9

We were safe for the moment, but as long as the angels continued to fall, we both felt uneasy. Finally, the angel stirred and stumbled to the edge of the Cave to survey what was happening. He stumbled and I held him to keep him from falling down. His eyes were wet and I could see he was lost for words.

“So many fallen,” he said. “Why...?”

“I don’t know,” I answered. “But my mother told me once that there are no coincidences.”

His eyes locked with mine. At first he seemed shocked and angry, then confused and sad. I again held him and he fell into me and rested his body against mine. He was still so injured from his fall.

Then, as we watched, we could see the last angel make his descent. The chaos in Heaven was quieted, and then there arose a terrible stillness. The silence seemed to reverberate as if the universe itself was speechless. In the distance, plumes of smoke could be seen, rising from the places where the angels had fallen.

Then the sun was darkened and water began to fall from the sky. I had never seen anything like this before. Neither had the angel. Heaven was crying and the tears cooled those that lay broken and burning on the surface of the Earth.

“No coincidences? If that is true,” he said slowly, “then that means...”

“It means that everything is as it should be, even though we may feel otherwise.”

His eyes again met mine and seemed to search within me for an answer for a question that he did not have the words to speak. And suddenly I could see in his eyes that he had found something that was more important than any answer for any question. He had found meaning in me. And I had found compassion in him.

The rain continued to fall and the Cherubim, anxious to finish their work, found us quickly. They were still forbidden to enter the Cave, so at first they shouted at us to come out. We paid no attention to their promises of a painless death. In fact, our eyes were still lost in each other’s gaze. And, as the mountain fell down upon us, we found peace together within ourselves.