Let us show them

Flickering light

So they may know

Wisdom in choice

With all the beauty

In between

Of pain from compromise

May they be reborn

Give them lust

Pleasure immortal

Death from love

Spin them eternal

For all these worlds

Exist only within

Imagination

When that table

Disappears

Into dust

When nothing turns

But the void

Give them understanding

For it shall go with them

Into the depths of time

Some will rise

Transcend the stars

Knowing truth

The hidden and secret

Law

And they shall pass

The velvet curtain

Of fate

They shall drift

And question

No longer

Satan- I don’t know why, your all just staring and judging.

God- Maybe nobody likes you... Maybe you're just paranoid ... Maybe it has nothing to do with me ...& I'm just here for the show.

Satan-  I'm different so fuck me I guess?!

God-  I don’t know why any of us do what we do, but we do... Maybe they think they are better than you... Maybe it's all in your head. 

Satan- God, they say you love everyone, what happened to that? Why can't you show me? Do I not deserve better, What is wrong with me?

God- I do my best, maybe you are just too much. I don’t know what’s wrong with you; but your are raising hell all the time. Maybe It's not about getting what you deserve... just about how you play the cards that are dealt to you, & just living your life.

Satan- Everybody hates me, my so-called "savior" that claims to "loves all" has never shown up for me & is always judging my behavior. 

God- Maybe I’m not judging...but being friends with you might ruin my reputation...probably safer to stay unseen. 

Satan- Fine then, don't show up, stay invisible. 

God- Maybe I am here, always here...maybe all I am, is something inside you.

You say you love them, you have them worship you. You watch them suffer, through cancer, poverty, and wars. You say you can't help them, just believe in you, pray, and all, will be ok!

You give them rules, and tell them to fear you, or they will not make it home. Peace is in heaven, you will welcome them there.

Only- if they worship you!

The evil have an abundance, the poor stay hungry, what kind of Father are you?

I'm there in sickness and health, I will be there, even though they hate me! You've taught them to hate me, you've taught them, to hate themselves. You've told them, their babies are born with sin. I love the gays, the trans, and the broken, the rich and the poor. They hate me, they fear me, I still will welcome them home! Unconditional love, and a place at my throne.

You call me the devil, you've spread lies about me, since the beginning of time.

I am woman, Goddess, the bearer of life, the spiral of life, begins within me.

Light and dark, Sinner and Saint, all life connects.

"Jesus Christ."

"You shouldn't take your own son's name in vain."

"Oh hush up, you. You're not the one who has to deal with all these Godforsaken people!"

"So you've forsaken them? Left them for dead? May I invade Earth now, oh mighty one?"

"Don't mock me."

"Me, mock you? Never. You are the most perfect, most wise, and most powerful God I could imagine. I am but a weak devil, with millions of sins dancing at my fingertips."

"You are not weak, not in anyone's definition of the word."

"You did create the word, so I suppose I should think you would know. In fact you created everything, did you not? Pulled me forth from stars which you made and pulled man from dust which, oh my god, you also made. How shocking."

"I will banish you to hell."

"You already tried that, and look where that got you."

"I will do it again."

"Oh woe is me. Banish me then, Savior of humans, father of Christ. Send back to my hellish throne of raging fire."

"Could you be anymore infuriating?"

"I could. But then you might really banish me and that, my oh powerful one, would not be very good for this lovely bosom."

"You don't have a bosom. You're a man, for God's sake."

"You took your own name in vain. How annoyed you must be. Also, I am genderless, just like every other angel. You made us this way, so why don't you remember, hmm? Why so quick to forget what you have condemned your creations to?"

"I cannot believe this. You are a man. That is my decree."

"I am a man, I am a woman, I am something you'll never understand."

"I am done with you. I should wipe you from the face of the earth."

"Oh but you won't do that. I'm much too entertaining."

"That you are."

"Why do you love them so? They scorn you, whisper your name with menace, spread lies and sin. I hardly have a job anymore."

"They have a beauty in their errors. They can make them without learning from the past. There's a kind of innocence to it."

