Pending Approval

Michael stared numbly at the flickering icon on his screen. How long had it been? When was lunch? Wait…he just had lunch. Or was that yesterday?

He pushed his chair away and exhaled as he hung his head back. He glanced left and then right. No surprises there. Just endless rows of white cubicles. Far down the line he saw Gabriel’s head pop out. Her hand popped up in a sad wave as if to say “yup, I hate my life too.”

God she was beautiful. He shyly lifted a few fingers in mock salute.

Gabriel made as if to return the salute but then pushed off and spun her chair around lazily.

Then she stood up.

Michael blinked. Was she walking this way? Impossible. They weren’t allowed to leave when they were on the clock.

But sure enough, Gabriel had left her station and was walking, no, make that skipping her way closer.

More heads began popping up. It was like a field of gophers. Some popped out sideways like he had, others up over the top of the cubicle wall.

“What is she doing?”

“She’s going to get us all in trouble!”

“Can’t she wait until lunch?”

Ah…so it wasn’t lunch yet! Michael smiled in silent satisfaction. In fact his momentary day dreaming about lunch shifted his attention just enough so that his centre of gravity ever so slightly. Sure enough his feet shot out from under him as he fell backwards onto the ground.

Meanwhile his premium comfort ergonomic chair shot forward and slammed into his desk with a resounding BANG that reverberated down the lines in either direction.

Shocked, he lay there listening for anything to indicate it was indeed as loud as he had heard.

Silence.

Then the face of an angel slowly drifted into view. It was Gabriel and she was holding her hand over mouth and trying so hard not to laugh. She was successful, almost, until she couldn’t hold it any longer and a chortled snort burst forth. Her eyes widened even further causing Michael to frantically try to gather himself while he too held his hands over his mouth.

He finally managed to collect himself and stand up and then there they were, two idiots holding their hands over their mouths in a desperately quiet space trying not to laugh.

It was too much and they both erupted into laughter.

“What is the meaning of this?” A stern voice snapped them out of their momentary bliss.

Michael and Gabriel turned and snapped to attention without thinking or blinking. Raphael stood there, clipboard in hand tapping his pen rather expectantly.

Michael opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. Thankfully, Gabriel gathered her wits faster.

“I was just asking my colleague here what this protocol was when all requests had been approved before shift was over, and unfortunately he was so absorbed in his work that I startled him quite severely.” She turned towards Michael and dipped her head ever so slightly.

“My apologies for the lack of tact, Michael.”

Michael, still very much frozen in terror, couldn't help but notice the ever so slight up turn to the side of her mouth. A silent mockery to the institution even as she spoke.

Raphael’s eyes narrowed. “Finished. You meant to tell me that you have approved all requests?”

Gabriel nodded. “Yessir. Everyone. I have been focusing on my efficiency.”

“If I return to my desk and check, will I find that you are not telling me the truth here?”

Gabriel nodded, then flicked her eyes ever so urgently towards Michael.

“Ah…yessir, she’s telling the truth sir. My inbox is full sir, from all her approvals.”

Raphael leaned over Michael’s desk and examined the full inbox.

Satisfied, he straightened up. “Return to work at once.” Then he swivelled on his heel and disappeared down the next hall.

Michael pulled Gabriel into his cubicle. “Are you out of your mind?” he hissed. “He’s going back to check right now!! We’re so banished!”

Gabriel puffed up her cheeks and exhaled slowly. “What if it’s real? I’ll just go mass approve everything in one go.”

“Without examining each one? That’s…that’s heresy!”

“How long has it been since you rejected one?”

“I’m a senior approver, I rarely reject anything by the time it gets to me!”

“Ok perfect, here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to approve everything in my inbox. Actually, let’s just get out of here!”

“What?” Michael’s mouth hung open, his eyes wide.

“Let’s get out of here.”

“I can’t!”

“You’re my senior approver. I’ll approve mine, you approve yours and then let’s get out of here!”

“Where would we go?”

“Anywhere!”

“No!”

“I’m going to go approve my inbox. If you want to, meet me by the gates in 20!”

Before Michael could open his mouth she ducked out of his cubicle and was fast walking back to her own space.

Sure enough, five minutes later Michael’s inbox lit up with requests from Gabriel pushed to the second stage of approvals.

Michael began to sweat. He had dreamed about playing hookey for what seemed like an eternity. But could he actually do it? Nobody did!

He checked the time…eight minutes. His heart rate was elevated. It was now or never.

A memory of a time long past pushed into his mind. Something he hadn’t thought about in a long time.

“Screw it.”

His pointer only hesitated for a moment and then it was done. He selected all, and clicked “Approve”.

