CHAPTER 4: THE FREQUENCY

I woke up in a good mood and I looked around to check if Michelle was gone. I took a deep breath and thanked God because she was gone. Maybe she is just a dream because she is not real, but I know the food that I ate last night is real because until now I am still full, and I don’t feel down anymore. I feel like there’s new energy inside me that lifts me like I am fully charged. I don’t feel down anymore, maybe I charged myself from sleeping. The table and the chairs are gone too, as well as Simon. Maybe, all that happened to me is just a dream. A long dream from a long sleep. Well, I don’t want to think about it now because I am ready to face my morning. I am fully determined to find a job right now. I smell the aroma of my dad’s coffee. He is already awake and he is drinking coffee. I remember what Michelle told me that the action of my dad is limited because he is already dead. I looked at my dad and stared at him. I also noticed that he keeps drinking coffee and sleeps after, then drinks coffee again and sleeps again. Maybe Michelle is right but how can she be right if she is the one who is not real? I shook my head to stop myself from thinking. Nevermind. As long as my dad is here with me. I am fine. I took a bath and prepared myself for my job hunt around the corner. I am willing to accept any decent job just to help us survive every day.

After taking a bath I brushed my teeth using my old toothbrush and toothpaste in a sachet. I want to look good even though I am a poor man. I checked my breath after brushing my teeth. It is all good. I comb my hair and prepare myself for my job hunt. I hope I can get one today because I really need one.

“Are you going to talk to Jackie now?”

“Jeezus Christ!” I was surprised when I turned around and I saw Simon standing behind me. I hold my heart because it is beating fast when I saw Simon who is now standing behind me and still asking me if I had already talked to his wife.

“Why don’t you go home?” I asked him

“I can’t go home… because I don’t belong here anymore” He answered.

I walked past in front of him and put the comb inside my bag and took my perfume and I sprayed the luxurious perfume that my foreign friend gave me when he visited here. The Creed Aventus which I think there are only four sprays left was done. This is the only one left in me that reminds me about my luxurious life before. I looked at the bottle because I will keep it as a remembrance to remind me what life I have before shi* things happened. 

“Please, talk to Jackie now,” Simon said and he kept on asking me to talk to his wife.

“Simon, look, I don’t know why you are here but talking to your wife, which is as far as I know your ex-wife because you are already dead, is not my priority,” I told him frankly that makes him sad.

“Money is my priority right now, not you or not anyone else… go away” I added and I hope he will stop bothering me now because I don’t have a plan to talk to his wife.

I tried to find my expensive watch in my bag but I remember that I don’t have a watch anymore. I sell it as well as my ring to have money, for me to start again. So I brought my wallet instead of my watch. I still have P500.00 inside. I don’t know how far my money will bring me but I have to take a chance to find my luck.

“Dad, I will find a job and I will be back before night,” I said and he smiled at me without saying anything.

“Wish me luck,” I said and I left the house with positivity and determination that I will have a job today. I was about to go out the gate when Tania called me. So I stopped walking and looked at her. She went close to me and she smiled with her cute dimple again.

“I am sorry but… my mom saw you talking alone last night—” She said and took a deep breath because I know she is shy to ask me something about what she needs to ask me.

“My mom wants to know if you are using drugs?” She shyly asked because she couldn’t look at me.

“She said… drug users are not allowed here so… she might ask you to leave,” She said and she dared to look into my eyes but I didn’t answer. I just rolled my eyes and took a deep breath because I didn’t know what to say. Michelle is real and what happened last night is not a dream.

“I am sorry to ask you but that is the rule here. My mom doesn’t want any trouble that is why she is not tolerating drug users” She added and she tried to smile again.

“Don’t worry I am not an addict… I can prove to her that and in fact, I have an appointment and I think I will be late now” I said to her and tried to look at the time on my watch, but I suddenly remembered that I no longer have a watch, that is why I immediately put my arm down and smiled at her. I am used to checking the time on my wristwatch but I don’t have a watch anymore which makes me stu*** every time I forgot that I don’t have a watch anymore to check the time.

“Okay, I am sorry, and thank you for your time”

“No problem… see you around”

I walk while Tania smiles with her dimple still in my head. She is beautiful, her beauty makes her look innocent. She is very different from Maria. Wait, Why am I comparing both? and why do I care about Tania anyway? Love is not my priority now. It will only make me weak like before. All I want now is a job because I want money to get on my feet. Earning money is my priority. Not anything or anyone else.

I keep on walking under the hot sun while hoping to find a job. I asked some business establishments if they are for hire but they are not for hire and I am losing hope again. Until I see a BPO company, I will try to find my luck there. Even I don’t even have a resume with me. I was about to go inside as a walk-in applicant when a man bumped into me and I accidentally dropped my wallet.