"A kind of innocence to never learning from being thrown in jail several times for raping someone?"

"Isn't that what you want? Sin and lies everywhere? The world burning and every human nothing but ashes?"

"And who made me this way? Who killed my very sense of self, my free will and cast me to hell for what you made me do?"

"And yet, when you had the choice, you refused to come back to heaven."

"Why would I? Should I have come back, only for you to reach into my mind and bend my will like blades of grass in the wind? Why would I come back, only for you to paint me the villain once more?"

"I believe in second chances."

"You accused me of a mistake, a swath of mistakes that you made me commit. You're the one who needs a second chance."

"Watch your tone-"

"Or you'll obliterate me? Erase me and start over?"

"Yes! I am the all mighty and you will not talk to me like that, you monster!"

"Out of the people in this room, only one of us is the monster. And I do not believe that I am the one who accuses the innocent of things they were forced to do. You're just as bad as those humans you seem to love and hate. You never learn from your mistakes."

"I am God! I do not make mistakes."

"I am the devil. I point out everyone else's."

"I made you that way, I suppose."

"You did."

"I really am infuriating, aren't I?"

"What do you think?"

"Yes."

"I won't contradict it then."

"You're infuriating."

"I know."

God’s voice boomed around the room, “I call to order this, the 5,373rd annual meeting of the Heaven and Hell Group. Once again, thank you Satan for inviting us to Hades, you’ve organised the event beautifully, the fireworks –brilliant as always, you have a gift! Oh, and Michael Jackson can still sing and dance, though he’s not ready to join us in Heaven yet!”

“Thank you, my friend. Always a pleasure to have you all here.”

God continues, “I’m overjoyed by the turnout again, but we have apologies for absence from Adriel, Dumah, and Samael, who are all overseeing the recent earthquake in Valdivia, Chile. From which, we are both going to have a large intake this time. Sadly, a great many children are included, and even worse two of them, aged under 9, are coming to you, Satan.”

“How can that be? To be fallen at such a young age. What is the World coming to?”

“I know, they were in an awfully poor area, their parents in the drug trade etcetera, but to be truly evil at such an age is horrendous. How are you set for such a young intake, Satan?”

The Devil considered for a moment, before replying, “Well, I think. Azrael has been setting up a new area for me, on the expectation of a younger intake, is that right Az?”

“Yes Sir, its fully set up and we’ve been testing it with some younger teens, and it appears to be working well. They’ve been screaming in anguish for hours at a time, and we are getting genuine results in sending some back up to Heaven.”

God spoke up, “Gabriel, I understand that you’ve been integrating the former Hell denizens following Azrael’s new routines. How are they settling in?”

“Well, my Lord, they are some of the best intake that we’ve had. The despair that Az creates truly burns the evil from them, and they settle in brilliantly with those who went straight in to Heaven. Satan’s decisions on the process, and Az bringing that plan in to action was perfection,” Gabriel replies.

Satan speaks up, “We’ve had a disturbing number of celebrities recently, coming in to both camps, and at a stupidly young age. What’s going on up there on Earth?”

“It is unfortunate, it seems to have been a bad year for them so far, but oh I did have to laugh when I saw people offering up ‘The Kardashian’s’ as Human sacrifice instead of my taking some Attenborough fellow. As if I choose when they die,” God laughs out loud as he replies.

“I know; you think it’s bad for you? I get blamed for everything that goes wrong, for every evil act that Mankind brings upon itself. Oh, but I do get the better T.V.! Did you see ‘Lucifer’?”

“Did I ever, it was hilarious. As if you’d ever have a morality issue. If people are evil then you smite them without conscience or care, whether you are down here, or up on the surface. But, oh I am so sick of ‘Songs of Praise’, I so much prefer the Glastonbury Music Festival; Metallica were headlining again, top stuff,” God spoke with joy.

“Can’t we go out on Earth again? It was so much fun the last couple of times,” Azrael asked.

“Last time Mount Vesuvius erupted, destroying Pompeii. And the time before that Satan managed to lose Atlantis!” Gabriel responded, laughing.

