****
“Mr. Loki, Mr. Loki are you alright?” Daz’s Italian accent rang outside the bathroom door.
Loki emerged from underneath the water like a military submarine, overjoyed with the sensation of the healing waters and the essential oils that filled his nostrils. He wiped the water off his face,
“I’m fine Daz” he called back “I will be finished in a few minutes, it has been a while since I had a bath, so just let me enjoy this one, OK?”
“I understand” Daz shouted through the door, ”just shout when you are ready I am itching to get started on your hair and skin!”
Loki smiled. The young enthusiastic man was blatantly passionate about his work which Loki knew was an indication that a human was in the right line of work.
‘The simple pleasure of human life, a hot bath, what a wonderful feeling’.
For a few minutes Loki allowed himself the pleasure of thinking back to the time he first experienced a hot bath and smiled at the memory. He was in awe of the sensations that tingled his cold skin, the complete feeling of pleasure and satisfaction overcame him for a while. Again he laughed at the memory as he was as rookie assignment angel at the time, one of Gods new creations and had nearly fainted when he first took human form. The immediate experiences to the senses had overwhelmed him. It took him several earth hours to move from the spot he was transformed, but of course God knew this would happen and afforded him the time to adjust. He could not come to terms with the rush of noise, hundreds of different types of sounds that bombarded his ears, the sensations on his skin from the warmth of the Sun; sheer ecstasy was the only way he could describe that first feeling of warmth, the smells that seared through his nostrils, cooked meat, sizzling bacon, human perspiration and a million other smells all reaching his newly formed human brain.
He had been given his first assignment in England, so he had a fondness for the people. He was a chef for King Henry the VIII, his path was to influence the King’s view on God. He thought he had failed as a rookie at the time, as the King was not acting like a ruler under God’s law and he had split the church at the time, in order to meet his own needs and desires. However, God was eternally patient with all of his children and believed that they all had the equal chance of redemption. It was never about religion with God, it was about love and goodness and the ability for people to turn to him in genuine need of forgiveness, help, love, support and understanding. This is what made a human being elevate above their carbon forms, this is where they found food to feed their spirit and restore their souls.
Loki remembered that King Henry VIII had taken a shine to him, which of course was always God’s plan. Loki’s path (as Loki was then considered a genius in the kitchen) was one of the King’s favorite subjects, food. The King had felt inspired by Loki’s new inventions and often called on him to discuss banquets and new ideas in gastronomy to impress his visitors. He had forged this relationship later in the Kings life, as God had intended, and on many nights lead their conversations to that of God, love and compassion.
It is a funny thing that human history knows about the actions of Kings, Queens and leaders throughout the ages, but no one knows the heart other than the Lord. The day King Henry VIII died, Loki had met with him and talked to him about God’s love, about the need to repent truly in the heart. Loki thought he had failed when the King had died and was returned to his angelic realm. This angelic place of no human distractions was a place of calmness peace and love.
He had been informed when he had returned home, that his assignment had been successful, that the King had during his last breaths of life on earth truly repented his ways and turned to God for forgiveness. In the Angel realm that was considered a near miss!
“Mr, Loki!” Daz called “are you ready?”
“I am just getting out of the bath now Daz” Loki replied as he left the warmth of the water, dried his clean body and adorned a white bathrobe.
He opened the door and Daz ushered him into the bedroom. On the bed was a pair of new black trousers, a blue silk shirt and some new underwear and socks.
“Please sit Mr. Loki” said Daz as he pulled a seat out from a dressing table. Loki obeyed his command.
He loved this part of his assignments, God always allowed assignment angels at some stage to enjoy the wonderful gifts that humans had at their grasp. This assignment had been particularly abundant in human pleasurable experiences and Loki quietly thanked his maker for them. All human experiences were a humble pleasure for an assignment angel but this particular assignment was proving to be a plethora of sensations; hunger, cold, warmth, the feeling of satisfaction, the understanding of gratefulness; Loki was really enjoying his human experiences. Each assignment came with its own combinations.
“Right Mr. Loki, before you can see yourself, please go an put on the clothes laid out for you on the bed”
Loki stood up and did exactly as he was told. He pulled on the trousers and put on the silk shirt, relishing the feel of the material on his skin. Dressed and new shoes on his feet he turned to Daz
“Right I am ready Daz, what do you think?”
Daz began fanning his face effeminately, his green eyes welling up at the sight before his eyes,
“Mr. Loki you look like an angel!”
Loki walked over to the full length mirror in the corner of the room and gazed at his reflection. Looking back at him was a strong young man, short cropped blonde hair silky smooth skin and a stature of beauty. He liked this human form.
“I look good!”
“Yes Mr. Loki you do. I think I have achieved my goal”
Loki turned to the young stylist and gave him a big hug
“Yes young Daz you have, and how many homeless people need some love and kindness in this world?”
Daz nodded as they both turned to the reflection in the mirror in a moment of silence.
****
Loki waited on the huge landing for the door to open.
Annie walked out and Loki’s human heart was filled with love and devotion to this lady
“Annie, you look stunning!” he said as he witnessed the demure beautiful creature that stood before him.