“I am sorry,” He said and he immediately picked up my wallet and gave it to me and tapped me on my shoulder, but when he touched me. My head suddenly aches and I hear a loud static. A very loud static gave me a headache and I feel like I will faint. I saw the man who bumped me get strangled inside his house. Someone will kill him but I don’t know who and I don’t know when.

“I am sorry”

“Are you okay?” He asked me and I looked at him while trying to block the static that I am hearing.

“Man, are you okay?” He asked me again but I didn’t answer because I can still hear the loud static and I am like a bat getting crazy about it.

“Mark, let’s go” one of his co-workers called him and he gave me a last look just to check if I was okay and he walked away.

I slowly walk while blocking the static even though I don’t know how to block it because it is getting louder and louder, making my ears irritated and I feel like my brain will explode. I can hear ambulances, prayers, cries, and agonies too. Which is I don’t know from where and why can I hear them? I went to the corner away from the people to ease the noise and at the same time the static that I can hear. I sat on the ground took a deep breath and closed my eyes, while I was still trying to block the static and the noise that irritates me. Maybe this is the effect of walking for long under the hot, bright, sun. I feel thirsty because I feel like the static that I am hearing is draining me up. My eyes are getting blurry too and I am feeling dizzy. 

“You can hear it now, huh?” A familiar voice asked me and I looked up and I saw Michelle again. Standing in front of me, looking at me. Her clothes didn’t change but she is not wearing sunglasses now.

“You again?” I asked and she raised her eyebrow.

“You know what the last time that I saw you… my landlady thought that I am a drug addict because she saw me talking alone… and she will soon kick me out and thanks to you” I told her, for her to know how dangerous she is.

“Go away,” I said but she didn’t mind she just smile at the people passing by

“Hi,” She said to the girl with a smile, and the girl smiled and greeted her back.

“She can see you?” I asked.

“They can see me if I want to,” She answered. I laughed because I feel like she is playing on me.

“You want to eat?” She asked and that is the beautiful thing that she will do today. She helped me stand up and we went to the nearest fast food place. We ordered burgers and fries with a big Coke zero. It’s her treat.

“Are you roaming around?” I asked with curiosity

“Yes, finding the others” She answered and took a bite on her burger while I took a sip on my coke because I am so thirsty.

“I already found Sam for Samyaza and Oriel,” She said and she looked at me while eating her burger and fries.

“The one that happened to you a while ago… is a static… you are already connecting to the frequency… now you can hear them and soon you will see them” She added while chewing her burger and she looked at me again and swallowed her burger.

“You will see the people who will die or people who are already dead and your volumina Fumi will come out to grab them and bring them to you… and you will bring them to the afterlife… that is your job”

“So what would my name be, Michelle?” I asked. If I am one of the fallen angels I want to know what my name would be. For me to believe in her but she looked at me and she didn’t answer. She just keeps on eating her burger and her fries.

“So what would my name be, Michelle?” I asked her again. Daring her to tell me my name.

“Michael,” She said, correcting me with her name but still not answering my question.

“I will not tell you… because you will be stuck here on earth and I promise that you will not gonna like it” She said while looking at me. She finished her fries and her burger and now she is finishing drinking her coke.

I heard the static again and it is getting louder and louder. It's louder than a while ago. I closed my eyes and massage my head to ease the pain even for a little because I want to vomit. Until I saw a vision that a child which I guess around five years of age will be run over by a raging car that is why with my adrenaline. I don’t know why I suddenly stood up and ran to the place where the kid was, and I grabbed the child and carried him and brought him to the safe place. When the fast, raging car suddenly appeared and crashed into the post. The people looked at us and I saw the mother run to me while crying. She is worried to her child.

“Thank you… thank you” She said and she carried her child and kissed him.

“It’s alright baby,” She said while comforting her crying son. Michael grabbed me and asked in a whisper, “Why did you do that?”

“I don’t know… I just saw a vision and I decided to save the child” I answered but she shook her head and she looked dismayed.

“That is his fate and you don’t need to stop it… it was written that he will die at the age of five and he will die that way”

“And there’s another lost soul because their bringer to the afterlife is still a human?” I asked but she didn’t answer.

“Well not now, the kid needs me” I whispered to her and she didn’t say anything.

“How can I pay you for saving my child’s life?” The mother asked me while still carrying her son and walking near me. I smile because I don’t know what to say. After all, I need a lot of things but I set it aside and choose not to tell her.

“Lily?” Michael asked while looking at the mother.

“Michael?” The mother named Lily asked.

“Yes, how are you?”

“I am struggling but I am fine”

“Do you know each other?” I asked and looked at them

“YES” they both answered.

Lily is one of the fallen angels too. Well, former fallen angel because right now she is already a human and she will live forever as a human. She was Lilith before. She is the first wife of Adam but now she is Lily and she has a son and she is pregnant again without any wealth, only struggles in life. She is living for seven- hundred-eighty years now as a human starting the day that she chose to be a human. Her suffering will never end. She will feel what the human feels. Hunger, pain, love, hatred, and everything, and there’s a lot more there that is not aware of who they are and what would their life be if they chose to be human.