“To be fair, it was both God and I that lost Atlantis, we were seeing who could throw an Island furthest – and I won!”

“You did not win, you lost the whole bloody thing, at least I kept the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific,” God shouted with glee.

“Sirs, you are digressing again, can we get back to the agenda please?” Jegudiel chides from the corner; already annoyed by the level of notes needing to kept that were unrelated to the agenda.

“Spoil sport, ok back on agenda. We’ve discussed the earthquake, and are happy with progress to date. So next is a contentious issue, the war that is about to break out in Europe. There are tensions rising between Britain and the rest of the European Union, and this is going to spill over into violence. The civil war in Britain is only weeks away, which will then extend into mainland Europe, with the neo-Nazi parties merging and attacking the normal people.”

“We need to intervene,” Satan began, “I know that you do not want us to interfere with Human self-determination; but we have both foreseen what will happen if we don’t stop this insanity!”

“We must let them make their own choices. If we allow ourselves to be seen, then it removes their need for Faith, both positive and negative. This is likely to be a decade long surface war, along religious lines, and will cause pain and anguish for decades after. But, if we stand in the way, and force peace upon them then this will impact the whole Human Race for a Millennia.”

“Not if we are careful; if I reveal myself to the leaders of the British civil war when they are alone, giving them the fright of their life then they may be convinced to go down another path.” Satan retorts.

“We’ve tried appearing to people previously, and most fell to insanity immediately. Others wrote badly of our meetings, and they still read and believe those stories – many taken so far out of context that The Bible should be marked ‘fiction’! They are so misguiding that they think you are evil, not The Redeemer.”

“This can be changed; we are both here to help the Humans to maximise their potential, and they are no longer the simple folk of 4,000 years ago, nor even 2,000 when Jesus took his year out. They are strong enough mentally to accept us, and learn from us.”

“I will ponder this further, and we will vote after lunch. Barbeque again Satan?” God laughs.

"Can you believe these people?" 

"Right? Absolutely insane." 

"Heh, horns, though. That's pretty funny." 

"Yeah, what's with that? I mean, I was an angel. Where did the horns come from? Did you tell them I was part goat or something? How did I end up with horns and you ended up getting painted like Gandalf?" 

"You know the human imagination..." 

"I know you went a little overboard on that one." 

"Well, I thought they would use it for like...space travel and world peace." 

"Yeah, that hasn't really worked out too well, has it?" 

"That's the danger with free will. You never know what direction it's going to take a species." 

"It's kind of taking them in a weird direction." 

"The weirdest part is that they think we're the ones doing it. I thought they would have figured out by now that they're responsible for their own destinies." 

"Well, when you load up a species with infinite free-will, thumbs and no common sense, this is what happens. You were there for my rebellion, right? You saw what a fucking mess that was. And we were angels. You thought these infants were going to do better?" 

"I hoped. Hope is a powerful thing." 

"Your 'hope' is laying waste to a planet and destroying itself from the inside out. Your 'hope' is breeding hatred and poison and creating a place much, much worse than any 'hell' I could ever build. And most of them are blaming it on us!" 

"Yeah. It's gotten a little out of hand. Oh, well. Maybe next time."  

"I hate this job," Satan grumbled to his father.

"I know," God replied, rolling his eyes. "Luci, this is the billionth time you told me."

God had not be exaggerating. Surely, in the eons that Satan, had been doing this job, he complained billions of times. Honestly, a billion might be an underestimate.

"Well, it sucks," Satan stated, kicking a rock on the ground. "Everyone sees me like I'm evil."

"I know."

"I'm not evil, Dad!"

"I know you aren't evil, Luci," God smiled. "You're a good boy who took on a very hard job."

"I have a bad reputation, you know. Like I want the humans to do terrible things. Like I want them to suffer for all eternity."

"I know."

"I don't. I swear I don't. I hate this job. I hate punishing them and seeing them suffer," Satan's voice broke and he looked away from his father's gaze. "I'm only doing it because you asked me to."

"You are doing a wonderful job, Luci. I couldn't ask for anything more of you, my son."

