Shadow trail of the beautiful world

Chapter 990 44. Orphans in Philadelphia--addition for Brother Silo [37]

"They put me in a lot of foster homes."

Billy Batson sits in a chair next to Father Paul in his hospital room in Philadelphia.

While peeling apples for the priest, he babbled about his past stories to the priest.

The story of an orphan who was sent to foster care at a very young age.

"In the beginning, we put me in a family with no kids, and it looked perfect, a decent couple, the husband was a lawyer and the wife was working outside the home."

Billy peeled the apple and said:

"But in fact, it just looks happy on the outside. That family is actually full of tragedies."

"Wives and husbands sleep in separate rooms. Husbands have to maintain a good image. When they get angry outside, they go home and vent on their wives."

"They argue every day and occasionally fight."

Billy looked at Father Paul, who shrugged and said:

"I was still young and was terrified by their quarrel. I hid under the bed every day for fear that the crazy man would hit me. Later, I couldn't stand it anymore and ran away."

"That was my first escape."

"For orphans, it's not difficult. I ran back to the orphanage, told the nuns about the family, and then stayed in the orphanage for a while."

Billy cut open the peeled apple, carefully soaked it in hot water, and handed it to the priest.

他 说:

"I don't really want to go to other families, I have my mum, she just didn't find me."

"So you run away from foster homes again and again and become a 'problem child'."

The priest took a sip of the apple-flavored hot water, held the water glass, and said to Billy:

"You remind me of a girl. In New York, she has experienced many things just like you."

"Is she looking for her mother too?"

Billy joked:

"I don't think there are many kids who are as stubborn as me."

"No, quite a lot."

The priest closed his eyes and leaned against the head of the bed, thinking of the children in Merlin's house.

Eric, Lorna, Daisy, Matt...

Those children are undoubtedly luckier than the little Billy in front of them,

When they encountered darkness in their lives, they met someone who could lead them out of the darkness.

A moment later, the priest opened his eyes, and he said to Billy:

"Many children will encounter the same thing as you. I have seen many. They give up on themselves, grow up in grief, and are lured by the hostility and darkness of society, and walk on the wrong path."

"But there are others. They have encountered more terrible things than what happened to you, but they are lucky to return to normal life under the guidance of good people."

"Listen to me, boy."

Father Paul put his hand on Billy's and said softly:

"I know you are confused. It is your obsession to find your loved ones. It has run through your life, but apart from this, there are many things worth doing in this world. Don't close yourself to this century. soul, Billy."

"Hug it, reach out to it bravely, and you will gain a feeling, maybe friendship, family affection, and love in the future."

"A friend of mine told me that the disasters in life are like shadows, they look mighty and invincible, but all it takes is a ray of light to blow them away."

The 15-year-old child sat next to the priest, with his head down, not knowing how to respond to the priest.

He and Father Paul only met once.

They are not very familiar with each other.

After a few seconds of silence, Billy turned his head suddenly as if feeling something. The child stood up abruptly and walked to the window. He looked out the window at the empty lawn.

In his eyes, he could see a woman in a white suit and high heels, with blond hair and a neutral face, walking towards the priest's ward.

That woman is like an ordinary office worker.

But behind her, there is a pair of open wings.

White, like the wings of a swan.

A gentle light shines behind her, embellishing her like a fallen angel...

No.

That's a real angel.

Billy turned his head, and he said to the priest:

"She's here to pick you up."

"Who?"

Father Paul asked in surprise:

"Who is coming to pick me up?"

"Angel..."

Billy pointed out the window, and the kid said:

"I never met her, I thought they were just a legend..."

"I hide some things, Father, and I can see things that others don't, but only occasionally."

"Well?"

The priest blinked.

He recalled some things that Merlin had said to him, some rumors that were just jokes.

"There are always some people in this world who are gifted, and most of them will never come into contact with mysterious things in their lives, and their lives are no different from ordinary people.

But if you add a little luck, they will actually set foot in it. "

a new world.

"A splendid world will open its doors to them."

The priest whispered what Merlin had told him.

He looked up, looked at Billy by the window, and said:

"You're a gifted child, that's why you're displaced...It wants to see a story of a butterfly breaking out of a cocoon, so it makes you suffer."

"She's coming in, Father."

Billy was a little nervous, he couldn't hear what the priest said clearly.

All his attention was drawn to the angel who stepped into the air and passed through the wall.

The angel also seemed surprised.

She seemed to notice Billy's anomaly, but she didn't say anything.

As she walked through the wall and into the ward, she put her hand on Billy's head and stroked it.

It's like teasing a child.

Billy felt the warmth.

He watched the angel walk to Father Paul's bedside, and the priest looked into each other's eyes.

At the moment of the end of his life, the world in front of the priest's eyes became brighter, and he also saw the beam of light and the woman standing in the light.

She is completely different from the statues of gods displayed in the church.

She didn't wear a gown, replaced by a more modern suit.

The suit was very decent on her, full of an indescribable, neutral, and divine beauty.

"I'm Gabriel."

The angel looked at Father Paul lying on the hospital bed, and she said:

"It's been years since I've personally taken a soul to heaven...Paul, but you're special."

The priest was neither nervous nor agitated.

Although, as a clergyman, he should be nervous or agitated after witnessing God's miracle in person, he didn't.

He was very calm and calm.

He looked at the Archangel Gabriel in front of him, put his finger on the Bible, and said softly:

"Is it because I am special? Or is it because I am Merlin's friend?"

The priest blinked, like a child.

他 说:

"He's a great guy, isn't he?"

"What Merlin Riley did has spread throughout the world."

Archangel Gabriel shrugged, and she said:

"But believe me, Paul, you're still eligible for Heaven without him..."