Then he was off. Keeping his head down he fast walked around the corner. He passed the elevators, not wanting to draw attention to himself, instead aiming for the great staircase.

Nobody took the stairs, even though the elevator took longer.

Down the stairs he went and finally pushed through the doors at the bottom. He found himself outside in the great pavilion. It was mostly deserted this time of day except for a few workers briskly walking past carrying clipboards and looking stressed.

Michael’s terror had turned to excitement and as he reached the edge of the pavilion he couldn’t believe it. He felt so free.

“Hey…over here!” Gabriel’s voice startled him.

“Hey!” Michael ran over and grasped her hands. “I did it. I did it. I’ve never done that. I’ve never even thought about doing that. Can you believe it!”

Gabriel stifled a laugh. “Where are we going to go?”

“Anywhere!”

She motioned over her shoulder. “I don’t have my…”

“It’s ok I don’t either!”

Michael smiled. It was enough to just not be in that dreary office chair. He sighed and glanced back at the building. The large viewscreen above the entrance showed the day's numbers in large bright letters.

As expected, the numbers were higher than usual for this time of day.

Michael frowned. What was that red number? Why was there one red number?

“Hey do you see that?”

“What?” Gabriel looked up questionably.

“The red number.” I’ve never seen that.

Dread filled Michael’s stomach as he slowly walked closer. Gabriel followed close behind.

The scoreboard was unwavering. In large white letters it said simply.

Level 1 Prayers Approved: 3, 345, 678, 300

And then below that, in right red letters:

Level 10 Prayers Approved: 1

“What's Level 10? I didn’t know there was Level 10.” Michael whispered.

Gabriel swallowed. She pulled her pocket guidebook from her pocket. Time slowed and all that could be heard was flipping pages.

“Here it is. Level 01 basic acknowledgements and requests for abundance. Hold on…Level 02, 03…” She flipped a page. “Ah here. Level 10. End of the world.”

“What!” Michael frantically tore the pages away from her. Sure enough. It said right there in Size 12 Angelic font. Level 10: End of the World.

“Did we…”

Gabriel looked scared for the first time.

“It could have been someone else.” Even as she said it she knew it was untrue. There would have been rumors. The higher ups would have been involved. She gulped. “It must have been us. We just authorized the end of the world.”

Michael ran his hands through his hair. “Oh no oh no oh no oh no” His breath became ragged.

Gabriel grabbed his arm but he didn’t respond. He began rocking back and forth.

“Michael!” she slapped him across the face.

His eyes refocused.

“Listen to me.” She spoke slowly and deliberately. “We can fix this. Look at me, look at me! We can fix this.”

Michael nodded.

“Okay, okay. Let me think. Prayers come to Level one approvers, that’s you. They get filtered and those that are approved come to me. I review and the ones I approve go into the queue.”

“Ok, so we know where it is. What happens then?”

“I don’t know. It’s with the higher ups. We’d have to ask…”

“No, don’t say it.”

“Raphael.”

Gabriel rubbed her forehead. Above her the red letters mocked them both.

“We can’t be responsible for the end of the world. We need to fix this.” Gabriel set her jaw.

“Ok, I’m the senior approver. I’ll have to talk to him.”

Five minutes later they found themselves standing outside Raphael’s office. It was empty.

Someone in a grey suit walked by just at that moment.

“Can I help you?” she said with a pleasant yet somehow cold voice.

“Yes…we’re looking for Raphael.” Michael stammered.

“He just stepped out. May I help you?”

Michael glanced over at Gabriel. She shrugged, looking slightly terrified.

“Yes, I am the senior approver downstairs.”

The lady frowned. “Miracles, Angel Resources or Hell Operations?”

“Prayers, actually.”

Her eyebrow raised as if to say, “What are you doing here?”

“Yes, I was just wondering what happens to the approved prayers once they are, uh approved.”

She looked at them both then shrugged.

“They are forwarded on to Miracles, where they are queued and prepped for enablement.”

“Ah, and where’s that?”

“Fourth floor. Why?”

“Um…no reason. Gabriel here was just wondering about her career path, and I thought that understanding the process may help.”

This seemed to satisfy the woman. “Anything else?”

“Yes, um…how do I get to the fourth floor?”

“You can’t. It is locked down. Authorized personnel only. Good day.”

She smiled and brushed past, eager to be done with the conversation.

A moment later Michael and Gabriel stood out on the landing of the great staircase looking up. Sure enough, there was no stair past the third floor.

“What now?” Michael hissed.

Gabriel paused and glanced up. “We have no choice.”

“Are you out of your mind!” Michael couldn’t help but yell.

“We’re already out of our minds! Now fly!”

