Every Candle

Angelus sat in the Chamber of Souls, ancient, musty books spread across the table in front of him. He ran an elegant finger down a page in one of his tomes and frowned. Sighing, he checked the writings again, and came up with the same answer.

“Hmmm. Seems like I have a short wick here.” He muttered to himself, in a melodic voice.

The angel stood from his chair and moved across the chamber to a desk set ready for his work. A small cauldron stood on one side of the table. Next to it rested several little jars of different coloured glass. A platter filled with various length strings sat opposite, along with half a dozen long cylindrical moulds.

Angelus took a wooden ruler from the desk drawer and carefully measured the lengths of string until he found the correct size for his findings. He waved his hand at the cauldron and it began to bubble and smoke. Taking one of the moulds, he fitted the string inside it, and poured out molten wax from the cauldron. He opened his mouth and breathed out a stream of icy breath to cool the wax. A gentle tap, and a small candle, no more than six inches long fell out onto the desk. He took the item back to his table, carefully wrote a name tag out and attached it to the candle.

Angelus hated it when he got a short wick. But that was how the Afterlife worked. When somebody passed over from one life, they were sent back to a new one. Every time they were put on Earth, their candle was lit. They had as many lives as their candle would allow. Sometimes, a person got a very short final life. Their candle had just enough left for them to be born, and then it would snuff out. These were the times Angelus hated more than any other. A small baby dying was always traumatic.

Now, he had a poor soul about to be born for the first time, who had been tarnished by their spiritual ancestors, and given a short candle. When a soul was first created, their candle was calculated by the lives their ancestors had lived. The purer their souls had been, the longer the new souls candle would be. It appeared that this one had come from a bad gene-pool.

Tobias Judd stood on the balcony of his apartment and sighed contentedly. He was a portly man in his mid-fifties, with salt and pepper hair, and a rotund belly. His face was not unpleasant, softened as it was by the years, but he had once been the kind of man who could steal another’s wife with but a glance. And steal them he had! He just counted himself lucky he could afford the legal fees when he was named as co-respondent in numerous divorces. He had done well for himself though, and he was proud of his achievements. Born to a young, single mother, life had been hard at first. His childhood had been filled with hand-me-down clothing and one meal a day if he was lucky. Nowadays, he wore Versace and ate at the best restaurants in the world.

“Tammy!” he called over his shoulder. “Tammy! Call the Vineyard and tell them I wanna eat at eight!” He was also glad he could afford a personal assistant such as Tammy. She was tall, tanned and blonde, and thoroughly efficient.

“Sure thing Sir.” She called back from inside.

“Oh, and make the reservation for two.” He added, with a smile.

Angelus paced his chamber restlessly. He glanced over at the marble plinth once again, eyeing the near burned out candle with a heavy heart. He had always been somewhat of a laughing stock amongst the other angels. He took the souls he was in charge of to heart, they said. He got too attached, they would snigger. He had to learn to keep business and his personal life separate, they taunted. But Angelus had a kind heart. He felt for the souls whose candles he crafted with his own hands, and he watched out for them as best as he could. He even met them in the Afterlife each time they passed through, and he personally escorted them to Judgement when their time was up.

And by the looks of things, he had one to escort tonight.

Tobias pushed past the concierge at The Vineyard with a look of self satisfied smugness. He was followed by an elegant woman in her late thirties, dressed in a simple yet expensive looking cream silk dress. She had shoulder length brown hair, which hung around her face in gentle curls, and muted make-up in shades of cream and brown. Her lithe body was sun-kissed. Heads turned as she walked. Tobias felt a surge of pride knowing she would be leaving with him for a turbulent night between the sheets. Her husband must either be away on business, or else she wasn’t married, so they would not be disturbed.

A waiter stood by to pull out their chairs, and once seated, he poured the champagne and retreated, to allow them to peruse the menu at leisure.

“So then, what do you think to the place so far?” he asked, knowing she could surely not fail to be impressed. His guest gazed around at the beautiful courtyard restaurant, lit by the amber sky and delicate standing candles, and her lips curled gracefully in a smile.

“It’s very nice,” came her reply, in a voice that suggested she had seen better. Tobias chuckled to himself. Maybe she would be more of a challenge than he had anticipated.

“I would recommend the venison.” He told her.

“I’m a vegetarian.” She replied.

Tobias allowed himself a slow smile. It was a refreshing change to have to work for a woman. They mostly threw themselves at him and his wallet.

“What brings you to Monte Carlo then honey?” Tobias fell back on the old safety net of getting them to talk about themselves.

“Oh, just work.” Came the reply, as she raised her champagne flute and gazed at the light bouncing off of it.

“Hmm. Champagne nice?” he was starting to bore of her whole playing hard to get routine.

