Back at my apartment, I laid on the couch facing the ceiling. Through my left eye, I watched my right arm and left leg spasm while acid traveled down my right eye down to the tips of my right fingers and left leg. The falls and near trips continued to happen. The sudden loss of feeling in my head…yep still there. I thought back to that one time in the shower the other day, there was a massive earthquake. I was sure of it. I ran out of the steaming hot shower into the living room. Soaking. Wrapped in just a towel. I tripped over the end of the couch and gripped it. “Baby!” He was watching a hunting show on the TV. “Baby! Was there just an earthquake? I felt it!” 

He gave me a puzzled look. “No. The world is normal. No earthquakes.” 

I looked down at my legs. It was my knees. They were buckling. Shaking beneath the very weight of me, even though I held myself up by my arms on the edge of the couch. I was still falling. All of gravity felt so…heavy…

The acid moment had passed. All that was left was the lingering hangover in my right temple. My right arm and left leg weak from the exertion of the spasm. Breathe Brittany… I reminded myself as I closed my eyes. Just…inhale. Pause. Exhale. Pause. Inhale. Pause. Exhale. Pause. You’re living today. Okay? Exhale. Pause. Inhale… 

---

I gasped for air and coughed. I felt like I was hacking up a lung. “Breathe, Brittany!” I could hear Angel’s voice coaching me through it. “You didn’t give me the go-ahead yet that it’s your time.” He patted my back. “That’s it. Breathe… Inhale. Pause. Exhale. Pause. You got it.” 

The coughs slowed down and I looked at my lap. I was in new clothes now. I looked up and around me. I was in the SUV again. I blinked. Angel and Pneuma looked at me, full of concern. 

“Madame President! Are you alright?” This time, Pneuma sat across from me, facing the back of the car while Angel sat along the window. 

“Oh…Pneuma? Angel? Wait… wasn’t I just dying now?”

“Dying? No!” Pneuma looked at me puzzled. “We thought you almost died a half hour ago after that lightning strike. But all is well.” 

“L-Lightning Strike? What?” 

“You don’t remember?” Pneuma was even more concerned now. 

“Madame President, you were just walking and talking with us a second ago. You even laughed off the lightning strike like it was nothing. You’re saying you don’t remember now? Any of it?” 

I sat back and racked my brain. “I remember looking at the crack in the tower. I remember seeing white and then…” I gasped. “I was in the lake!” 

Angel nodded his head. “Yep… you were.” 

“A-And then what happened?” I gripped the car seat and rubbed my hands against the leather. Yep, it felt just like how car leather should feel. 

“You went for a swim,” Angel said nonchalantly. 

Pneuma rolled her eyes. “Madame President! You slipped and fell into the reservoir, and probably would have drowned if it wasn’t for Frank diving head-first into the water after you and putting his swimming skills to the test. He went deep in there for you before the waterfall currents pulled you fully under.” 

I eyed Frank in the front passenger seat next to the driver. His black-cropped hair stood straight up as if he had gotten out of a shower. His black uniform also looked like it clung to his frame much tighter than it did before. He was still soaking wet. “Thank you, Frank,” I said softly as I looked back down to inspect myself again. He said nothing but nodded toward me in the rearview mirror and continued looking out of the passenger side mirror. 

How was I dry while he was soaking wet? Instead of the Presidential attire I was wearing beforehand, I wore a pair of gray joggers, white gym sneakers, and a white hoodie. I was even wearing a sports bra and a fresh set of underwear. “My gym clothes…” Pnuema confessed nervously. “I was planning on hitting the gym right after our excursions today and packed an extra pair. Fortunately, it fits you just right, even if I am shorter than you.” 

“Oh… Pneuma… I can’t…” I felt a drip of water down my neck. My locs were wet and heavy. So I really did fall into the lake. 

“Madame President! It’s nothing, really!” Pneuma blushed. “I’m just so glad you’re safe! And concerned you don’t remember the last 30 minutes of conversation! Angel, your brother must have a really hard punch for her to keep losing memory like this.” 

Angel laughed in annoyance. “I know, right?” He turned to me. “But you remember falling into the lake at least and everything else that happened before that?”

“Yep. The convo with Wyatt…Oh! I didn’t say goodbye to him!”

“Actually, you did. Right after you changed. You gave him a hug actually,” Angel said in a tone that indicated that Presidents don’t give hugs. 

“Oh great. At least we got to tell him goodbye. Someone should tell his boss he should get a raise. He was really great!” 

“With what money, Madame President?” Angel asked, still annoyed. He caught himself and lowered his tone. “Anyway, we’ve been in the car for the past 15 minutes going over the next list of cabinet members. He pointed to the tablet I had dropped on the ground in my fit of coughing.” 

“Oh…” I picked up the tablet. “So where are we headed now?” 

“After you fell into the lake, we asked if you needed a break to go back home and cancel the tour or if you wanted to continue. You insisted that you were fine. So we’re headed to the wind farm in Ruha next.” 

“Ah. Got it. Thanks!” I woke up the tablet and reviewed the open tabs. “So we’re headed to Ruha? Looking at angel-folk departments next?”

“That’s right!” Pnuema was back to her cheery self. 

