Chapter 6: A Glimpse Beyond
1003 Words
The night was still as Maria lay in bed, the faint hum of the city outside her window lulling her toward sleep. Her mind drifted between fragments of the day — Tyler’s trembling hands, the flicker of hallway lights, the warmth that had spread through her chest during prayer.
She told herself it was stress.
She told herself it was imagination.
Sleep pulled her under anyway.
—
Maria stood once again in the vast golden hall.
Towering stained-glass windows stretched high above her, light pouring through them in brilliant shades of crimson, sapphire, and gold. The marble floor shimmered beneath her feet, reflecting the colors like liquid glass.
At the far end of the hall, priests chanted in a language she did not understand. Their voices rose and fell in steady rhythm.
It should have been peaceful. But something was wrong. The light felt strained. The chanting sounded thinner than before.
“Maria.” She turned.
Liam stood behind her — no longer dressed as a barista, but in a simple white robe. His face was calm, but his eyes were not.
“What’s happening?” she asked. He didn’t answer. He only gestured forward.
The golden hall flickered.
The warmth drained from the air.
The stained glass darkened at the edges.
And suddenly—
She was standing in the school gymnasium. The bleachers were filled with familiar faces: students, teachers, her parents, and Paolo. Even Joshua sat among them. But their expressions were distant. Muted. Like they were present… but unreachable.
At center court stood an angel. Its wings shimmered like polished silver, light rippling across the feathers.
And across from it—
The shadow.
It no longer shifted aimlessly.
It held form now.
Not human.
Not beast.
But deliberate. The angel raised a sword of light. The shadow advanced. When they collided, the sound was not metal against metal.
It was pressure. Air compressing violently. The gymnasium trembled. Sparks of light scattered across the polished floor. Maria felt it in her bones.
The shadow faltered for a moment—Then turned.
Slowly.
Toward her.
Her breath caught.
It saw her.
Not through her.
Not around her.
At her.
“Run, Maria!” Liam’s voice cut through the noise. But she couldn’t move. The shadow’s presence pressed against her like cold water rising.
Then—
It spoke.
Its voice was not loud.
It was calm.
“You steady children in hallways,” it said, almost thoughtfully.
Maria’s heart pounded.
“And you think that makes you ready?”
Her throat tightened.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, though her voice sounded small.
The shadow tilted, as if amused.
“You hesitate,” it continued. “Even here.”
The angel struggled behind it. Cracks of darkness ran along its wings.
“You doubt,” the shadow whispered.
The word struck deeper than any threat.
“You are not ready.”
The gym floor split beneath her feet, thin fractures spreading outward in sharp lines.
The bleachers emptied.
Faces disappeared.
The world narrowed.
Joshua stepped forward from the darkness — not smiling now, but stern.
“You’re not ready,” he echoed mockingly, but not cruelly.
“Ready for what?” Maria demanded, fear rising in her chest.
The fallen spirits emerged around her in a circle.
Her principal.
Tyler.
Jake.
Her mother.
Their eyes glowed faintly, not evil — but hollow.
“You must choose,” they said in unison.
“Choose what?” she cried, feeling confused.
The shadow moved closer.
“You can walk away,” it said softly. “You almost did.”
Her breath caught.
It knew.
It knew she had hesitated in the hallway. It knew she had considered pretending nothing was happening.
“You are afraid,” it continued.
And it wasn’t wrong.
She was afraid.
Afraid of being wrong.
Afraid of failing.
Afraid of carrying something she did not understand.
The angel faltered again.
The fractures widened.
Light dimmed.
Then, out of nowhere, Maria’s chest burned suddenly — not with fear, but with warmth.
The same warmth from the dinner table.
From the hallway.
From the moment she told Tyler to breathe.
It spread outward, steady and quiet.
The fractures slowed.
The shadow recoiled slightly.
“You see?” it said, snickering softly. “You do not even understand what you are.”
The angel stepped forward again, light stabilizing around its form.
“Maria, don't be afraid,” it said, with a voice gentle but firm. “The flicker within you will guide you. Trust it.”
The warmth in her chest then pulsed once — strong enough to push the shadow back half a step.
But she didn’t command it.
She didn’t wield it.
She simply stood.
And the hall shattered into a bright light.
—
Maria woke with a sharp inhale.
Warm but cold.
Sweating.
Her room was dark.
Her heart raced violently.
For a moment, she expected to see fractured glass on her bedroom floor.
But everything looked normal.
The faint orange glow from the streetlamp outside filtered through her curtains.
The city hummed.
Ordinary.
She sat up slowly.
Her chest still felt warm.
Not burning.
Not fading.
Present.
Her eyes drifted to her digital clock.
3:33 AM.
Her stomach dropped.
She didn’t remember waking at that time before.
She swung her legs over the edge of the bed.
The hallway outside her room was silent.
But for just a second—
She thought she heard a faint hum.
Like something shifting.
Watching.
Maria swallowed.
The shadow’s words echoed softly in her mind:
You hesitate.
You doubt.
You are not ready.
She pressed a hand over her chest.
The warmth answered back.
Not loudly.
Not powerfully.
But steadily.
And that frightened her more than the dream itself.
Because the shadow hadn’t been trying to kill her.
It had been measuring her.
And for the first time—
She was certain of something.
This wasn’t just something she was seeing.
It was something that was seeing her.
- Writer
