I watch as Elizabeth distributes soup to the homeless. She moves so elegantly it’s almost poetic. I have been coming here for a few weeks. I’m not homeless. I just come to watch her. She is a petite woman, barely five foot, with soft blonde hair swept back into a loose ponytail, framing her bright blue eyes. She always has a smile on her face, a broad toothy one. Her warm smile is wasted on those street urchins. She is always volunteering at the church, at the homeless shelter, anywhere she can. She is such a kind and gentle soul and that’s why I have to be here with her.
I have to protect her that is my mission from him, from the almighty. I am a sacred vessel for his commands to pass through, to do his bidding. He thinks she is beautiful and so he wants me to spend my time ensuring that she is safe. I protect her from the lecherous men who lurk on the streets, desperate for money, for sex. Pretty girls like Elizabeth; they are not safe out there alone.
I watch as her hand brushes lightly against Jeremy’s hand. Fucking Jeremy. He is another volunteer. He’s a leech. I don’t believe for one second that he is here because he’s a charitable man. He’s here to pick up delicate beauties like Elizabeth. However much I want to, I am not allowed to intervene. To stop her from making a dire mistake. All I can do is watch and pray she comes to her sense. I watch as her eyes light up when she talks to him. Watch as his eyes dart down towards her breasts and quickly back up to her face. Watch as she falls deeper and deeper into sin. This is wrong. She shouldn’t be doing that. She has one mission, and she’s ruining it.
My lord, he isn’t going to be happy.
I am right. The plan has changed. I have received new commands, he wishes me to return her to him. Poor Elizabeth, she has brought this on herself. I tried to change his mind but he said, “there are no second chances.” I know what I have to do. I know what my orders are and I have to obey them. She is no longer pure but is instead, a “Jezebel” She was not able to resist temptation. I should be thankful that she isn’t going to meet the same fate as Jezebel, “and the dogs shall eat Jezebel… 2 Kings 9:10”
I watch her house from across the street. I hope, that at some point, he will recall me, and tell me to spare her. That hope slowly dies as I see her kiss Jeremy on her front porch. If it was a peck, she could have been saved, but it wasn’t just a peck.
I wait in the dead of the night until she turns off her bedroom light and her room is plunged into darkness. I sigh, that is my cue. She would soon be asleep. I have to sneak into her home and return her to him.
She is the fifth person I have had to send back. He is never happy with how these girls end up. He sends me to observe them. Stalk is more like it. To see how they are doing in this corrupt and hash world. It’s my job to keep them safe, and if I fail, it’s my job to send them back to safety.
It’s been twenty minutes since she switched off her bedroom light. It is time. The layout of her house is the same as the one I’m renting. It is the reason I rented it. I have to watch them twenty-four seven unless he gives me orders otherwise. I have to know how to get into their house in order to protect them. If I don’t, he will be angry with me.
I am able to gain entry to her house with a key. During the first week of watching her, I noticed that she kept a key under the doormat. So of course I took it, and had a copy made. Then I returned her key, she never even noticed that it had gone. Elizabeth feels safe in this neighbourhood. She has no alarm system, no pet dog, nothing to protect her from the creeps in the night.
I walk silently through the house, dodging the table with the vase. The first time I was here I almost knocked it over. That would have been disastrous. I step over the floorboard just before the staircase and jump over the second step. Last week, he had me enter her house every time she went out. I had to memorise every nook and cranny of this place, find out which floorboards creak and where the breakables are. I had to know my way around this house, especially when it was dark. I should’ve known then that he wanted her back. I only have to go into their houses when he’s preparing to recall them. I paused on the second step, hesitating to climb up to her bedroom. I wanted to run from the house, end all of this, but my legs were moving steadily towards her bedroom door.
I wait listening for signs of movement, there isn’t any, I sigh, and once I am certain that she is asleep, I enter her bedroom and stare at her quiet, still frame. She seems almost angelic, but as far as he is concerned, she is no angel. She has succumbed to the evil of the fallen, by those, who were once as pure as he, but now burn in the fiery pits of hell. Those, who spread wrongdoing to the innocent, and now lust has already crept into her soul; it will not be long before the other deadly sins show themselves. She is in the foetal position. Her hair, splayed out on her pillows, looks almost like a halo in the moonlight. He cannot be deceived, and nor will I. The only noises in the room are her steady breathing and the TV that is playing quietly in the background. She must hate to sleep in silence, but now she’s going to sleep silently forever.
I glance quickly around the room, taking in every detail to ensure that I don’t disturb anything. Details are important. Nothing is to be disturbed. He told me that I have to make sure that everything remains exactly how she left them. It has to be as if I was never there.
I lean over Elizabeth and take in a deep breath. I wrap my gloved hands around her delicate pale neck and begin to apply pressure. The minute that I began to squeeze, she wakes up. Her eyes widen with fright. She kicks her legs frantically and claws at my hands trying desperately to get me to release my grip. It’s no use. I stare into her eyes. I apply more pressure to her throat. She gasps for air. I place my mouth close to her ear, so close I touch her soft warm skin. ‘I take no pleasure in sending you back.’ Her eyes glaze over and her as life leaves her body. She goes limp. I keep my hands on her throat until I am certain that she has gone, that she has returned to him. Then I release her from my tight grasp.
‘Well done.’ I hear his voice say.
‘Why did I have to do that?’ I cry out, staring at Elizabeth’s lifeless frame.
‘She failed her mission. She was tempted, just as eve was by the snake.’
‘We could’ve stopped it. It wasn’t too late.’
‘The minute she let him put his disgusting lips on her, it was too late.’
‘But…’
‘Enough! You know what to do. Position her.’
I wipe back the tears of frustration. I don’t know why I try and argue with him. He is the one in control. I have to position her, before rigour mortis sets in. I waited too long the first time, he made me return an angel to him and I could not set her right. He was extremely angry with me when I did that.
I fold her arms onto her torso. I frame her hair around her face like a golden mane and I close her eyes. It looks like she is sleeping. She is free, free from this corrupt world and back with him, where she belongs.
‘The passage.’ His voice commands.
‘What?’ I snap, before recoiling out of fear.
‘Mark the passage in her bible.’
I know which passage he is referring to. Hebrew 13:4 “Let marriage be held in honour among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.”
I reach into her bedside drawer and flick through the worn pages of her bible until I reach the passage. I Highlight the words then close the book and leave it on the bedside table. I notice a silver cross on the side and drape it over the book. I think of my master, of how I must obey him, always. He is urging me to complete my task. I take out my penknife and carve, Hebrew 13:4 on her forehead so others will find the work of God.
Whatever fight, I had left inside me to rebel, my Lord, left with Mary, the third woman I had returned. She was a sweet girl, but her hand-holding with Samuel had angered him. Just like Elizabeth’s kiss with Jeremy. I must leave now. I am carefully when leaving the house. I am always careful. Tomorrow, he will have me watch a new girl. I wonder if I will have to return her too.
