1 Reborn

Everyone has a past. A past they want to forget and the person they are with. We don't want to hold love anymore because love doesn't always end up being something we want and hope.

    Love feels impossible. It's the reason why most of us don't end up chasing after it because what's the point of our kindness, honesty, loyalty, and trust when they end up having lust, fame, wealth, and pride being a part of it. Some end up taking their own life because they don't want to keep on having this feeling of empty, sad, pain, and guilt.

    Virgil was one of them. Two hundred years ago he ended up taking his own life when his beloved wife ended up cheating on him. They have been together for five years got married in the summer at Colorado. Loving each other so much but the only issue was one ended up traveling because of work, the other didn't since they always wanted to be wherever their Family was living (meaning having them chained to their ankle). Thinking the only way too pleased her urges to fuck other men. Her husband was a travel photographer always on the road taking pictures of landscapes and exotic animals. He always wanted to take his wife on these long trips but she didn't like flying.

    One year on his trip, a man approaches him asking him about his wife. This concerned him. The man looked like he was in his thirties with blue pants and a light long sleeve shirt, at 6ft, and had dirty blond hair.

    "What about my wife? Do you know what she has been doing all this time?"

    "Let's just say it's my job. And I either observe or guide a person to understand life."

    Virgil didn't know what he was talking about. To him he felt this man was a stocker, "Look you better stay away from my wife before I end up taking care of you myself without getting the cops involved."

    "I have no intentions to harm you or anyone. You had so many questions about your marriage when you first married her, and why she never wanted to go with you to other places?"

    "It's because she doesn't like flying."

    "Is that the only reason?"

    Virgil had it with him. He was ready to punch the man in the face but before he could the man end up fading away like smoke. Virgil rushed to the airport getting a ticket home. What he didn't know there was a raven watching him following all the way.

    Back at his home, his wife Melissa was in bed naked with another man placing her hand on his hairy chest after enjoying his dick inside of her taking in his sperm, "Mmm that felt nice."

    "Glad you liked it. It's a shame your husband is missing out on something this good."

    "He's too worried about work then my needs."

    "But he's a photographer, can't get a better job than that."

    "I told him that's a dum job to have, he did nothing but focus on that when he should have done other jobs to still be with me." The window was open as the raven watched them. They were about to go at it again when Melissa heard Virgil's voice throughout the house, "Shit, he's already home?"

    Trying to get dressed fast along with pushing her fuck buddy in the closet. Virgil barges in seeing her half-dressed, "What were you doing just now?"

    "Whatever do you mean?"

    Virgil smell the air briefly knowing the smell of sex and seeing other clothes that didn't belong to him, "Who do those belong to?" She didn't speak knew she was caught. The man came out of the closet exposing everything. "This is what you've been doing this whole time?" She looked down at the floor not wanting to look at him, "Why? Why are you doing this?"

    "You're never home when I need you."

    "You know I need to work."

    "But every time?!"

    "You could easily be with me since I can take you to my tips!"

    "I'm more worried about my family!"

    "HOW THE HELL DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH YOUR FAMILY?! I told you what was going to happen as soon as we got together, at the time I was in college to get this dream job!" (The fuck buddy was about to leave the room), "Don't you dare go anywhere fucker!"

    "I didn't want you to have this job just because of how long it was taking."

    "That's how dreams work, some take two or three years to get somewhere when mine end up being longer."

    "I just wanted you more than anything else."

    "It doesn't seem like it."

    "I WAS LONELY!"

    "A MARRIAGE SUPPOSED TO BE LOVE, TARES, AND TRUST! Not fucking lust!"

    "Then I no longer care about you."

    Virgil's heartfelt torn and tears started falling. He turned to the man that fucked his wife punching him in the face. But he didn't stop there, he ended up kicking him hard in the gut repeatedly until his stomach was black, blue and ended up hacking blood. Melissa begged Virgil to stop, "Why? So you can fuck him some more?" Having so much anger and upset on his face.

    "You're killing him doing that!"

    "Well good! This is what happens when I'm being lied to." He then ends up kicking his face breaking his nose and making both eyes swell. Melissa tries to stop him but ends up being smacked in the face, he stopped looking at her as she started crying then looked back at the man he kicked the shit out of. Walking out of the house with the raven flying off the balcony.