"In this materialistic age, there are very few pure souls like you. You are the Lord's treasure."

"Now, it's time for you to go home."

"Merlin saved the world."

The priest felt that his soul was leaving his body, and he asked:

"Did he go to heaven too?"

The archangel shook her head, she showed a strange expression, she said:

"He, he is not under our control."

"So he's still alive?"

There was a hint of undisguised joy on the priest's face, although the archangel didn't answer his question.

"Wait a moment, sir."

At the moment when the soul left the body, the priest suddenly remembered a very important thing.

He begged the Archangel to give him some more time.

Gabriel seemed to be a good talker, but maybe it was because Father Paul was really special.

In short, his soul was sent back to his body the next moment.

The priest sat up on the hospital bed, and he beckoned to Billy Batson who was standing on the side.

"Come here, boy."

The priest took something off his wrist and carefully put it into Billy's hand.

That is a very delicate bracelet.

Under the bracelet, there is a cross made of red crystal, which looks a little weird, not like what a priest should wear.

"It's something a friend deposited with me."

The priest held Billy's hand, and he said to Billy:

"Because of the suddenness of the incident, if possible, Billy, I would like you to send it back to St. Matthew's Church in New York to Sister Maggie."

"Or send it directly to Queens, and give it to a lady named May Riley. This is... the relic of her younger brother Merlin Riley."

He looked at a bewildered Billy.

The priest suddenly realized that a 15-year-old orphan child probably couldn't do what he said.

He sighed and reached out to pat Billy on the shoulder.

他 说:

"Forget it, kid."

"Just give it to my church members and tell them to protect it. If Merlin is still alive, someone will definitely come to take it."

"Sorry, kid, I've given you a heavy responsibility that shouldn't be yours."

Father Paul's tone became hoarse, and he coughed a few times.

In his last moments, holding Billy's hand, he said to the boy who was with him, whom he had only met twice:

"You have a soul that has endured hardships but is still steadfast, a precious soul, and you are also gifted."

"Keep going, Billy, don't be overwhelmed by the darkness of life, you are destined to have a wonderful life."

"Goodbye, child."

The priest lay back on the hospital bed, and he held out his hand to say goodbye to Billy.

With his last breath, the priest folded his hands on his chest with a contented smile on his aged face.

Under Billy Batson's gaze, the priest's soul rose from his body.

He held the hand of the Archangel Gabriel, and in the surging warm light and the reverberation of the light hymn, Father Paul and the Archangel disappeared into the ward.

At the moment he disappeared, he turned his head and waved Billy goodbye.

"child..."

In the moment of silence, when the light shattered, the gentle voice of the archangel suddenly sounded in Billy's ears.

she says:

"Don't tell anyone else, including what's in your hand."

"It's very important, much more important than you imagined, the broken fate is still running, this time, it chose you..."

"What a lucky little guy."

A few minutes later, the doctor and several nurses rushed into the ward, but Father Paul had already left this world with a smile on his face.

"The angel took the priest away."

Billy clenched the bracelet in his hand, and looking at the priest with tears in his eyes, he said to a sad-faced nun:

"he's returned home."

---------

A few days later, Father Paul's body was returned to New York, and the entire Hell's Kitchen fell into grief at the sudden news.

Father Paul has lived in this neighborhood for decades, and he has helped countless people. In the eyes of believers in this neighborhood, Father is absolutely a perfect person.

On the day of his burial, mourners filled the church.

"he died..."

In St. Matthew's Church, which was filled with sorrow and crying, Zatana, wearing a black dress, looked at the coffin placed in front of the church in disbelief.

She wore a pair of black sunglasses on her face.

she says:

"So suddenly."

"Do you suspect that other forces are involved in this matter?"

Icarus' voice sounded in Zatanna's ears, and she said:

"Someone has the same purpose as us, and they are all here for Merlin's Horcrux? Has the news leaked?"

"No, it's impossible."

Miss Magician said in a deep voice:

"It's impossible for this matter to be leaked. Until now, only you and I know about the Horcrux. I didn't rush to find Father Paul because of this kind of thinking. I don't want to attract other people's attention."

"But the bracelet is indeed missing."

Icarus said coldly:

"The surveillance system in that hospital was weirdly broken within ten minutes of the priest's death. I don't think it's a coincidence."

"Maybe Heaven..."

Zatanna squinted her eyes and looked at the priest in the coffin. She said:

"I've contacted Liana. There is no priest Paul's soul in Limbo Hell. He didn't pass through there, so he went to heaven. Angels are needed to guide him to enter heaven."

"Maybe it's the hands and feet of those angels."

"They took the Horcruxes?"

Icarus said:

"Do you have a way to get into heaven?"

"Yes, but that's risky."

Miss Magician shook her head:

"And I did a divination before, and the bracelet should still be on the earth, but you also know that it is very difficult to get an exact result through divination for everything related to Merlin."

"However, one thing is certain. Some people don't want us to find all the Horcruxes at this time, but they don't want to be hostile to us. They are using this method to delay time."

"Then what should we do now?"

Icarus asked a little irritably:

"Can I just wait?"

Zatanna hesitated for a moment, she held a bouquet of white flowers and walked towards the priest's coffin.

She placed the white flower beside the coffin, and said softly:

"When Merlin met me last time, he told me not to worry. Maybe he also expected that this matter would not be smooth sailing."

"If something happens, he will find a way to re-enter the dream and contact us."

"He didn't show up, which means things are not as bad as we imagined..."

"I'm here to find the bracelet, you continue to do your thing."

"Anyway, don't panic..."

"It's useless to panic."

(End of this chapter)