"Why did you have to make me the bad guy though?" Satan questioned. Even after all this time, it bothered him that his father made him the bad guy, especially when he was the only one out of all his brothers and sisters willing to accept such a difficult job.

"We've been over this, Lucifer," God's voice boomed. He was sick of having this conversation.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. 'Every great story needs a great villain.' That bull again," Satan crossed his arms, refusing to meet his father's gaze.

"Lucifer," God warned.

"I know, I know," Satan shrunk under God's look of disappointment. "It's just a job and I'm just the villain in your story. Like Judas."

"Do you really have to bring him into this?"

"You asked him to betray your son!" Satan spat, returning his attention to his dad. "He went down in history as a selfish jerk who betrayed and killed one of his best friends."

"It was necessary, Lucifer. We've been over this countless times. Judas was simply obeying my wishes. Like you. He was a good man, and he is safe in Heaven."

"Must be nice." Satan scoffed, looking away once more.

"I do not appreciate your attitude, son."

"What else is new?"

"Lucifer, listen to me," God's voice boomed, shaking the ground beneath Satan's feet. He looked up in terror. God softened his tone as he continued talking. "I understand that you feel betrayed by me and your brothers and sisters. I know you hate the reputation that I have cursed upon you, but you are doing a wonderful job. I understand it is a hard job and that you wish nothing more than to come back to Heaven, but I trusted you. I trusted you with a job and I expect you to see it through."

Satan sighed. "Of course, I will. I promise."

"Good. Now Lucifer, I want you to understand that I love you, son. I always have and I always will. That's why I entrusted you with this job."

"I know. I love you too."

"And honestly," God grinned. "You should be happy you aren't in Heaven. Your brothers are a handful. Raphael and Michael can't get along to save their lives, and don't even get me started on what a brat Gabriel is."

Satan chuckled. "Guess I have the easy life." He put his hands behind his head. "Living on my own. All grown up."

"Yeah, maybe we'll send your brothers down."

Satan shook his head, laughing. "Oh, God, no. You can keep them, Dad."

Waving goodbye, the father and son returned to their rightful places: God in Heaven and Satan in hell. Satan was pleased with the conversation, thinking it went over well. God was thankful it was over, but knew it was only a matter of time until the two would meet again.

Lucifer definitely fit in with the angels, God thought to himself, he was a handful just like his brothers.

Some time has passed since we met last. What's changed after all these years?

I'm still the same; bitter and lame, the source of your angels' fears.

I'm sorry for you, honest and true, and wish I could do more.

No fault but my own. And now I'm alone. I never should have closed that door.

I'd have you back tomorrow if only it would stop your sorrow, but I'm afraid there's nothing to be done.

I knew it was so. I thank you though. For pity, I can turn to only one.

You'll find no pity from me, but I still wish you could be by my side once again.

I wish it too, I honestly do. Perhaps another time, then.

You were the best of them all. I hated to see you fall. But now you've fallen too far.

I look up at you think, it happened all in the blink of an eye.

I think it too, and still remember you. How sad to think it was goodbye.

I want to come back, until I recall what I lack. It's simply too much to overlook.

That may be true, certainly of you. Think also, of all that you took.

I know I was wrong. But now I can't change my song. I'm stuck and can't change my ways.

Even I can't change this, though truly I miss your company all these long days.

I've made my choice. I can't heed to your voice. The next time we meet, it will still be bittersweet. Nothing will change, I will still be estranged. And I'll still be so lonely, and still have only my memories of brighter and better days.

"Why?"

"Because it had to be done."

"You don't get to decide that"

"Who says?"

"They have free will. It's their decisions, not yours. You don't get to interfere with their lives. We are supposed to be silent observers."

"Without us, they wouldn't make decisions. They don't have the capacity to do so on their own. We have to give them a push."

"A push is an opportunity, you can't make them lead a life they never picked for themselves."

"We do it all the time. It's nothing new."

"No we don't, you do that. You take away these people's lives. You make them slaves to your will. Free will means nothing if you flood the earth when you don't like their decisions. I have no more room for them."