The Angel Within

“No. There is something I must tell you about the lost soul we have to find, and I just found out that it’s personal to you. I had a visit from … you would call him my boss, and he told me who we are going to be looking for.” Reial gazed into Jackie’s eyes. “There is no easy way for me to say this. We will be looking for your mother.” Jackie sat down shocked. She felt anger as memories of her absent mom returned, and then she went deep in thought of all the loving times her dad had gone through. A tear rolled down her cheek. “Why would anyone want to find a mother who took herself off without caring about the family she left behind?” Why would I, why would anyone want to do that? When Jackie was twelve, Connie Cooper went shopping one day and never came home. The police were informed, and then they found her car in a suburb north of Austin. But after looking for months, they finally admitted they had no clues as to what had happened to her and stopped the search. Jackie’s dad then started going out every day for weeks, looking where he could. Then one day he just stopped and carried on living. Still, it broke his heart. Every night she could hear him crying about this till she heard him cry no more. Now twenty-eight Jackie had almost forgotten her mother. She wanted to forget her for not calling to inquire how she was or what her husband might have gone through. It had been sixteen years. Why should she help with this and what would her dad think? After some thought, Jackie said to Reial, “Why would you…? Why would your boss want me to do this? She has not been seen for years. She does not want to be found; otherwise she would have come home by now.” After a pause Reial said, “First let me talk to my boss. I’ll be back soon,” and she promptly disappeared. As Jackie sat on the porch waiting she looked up into the sky and saw a shooting star. She made a wish: I wish I wish upon that star to find my mom come home from afar. It somehow did not make sense, but it would have to do. Then Reial appeared and sat down next to Jackie. “The natural order of this life has been disrupted, and it’s got to be put back in order. By your mom not coming home, the timeline that should have existed has been changed, and other timelines and lives have altered.” “So are you telling me that the last sixteen years should not have happened?” “Yes, pretty much,” Reial said in a quieter voice. “Well then, can you tell me why this mix-up happened? How could all this happen?” Jackie asked, getting annoyed and angry. First calm down. I will explain everything this way so you will understand it quicker. Your mom disappearing had nothing to do with the Spirit. Her energy is still being felt in this galaxy but not in this time, do you understand? We have to find out what has happened and correct this anomaly, and things will get back to normal, but we do not have long. Okay, but what will happen to the last sixteen years? Jackie asked in a much calmer mind. “Everything will correct itself over a short time, and at night, too, time will change so as not to upset people. Some of it will seem like a dream and most of it will change without notice. The only person who will know is you,” Reial said. “But if you want, we can make you forget too.” Jackie thought about that for a minute and said, “I think I would like to remember both if that’s okay.” “We will go out first thing in the morning. Now it’s time for bed and sleep.” As Jackie’s head hit the pillow, she took a deep breath and blew out a sigh of relief. She had time to think about the situation, and after coming to terms with whom she had to find, she wondered where they would have to start and decided just to get some sleep. While she lay there, her thoughts went back to when her mom was at home and how happy the family was, how much love there was between them, how her Mom helped with her homework. She taught Jackie to cook and sew, which plants were weeds and which were not, and how happy her dad was before Mom disappeared. She closed her eyes with tears running down her face and finally went to sleep.