“So so. When you have tasted Ambrosia itself, even the finest Moet fades by comparison.”

“Oh really?” Tobias snorted in amusement. “And where, may I ask, does one order Ambrosia?”

“In Eden, of course.”

The conversation was broken by the waiter returning, Tobias assuming she was referring to another restaurant when she spoke the name Eden. Marionessa smiled as she watched him try and be the gentlemen by ordering first for her, and then himself. He had chosen a simple pasta dish for her, vegetarian of course, and she made a mental note that he had at least remembered that.

“For all the good one tick will make against all the black marks…..” she mused quietly.

Angelus gathered together the Robes of Judgement for his imminent arrival, and made his way down to the Great Hall. Several other angels milled around the room, some waiting for clients about to embark on a new life, others simply being nosy. He was the only one there ready to meet a soul on the way to Judgement. He hoped that his client had gotten a fair and impartial final auditor. Someone who would write a decent report, and give them a nice, if that was the right word, final transition. Some of the auditors were great, and could always be relied upon to do a good job. Then there were others, like that awful Marionessa, who went out of their way to find fault.

Sitting down on a marble bench, Angelus held the robes close and prayed.

Marionessa looked on with disgust as Tobias grunted and belched his way through the meal. It was a good job she only ever ate lightly, as his display would surely have killed off any appetite she may have had. Finally, the plates were cleared, and he ordered two coffee liquors to finish.

“I hope you’ve enjoyed the evening as much as I have.” Tobias said, reaching for her hand across the table. Marionessa had to stop herself from flinching at his touch.

“It’s been charming.” She replied with what she hoped was a sincere smile. “A shame it has to end now.”

“Really?” Tobias’s tone was hopeful. “But, it doesn’t have to end now, does it? We could always go back to my apartment.”

“I’m sure that would be lovely,” she began, her skin crawling under his lecherous gaze, “but unfortunately, I have a job to do. And you have an appointment to keep.”

“Huh?” she almost laughed out loud at the confused expression on his face. “What? I have a free schedule until noon tomorrow. I had Tammy clear my diary……”

Marionessa silenced him with one perfectly manicured fingernail across her lips. “Shhhh” she murmured, fixing him with a hard stare. She watched with pleasure as his cheeks began to flush. A grin broke out on her face as he pulled at his collar, trying to loosen it. A gentle laugh escaped her lips as he started to cough and wheeze.

And she sighed with relief as he fell stone dead onto the terrace floor.

Angelus stood as the station bell rang, and went to greet the rather confused looking fellow who had just stepped off the train.

“Hello, you must be Tobias.” Angelus offered his hand to shake.

“Where the Hell am I? What’s going on?”

“You have passed over for the last time, my dear man. You are about to face your final judgement.” Angelus smiled softly at him. “It will be fine, I’m sure it will. Who was your auditor?”

“Auditor?” Tobias looked close to tears as he tried to take in all the angel had told him.

“Yes. Who was with you just before you died?”

With a start, Tobias realised he could recall every detail of his own death. “Umm, a woman. I don’t remember her name. I think it was foreign.”

“Was it Vantaseena?” Angelus asked hopefully. As far as auditors went, she was one of the best.

“No, it was Mary something, I think.”

“Marionessa?” Angelus suggested.

“Yeah, that was her. Why? What has she got to do with anything?”

“Oh dear. She has a lot to do with everything, I’m afraid.” Angelus frowned. “Anyway, we had better get you to the waiting room. Come along.”

Ten minutes, and a catacomb of identical tunnels later, Tobias found himself seated in a pleasant looking room amongst half a dozen other people. Angelus had explained a few things to him on the way, and he was now aware that he was indeed dead. He also knew he was about to face some sort of judge.

Looking around, he saw that some of his companions looked nervous, and others looked perfectly calm. He himself fell somewhere in the middle. Each person also had their own personal Angelus, an angel with them, dressed in identical white robes. He noticed to his amusement that there was a coffee table in the middle of the room, on which sat a selection of glossy magazines. The fish tank on the wall combined to give the room somewhat of a dentist waiting room feel. The whole thing was bizarre.

“How long do we have to wait for?” Tobias asked. He was starting to feel a little uncomfortable, despite the obvious attempt by someone to make to waiting room feel familiar, and Earthly.

“It shouldn’t be long now.” Angelus soothed. “We are next on the list. We just have to let Marionessa prepare her prosecution.”

“Prosecution? What do you mean? Can you send her back to knock off my lawyer too? He’s never lost me a case yet.”

An hour or so passed before a voice called Tobias and Angelus to Judgement. They stopped off at a changing room on the way down the hall, and the angel instructed Tobias to go inside and change into the Robes he had fetched with him. Baffled and somewhat scared, Tobias did as he was asked.