Annie’s hair had been cropped to the nape of her neck and dropped around her face in a bob. Her face was clean with some makeup that accentuated her eyes and her small thin lips. She wore a knee length dress made of a deep purple material that was fitted to her waist emphasizing her tiny frame. Her feet were adorned with a flat pair of ballet pumps that made her look her 31 years.
“Look at me!” she exclaimed doing a slow twirl before Loki “I really am Queen Annie!”
Loki hugged her close “yes you are!” he said as he felt the tears well up in his eyes, “yes you are Queen Annie.”
“The teeth are a problem” Judith the stylist said, invading the moment “I have tried everything, but she will need to see a dentist.”
Loki smiled down at Annie ignoring the woman’s words “you look amazing, you really do!”
Annie pushed him away giggling. How Loki loved this moment, to see this lady who had endured so much giggle like a little girl was one of his biggest pleasure so far.
“Look at you!” Annie said “You are so goddam handsome! Like a movie star or something!”
“Like an angel” Daz said under his breath.
A door to their right opened and both Loki and Annie turn around to see what was to be exposed by the event. Jim walked out of the door and everyone fell silent for a minute.
“Jim?” Annie walked towards him “is that you?”
He walked out to the landing and hugged his friends,
“I couldn’t believe what I saw when I looked in the mirror” he said “I didn’t believe I was looking at myself!”
All three friends hugged each other as Daz starting crying like a baby saying that it was a miracle.
Jenny and Tom were at the bottom of the stairs awaiting the arrival of their transformed guests.
Lok
i ensured that Jim was the last one down the stairs, he knew that Jenny’s reaction was important at this stage and he needed to make as big an impact as he could.
Annie walked down first with all the grace of a royal. Tom bowed jovially to her
“Queen Annie” he said kissing her tiny hand “you look beautiful.”
Jenny rushed to hug the girl who was a far cry from the scruffy disgruntled creature that had walked into her home a few hours earlier.
“Annie?” Dawn slowly walked up to her, startled by the transformation “Annie?”
“That’s Queen Annie to you” she replied laughing as Dawn held her closely and wept at her shame.
Loki marched down the stairs, to applause from the three member of the audience and shook hands with Tom thanking him for his kindness. Dawn and Jenny put their arms around him.
“And now” Loki said in a dramatic manner “Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Jim”
Jim appeared at the top of the stairs a little hesitant,
“It’s ok Jim” said Annie “come on down, you look amazing!”
Jim started to walk down the stairs and the hallway fell silent as he descended. When he reached the bottom Tom threw his arms around him and held onto his friend, all three years of pain leaving his body.
“Oh my God!” said Dawn “It’s Frank!”
Dawn’s body slowly slumped to the floor, the sight of Frank McFadden causing her to faint.
Chapter 5
Jim lay i the crisp clean fluffy bed, an experience he had no memory of ever having before. The warmth of his environment relaxed his body and soul and he felt something else he had never felt before, he wasn’t too sure how to explain the feelings to himself. He pondered for a while about his home under the bridge, his love for Annie and how beautiful she looked tonight. He allowed himself to just live in the moment, his back ached less, his belly was full of the most amazing food he had ever eaten.
Tom, his new friend had his dining room table filled with the most mouthwatering array of foods Jim had ever tasted; ham, cheeses many different types, olives, fresh bread, something called tiramisu, a sweet dish that filled him with pure delight, never had he tasted such bliss. Jim was now alone, no Annie nearby, but he felt content, yes that was the word he was looking for, he felt content.
Jim slowly turned on his side, pulling the crisp clean duvet over his warm relieved body ready for a good night’s sleep. He thought about that for a few seconds ‘what is a good night’s sleep?’
During the meal that Jim was still so thankful for, Tom had told him that all his newspapers were safe, that they were in his utility room drying out ready for him to explore in the morning. This had helped settle his nerves he could not lose his precious newspapers. At one stage he was mindful that he went into his numerical rant, but a touch on the forearm by Loki soon stopped his mental loop.
Tom had told Jim that he would talk to him tomorrow about the government conspiracy theory and that he needed to gather up some more of his evidence, whatever that was, before he could tell him what he knew.
The highlight of Jims evening, other than the food and hot bath, was the presentation to Annie. Dawn, who Jim had only really met tonight, had a huge gift wrapped present for Annie and had said that Loki had insisted they buy it for her. He recalled Annie’s smiling clean beaming face, a memory he would take to his grave as she gently accepted the gift from Dawn,
“Open it Annie” Loki had said “it is a gift from heaven.”
Annie had put the gold wrapped box on a coffee table and stared at it for a while, gently stroking the huge red bow that adorned the gift.
“This is for me?” Annie had whispered, never in her life had she been given something so beautiful.
Jim had been oblivious to Annie’s dream of paints she had never mentioned it to him, but when she eventually opened the box the tears in her eyes were something that Jim would never forget. His Annie, his lovely tiny Annie was happy.
There in the box was an array of tubes, all full of different coloured oil paints. There were several paint brushes and four size A3 blank canvases. Annie picked up each tube and looked at the colour representative on the outside
“Ruby red!” she exclaimed, as she looked at the colour on the tube and read its descriptive name
“Midnight blue!” and this went on for twenty minutes as everyone enjoyed Annie’s moment.
