Divine Intervention

Clay woke up with a start.
Wiping his face, he noticed it wasn't blood but sweat that coated his face.
A sigh of relief, then realisation. A bad dream.
He wept, clutching his heart in pain.

A young boy who went through too much.
A childhood scarred and bloodied.
An abusive father and a dead mother who fell victim to his father's moment of rage.
A life ended before him, the blood of his beloved mother on him.

A childhood in tatters, ruined.
The soul of a child firmly in the cold clutches of demons.
Demons, whose sibilant whispers preach only sorrow, hate, anger and death.

Clay crawled out of bed.
He brushed his teeth and washed up. His eyes were dazed and vacant.
He left a note, a long one.
A note of gratitude and thanks, of painful goodbyes and sorrys.
The demons laughed, knowing they'd succeeded. One more soul would they claim.

But a corrupted soul would never go unnoticed in the realms of the spirits.
Angels moved and shifted in response.
As Clay left his place, his best friend, Elle, came.

Elle, a childhood friend. The only friend that Clay confided in.
Guided by the hands of an angel, she went to visit Clay.
Elle brought breakfast, knowing that the poor chap would most likely skip it and go to work.
Elle knew of the hell Clay went through.
She gave him all her support and also helped him the only way she knew how -
Church, a sanctuary.  She had hoped it would be for him too.

She reached and knocked on the door.
It was ajar.
The home he inherited was small and often not too clean, typical of a single teen.
Elle walked in, calling his name cheerfully.
No reply.
She sensed something amiss, that's when she saw it.
A note.
Horror struck her.
Adrenalin flooded her blood stream as she bolted out of the house, praying to God that she wasn't too late.

Clay stood at the edge of the building.
This was his workplace.  He'd often come up to the rooftop to stare at the sky.
He remembered bringing Elle up there too.
A recollection of laughter and sorrows they both shared, and the promises he'd made too.

The demons plunged their talons deeper.
Clay clutched at his heart again, a dull ache as dark memories flooded his head.
Tears streamed down his cheeks.

The demons laughed, like sounds of leaves rustling and snakes hissing.
They continued their soul poisoning of the boy.
One more soul for the dark lord.
One more soul to burn in the fiery depths of hell.
One more soul denied to God.

The angel accompanying Elle, blessed her with speed that she would normally never achieve.
Elle ran and the angel pressed her on, urging her.
The angel was calling out to others to help.
They responded and went on forward to save Clay.

Somehow, Elle knew just where Clay would be.
A mere hunch or a woman's intuition? Or was it God?
She ran for dear life, not for her own but for a friend's.
She bounded for the fire stairs at breakneck speed.
Sweat soaked her clothes and her muscles ached.
She noticed nothing, save for the ticking of time.

Clay was ready to go.
He was done with the rambling and hateful rants of life's cruelty.
This was it.
The demons urged him on.
One more step forward.  That's all it would take.
He lifted his right foot off the ledge...

----------*-------------*-------------

"CLAY! Don't!!"
Clay froze hearing that familiar voice.
Elle barged through the fire escape door on the rooftop.
The angel accompanying her giving her strength to do so.
She saw Clay.
She screamed his name again, in pain and fear of him dying in front of her eyes.

Clay turned his head slowly.
Surprised and shocked to see his best friend.
Elle was sobbing, her words a bit incoherent.
"Don't do this, don't leave me alone."
''........''
"What about God? He could help you! Just don't do this!"

That hit a nerve.
"What God?!", cried Clay furiously.
"He could have saved my mother, but He didn't, did He?!"
Clay went on to vent out his hate-filled anger.
Elle merely stood there and sobbed.
"You forgot your promise", Elle said in a sad small voice.

Clay's eyes widened.
The promise.
A promise he was about to break.
He knew what he had to do.
Slowly, he turned to face Elle.
His feet inching further from the edge as he started towards her.

The scale had tipped, the demons knew.
They were losing the battle.
They played their hands,
laughing, as the angels cried in anguish.

Elle froze.
"No..", she breathed.
Clay stumbled and lost his footing.
Elle rushed forward desperately, but in vain.
Clay tumbled off the edge.
A high-pitched scream, her mind praying frantically for a miracle.

A burst of brilliant light.
Elle saw it, and as if in slow motion, she saw what transpired.
Three figures clad in light, dove down after Clay.
Her face now a mask of wonder.
Then she ran downstairs as fast as she could, her angel following suit.

A loud crash, debris, shard and shrapnel flew all over the place.
Something huge had landed on top of a car.
Clay's face was cut in a few places.
Yet, he stood, after falling off ten floors.
He saw two angels clad in armor.
One was lean, clad in midnight black armor, with an obsidian sword drawn.
The other, silver armor, his face grizzled and instead of a sword, his gauntlets were forged into claws.
Then he heard howls, howls that chilled his soul.

The angels stepped forward and met the challenge.
Terrible yet magnificent, they calmly held their ground.
A roar, from behind, another giant appeared.
Clad in armor of gold, the giant ran forward and planted a great flaming blade on the ground.
Great fire leaped forward and burned the demons into ashes.

The giant knelt in front of Clay.
In the midst of chaos, the giant exuded calm and serenity.
Upon reaching the crash site, Elle gasped when she saw the giant.
The giant smiled, reaching out his hands.

"Are you alright, son?"

Clay's eyes were wide in wonder, tears flowing.
It was there and then, he realized who had saved him.


Writer's note: This story is inspired by the song Peaches by New Heights ft. Tony D'Angelo. This story is not entirely 'biblical' so Christians out there, don't shoot me for this. A big shout out to a friend who patiently helped edited this piece of work for me. Elle, thanks :D (same name as the character in my stories but not portrayed so)  There might be