The Tears of Blood

"Ashley, sweetheart, are you packed," Mike asked from the bottom of the stairs.

Ashley walked into view, clearly struggling with her big blue bag. She was tall - about 5'9. She had curves in all the right places and her blonde, wavy hair reached down to her lower back. Her sky-blue eyes looked down towards her adoptive father.

"I'll get that. You go get in the car," Mike said as he climbed the stairs.

"Thank you," she said, descending gracefully.

Taking advantage of the first week of summer, the family decided to go on a vacation to New York City.

Kim, Ashley’s mother, was already sitting in the passenger seat of the hummer H3 when she climbed in.

Kim turned around in her seat and smiled brightly. NYC was her favorite place and she was excited that she was finally going to be able to share it with her daughter.

"Are you excited? I can't wait to show you the gigantic toy shop and the Empire State Building! Oh, and the Rock is just beautiful! We can take a bike ride around central park and stop at the boat house for Shirley Temples, I know you like those."

Ashley smiled back at her, sharing her excitement. "It sounds like a lot of fun."

Once Mike loaded the suitcases in the hummer, he took his position in the driver's seat.  With smiles on their faces, they were off.

After taking a two hour flight to the city, they caught a cab that took them towards the large buildings. They were going to stay at the London for an entire week.

The cab driver weaved between cars, beeping his horn and swearing. Wide-eyed, the family held on for dear life.

Ashley knocked on the clear window separating the front and back seats, "Sir..? Sir?"

Finally she caught his attention, "What?!" Ashley flinched at the harsh tone the driver was using, and she calmly sat back in her seat.

"May you please drive carefully? You're scaring my family and putting them in danger," She said softly.

"Who the hell do you think you are? Judging my damn driving. You ca-" He looked in the rear view mirror and noticed the young girl who had been talking to him. Like magic, he immediately shut up and began to drive safely.

Mike and Kim relaxed and gave her a thankful smile.

When Ashley spoke, people somehow became kind and happy. Her looks could make people stop and stare with awe. Her voice was so beautiful that the world would become silent - even the birds stopped singing just to listen. People said she was blessed. That she was sent from heaven.

Many years ago, she was found in the mountains by a waterfall, completely nude and without any memory except one name, Derdekea.  They couldn't find any records on her or any missing person cases that described her.

They believed she was around eight and put her in an orphanage. Two days later, she was adopted.

Now seventeen, she stared up at the tall glass buildings. Beautiful white clouds and the blue sky reflected against them.

Her eyes took in the beauty of the buildings, the architecture, and the different people.

"If you want, you can look around for a few hours," Kim said walking towards their hotel. "We're going to get checked in. Keep your cell phone on. We'll call you and we'll all meet up for dinner! There is a place in the mall with GREAT French onion soup! Have fun, but don't get lost, okay?"

Ashley smiled and gave her mom a hug before taking off towards the blinking lights of time square.

People crowded the sidewalks, horns honked, steam came from the vents below, and delicious smells came from food stands. It was a whole new world for Ashley, seeing she only lived in a small town with only one grocery store and only 4,000 occupants.

She walked and walked, taking in the buildings and stores until it became dark. The sky was painted red, yellow and orange as the sun set. She began to walk back to the hotel, when all of a sudden, her cell began to ring. Before she could answer, her new world began to turn to ruin.

Explosions set the city to fire. Screams and sirens filled the air. Bodies littered the ground. Ashley stood shocked. It was happening before her too fast for it all to make sense. An explosion made her fall to the ground. Rubble rained down onto her, making her cry out in pain as it fell onto her back and head. She stood, but just fell right back down again. People ran past her, stepping on her hands and feet, kicking her. Bodies flew into the air as explosion after explosion went off.

Somewhere far off, she heard buildings collapsing while black smoke filled the air around her.

Somehow she had the strength to push herself up off the ground. She stumbled through the crowds, slowly making her way back to her hotel. Nonstop explosions kept going off, bits of rubble and severed bodies rained down all around her.

" Ashley!" She looked to her left, where the voice came from. She turned and saw there, standing in an open Starbucks door, was her parents.

Smiling, happy her parents were safe, she began running towards them. Kim held her arms out to her, joyful tears falling from her mother's face. Suddenly a bright light appeared, and a loud roaring sound made Ashley cover her ears.

She flew backwards and landed with a thud on her side. The air left her lungs and she coughed.

Her ears rung and she slowly sat up, her muscles screaming in pain. She looked over in horror at the building her parents were in. It was now in a crumpled heap.

Ashley stood hastily and limped over, "Mom? Dad?" She began to scream as she started looking into the pile of rubble.

Without a single reply, she became frantic and began digging into the fallen building. She was digging so much that her fingernails began to break on the rocks and other debris in the pile of the old Starbucks building.

"MOMMY! DADDY!!! Where are you?!?  Don't leave me!"

Tears the color of blood streamed down her face as she cried for the first time. Blackness overcame her and she felt as if she was becoming as light as a feather, almost as though she was flying.

Ashley woke in a room full of white. She narrowed her eyes to a squint as she rose to a sitting position. It was a large room with white walls and a giant window covering the wall opposite to her bed.  The bed was king size with white sheets and a beautiful white comforter with white flower designs stitched into it.

“You’ve been sleeping for quite some time.” A deep voice said from her right.

Ashley grabbed her covers and pulled them around her as she turned to face the man. He was tall and had black slacks on and a white button down shirt. His sleeves were rolled up and showed off his huge muscles. His face looked as though it was carefully sculptured by the greatest artist. His dark brown eyes gazed down at her patiently.

“Wh-who are you?” Ashley asked uneasily.

His lifted his hand and brushed his black hair from his sad eyes, “I am Aftiel. You’ve been gone for a long time. You’ve made a lot of us worry.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve been missing for almost nine years. Not any of us could find you until the Tribulation began. Then I was sent to fetch you. Tell me one thing though,” he said while taking a few steps closer to her bed, making her scoot backwards, “Why were you crying?”

Suddenly, as if the dam holding all her memories fell back all at once, the memories came back to her: the waterfall, the orphanage, her parents, blowing out the candles on her birthday, opening presents on Christmas, going to church every Sunday, her friend’s smiles, and her mother’s open arms as the building fell, crushing her body. Ashley wrapped her hands around her head, her mouth opening in a scream. The windows shattered and the curtains tore. Aftiel was suddenly next to her on the bed, pulling her into his arms.

Then all the pain melted away. He stroked her hair and hummed a lullaby as if he were trying to get a small child to fall asleep. Ashley looked down and saw that her white dress was spotted with red dots. A few more fell from her chin. Hastily she wiped at her face in horror.

“I’m bleeding, why I am bleeding?” she asked as she looked at her bloodstained hands.

“That’s what happens when we cry,” Aftiel said with sadness filling his voice. “We shed tears filled with blood.”