"From Eden" chapter 2 sneak peak
Chapter name: Grace From God
The golden light bathed Simon's skin. It wasn't warm, it wasn't cold; it was simply there. But gooseflesh erupted over his arms anyway, up the back of his neck, down his shoulders. His heart, slamming in his chest, leapt; his hands trembled; through the pain and the fear, the haloed figure approached, silhouetted there in a way that made Simon expect wings.
"Oh my God," a familiar voice said, panicked and jumpy. Rushing. "Oh my God—oh my Go—"
Simon's vision swam. The figure ducked away, the sound of retching filling Simon's ears, but he could barely hear it, blinded by the light. His fingers were slicked with blood, but a gloved hand was firm in his own, the grip nearly painful. The glare of the light blinded him, and the fresh air beckoned him—even though all of a sudden, he could not breathe. He felt as though he was falling through the air, but the hand stayed, and as he tried to pull himself up by that hand, terror gripped him.
'Please,' he thought wildly, 'please, I don't want to die. Please don't let go, I want to live, please don't let go, don't let go—'
The hand did not let go, and the angel attached to it reappeared.
"Sorry, s—hold on! I have you, just hold on!" The voice was panicked, rougher than before, broken by harsh coughing. "Hold on!"
Simon did. He felt himself sliding, pushing himself with his feet, muscles screaming as slowly, slowly, he was liberated from the Iron Lung. Blood spilled out onto the pristine floor, squelching as it did, and Simon spilled out along with it.
Air. Cool air. Oxygen, air returning to his lungs as there was a slam shut behind him. The scent of cleaning product. The sound of—of music?
The angel was coughing, or gagging again. The angel—the angel had a name, but Simon couldn't think of it right now, and the whole place was beeping furiously, and there was that singing again, a strange, chittering but musical sound that echoed around and trilled above them. Maybe this was heaven. Simon had been raised from hell to heaven, and now he lay shivering and exposed and covered in gore, and all he could do was watch in awe of the lights.