    Outside of town, Virgil drove to a cliff seeing the few mountains and trees. Down below had dead trees and jagged rocks. Virgil thought about his wife and how she betrayed him, "I see no point of living, what I once had is now gone. I now feel like a puppy that has been thrown out of a moving vehicle and left to die. I have no one, only emptiness."

    He turned to face his car falling backward off the cliff. As his heart dropped he then felt his back brake and all of his internal organs burst like water balloons smacking the dead trees and landing on the rocks. Blood runs off the rock and soaks into the ground. The raven came to his body just looking at him pecking at his head, Virgil then woke up gasping for air and coughing up whatever blood was left in his throat. The raven didn't fly away but watched him as he came back to life.

    "The hell did I just--"

    "Came back to life? Yes, you have. And now you're not the same as you once were." Seeing the same man before catching his wife with someone else.

    "You. What did you just do to me?"

    "You did this to yourself, thinking death was the only way to escape what your wife did to you."

    "She was the love of my life and now she's gone."

    "You know you're not the only sad soul who thinks that. Everyone deals with a broken heart."

    "Just leave me be, this is what I want."

    "I'm afraid I can't do that. To be honest, I'm the death angel. I refuse to take you with me because of your choice of suicide."

    "What? Never heard of the death angel doing that, I thought a death angel takes a soul regardless."

    "I'm not like other death angles, I'm also a Guardian and help guide others to understand life."

    "Life? Life is a piece of shit especially when things get ripped away from you." The death angel said nothing else, everything surrounding began to fade away into the darkness, "So now what?" again still nothing, "Oh now you don't want to talk."

    Virgil felt cold seeing the moonlight, a wolf was heard from not far then claps of hoofs were coming closer a black pegasus was shown?  Virgil couldn't believe seeing a mythical creature the pegasus didn't hesitate to go up to him and put its snout agents on his chest.

    "She seems to like you."

    "It's a she?"

    The pegasus changed into a human her skin is brown, hair black, and her body built like a model, "Is there something wrong with that? I could be something else to make you comfortable." She changed into herself as a man with a very built body.

    "I'm better off beating the shit out of you."

    "Well, he seems friendly." She said in a deep man's voice.

    "Just leave me alone"

    Walking away from her and the death angel, "You know you shouldn't just walk around here."

    "Does it look like I care?" The area changed putting him into a busy hallway. Look at the surroundings and the kids, he was at his old Jr. High School. He then saw himself small and skinny like a twig, "Why am I seeing this?" The most popular girl came up to him holding him tight, "No, not this." It was his first crush with the most popular girl for being in sports. The time has changed jumping to a few months later with the same girl with someone else; seeing another girl he was one with doing the same thing, pregnant, lying, or ending up dying by the person they end up being with, "Enough, please enough!" it stopped to his now-wife doing what his past girlfriends did. He got on his knees planting his face in the ground he saw his hand change into claws with the woman and death angel watching him putting them into his own chest, tearing the ribcage open and pulling out his own beating heart throwing it away from him.

    "I'm sorry that type of thing has happened to you." She said.

    "Yeah I'm sure you are, just leave me alone. Everything else in life I can easily get, but love... It's just a joke."

    He walked away from them returning to the normal world, but Virgil was in a cemetery with a funeral happening (his funeral) how long was he gone when he didn't see his own body after death. Walking to the serves seeing almost his whole family there even his ex-wife crying wearing a black dress with a hat covering her face, "What are you crying for fucking slut. You did this to me."

    Melissa heard Virgil's voice but no one else did. She looked at him standing next to her. She got up screaming next to her fuck buddy, no one saw what she was looking at. Virgil couldn't understand why she was the only one to see him like Ghost (but with Ghost the fortune teller only heard their voice not see them)

    "Sweetie, what's wrong?"

    "Yeah fucking hor, tell them what's wrong. I want you to deal with the gilt you gave me like every other fucking bitch."

    "No, you're not real! Get away from me!"

    Virgil walked very close to her until a light appeared behind him pulling him disappearing. The woman pulled him back into the unknown world with him trying to pull away.

    "You shouldn't be doing that."

    "How come no one else can see me but my ex-wife can?"

    She looked at the death angel, "Everyone can see you, but they need help and sadness in order to see you fully. This is mostly from people who are dealing with death, depression, or about to die." Said the Death Angel.

    A thought came to Virgil's mind a very unpleasant thought of wanting to run his ex-wife to suicide, "We do not allow that. That's not what we're here for." She said.

