The Angel

I was walking Pepper, my Husky, along the Belfast Lough. It was night, and Ireland at night isn’t the best place to be. It was cold and damp, the rain was drizzling down my neck, my toes and fingers were numb, and I wanted nothing more than to curl up in front of our fire with a cup of hot chocolate.

I got caught up in this daydream , and suddenly Pepper was barking and pulling me towards the lough where a cat was lying. I wasn’t really worried. Pepper wasn’t very strong, but some sort of ancestral impulse seemed to have kicked in and suddenly, catching that cat was Pepper’s life ambition. I found myself being dragged over to the lough whether I liked it or not.

And then I was in the water. I don’t know how I fell in--Pepper probably pulled me--but I was submerged and I couldn’t breathe; there was only water and the cold, dark, turquoise mist surrounding me, becoming me, pulling me away from life. . . .

I could feel Death tempting me, urging me to fall into that endless sleep, promising me peace and warmth and harmony. It would be so easy to just leave, never come back. . . .

“Aobh.” The voice rings out loud and clear through the water. “Don’t leave this world, Aobh.”

And I can see the speaker now, a majestic . . . thing. It was neither male nor female, but a blend between the two that was perfectly natural and effortless and gorgeous. It was beautiful, draped in white robes with a golden halo entwined in its equally golden hair, and even through the haze of water I could see it crystal clear.

“Remember . . . Your family . . .”

And my mind is brought back in time to my happiest memories with my family, my friends, and suddenly I realize that I can’t die. For I could never live, never NOT live without them.

The angel is smiling, and its smile lights up the dark, glowing and radiating beauty. Without another word, it carries me up to the air, to the light, to my life.