“Aio Camara, Head of the Department of Education. Dr. Asa Althea, Head of the Department of Healing Services. Angel de Muerte, Head of the Department of Death.” I read aloud. “Oh, well, Angel… we already know what you do…” I pressed on his page. Angel’s headshot was both edgy and professional. He wore an all black jacket and dress shirt. His long black hair was neatly pulled up in a bun showing off the animal face line work on the shaved portions of his head. He kept his eyes both serious and somber. A blurred-out green hill and sunset were behind him. 

As a dual-citizen for both the UKH and the USAR, Angel de Muerte has been elected as the Head of the Department of Death due to his many years of service in the UKH and his expertise on all things rest. The USAR’s Death department works in partnership with the UKH’s much larger Rest, Reset and Restoration Department, which oversees the recycling and reprocessing of all things in the Universe.  We are grateful that Angel has offered his personal services to help this nation.  Due to his many roles with the UKH and the USAR, Mr. de Muerte has several co-heads of this department that handle all sorts of reprocessing tasks while he is away on business trips. 

I sat back and looked directly at Angel. “Wow, Angel… This is…quite the bio. I’m impressed!” 

Angel smiled softly and breathed. “Look, I’m just glad to be of service. It’s what I live for.” He winked. 

I looked over the bio again. “This bio doesn’t say which city it’s based in.” 

“Oh, that’s on purpose. We travel, but essentially, we’re in every city. Because this is a borrowed service from the UKH, I guess you could technically say its headquarters are in the UKH. We just run branches in each city. Kind of like how you’ll find Waste Management services in every town. It’s there. You just don’t really think about it…until you need us that is.” He chuckled. 

I nodded in understanding and tapped on the first tab again. I felt the SUV begin a steep incline up the mountain. An image of a child-like face with eyes full of wonder and excitement peered out from the headshot. Like many young children, I could not immediately tell whether Aio was male or female. Their hair was cropped in a wavy chin-length bob with bangs. They stood before a blurred school ground with trees and a playset in a navy blue blazer and light blue dress shirt. 

Aio Camara is the Head of the Department of Education. Based in Alma, the Department of Education ensures that all citizens of USAR are literate and educated to global standards, regardless of a public, private, or home education. Having spent eons in the UKH hearing directly from the courts of Most High, Aio is determined to ensure that all children have a safe and healthy environment to learn about all the wonders this Universe has to offer. 

I looked up at Pneuma and Angel with the same wonder in Aio’s eyes. “Aio looks like a ton of fun!” 

Angel cracked a wide smile for the first time in a while. “Ah, Aio! Always a blast to hang around.” 

I laughed, “Well, I can’t wait to meet…him? Her?” 

“Both are right,” Angel nodded. 

“Wait. Is Aio two genders?” 

“No. Aio is an angel. Like me. Angels have no genders. I guess you could technically call us, ‘it’. But that doesn’t work very well if you’re still thinking in English. Human languages… they just don’t cut it when it comes to angel-folk.” 

“Right… If I called you, ‘it’, that would make it sound like you were like this tablet or that mug over there.” I pointed to Pnuema’s coffee mug in the cup holder. “But you’re a person, right?” 

“Yep. Created by Most High above. And so is Aio. All angels are created. We’re created in the UKH and then settle in various territories throughout the Universe. Or Most High assigns us to work directly for Him in his throne room or in various areas throughout the Kingdom of Heaven. We do not have the same anatomical structure as human or mammal male and females. So ‘he/she’ technically isn’t correct. But for the sake of comfort, you can call Aio whatever you would like. Aio will not get offended.” 

“Oh…well, regardless, I think Aio and I could be great friends.” 

“Actually, if I remember correctly, Aio used to tutor you directly.  Once you start talking with him, I think you may remember spending time with Aio as a child.” 

My jaw dropped. “He tutored me?”

“Yes! All children get assigned a messenger angel to teach them the ways of Most High before they reach maturity. Aio was sent to you. You don’t remember this?”  

I scratched my head. I seriously couldn’t remember anything. Pnuema looked up at me in pity, while Angel’s smile dropped and he shook his head. “Yeah. My brother hit you hard, didn’t he?” I looked down, feeling like I let them down. Before I let my emotions take over, I tapped on the final tab and read aloud to switch the subject. 

Dr. Asa Althea leads the Department of Healing in Ruha. As its name suggests, the Department of Healing is solely concerned with keeping the health of all kinds (human, angel-folk, and other beings) well.  Having spent time directly with Most High’s son at the Cross, Dr. Althea collected vials of His spilled blood and has direct access and permission from the UKH to distribute the blood to whomever needs healing.  Dr. Althea oversees all hospitals in the USAR and ensures that all doctors, nurses, and healing agents in the nation follow Universal health codes. 

The face of a slender, beautiful person in a white lab coat stood confidently with a stethoscope around their neck. Although Asa was bald with a creamy chocolate skin complexion, she looked more feminine than masculine. So I opted to think of her as a female, though I knew she was neither male nor female. 

“Dr. Althea looks incredibly smart,” I said to Angel. “I’m calling her a girl because that’s what my brain can manage right now.” 

Angel nodded. “As you wish, Madame President. And yes, Dr. Althea is brilliant in her own right. She was the one to think of transporting all those vials to preserve Most High’s Son’s blood. We used some of it to write up that incredible contract to do that Spirit transplant with you. Dr. Althea performed that surgery. She was there during all of it. Truly incredible stuff. When you chat with her next, ask her about the ‘vials’. She’ll know what you’re talking about.” 

I was quiet for a long while. “Angel…you think she can fix me?” my voice cracked. 

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