(Page 1 of 4) Angel: Chapters 3 & 4 by Fr.Thomas KulpSUMMARY: The story continues....Chapter Three
"Please close the door," says the strange black man. Angel pulls it shut while the man lights a small kerosene lamp. "My name's Ezekiel," he says. He pulls a pouch from his vest jacket and takes out some sandwiches. "Help yourself," he says. Angel takes one and devours it hungrily. She hadn't realized just how hungry she was. Between gulps, she asks "Who are you?"
"I think he is our guardian angel, Angel,". says Selena as she draws up behind her.
Ezekiel chuckles. "Indeed you can call me that, though I'm not truly an angel. I am simply a messenger come to show you the path home. But don't stand there gaping like fools! Come sit a spell, both of you, and we'll have ourselves a nice little chat."
I was truly dumbfounded by the appearance of this wizened old man who called himself Ezekiel. He said he was not truly an angel. Was he a prophet then, like his namesake? In any case, I was intrigued. Selena and I sat cross legged to either side of the lamp and looked into his dark, piercing eyes, prepared to listen. Somehow I was drawn into those eyes so that I no longer saw the movement of his mouth nor any other facial feature as he spoke. I can't remember his exact words, but the gist was somewhat as follows:
"The time has come for you to remember your true origins, for you are not of this world. Indeed, you are a stranger in a strange land, an outsider, an exile from a dimension distant in time and space, yet existing within and beyond the interstices of this world. Selena is your twin, sent by the Guardians to assist you on the path. I repeat, I am but a messenger. I cannot bring you home, not directly, but I can offer hints and suggestions along the way. I will be with you in times of need, but you yourself must seek the way, and having found it, follow it to the end."
I really don't know how long this encounter lasted, a few minutes or perhaps an hour, but when I came to myself my legs were cramped—and Ezekiel was no longer there. I've suspected for a long time now that I'm crazy, and this experience didn't exactly put my fears to rest. I mean, things like this just don't happen in the real world. But then, how can one be truly sure what is "real?"
I looked over at Selena, comforted that she at least was still present. "Is what he said true?" I asked. "Are we really twins from another dimension?"
She nodded. "I've known for a long time," she confessed, "though there is much I do not remember. I have been gone forever, it seems, and my memory has begun to fade, but I haven't yet forgotten everything."
"But why have you never told me?" I asked, more than a little annoyed that she for so long had left me in the dark.
She hung her head. "I'm truly sorry. But you see, it wasn't permitted. There is a proper time for all revelations, and that time is just now being fulfilled."
I tried to push back the doubt and confusion welling up from inside me, because there was something here that didn't quite fit. Selena was my invisible friend, nothing more, or so I had always thought.
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