The air was cool, moist, and sweet against her tear drenched cheeks. She held her hands up to block what little sunshine was left and gazed out at the liquid sheet of sea. How greatly her heart ached for the ocean right now. The way the waves rolled up, curved under, and came crashing down all in one swift motion. Why couldn’t she be part of that? So simple. So calming. So careless. So....“Karrissa!”
Karrissa jumped at the sudden disturbance and turned away from the only thing that mattered to her. And what she faced to see only made matters worse. Matt, her love, was running towards her eyes full of shock, face covered in worry and confusion. The tendons in his neck strained out and shown violently through his skin with each step he took. He stumbled his way to her, and came to a sudden stop that caused sand to fly up and create a shimmering gold blanket of privacy that swirled and twirled around them for a second or two before falling back to the beach floor. He propped his forearms upon his knees to rest and to catch his breath. Karrissa watched him for a moment before turning back to the sea. The sun was almost completely dipped beneath the earth turning the sky a splattered appearance of deep purples and navy blues, mango oranges, and flamingo pinks. She drank in the sight of it, and felt her adrenaline lower to a normal heartbeat. She closed her eyes. Thankful that the unwanted sensation was long gone, but felt a sudden sickness in her stomach remembering what doctor Richards had told her a few months back. “They will always come and go Karrissa. There is nothing you can do to stop them however, how you handle them when they do appear determines how bad they hit and what damage they cause.” She took yet another deep breathe and let it out. Her chest felt pounds lighter and she welcomed the glory of taking a deep breath without the pain in her breasts. But she knew why these things happened to her. It was those around her who didn’t realize the truth.
“Karrissa, are you ok?” Matt ran the question into one sentence, wanting to get it out. Afraid of what her response may be. Karrissa turned, looked at Matt, and felt tears well up in her eyes. “Matt,” she began. “I... I thought I was gonna.... I thought...” She fell to her knees and buried her face, drained of color, in her black and blue palms. Matt kneeled before her and wrapped his arms around her in a safe feeling, reassuring, and warm embrace. “Matt, I know I’m dying.... but I’m not afraid.” Her voice was unsteady. It shook and quivered from her crying. Matt felt a glob of sadness roll down his own cheek. Embarrassed, he swiped it away with the back of his hand. “You are not going to die Karrissa. You’re sick. You need help. Let them help you Karrissa. Let the doctors help you. They told you, all it takes is some therapy. You’ll be ok. You think your experiencing these things but your not.”
Karrissa pushed him away, and screamed, “You don’t see what I see! And you don’t hear the voices I hear! And I try to help people with the abilities I have, but you are all ungrateful!” Karrissa was beautiful. Long, silky, blonde hair. Glistening green eyes, and a tiny little figure. Many envied her. But she never noticed. She only tried to help others. It was her dream. To help every person she’s ever met cross over. But karrisa had a problem. She believed she was an angel. Literally. Numbers of doctors beyond belief tried to tell Karrissa that she was born and raised like any other child. They showed her multiple pictures of her parents that died in a car crash 4 years before. And every time Karrissa would scream at the picture, rip it, throw it, destroy it the quickest way she could. She told them, “I come from the heavens above. Don’t you see? God sent me to help you! You are all drowning in envy and pain and sin. I am trying to help you! Don’t you want to see heaven? It’s beautiful. It truly is. I cannot wait to return. And you will go with me if you confess what awful lives you have lived. But I’m trying to give you one more chance to fix it all.” Matt left go of her shoulders and took a few steps back.
“Karrissa, do you know why you get anxiety attacks?” He put the question out in the open. Wanting and needing to hear her answer. Karrissa rolled her eyes dramatically. “I’ve told you a million times Matt, they are not anxiety attacks. I mean…they are to you and every other doctor in the world. But before god descended me to earth, he told me that at the end of my four years being here, he would send me a sign Matt, A sign that is time for me to leave. My job is done here. I was told by our lord that I was to help people come into the light and out of the dark. I was not supposed to fall in love while I was here.” A tear drizzled down her cheek like a small little creek. “I was not supposed to fall in love with a sinner, a human.” Matt ran his thumb over her cheek to wipe away her tear. “You fell in love with a person just like you Karrissa. You are my angel, but not god’s.”
The rest of the sentences he spoke to her came out in a spur. Karrissa felt her head begin to heavy and her vision became white. Her heart screamed in fear, and she knew it was time to go.
Matt saw the fear in her eyes and grabbed hold of her waist trying to help her regain her balance enough so that she could walk back to the car. However, her face was drained of color, her lips pale blue, her knuckles pure black. She looked quite frightening, but he loved her too much to be scared of her. He rubbed her cheek, and held her softly in his arms and sat down with her. He knew that the anxiety attack would pass as quickly as it came, but he knew she was scared and he wanted to comfort her.
Karrissa felt the air in her chest being compressed, and her eyes begin to drift shut. She took what little energy she had left and raised her head to look at Matt. “I have to go now Matt. There’s no more keeping me where I don’t belong. It’s time for me to return home.”
Matt lowered his head. “If you wish to go home, I’ll drive you there.” He hooked his forearms underneath the crook of her arms and began to pull her up off the ground. He had her onto her knees, when she suddenly jerked away and sprawled out on the warm sand beneath her. “No matt,” she began. “It’s time for me to go home, as in where I came from. Heaven.” He sighed again and just watched her stubbornly lye in the sand. Her hands were pressed together and her eyes were closed. She was praying. He knelt beside her and did as she did. “Pray with me Matt,” she demanded sweetly. He closed his eyes and listened as she prayed.
“Dear god, my time here on earth has been completed. My legacy fulfilled. I wish to return home and lord I apologize for allowing a human to distract my mission while being here but I know why humans cherish love so much. It’s the closest thing they have to heaven. Watch over Matt and his wonderful family. Keep them safe….”
Matt felt tears well up in his eyes. But he kept them closed because he respected her enough to have just one prayer with her. “And lord, I hope my being here has indeed helped out the lives of many humans. Lord, I tried to warn them. The rapture is coming. And it hurts me to see so many people clueless of what will become of them and it will hurt even more when the love of my life is left behind along with all of the other non-believers. Please help to open Matt’s mind and eyes to the possibility of having you in his life. In Jesus name we pray….Amen.”
When Matt opened his eyes, all of those welled up tears fell in a sudden rush down his cheek giving him shivers. He looked to his right and froze in fear. Where was Karrissa? She was just…gone. He stood quickly in a frantic. Where could she have gone? What happened to her? She was just right here beside him, so close…. yet, so far away from her surroundings. He looked to the sky witch was now a deep blue with night. There were no stars showing at all. He was scared, worried, and sad out of his mind. He turned to walk back to his car. But before entering the little dirt road that lead to the parking lot, he stood to look to the sky one last time. What he saw, he’d never forget. A shimmering silver light streaked upwards to the sky and came to a sudden stop. Planting itself on a path of blackness and shining like a 32 karat diamond.
Normally a falling star means an angel has fallen from heaven to help the life of a person who is taking the wrong road in life and cannot fix it without the help of god. However, it is said when a star is seen rising into the sky, that means their time on earth is up. And god is bringing them back home. Matt saw a star rise into the sky that night. And he remembered god’s promise of someday heaven. He looked to the sky and closed his eyes. “I’ll meet you there, Karrissa. I’ll meet you there.”