I had promised myself, I had promised myself that I would never, ever interrupt Seraphinus again...He fought for , he gave his all in the fight. The least I can do is stay and listen to him until he's finished...
'You have to do it Matthew! Whatever it takes!' I thought confidently...
[Logbook; Mission 'A Promise to Keep'; Day: '0', Hour: '5']
' I can't even make sense of his words anymore...No I must resist! You promised Matt, TO THE END AT ANY COST!!!" roared an old inside.
[Mission logbook; 'A promise to keep'; Day: '1', Hour: '2']
' No sigh sigh I can't! I can't! Ugh sigh (inner cry)! I can't do it! I'm just weak! I'm sorry Seraphinus. I'M SORRY!!!!! ARRGHHH!!!'
[Ship's log; Mission 'A Promise to Keep'; Day: '3', Hour: '11']
'Rember what Gimli said in the two towers "Keep breathing, that's the secret. Breathe!!!' fiuuu! 'Seraphinus has been fighting for for 6 whole days! I have to at least hold out for 3 more days! I can do it!!!'
[Logbook; Mission 'A Promise to Keep'; Day: '11', Hour: '6'].
' 'Okay I realised that singing 'Stronger - Kanye West' after the 300th ti doesn't work anymore... it's ti for 'Try-Pink'
'La la la!..La la la! (Intro)' ....
Where there is desire
there is gonna be a fla! .....
You've gotta get up and try! Try! Try!
.....
[Logbook; Mission 'A Promise to Keep'; Month: 3 Day: '4', Hour: '23']
'Enough this ti, I have decided. I'm going to get up and go there.
I'm going to hell! Yes I'm going!
I want to explore every inch of the nine circles, sll the sweet scent of ash and sulphur, throw myself freely into a fiery pit and feel that new and different pain!' I thought, smiling.
'Oh oh oh yes, yes, yes I do! It is decided, then, I will go to Satan himself and kneel to him! I'll be his servant, his dummy... his Whore if I have to!'
[Logbook; Mission 'A Promise to Keep'; Year: 1 Month: 1 Day: '29', Hour: '1']
'I'm so stupid for not noticing this before' I thought sadly.
After trying to relive every mont of my life in chronological order for the fifth ti. I realised more and more that with each rewind of the film 'My Life', I could rember events in more detail than I would have noticed before.
People I had offended or insulted unknowingly, girls who had tried to approach that I ignored by not picking up on the signs of interest.
I finally understood why my brother ca back that day bruised, bleeding and with his clothes torn. I was five years old and crying. I was crying because I had lost my bicycle that my grandfather had given , it was my most precious possession, my 'treasure'. Scott left the house and returned at night in that condition. I asked him dozens of tis why he was hurt. He kept telling that 'a car hit him because he didn't look at the road before crossing!' hahaha. But the next morning Scott, Mum and Dad called and I found the bike on the porch!!! Mum still half furious with Scott, Dad still trying to hide a smile of pride as he looked at my brother and Scott pretending to be as surprised as I was...now I know. And I never got to tell him, "Thanks big brother, I love you and I always will!"
[Logbook; Mission 'A Promise to Keep'; Year: 2 Month: 2 Day: '21', Hour: '3']
'Yes, I've finally found sothing that might help ,' I thought excitedly.
By now Seraphinus' voice had beco a neutral noise for more than a year and I had found a stability that prevented from going mad. But that was not enough. I wanted with all my heart to try to listen to the angel sohow. But I still couldn't. Until I rembered a small lesson I took at the age of 15 with my Aikido teacher.
A breathing technique to direct the blood to the head to maintain concentration.
"Rember Matthew, use this technique when you're stressed or think you've reached your limit. It will help you, you'll see." Said a mory inside .
'Inhale for 6 seconds...hold your breath for 3 seconds and finally exhale for 10 seconds'.
I started the process and it was complicated at first to get used to it...
[Logbook; Mission 'A Promise to Keep'; Year: '? Month: '? Day: '?', Hour: '?'] *
*author's note: Matthew stopped checking ti around the third year. He thought that by now the concept of ti itself was just a distraction and psychological torture.
'YEEESSS! I finally get it! Eureka!!!! HAHAHAHAH!' I gave a toothy grin.
I could follow, make sense of and ESPECIALLY REMBER every word Seraphinus said.
My breathing technique was good but not good enough for this Herculean effort. I had to try and try again to perfect it and finally I had succeeded!!!
"And then my forr client Sun Tzu, interrupted one more ti by asking if I wanted to listen to his book 'The Art of War' for the third ti in a row. 'What a strange guy!' I thought but went along with him and so he started dictating it again '...Victorious warriors first win and then go to war, while defeated warriors first go to war and then try to win .... Be quick as the wind, slow as a forest, assault and ravage like fire, be still as a mountain, mysterious as yin and swift as thunder...' Seraphinus continued unstoppably.