    "Says you, I'm not going to let this slide I did for far too long."

    "There are more to things than just revenge."

    Virgil changed into a bear attack, the woman got out of the way turning into a Hydra pending him down, "That's not far."

    "Don't challenge someone that's been shapeshifting for a long time." He kept on struggling not wanting to give up, she then decides to crush his lower half getting him to stop. He felt more bones breaking with his genitals and lower intestines into smoosh, "Don't make this hard as it already is."

    "Why don't you just finish me off and get it over with."

    "We are immortal. We're here because we take life for granted and we think death is the only way to get away from it all. All we did was make the family, friends sad and disappointed." Virgil stopped struggling as he was now changing back to his human form and the woman went back to a human help picking him up, "I know it's very hard for you, but this is not the path you should not take. Let things happen on their own."

    Slapping her hand away picking himself up with his head down. He was about to cry but ended up holding his tears back not wanting to feel any emotion.

    The Land of Mischief is a place in Purgatory across the Valley of Corpses where all immortals lived. A place that can only be accessed through death or dreams, filled with many wonders, desires, and beauty. But much like Purgatory, it holds so many unknown things. Virgil ends up having to change his name to Malachi being immortal he has to leave who he was.

Elisa (the woman he first met coming back to life) ends up teaching him how to shapeshift properly.

    "You must really love to change into mythical creatures." Said Malachi.

    "That is the whole point of shapeshifting, not just changing into an animal or another human bean. Unfortunately, we don't carry magic, just changes are apparent."

    Malachi ends up changing into very rare animals even a barred owl, this owl has been known to be very rare and not known as an owl just screech bird that screams to sound almost human. Elisa accused him of doing the same thing. The death angel came wanting to talk to Malachi telling him of becoming a guardian.

    "I don't want to do anything with mortals, especially when they're guilty of the same thing."

    "All the more reason to help them."

    "I'm better off being here or end up in hell."

    "Would watch what you say, it could happen." Said Elisa.

    "At this point, I don't care. There's a reason why I end up taking my own life."

    "Things are much worse than death, this is one of them. Even your memories you want to forget. Being a guardian will help you understand." Said, death angel.

    "I'm not going to understand any more than I already have."

The death angel ends up snapping his fingers teleporting Malachi to earth. Malachi recognizes he was at his hometown instead of where he was for his suicide at Colorado, now in Arizona. He looked around, wondering who he was supposed to help. He saw a boy on the side of the street playing the harmonica with a hat next to him upside down. He played it very well, it has been so many years since he heard a harmonica being played. The boy stopped seeing him and moving the harmonica away from his mouth.

    "Are you the one I asked for?"

    Malachi was surprised (though he should already know by now just about anyone can see him), "I guess so? I thought it was an adult I was dealing with not some kid."

    A cat came up to the boy rubbing her head against his leg purring, "Oh hey kitty." the boy picked her up with her speaking to Malachi inside his head, it was Elisa.

You shouldn't be picky who we sing you to. You're here to help whoever just so they will understand and appreciate life.

    Does it matter? They're all depressed just because of how the world is and I don't blame them "Sorry kid you're on your own."

    The child began to cry holding on to his harmonica tight still holding the cat as well. Malachi started to walk away when the cat came out of the boy's arm to follow him.

    Changing into her human form, she pulled him aside to talk some sense into him, "You know what I'm beginning to think the death angel shouldn't have bothered with you."

    "I really don't care when life is just a pile of shit."

    "I don't understand. You weren't like this when you were mortal, helping others, caring, loving, and understanding. Those were the things you did before this."

    "People change when enough stuff gets thrown in your face because in the end everyone lies and cares about their wants more than needs." He walked back looking at the child able to read his mind hearing him not wanting to go home because of a dad hitting him while his mom was dying of heart disease. Malachi shook his head finding why he was called to this boy.

    "All you're doing is letting him die, what has happened to you shouldn't be a burden to someone else."

    "I... Can't."

    "Think of it as a form of therapy, for both you and the boy."

Malachi chuckled a little bit, then went along with it. He got on one knee letting the boy finish crying, looking up at him, then wiped his tears away. "So, are you going to tell me your name, kid?"

    He spoke after wiping the tears off his face, "Jackson Monglon thanks for not leaving me."

    "It is... My first time doing this." Filling embarrassment but Jackson didn't mind he felt existed to be with a guardian doing this for the first time."