Stupefied, Michael’s whole body felt numb. His last bit of resistance cried out to be heard and then he made his choice. He breathed in and flexed his back. Great white feathers expanded from his back, and he exhaled. He felt whole.

Then he remembered he wasn’t supposed to be doing this. Ever. So he tried to be as small and quiet as he could.

Still, together they flew, their great wings magnificent no matter how small they tried to be. Luckily for them no one looked up, ever.

“Looking good M!” Gabriel smiled when they reached the fourth level, grabbing him in a snug embrace.

He couldn’t help but smile. His chest burst with pride just to hear her say that and for a moment they spun in the air holding each other. She broke the embrace and just for a moment their eyes locked and time fell away. The end of the world simply ceased to matter.

“Ready?” Gabriel whispered.

There was no entrance to be seen from outside, but there were two large glass panels intersecting at ninety degrees.

“Must be a corner office.” Gabriel hovered with her face pressed against the opaque glass. “I can’t see anything.”

“Watch out.” There was a flourish and a yell and Michael flung himself at the glass. It didn’t break, but it did make a loud dull thud.

Michael groaned as he rubbed his forehead, but then as if it had been approved somewhere, the glass panel simply fell inward and promptly smashed all over the floor.

Gabriel glanced upwards. “Thank you.” she mouthed.

Inside was indeed a corner office. Luckily it was empty, although the monitor glowed brightly. Somebody had been here recently.

The office itself was darker than usual. Instead of the usual white the wall was painted a dark grey colour. Even the desk was black obsidian.

“Look, the computer isn’t locked out yet. Whoever’s office this was must have just been here.”

Gabriel folded her wings and sprung into the chair.

Not knowing what else to do, she clicked search and then typed “End of the world.”

Nothing. Level 10?

Nothing. Miracle enablement?

This brought up a list of files and systems. She leaned in closer, with Michael staring intently right over her shoulder.

“Ahem.”

A new voice startled them both so violently they both flew into the air resulting in banging both their heads on the ceiling tile, which then conveniently crashed down on top of the desk and knocked the monitor onto the floor. This left two angels covered in glass and ceiling debris holding each other in the air staring at the newcomer.

He was dressed all in black. His hair was black, his eyes were black. Even his beard was black.

“Can I help you?” He seemed unperturbed by the mess.

Michael and Gabriel slowly lowered to the ground.

“Ah…I recognize you.” the man smiled.

“Lucifer.” Michael whispered.

“Indeed. Long time. Now care to tell me what all the fuss is about.” His eyes swept the room and he smiled, clearly amused.

Gabriel reached over and gently squeezed Michael’s hand.

“We authorized a prayer that we shouldn’t and we were really hoping you could help us stop it.”

Lucifer looked at them and then laughed out loud. He laughed and laughed. At one point he leaned against the wall and laughed even harder.

Finally he paused long enough to speak. “All this…because you approved a prayer?”

Michael finally spoke. “Yes, we approved the end of the world. And we are here to stop it, and you if we have to.”

Lucifer sighed and grabbed a chair, motioning for them to sit.

“Do you know what happens to prayers once approved?”

“Yes, they are sent to Miracles and queued for enablement.”

“Yes, but do you know what happens then?”

Gabriel shook her head. Michael scowled.

Lucifer smiled. “They are indeed sent to the enablement system wherein a report is generated. This report is then passed to the high ups who never read it. Well, unless it’s audited.”

Somewhere a phone rang. Then another. Lucifer paused slightly before continuing.

“In the meantime, miracles are indeed enabled. Do you know what that means?”

More head shaking.

“It means a small amount of divine intervention is granted to the originator in the form of potential. Meaning the odds are slightly balanced in their favour. With me so far?”

Silence.

“Good. What this means is that the prayer originator is given a chance. It doesn’t just occur. In fact, it hardly ever occurs. Most humans are so involved in their own selfish lives to even recognize that the universe is trying to give them something.

Michael finally spoke. “So all those prayers…”

Lucifer shrugged. “Granted. It is part of our divine mandate, but mostly, nothing happens.”

Michael looked around, then down at himself. “So..”

“ You have conquered the bureaucracy we purposely created to ensure we accomplish nothing. Beautifully ironic isn’t it? Who needs hell?” Lucifer flashed his teeth in a wolfy smile.

An hour later Michael and Gabriel stood just outside the golden gates looking down at the world below..

“What now?” Gabriel asked.

“I’ve spent so long believing that what we did mattered. You know what I see now?”

She grinned. “Options?”

“Exactly. Approval doesn’t matter. Choice does.”

“So let’s make a different one.”

Below them, an exciting world of probabilities waited, alive and burning with possibility.