Entertaining Angels

[DKT]

Entertaining Angels

written and read by Samantha Henderson

[Unblinking]

This story had very nice language and flow.  I'm... not really sure what happened in the story.  Any thoughts?  Was that her life flashing before her eyes at the moment of accident?

I'll be the first to admit that I'm pretty dense when it comes to deciphering in-story clues, so I may be the only one confused.

[Talia]

I really really loved this one, but am also not sure what happened. I think it may require a re-listen.

Still, just a really neat, vaguely creepy piece. I enjoyed the way it segwayed between "sections."

[Samantha]

Hi!

I don't know if it's helpful to know that this story is at least in part inspired by Mara Deren's surrealist film "Meshes of the Afternoon."  Possibly, it makes it more confusing. 

"Meshes" is on Youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPi9i3gfSAM

[ElectricPaladin]

Immediate thoughts: she had an angel living in her head, hijacking her body, and spent some time being its vessel in the world, doing good deeds and fighting evils. Eventually the angel was done with her and left her back at home.

As they said in The Dark is Rising, it's a cold light.

[CryptoMe]

My take on it is that instead of her life flashing before her eyes in the moments before she dies, she herself becomes the angel and for a few seconds, which for her are time dilated into much longer, she does a good deed before coming back to her time of death.

I was a bit disappointed by the ending. After seeing her apparently save the other girl in that other accident, I had a hope that the main character too would be saved in some way. So, it was disappointing that she died anyway.

Also, I found the 2nd person narrative very frustrating. Not because it was 2nd person, but because the narrator kept calling me Abigale  . That yanked me out of the story every time.

[Unblinking]

Also, I found the 2nd person narrative very frustrating. Not because it was 2nd person, but because the narrator kept calling me Abigale  . That yanked me out of the story every time.

The narrator knows something you don't.  Your true name really IS Abigail.  Dun dun DUN!

[Talia]

I liked the Abigail aspect and the repetition. I am vaguely curious if it worked for me because I'm female, and if I would just find it jarring were it, say, "Steve" instead.

(I still owe this one a re-listen just haven't had time).

[Unblinking]

I liked the Abigail aspect and the repetition. I am vaguely curious if it worked for me because I'm female, and if I would just find it jarring were it, say, "Steve" instead.

(I still owe this one a re-listen just haven't had time).

The naming didn't really bother me, but I just almost never seem to get the point of choosing 2nd person narration.  When do you tell a story explaining to someone what they should already know, except in the case of memory loss?  I'm sure there's a reason, just not one that I get.

[Talia]

To make the reader a part of the story. IMHO it sort of encourages the reader to take on the mindset of the character, to try and see things through their eyes. It personalizes the story some. At least that's what I think.

[Unblinking]

To make the reader a part of the story. IMHO it sort of encourages the reader to take on the mindset of the character, to try and see things through their eyes. It personalizes the story some. At least that's what I think.

That makes sense.

[amalmohtar]

I'd understood it as follows:

- at a random, utterly pointless moment, going out to move the car, an angel hijacks Abigail's body.

- Abigail moves through the world not quite under her own steam anymore, coming to consciousness in the aftermath of things.

- She finally is able to consciously perform an action.

- She is slammed back into her body.

I ... don't remember her dying. Maybe I need another listen? I thought she just reassumed control of her body and went inside. I don't want her to have died! Boo.

[DKT]

FWIW, I don't think Abigail actually died at the end. She has a new scar on her face.

I took the end to mean her journey as an angel/being possessed by an angel had ended.

I think the use of second person POV in this story actually does the opposite of what a first person POV. For me, first person is very comfortable, almost as if a friend is telling you a story. Second person doesn't do that - instead, it kind of automatically distances you (forget male or female - how many people are named Abigail?) And I think it works for me in this story because it kind of mirrors this out of body experience Abigail is having.