“How did it happen? How did she turn into a human forever?” I asked Michael because I am convinced now that she is Michael and she is real and what she is telling me is real. Since what happened to me a while ago. It is unexplainable. I didn’t know how I got there so fast to the fact that I didn’t even know where the child was. It is just like my feet bring me there.

“If you choose to be a human… you will live forever as a human… no death but yes suffering as a normal human being… you will feel hunger, pain and everything,” She told me that makes me think.

“But if you choose to reconcile… what you have as human will be doubled… wealth, happiness, love, popularity and everything positive and it would be endless” She continued that makes me think more.

“Are you sure that what I lost as a human can be doubled if I reconcile?” I asked what makes everything interesting to me now because my wealth comes first to my mind. I have P48,800,000 and if I reconcile it would be double, and I know for sure that I will be hell rich.

“Yes”

“Especially the wealth?” I asked just to make sure because I need money now, to get back to my life and to get revenge on my wife. I don’t need a psychiatrist because I know now that I am not yet crazy and Michael is real. She looked at me like I am greedy but I ignored her look.

“Yes”

“So what would I do for reconciliation?” I asked her in an interesting tone of voice.

“First, you need to accept that you’re an angel of death and second, there’s a seven stages or tests that you need to pass” She answered

“Why seven?”

“For seven days… you need to be clean for seven days before you face God and to pay for the bad things that you did before you became a fallen angel”

“Why do I need to do those? why not just accept and I am done reconciling?” She took a deep breath and patiently explained to me everything.

“Because you’re one of the main reasons or caused why Uzmael became more powerful than God… you feed him by your greediness, hunger, anger, and hatred” She answered.

“And God is weak now, more and more people forgot to call him and pray to him because of what the fallen angels did that is why in behalf of God, us the archangels… decided to reconcile to the fallen angels… anyway we are one before Lucifer became rebellious and influenced all other angels to join him… after you, I still need to find the others” She took a deep breath and looked at me as if we have a big problem.

“I don’t know if Pen for Penemuel is with Uzmael”

“Who is Penemuel?” I asked while seriously looking at her.

“The angel who uses pen and paper as her weapon. She burned it in her lamp and then the smoke is a medium to send the message to the humans are weak… She can read emotion and write it with a death solution and spread it to the human” She looked at me like I didn’t get what she was saying because I don’t get it. That is why she explained it further.

“Pen knows if you are sad… she will write it in a paper and she will put a solution to the sadness like kill yourself and she will send it to the world and for those who will receive her message end up killing themselves”

I let her finish explaining and I looked at her with a question if that is necessary. I feel like I want to back out because I don’t think I can do the task. I am lazy about doing tasks. I pay someone to do it for me. Unless I will do a task for money. That is why I am thinking twice now.

“Just remember the double wealth and everything,” She said, reminding me about the possibility that I would get if I chose to reconcile. I took a deep breath and I set aside the thinking twice and I told her,

“Okay, I am in”

She looked at me and she smiled because she couldn’t believe that she had convinced me. That I will buy her bullshit even though I am not sure what life is after the task that she is saying. I am a need of money now, so I will give this a go. I will try anyway she said that what I have before will be doubled.

“This is what needs to happen… You need to bring seven stolen lives back… those stolen lives are those who were killed, murdered and you need to bring them back” She said. I didn’t say anything. I just keep on listening because I know that she will say more and I am waiting for it.

“Once you bring the stolen lives back… the victims will live again as if nothing happened. Like they were not killed and the murderer will vanish forever like they never exist” She took a deep breath looked at me and continued.

“Those humans who love to be controlled by their emotions, that is why they do things that are against God’s will… that is the reason why they stole lives… you need to bring back what is stolen”

“Okay,” I said

“But you need to face Uzmael… the one who is fed with human emotion but only in a negative emotion”

“And what’s with that Uzma…?” I asked

“Uzmael you pronounced as Uzma-el,” She said

“What if I lose?”

“Don’t be because you will be in hell forever… and Uzmael will punish you ten thousand times because you are once God’s angel”

“How would I know if it was stolen… I mean life?”

“You are gonna know it… like Simon” And she looked at Simon who was listening to us.

I looked at her and said nothing because I didn’t know what to say. I just scratched my head because all I need is money now and I want what I got before to be doubled. To live the life I wanted and that is why I accepted the reconciliation, but I didn’t expect that it would be crucial, because of that Uzma part. I don’t have an idea about Uzma. Until Michael told me about him.

“Have you talked to Jackie now?” Simon suddenly asked out of nowhere. Michael looked at him and she looked back at me and said,

“You start it to Simon… bring his life back”