"Don't cry, Little Girl."
"I know, Uriel."
The angel waits, but reaches out, rests a hand on her shoulder.
"Sometimes I can't help it," she says. "It's too much. And I miss them."
"We shall cover you."
"Don't. Not right now. I can take it."
"You are strong, Little Girl."
"For reasons I wish didn't exist. What will be taken this year? What will be given?"
"That, as you know, is the beauty of life. It is all a mystery until you live it. You can follow us down paths of possibilities, but you will never know until it passes."
"I'm afraid to go back there. It is too much open space. Too much noise. Too much beauty wasted and too much pain ignored. Everyone alone together and nowhere to turn."
"You are strong. You can now come home."
"Yeah. I can come home."