Jim was content. This was a new experience for him and his mind was calmer than it had ever been. As he began to drift off to sleep his thoughts went to Loki. This man had entered his life only yesterday and he already felt he had known him forever; he felt he could trust him completely which was extremely unusual. ‘Then again’ he thought to himself ‘I am in Tom’s house - a man I don’t know and I feel I can trust him too.’ Jim’s being began drift into a deep sleep.
****
Loki was ready, this was the long dark night of the soul for Jim. Loki had experience in these affairs throughout his assignments. King Henry VIII had his the night before he died; when Loki was a prison guard in South Africa, Nelson Mandela had his long dark night under solitary confinement. Loki’s most difficult but most rewarding long dark night of the soul had been with a 14 month old little girl called Mary Anne. She was born with cerebral palsy, the third and last child of a couple who lived on the Wirral, England. His form then was not human, it was not possible for that case; he was a butterfly awaiting Gods command.
Little Mary Anne had gone through the long night of the soul at such an early age, but the next day God gave the command. Loki had flown past little Mary in her play pen in the garden as she sat slumped underneath an apple tree, which awoken her from her palsy like state. That little girl, stood up as her mother watched from the kitchen window, grabbed hold of her play pen bars and ran across the expanse. Truly a miracle that Loki knew would pay dividends in the future of that little girl’s life.
Tonight was Jim’s night. Loki knelt down and prayed, asking God for direction during this time. The long dark night of the soul was a personal thing between the child and the Father, so all Loki could do was to ask for guidance. The answer came, Loki was to enter Jim’s dreams. He was not allowed to affect the story behind them in any way, this was Jim’s struggle; he was however allowed to put emphasis on the dreams meanings to enable Jim to remember them the next morning.
****
Jim sank deeper and deeper into his dream state. His body was relaxed in every way, but his mind started to become troubled as the intoxication of sleep dragged him down into a welling darkness. Deeper he fell into a nonsense state of images, until he arrived at his path of awakening.
“I love you Frank” Penny called as he walked out of the door to his car
“I love you too” he called back “and I promise I will be careful!” He turned and looked at the woman standing at the door, her hair long and jet black her body slender, her eyes full of love and tinged with worry.
Loki sat on the angelic plain watching the dream unfold, he knew he could emphasize it as an artist would tweak a work of art; he pushed Penny so she ran down the path after him.
Penny got to the car as Jim was starting the engine, indicating for him to let the side window down, her face downcast, here manner solemn.
“Be careful Frank, I am so worried; I think you’re playing a dangerous game here. Is it worth it?”
“Yes, God Penny this is huge!”
Loki then made the sky open and heavy rainfall flooded the scene, he needed Jim to remember the dream and so put emphasis on the environmental surroundings. As Frank drove off in his black BMW, he looked in the car mirror to see Penny drenched to the skin, crying uncontrollably, her appearance changing in the aggressive rainfall to that of a widow all in black sobbing intently.
Loki observed that Jim’s physical sleeping body was agitated with his dreams but he knew he would not wake up until the event was over.
As Frank drove the car with window wipers on full speed, the traff
ic behind transformed, like a scene from “The Matrix” into three large black vans with tinted windows that made it impossible for him to see who was behind the wheels. The front van started to gain speed and rammed Frank’s car causing him to swerve violently on the wet road. The second and third vehicles rushed past to block his advancement, they went into a crazed skid positioning the dark sinister vans lengthways, forcing Frank to slam on his breaks, skidding uncontrollably due to the down pour.
“Oh my God, they are on to me!”
Jim began to perspire and his heartbeat elevated in reaction to his dream-like impending danger.
Four figures in black suits jumped out of the van; the scene outside of Frank’s car moved into slow motion as the suits walked towards the car. Time inside the car moved at a normal pace but Frank was immobilized with fear, trying to make sense of the shifting time patterns.
He squinted his eyes to see who was emerging towards him from wet environment; the figures moved closer to his vehicle. The bodies began to take form through the pelting rain as they reached Frank’s car.
Frank was petrified, on the top of each body was the head of a black panther, hissing and snarling as they ripped the door off his car and dragged him by the hair to one of the vans.
Frank tried to scream out but nothing would leave his lips only a panicked whisper; over and over he screamed but no sound left his body. Loki had muted his cries, had intensified the rain and made the darkness of the van like that of a bottomless pit. It was vital that he remembered this dream, it was vital that his mind unlocked the files to the truth.
Frank was in a room, tied to a chair, his mouth gagged. The room was filled with newspapers from wall to ceiling, scatterings of tabloid headlines were everywhere he looked. He strained to read what the papers were reporting but they were merely a blur, nothing could be deciphered.
The door in front of him flew open and the four creatures with the heads of panthers walked into the office. Black suits and black ties stood before him, hissing and snarling at each other in a form of communication. They stood in line either side of the door and their dreadful howls stopped as a fifth figure walked into the office. All four panther men saluted the new comer and stood to attention with military precision.