They continued down the hall, until they came to a huge wooden door. Angelus knocked loudly three times, and then stood aside as they swung open.

“I have to leave you here. Good luck, Tobias Judd.”

Tobias nodded at the angel, then turned and stepped through the doors.

Marionessa smiled sweetly, from behind a desk as Tobias entered the Final Court. It was a huge room, with a vaulted ceiling and fresco all round the walls. A statue of David stood in one corner. A large raised platform at the front housed a throne-like chair, on which sat a stern looking older gentlemen, who peered down at Tobias as he walked in. In front of that stood the desk Marionessa sat at, and another empty one. At the rear of the room were benches which were occupied by what looked like a jury.

The man on the platform gestured that he sit at the empty desk, which he did immediately.

“Good evening Tobias.” The man greeted him as he sat.

“Um, hi.” He mumbled in reply.

“Now, I know all this has happened rather quickly, but be assured that you will have a fair trial, with plenty of chances to speak in your own defence.”

Tobias nodded mutely, and glanced over at Marionessa, who smiled smugly back at him.

“May I begin, Your Honour?” she asked the Judge.

“Please do.” He replied. Marionessa cleared her throat, and shuffled some papers in front of her.

“If it pleases the court, I would like to start at the beginning, when Mr. Judd was a child.” She acknowledged the Judges’ nod, and continued.

“The Accused was exhibiting Sins from a very young age.” She carried on. “By the age of two he had shown signs of sloth, envy and greed.”

“Hey! What are you talking about?” Tobias yelled across the room at her. “I was a child! All children are greedy!”

“Maybe so, but not all children behave as badly as you did. You stole a neighbours bicycle, did you not?”

“Huh?” Tobias choked back a cough. “What? That was ages ago! I only borrowed it anyway! I took it back the next day.”

“It was too little too late, I’m afraid, Mr. Judd. The child you stole it from was punished severely for ‘loosing’ their new bike, which began a cycle of child abuse that culminated with them abusing their own children.”

Tobias was speechless.

“A serious crime indeed.” The Judge agreed, making notes on a pad of paper in front of him.

“And as for sloth! Well, where do I start?” Marionessa was obviously getting into her stride now, and Tobias could only watch in horrified silence as she listed his misdemeanours and character flaws before the Judge.

“And as for his final night, well!” Marionessa finally paused for breath after what seemed like hours. “He exhibited greed, lust and pride.”

“This is so unfair! You set me up!” Tobias screamed at her.

“Order! Order in the Court!” The Judge banged his gavel on the desk, making Tobias jump near out his skin.

“I’m sorry, your Honour.” Tobias apologised meekly, sinking back into his chair with hunched shoulders. Marionessa smirked in a self satisfied manner.

“As I was saying,” she continued, “he exhibited three sins in barely three hours! He lusted for my flesh, he behaved in a very arrogant manner, and quite frankly, he eats like a wildebeest.”

“You cannot seriously use that as an argument for your case!” Tobias snorted.

“Hmm, I agree. Jury, please disregard the remark about wildebeest.” The Judge addressed the congregation at the back of the room. Marionessa lost her smile for just one moment, before regaining her composure for her summing up of the case.

“So in closing, your Honour, the Accused has lived a life of Sin. He has demonstrated each and every one numerous times in his thankfully short existence. Even from childhood, he was a despicable human, and I call for the harshest sentence available. Thank you your Honour.” Obviously feeling as though she had done enough to seal the case, she sat down with a look of contentedness on her beautiful face.

“Would you like to say anything in closing, Tobias?” The Judge asked.

“Yes, yes I would.” Tobias stood up with a determination even the oddity of the day’s events could not shake. He straightened his robes, and turned to face the Jury.

“I would like to begin with a question.” The jury muttered to each other at his unorthodox opening. “Do any of you here believe that two wrongs make a right?”

“No.”

“Absolutely not.”

”They never have.” Came the replies from the Jurors. Tobias nodded in satisfaction.

“So why is it, that I stand accused today, from a woman who has consistently displayed a Sin from the moment she opened her mouth?”

A ripple of a gasp emanated from the benches.

“I ask you, good ladies and gentlemen of the Jury, to look at my accuser, and tell me she is without Sin.”

“Your Honour!” Marionessa called out in protest.

“Silence!” The Judge fixed her with a stare. “Please continue, Mr. Judd.” This was the most exciting trial he had presided in a while, and he wanted to see where Tobias was going with it.