Change of scene:
Sowhere in the sky...
"That's it, I give up! I don't care if there's 12 of us taking turns! I don't care about the bookmaker, the betting and the faith credits! There's no point in keeping score anymore! He broke the record, full stop. I won't listen to another word from Seraphinus if I have to start a second war in the heavens!!" Said an angel as he stood up from a desk in front of a screen. It transmitted the image of another angel speaking and a young soul listening attentively.
"That boy is a monster! An abomination that shouldn't exist, I should report him to the Great Father!" He said as he walked out of the room shouting.
[Logbook; Mission 'A Promise to Keep'; Year: '? Month: '?' Day: '?'; Hour: '?']
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[Logbook; Mission 'A Promise to Keep'; Year: '? Month: '?' Day: '?', Hour: '?']
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[Logbook; Mission 'A Promise to Keep'; Year: '? Month: '?' Day: '?', Hour: '?']
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[Logbook; Mission 'A Promise to Keep'; Year: '? Month: '?' Day: '?', Hour: '?']
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[Logbook; Mission 'A Promise to Keep'; Year: '? Month: '?' Day: '?', Hour: '?']
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[Logbook; Mission 'A Promise to Keep'; Year: '? Month: '?' Day: '?', Hour: '?']
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[Logbook; Mission 'A Promise to Keep'; Year: '? Month: '?' Day: '?', Hour: '?']
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[Logbook; Mission 'A Promise to Keep'; Year: '? Month: '?' Day: '?', Hour: '?']
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[Logbook; Mission 'A Promise to Keep'; Year: '? Month: '?' Day: '?', Hour: '?']
And then it happened....
Ping a noise erged from between Seraphinus' pockets.
"Oops another assignnt has co in already. I'm so sorry Matthew I can't slow down ti any more than this. I've almost used up the faith credits in my possession ahahahahaha!" said the angel laughing in delight.
"Creepy how ti flies when you have a good chat! I apologise again for interrupting the story halfway through like this but I really must go."
"Creepy already...hahaha! Don't worry Seraphinus you'll tell about the 82nd work of art of this famous master glassmaker from Saint Gobain next ti...I'm counting on it." I said with sincerity and a small hint of playful irony.
"Sure, I promise! Don't worry, I always keep a marker on interrupted and unfinished conversations!" the angel replied confidently.
I had beco a different person, I could feel it. Fifteen, maybe twenty years earlier, I began to notice that this session was gradually increasing sothing within . Was it my mory capacity? No, it was improving, but it wasn't that. Was it the valuable and detailed knowledge of sciences and cultures of the aforentioned 'forr clients or forr victims' of Seraphinus? No.
It was my resilience...yes my resilience...my will.
I felt calm as a breeze, steady as Mount Everest and ready to snap and explode like a gunshot at any mont.
As if I had been torn to pieces and then forged from scratch.
'A piece of raw Adamantium, ward by the flas of Mount Doom and tempered by 10,000,000 blows from Thor with his Mjolnir!' I thought with amusent.
"Ah Seraphinus!!!" I almost forgot. "'I have two favours to ask of you if possible.' I said quickly because the angel was getting ready to leave.
"Of course Matthew ask away!" he said curiously.
"First I wanted to ask you if it was possible to send so kind of ssage to my parents and my brother on earth, to let them know in so way that... well I an that I love them with all my heart, that they are in a better place and that I could never have asked for a better family to grow up in." I asked hopefully.
"A don't worry about that, yours is a special case, there is a protocol that has already been carried out. They already know about it...though not directly." I took the point and nodded with a sigh of relief.
"Second, could you please hand the employnt contract for your services? I have a small change to make." Seraphinus froze for a few monts, with a small nod of sadness on his face. He quickly recovered, with a surrendered smile he snapped his fingers and a contract and pen appeared in my hands.
I quickly glanced at it, made a couple of marks and handed back the closed parchnt.
I took my indemnity docunt and looked at Seraphinus one last ti before signing it.
"Thank you for everything my friend. I really hope you will be the one to welco back next ti if I ever return!" I said with a smile and a wink.
I signed the docunt before he could reply.
POV Author:
Matthew's soul dematerialised.
Seraphinus stood there open-mouthed.
"My...Fri...end," he syllabled.
He opened the parchnt, stared at it for a few minutes and walked on to his next job.
....
A long ti ago, In a sky far away...
Only one entity in that place known as "The Great Father", who sees all and knows all, knew why a certain 'Angel' kept crying for happiness...
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