into his face. Her bright blue eyes were filled with tears, but they hadn’t spilled over yet. Her little lip quivered, but she was being strong for her mother. She was being strong for all of them.
    “Don’t take her.” The little girl’s voice was a whisper, but it carried over every other sound in the mall. Dust drifted through the air, debris lay underfoot, and the discord of a thousand distressed voices mingled in the air; all Death heard was that little voice, pleading for him to leave her mother.
    “She,” he began, but his throat felt tight and thick. He tried again. “She can’t make it, not like that.” He gestured to the rod sticking out of Julia’s stomach.
    “Fix it,” the little girl pleaded. “I know you can do it.”
    He shook his head and his tears spilled over the same time that hers did. “I can’t heal people. I take them away to somewhere they won’t hurt.”
    “But I don’t want my mommy to go,” the girl sobbed. “I need her and she needs me. We’re a team. She says so all the time.”
    Before Death could move, the little girl buried her face against his chest and wrapped her arms around him. He sat there frozen, afraid to move, afraid to touch her. His touch meant death. He was Death.  He couldn’t help her. Julia’s name was written on his arm.
    Like another name , the voice in his mind said.
    The girl’s embrace had caught his sleeve, pushing it up to where the remaining names were visible . Gregan Parker’s name sat at the top in dark black, a bold reminder of his failure.
    Julia gave a little cry of pain. Her daughter left Death sitting there and knelt by her mother. Sirens sounded outside the mall. Fire engines and ambulances had arrived. Emergency teams began to pour into the building.
    Julia’s daughter wiped the tears from her mother’s face. She smoothed back the black hair that matched her own, lovingly tucking her mother’s hair behind her ear as her mother had no doubt done many times before with her daughter. Julia’s hand reached up to grasp her daughter’s. The little girl looked back at Death. Her eyes were bright and unafraid. There was no fear in them, only pleading. “Please?” she asked in that tiny voice that rang louder than any other sound in the mall.
    EMTs swarmed the little group. Death stepped back, giving