God's Heart and the Light One

It had happened. Lucifer had won the war. He’d beaten God and defeated His supporting angels. The only hope for humanity now was the remnants of God’s heart scattered throughout the Earth and the Light One; the one being who could put them back together again to defeat Lucifer and save all of humanity.

Sophia pulled at the heart-shaped locket around her neck as she looked on at the hustle and bustle of her new high school campus. The locket had been her mother’s. When Sophia was little, her mother had shown her that the locket had a unique keyhole, but no key. She said it was lost long ago, long before her time. It was a family heirloom that had been passed down from generations of women before her, and now it was hers. Today was the first day she’d worn it, for it felt too soon before now. Her mother had only been gone 6 months, but her father insisted they move; he said her mother would’ve wanted them to but wouldn’t tell Sophia why. Whenever she asked him, he would just say, “We’ll talk about it Bluebird, just not today”. Bluebird had been his nick name for her ever since she was little because of her love for birds; bluebirds in particular were her favorite.

Sophia opened the car door slowly and got out. As she walked to the front of the school, she gazed around skeptically at her new classmates. They were loud and she found them a bit obnoxious. Although she was just 15, a teenager herself, she thought most kids her age to be a bit vapid and too complacent with the trends of society. Sophia preferred to spend most of her time outside watching the birds and squirrels in their back garden, or sewing things for her cat, Whimsy. Her father told her one day, jokingly, that she was “15 going on 85” because all her favorite things to do were “old lady activities”. Since they had moved though, she didn’t get to hear the birds sing and the squirrels chitter every morning like she had back home because they now lived in an apartment building with no back yard and hardly any windows. She missed home. Home was where her family lived together in the house in Alabama; not here in Michigan. Michigan was cold and had little to do.

The school bell rang and she hurried on to her first class. As she was sitting there waiting for her name to be called out for roll call, she looked out the window and saw what looked like giant birds flying in the sky; there were two kinds, the ones with brownish grey or white wings, and the others with jet black. There must have been twice as many black winged birds than there were brownish grey/white. She thought she might be hallucinating but these birds appeared to be fighting.

“Sophia Harroman” the teacher said aloud.

Sophia was too mesmerized by the huge birds circling the sky to notice her name being called.

“Sophia Harro-…”

“Did you see that?!” Sophia exclaimed, interrupting the teacher as she shot out of her seat excitedly.

Everyone started to murmur and snicker.

“Miss Harroman! Sit down!” said the teacher.

“But Ms. Jones there’s giant birds outside, look! They’re fighting each other and-….” She looked over and saw the white and brown winged birds fall to the ground as the black winged birds landed to swarm their prey.

“…they just… they killed them” she said softly.

The teacher looked at her with extreme concern and confusion. Sophia looked back to the teacher and knew she was in trouble.

“What are you talking about Sophia? There are no birds outside.”

But Sophia knew this wasn’t true, she saw them with her own eyes. It had to be true. She wasn’t crazy, was she?

The teacher said quietly, “Miss Harroman, come with me please. I think we should call your father.”

Sophia nodded and went quietly with Ms. Jones to the nurse’s office where Sophia overheard her tell the nurse, “Her mother disappeared several months ago and her father uprooted the poor dear and brought her all the way here from Alabama. She must be extremely stressed out.”

“Hey! That’s my family y’all are talking about! And I’m not crazy, I know what I saw!” Sophia said angrily. She knew this was bad, calling her father like this. “He’ll probably think I’m crazy too” she thought to herself. Back home her father was called at least once a month to come pick her up because she’d had an anxiety attack that she couldn’t come back from. Sometimes she thought her father got tired of doing it, coming to the rescue every time. He always joked that he was her ‘knight in not-so-shiny armor’. He thought he was really funny, she did not. By that time, her father had arrived and walked in the nurse’s station door. “Ready to go, Bluebird?” he said with a soft half worried smile.

“Yeah” she whispered somberly.

Sophia spent the car ride home looking out the window wondering was what she saw real, or had she just imagined it?

“You’re going to get the hang of this. Don’t worry. I know this all seems so new and scary to you, but…” her father paused here and pursed his lips.

“But there’s great things in store for you Bluebird, great things!” he said laughing nervously.

Sophia just looked at him. He’s such a weirdo, mom’s so much cooler than Dad. I wish she were here, she thought to herself. And then she realized mom wasn’t here, and he was all she had. So, she was thankful for him, weirdness and all.

Once home, Sophia went straight upstairs to her room and began on the homework the teacher had sent with her.

“The last thing I need is to fail science class because of some idiotic hallucinations” she murmured to herself.

There came a soft knocking on her door. She looked up to see her father’s worried face.

“Everything okay?” he said.

She smiled, “Yeah, Dad. It’s all good.”

Just then there was a loud crash downstairs.

