"What's the point in living forever if you have no one to spend it with." I said in an agitated voice.
"That's exactly why I've come, Zaphiel." The angel said as she relaxed her wings.
"Thanks, but you're not exactly my type." I said with a grunt.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm taken." She said as her wings vanished.
"Why is God suddenly interested in my love life?" I asked, feeling it was a valid question.
"The world has begun and ended many times, Zaphiel. An ending is coming, as is a new beginning." The angel said as she sat down at the table.
"Great, so I guess this is the end of the line for me." I said with a laugh.
"...Not exactly." She said hesitantly.
"You're telling me that I survive the apocalypse?" I questioned.
"Yes." she said with a nod.
"Oh joy... I survive the apocalypse and get to live on a desolate wasteland of a planet." I said as leaned against the wall.
"This would go much smoother if you would allow me to explain... without your snide comments." She said in a steady, yet commanding tone.
"I'll try to fight the urge, but I suggest you speak quickly." I said in a sarcastic voice.
"You are not the only one that survives this end, Zaphiel." She said as she brought her hands together. "This end signals the return to heaven of those who have loved. The new beginning is for those who have never known love. There are 573 of you, to answer the inevitable question. This new world is for you. You and the others will live long and happy lives with the ones that you love."
"573 is an odd number... wouldn't someone get left out?" I asked in confusion.
"No." she said and with a straight face too, but there again I don't think angels can lie.
"Are you telling me that God doesn't care about monogamy? I must have missed that bible verse." I said, skeptical.
"If you go around quoting the Bible you’re bound to get half of it wrong and the rest of it only loosely right." She said with a sigh. "Having said that, God is the god of love and there are no restrictions placed on it. One may love whomever they wish... and keep in mind that there are many types of love."
“Okay, still, 573 people seems like a low number.” I said with little care.
“Almost everyone has experienced love, be it from a mother, a brother, a friend, or even a stranger.” She said as she looked around
"I still don't see why God would be interested in letting a demon like me find love." I said as I looked down at my shoes.
"You might have sinned in the past, but demon is a little harsh and what you have done over the past three years should absolve you from whatever sin you think God would condemn you for." She said with a smile.
I was thoughtful for a moment. "So this is how it's always been?"
"For as long as there has been life on the Earth." She said as she glanced out of the window.
"Did you have to go through this?" I asked.
"My love had already lived through the first end. I was born and died before the second end. He met me at the gates of Heaven..." She said as she smiled to herself.
"So there really are gates in heaven." I said with a chuckle.
"I'm... not supposed to talk about it. It's something you're supposed to see for yourself." She said as she realized her slip up.
"Don't worry. I'll keep it to myself." I said with a small smile.
"I have others to tend to, so I regret that I must be leaving." She said as she got up from the table and her wings reappeared. "I really hope to see you again. I must say that while you're frustrating, I do like you. I see us becoming friends when you finally reach heaven."
" How am I supposed to know I'm in love?" I asked as I followed her into the living room. "Will I just know when I see her, or something?"
"Him, Zaphiel. When you meet him, you'll know." She said with a laugh.
"Him?" I stammered.
"Love is not predictable, Zaphiel." She said as bright light began to radiate from her body. "When I was alive I was blind, deaf and mute. The first thing I saw was Gavriel's smiling face. Love was created to be a random force. Only God was aware that his loyal archangel would fall in love with someone like me."
The light continued to grow and I eventually had to shield my eyes. Then it stopped and the angel was gone. I stood there trying to process everything that I had just been enlightened to. Him? The thought didn't seem that strange to me, well at least not as strange as having a conversation with a glowing dead girl. Then I was doubled over, not in pain but awareness. A rushing, thumping sound drummed in my ears.
That was the first time I felt it; the pull that was tugging me in his direction. It was also the first time that I heard another heart beating right alongside mine. Not in perfect rhythm like poets describe, but with its own special beat. I smiled at the feeling and the sound and felt a yearning to go in the direction that I was being pulled and follow the beating heart that I knew held my future.
I grabbed my wallet and my coat and walked out the door. I felt the tugging sensation follow me as I went down the stairs from my apartment and started down the street. I had to fight the urge to start running because even though we were farther apart than I could possible run in a month I could feel the distance becoming shorter. So I walked down the street at a steady pace, smiling to myself, all the while thinking of just who awaited me on the other side of the bond. This begins my journey, at the end of it all. It seemed fitting now that this story would be about the only thing that remains. Love… and the Ties it Binds…