Stories of Your Life and Others

This fantasy story, told in third person point of view, centers on three characters: protagonist Neil Fisk and his two foils, Janice Reilly and Ethan Mead. It is set in a world where angel visitations are not only real but also commonplace, causing humans to develop complex reactions to such events.

Born with a congenital deformity that renders his left leg shorter, Neil has never believed in God. However, during a visitation by a lesser angel, Nathanael, in a shopping district, four miracle cures occur, but there are also eight victims of the physically destructive angelic descent. One of the victims is Neil’s wife, Sarah, whose soul ascends to Heaven. Neil joins a support group for victims of Nathanael’s visit and their families, but he cannot bear the servile tone of devotion most of the people express. He then joins a group of those angry with God for losing loved ones during a visitation. Neil always assumed he would end up in Hell, which manifests itself occasionally and can be seen through the transparent ground. It is a place for lost souls who are severed from God and who appear to exist almost like people on Earth. Neil does not fear exile from God because he never believed in Him anyway. However, now that Sarah is in heaven, Neil finds himself desperately wanting to join her, and his only way is to begin loving God.

Janice Reilly’s life changes even before she is born; after a visitation from the angel Bardiel, an ultrasound reveals Janice lost her legs in the womb. Her parents bring her up to believe her lack of legs is a gift, so she begins preaching to other people with disabilities to accept their state with strength. However, after a visitation by the angel Rashiel, Janice receives another blessing: new legs. This causes feelings of guilt because she no longer shares the affliction of her core audience. She decides to continue preaching, but numerous questions regarding her blessing leave her without meaningful answers. At one such event, Neil asks her from the audience if she believes the restoration of her limbs is equivalent to the death of his wife. He finds Janice’s approach to God and His mysteries unfathomable and offensive.

Ethan Mead, a librarian with a wife and two children, grew up certain that God has a special purpose for him, His entire life, he waited for a sign in the form of a visitation until he became witness of the same angelic descent that restored Janice’s legs. Still, there was no obvious message for him, and he begins to fear that he missed his chance to meet someone during the visitation. By a process of elimination, he concludes that he should have met Janice Reilly.

Devastated by his loss, Neil feels that “if Sarah had gone to Hell, suicide would be the solution to all his problems” (209). He believes Sarah could exist on either plane but that he would be happy only with Sarah. He grows resentful of God, knowing he can never find love for Him in his soul. Neil realizes his only way to God would be if God allowed Sarah to visit him, but he knows this is impossible. He even tries reaching out to Sarah’s judgmental parents, who blame him and his Godlessness for her death.

Ethan approaches Janice with his theory, and they begin to meet regularly. Meanwhile, Janice tries to solve the mystery of her legs and the reason behind their reappearance. She decides the best option is to offer to return her gift by going on a pilgrimage. Pilgrims gather at holy places, “inhospitable” environments where angelic visitations are most frequent. Ethan decides to come along.

Neil learns that those who witness Heaven’s light—flashes that appear when an angel enters or exists Earth—always get into Heaven. He sees this as a loophole: “[I]t was the one way that he could love Sarah more than he loved God, and still be reunited with her. It was how he could be selfish and still get into Heaven” (217). He knows that in Heaven he would be different, as saved ones love God, but he is willing to accept that for Sarah. However, chasing Heaven’s light is dangerous, as one has to follow a visiting angel until it leaves the Earthly plane.

Neil sells everything he owns to buy a truck that will allow him to chase the light. Having arrived to the holy place, he meets Ethan. He joins Ethan and Janice for dinner. When they try to persuade him not to chase the light, he leaves.

After a few days, the angel Barakiel descends, and Neil follows him through the deafening noise. As he lays eyes on the angel, his truck smashes into a rock, breaking his legs and severing his femoral artery. Pinned by the truck and bleeding to death, Neil begins to cry, filled with regret and knowing “no bargaining was possible” (223). As Janice and Ethan approach his vehicle, having seen the crash from their campsite, a flash of light knocks Janice down, and Heaven’s light strikes and blinds her. As Neil laments Janice’s luck, another beam of light strikes him. His eyes dissolve, and he realizes “all the reasons he should love God” (224). He renounces his anger, thankful for the exquisite pain. He dies a worthy man, full of love for God, yet God sends him to Hell anyway.

Ethan is the sole witness of these events, in which he sees his purpose. Janice continues to preach, but now she spreads a message about “the unbearable beauty of God’s creation” (225). Ethan becomes a preacher as well, telling people they should love God no matter what His intentions are: “God is not just, God is not kind, God is not merciful, and understanding that is essential to true devotion” (226).

Neil is in Hell, aware of the absence of God in everything, yet loving God with all his might.