“What the hell?” her father said.

He raced down the stairs.

“Hey! What do you think you’re… Woah! Wha-what are you?!”

“Dad!” Sophia screamed.

But it was no use, her father was nowhere to be seen, just…gone.

Sophia called for him and searched frantically. As she opened the front door to look outside, she saw utter chaos. The sky was blood red and the cool crisp Autumn air had turned into a Hellish heat. She fell to the ground in shock and started sobbing. A few minutes had passed and she heard a man say in an unimpressed and nonchalant voice, “Wow, what a mess”. Sophia looked up to see a gruff looking man, probably in his fifties if she had to guess, wearing a disheveled button-up shirt and sports jacket with elbow patches. He sipped from a small flask he carried with him.

“Who are you? Do you know what the hell is going on?” she asked in a stunned voice.

He simply replied, “Yep. Exactly.” and turned away and began walking towards a car parked outside Sophia’s front door. He stopped halfway there and yelled, “You comin’ girl?”.

“Where? Who are you?!” Sophia blurted.

The man started getting into the car as he said, “To get your dad back and save the world of course.”

The door shut and the car’s engine started. He waved for her to get in. She sat shocked for a second and then she pulled herself together and got in the back seat.

“Hello, Sophia” said a woman’s voice as soothing as honey.

“M-Mom?” Sophia’s heart felt as if it had dropped into her stomach as she looked closer.

“My Sophia!” her mother gushed as she threw her arms around Sophia.

“Mom!” cried Sophia, “I thought I’d never see you again! The police said you were likely dead. Where did you go? Why did you leave us? And, who’s the weirdo that smells like whiskey?” she said confused.

Her mother gave her a somber look as she said, “I’m so sorry I had to leave you like that. I had hoped that my absence would protect you from all this.”

“All of what?” said Sophia.

“The end of the world, that’s what. See all those things you call “birds” flyin’ around up there?” said the man. “Those ain’t birds, sweetie, they’re demons.”

“What?” Sophia laughed. “You’re joking right? Demons aren’t real, and neither is Hell, or Heaven for that matter.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I must’ve imagined that giant bat-winged freak carrying your dad off into the sky”, he said sarcastically.

Sophia looked down.

“I’m afraid it’s true; demons, God, the Devil, it’s all very real and our family has been the keeper of that knowledge for millennia. The locket around your neck poses the only threat left to Lucifer and his demons, which is why we have to find the key to it before he does.” said Sophia’s mother.

“But how? You said the key was lost centuries ago, Mom”

“Well, not exactly. You see, the “key” is actually made up of three objects that were scattered around the globe until my old family friend Frank and I went searching for them six months ago. We found two of the artifacts quickly thanks to Frank’s ties in the archeological community, but the third is here, in the Great Lakes near Michigan.”

Sophia nodded solemnly, “Let’s go then.”

There was a boat waiting for them at the docks that was owned by a guy who works for an eccentric billionaire who was fond of procuring rare and unique objects. The boat owner had been treasure hunting for him at the bottom of the lakes for 2 years now. He had lined up everything he thought might be of interest for them.

Sophia, Frank, and her mother combed through the objects carefully. “This is it! The ruby that completes the key!” exclaimed Sophia excitedly.

As she turned to show Frank and her mother, a demon flew at her. She screamed and ducked, so it only got a few strands of her hair.

“This way!” Frank motioned for Sophia and her mother to follow him as more demons began to swarm them.

They took refuge inside an abandoned boat shed nearby as they franticly tried to put all three pieces of the key together. First, the blue dragon scale. They placed it in the locket, it clicked into place. Next, the golden piece of the thorn crown Jesus of Nazareth had worn the day he was crucified. Last… the ruby from King David’s ring. The roof of the boatshed began to flap violently.

“Uh, we might wanna hurry this up a little, I think this place is gonna collapse!” said Frank.

As Sophia put the last piece into place, the locket began to glow.

“Done!” Sophia exclaimed and they all smiled, a little relieved.

She turned around slowly and heard clapping in the distance. A terrifying figure immerged from the shadows. It was Lucifer. Sophia’s father was with him, tied up and out cold.

“You know, I really thought God would’ve picked someone stronger than a fifteen-year-old girl. You’re so weak!” he cackled as he flew at Sophia.

And with the last sound of Satan’s laugh, Sophia opened the locket and yelled “I am not weak!”, as she held up the locket to Lucifer’s face.

The locket shown with a bright light as he neared it. He screamed as the blinding light hit him and he turned to ash in front of their eyes. Sophia rushed over and untied her father as he slowly woke up.

“Hey, Bluebird” he said groggily with a smile.

“Hey, Dad” Sophia said as she hugged him tight, smiling.

It was finally over; the world was safe again and so was her family. Lucifer was no more.