    "I thought guardians never had a first time since they come from God."

    God. In fact he never met God only the death angel, though if he saw him he would ask why he let this happen to him along with wishing for his ex-wife to die of a horrible way oh how he didn't want to be stopped on that day she saw him at his own funeral of haunting her to make dear what she gave him. The boy snapped him out of it repeating what he just said.

    "I thought of the same thing, but it's just how he works."

    The days went by, Malachi did as much as he could with Jackson being with him, talking, playing, even changing into other animals. Jackson loved all the animals he changed into even a wolf, they went to a river landing at a boulder that was in the middle of the water. It was a great spot seeing all the trees in the forest and the sun about to go down.

    "How's your mother been doing Jackson?"

    "I thought you know how she is since you are from God."

    "I am, but I'm not like him. I only help when I'm told and I was once a mortal."

    "So you were once human? Do you like being a guardian? Is it better than living?"

    Malachi looked at him, hearing the last question he too didn't want to be a part of this world. Seeing the bruises made from his dad and his mom getting worse with each day, "This is a form of immortality, not death. I wanted to die, but..." Malachi didn't want to tell him, he talked to him about everything but his personal life.

    "It doesn't matter to me. I just want to leave this place so I can not deal with my dad's rage and not be a burden to my mom."

    "You can also ask others for help, there are other adults who can take you out along with helping your mom."

    "I have already tried that. The doctors stopped coming because my dad told them if it's not going to cure her don't give it to her. I even showed them my bruises not wanting to call anyone because it wasn't his business I see only death as my option."

    Malachi didn't say anything else, he too thought of the same thing just because all the women he has been toyed with his emotions. Jackson got up from the boulder asking him to take him home.

    At Jackson's home, his father was outside waiting for him since it was late, "Boy what gives you the right to still be out when it's a school night?" Jackson didn't say anything but stay quiet looking down at his feet. Malachi was still there seeing this happening, "You look at me when I'm talking to you!"

    "I was with a friend."

    "And who might be this friend that keeps you from doing everything else when your mom is in bed?" He tries to show him but Malachi was not seen by his dad, "Are you messing with me boy? Because what you're going to get is my fest in your back."

Malachi tries to step in front of Jackson but still nothing, not even words were heard. He finally told Jackson to run in order to get away, this just made his dad even angrier though he didn't run after him, he just let him go because the father didn't want to leave his sick wife alone. "YOU BETTER NOT COME, BACK BOY, BECAUSE IF YOU DO, YOU WILL NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY!"

    Jackson stopped after running for five miles and trying to catch his breath. Malachi felt like he had met the man before but didn't know where. Jackson started to cry after he got some air in him asking Malachi if he can heal his mother's sickness.

    "I'm sorry Jackson. I'm afraid I can't do anything other than shapeshift and read minds.

    "Then why?! Why is God letting her suffer?! I hate him, HATE HIM!"

    "There's a lot of things I asked why the thing is... He doesn't care." A sharp pain hit his chest as he said that caused his vision to blur and Jackson held on to Malachi's arm with no sound, only lips from the boy moved.

    Malachi woke up seeing it was night time and freezing, he knew he was back in Purgatory. The place he was at was not an ordinary forest. It had corpses of dead animals, trees that were warped and shaped like hands, and a moon that looked like it was going to run into the earth because of how close it was. The only thing living in the forest were monsters watching Malachi's every move.

    "Jackson? Are you here?"

    "He's not Malachi."

    He recognized the voice, it was Elisa helping him to get out of here, "Don't tell me I got pulled somewhere else now."

    "As a matter a fact you did! Pulling some bullshit to a child!"

    "And what was that?"

    Elisa pulled him by the throat as she was taking him out of this unpleasant and nightmare place, "I think you do know! As if this type of thing we have already told you about!"

    "So you want me to lie to a kid? When it's true about what God really is or doesn't do."

    Elisa let loose her grip letting go of his neck, "If he didn't care then he wouldn't do this to you. He could have just simply let you go straight to hell but didn't. He wants you to learn from this."

    "Well, he's wasting his time because love means nothing to me anymore."

    "Then you'll stay like this until you do; since all, you're doing making your heart hurt even more even when it is no longer in your chest." Malachi put his hand at his chest still filling that scare he made to himself, "You're not the only one who is hurting, we all have a backstory."

    "Yeah, I'm sure your story is no different than mine."