“Take a look at her. Look closely. See those nails? That’s a manicure, that is. And the Make-up? Looks natural, doesn’t it? Takes hours to do. Her hair, so soft, so curly. Do you think she wakes up in the morning looking like that? Well, I know enough
about women to know that the look she has going on there probably took about two hours, and cost four hundred dollars, not including the shoes. I might take advantage of women like her, but they want to be taken advantage of. Why else would they go to all that effort? Or, you could say, why else do they take such a PRIDE in their appearance?”

The Jury were speechless, as was Marionessa. Her mouth hung open, and occasionally moved, as though the will to speak was there but words were failing her. The Judge himself had also remained silent. The silence lasted for an uncomfortable length of time. Tobias stood his ground as best as he could, and tried not to look too nervous. Finally, the Judge stood.

“Jury, please make your way into the Deliberation Chamber, and make your decision. Marionessa, you are dismissed for the time being.”

The woman gathered her evidence and stormed from the room, casting a withering glare in Tobias’s direction as she went. He responded by blowing her a kiss.

“See you round, sweet cheeks. Thanks for dinner.”

Angelus leapt away from the Chamber doors as Marionessa came striding through. His ear ached from having it pressed against the door. He reached up to rub at it as he turned to address her.

“Good trial, was it?” he asked sarcastically.

“Oh save it Angelus!” she snapped back.

The Judge rose an hour and a half later, and called the Jury back into the Chamber. Tobias stood, too, as it seemed like the proper thing to do. One by one, the Jury filed back to their seats, and the foreman stepped to the front.

“Jury, have you reached a verdict?”

“Yes, your Honour.”

”And do you find the defendant good or evil?”

“We find him good.”

“Excellent, excellent! I quite agree!” The Judge exclaimed. He turned back to face Tobias. “Now for sentencing.”

“Sentencing? But I thought I was cleared?” Tobias asked, confused.

“You have been cleared of being an evil soul, Tobias, but that does not mean you don’t have lessons to learn. None of us are pure.”

“OK, fair enough, I suppose.”

“At least you wont be going to Hell. None of that fire and brimstone for eternity rubbish.”

“That’s good to know. I was never great with the sun. I burn easy.”

“Me too.” The Judge coughed. “Anyway, back to the sentence. I hereby sentence you, Tobias Judd, to another life.”

The courtroom was abuzz with the Jurors exclamations and hoots. This was a most unusual sentence, especially for one with a candle so short!

“Quiet, quiet! Order everyone!” The Judge waited for the hullabaloo to calm down. “I am aware this is unusual practice, but I believe that what we have before us is a Lost Soul. In this case, I will be sending him back to Earth for another life, but there will be a couple of conditions. If he breaks these terms, he will be sent immediately back here. And that will not be a good thing.” His eyes fixed on Tobias as he spoke the last words.

“I understand.” Tobias replied.

“Good. Now, in your new life, you shall retain your memory of this trial, and of your previous life. You will try and learn from the mistakes you have made.”

“Kind of like that TV show, ‘My name is Earl’?”

“Yes! Just like that! That’s a great show, isn’t it?”

“It’s one of my favourites.”

“Anyway,” the Judge once again reigned himself in, “You shall learn from your mistakes in your first life, and earn your salvation. When Judgement Day comes for you again, I expect to see a changed soul before me. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Sir, I understand perfectly. Thank you your Honour, you wont regret your decision.”

“Good. You are free to leave. Angelus will be waiting to guide you to your new life.”

“Thanks again! I’m gonna be a changed man, you wait and see!”

The Judge watched Tobias make for the door, with a smile on his face.

“Oh, I don’t know about that, Tobias.” He muttered to himself with a giggle. “You wont be a changed man at all!”

Angelus greeted Tobias outside the Chamber door.

“You were simply wonderful! Marionessa is bound to loose her position as an auditor after that!”

“Good. She’s a nasty piece of work. Although, she did kind of make me realise that I do kind of mean things in life.”

“We all have a lesson to learn.” The angel replied.

“Yeah, that’s what the Judge said. But it’s true. I have been a bit of a git I suppose. So when I go back, I’m gonna treat women with more respect.”

“I’m glad to hear it!” the angel hooted with laughter.

“What’s so funny?” Tobias asked, following Angelus down yet more corridors.

They stopped outside a room marked ‘RETURNS’.

“Oh, you’ll see! You’ll see!” Angelus giggled, pushing Tobias towards the door.

“Get ready to be reborn, Tobias! I hear your new parents have picked out a name already!”

The door swung open to reveal what looked like a slide which wound down through the clouds. Tobias sat down and smiled up at the angel.

“Really? What is it? I always fancied Leo. Sounds so masculine, don’t you think?”

“Indeed it does,” agreed Angelus, placing his hands on Tobias’s back, and pushing.

“But they picked a good one for you though,” he called, as Tobias began to slide down to his new life. “They chose Sophie!”