    He tries to get out of Purgatory but he couldn't feel Jackson's presence, "I'm afraid you can't go back to him. Because he too took his own life. We took you away from him and five days have passed at that time, he waited for you all this time not wanting to go home at all yet alone not wanting to eat."

    "Then it's all your fault!" Speaking in a loud voice with Elisa doing the same to him.

    "Maybe if you didn't worry about yourself yet along with your past this wouldn't have happened and you could have helped him not tell him what God hasn't done for you!"

    "Well fuck you, sorry for not putting my feelings and opinions aside!"

    Elisa left him letting him find his way out the rest of the way. Looking at his surroundings there wasn't much change, not even a north star would help him, then he saw an Oracle. The Oracle looked like an orb of fire, ice, water, smoke, and wind. It even spoke to him in the voice of a little girl, "Step forward guardian so I can see more about you." Malachi didn't budge; he knew what oracles were capable of guiding along with misguided. "Now don't be scared of me. I'm the only thing in this world that is intrigued by you."

    "Really? Look kid there's not much you can do for me."

    "I am as old as God. One of his first creations before angels and seen all things to be what I am, walking away from me only makes your journey back to Mischief much harder." Malachi looked around some more and still couldn't find a way out, "Seems you don't want to go back."

    "No, not yet anyway. Could you point me to the real world?"

    "Why go there?"

    Malachi stumbled for a moment then spoke, "I want to see Jackson's mom, that is if she's still alive."

    "She is but it is also her last day of being on earth. The death angel will take her soon. I'll take you to her if you want, but when I do you won't be back on earth for a while."

    "What makes you say that?" The Oracle told him about there are rules that guardians have to obey just for them to go back to earth, disobeying makes them not be on earth for two hundred years and since he has been on earth for a while he will not see the earth that long, "I see."

    "So do you still want to go?"

    "I have already made up my mind. Just take me there."

Sparkles of magic came out of the orb surrounding Malachi he felt his body being punctured with needles in his skin then flesh being torn, bones cracking, organs being squeezed to death as he began to be taken out of the forest.

    Malachi was now in a house checking himself to see if everything was still intact after feeling like he was eaten alive. He looked around seeing Jackson's father on the couch having his hands up to his face crying, "This is all your fault fucking asshole." As Malachi was about to walk to the next room, the father started to speak.

    "I didn't-- I didn't mean to do this to my family. Especially to my son, now she doesn't want to see me even after telling her what had happened." Malachi looked over his shoulder hearing those words if enough is taken away from them, they may stop and think.

    Going into the room he saw the mother, the mother that was his ex-wife Melissa. Her skin was pale with her eyes looking like she hadn't been sleeping for a day because of all of the chest pains, she couldn't even move because of how weak she was. She moved her eyes seeing Malachi walking up to her she slowly spoke as he approached.

    "Hello, Virgil... Aren't you glad to see me... Like this? See me slowly dying... Not taking your feelings into... Reconsideration?"

    "I really don't know what to think. Just what has happened to me and what I become."

    Melissa slowly put her hand in the air wanting him to take it, but didn't just stand there, "I know I don't deserve your forgiveness... And what has happened to my son... Wasn't your fault. I try... Try so hard to make him happy. But what I heard of an imaginary friend... I was thinking it was you. You did... So much for me, so I end up taking for granted... To where I end up throwing it in your face." Tears were forming in her eyes starting to run down her face. Her arm then fell down to her side with her stop breathing.

    The death angel also stood over her taking her, "Where does she go to now?"

    "That's not my decision. It's God's."

    Malachi looked at Melissa's dead body, "All this time I wanted her to suffer for what she has done to me. She has, and now I don't know what to think."

    "You both were in the wrong. Her cheating on you and you take your own life. You have to look deeper into yourself in order to understand, in order to fix what you lost."

    "What is there to fix when she was in the wrong more than me?"

    "You throw away your own heart and refuse to take what is given to you. There's plenty for you to fix about yourself. Along with you letting others in to help you. The day has already passed, and I'm afraid you can't visit the real world for a while."

    "Yes, I know. The Oracle told me about what must follow, and I'll be fine with the punishment that will be given to me."

    Death Angel took Melissa's hand, taking her soul out of her body. The soul looked nothing like the human body, it looked young and healthy, no facial expressions just blank walking with both the dead angel and him. Malachi let him lead the way.