That night back in the warm cabin, Evie and the girls had a difficult time settling into bed and sleeping. They told Josh over and over earlier what they had seen, yet his sensitive look but failure to nod his head in acceptance, troubled his wife and made the little ones go over the striking image again and again. It was all about the blinding brightness in the snow, and out of it a girl. "Like in a movie," Pammy said. The girl's mother had her own stolid doubts about what they had seen and how it defied reality. Yet, she could not herself get the apparition out of her  mind. How could they all have seen her, she wondered? And have corroborated on the details so precisely—her bare feet walking in the snow. Her abrupt disappearance with the extinguishing of the light.

Evie refused to use the word, "angel" with the girls, because as a family, they were not particularly religious in any formal sense. Of course the little ones could only refer to their own past knowledge of what appears and disappears on computer monitors and TV screens. And so, to the four-year-old mind, all is possible, and all is what there is of the world. Evie, however, just knew better, and it was disturbing. She had her adolescence and young adulthood to ground her back into what was possible—how lights just didn't appear out of nowhere in a darkening forest, and "angels" just didn't walk out of that brilliant aura.

When the girls had finally settled into a well-deserved, silent sleep, Josh lay by his wife—breathing soundly himself in peaceful slumber that his family was safe and warm. Evie in her restlessness looked about the darkened room. She wondered if that late afternoon her mind had not been altered by some drug, slipped into her food at the café over lunch. Could the sighting be the result of some latent mental condition she might be developing? The accumulation of stress and exhaustion?

After several minutes, she noticed  a faint light collecting upon the curtain from outside. She stared at the thick fabric which separated the outside world from inside. And then there came the flashing. A faint illumination from outside the window  which gave the curtain a dull but erratically glow. It disturbingly began to grow in strength. Evie amassed her courage and slipped out of bed, careful not to waken Josh. She felt the cool air of the late night engulf her while leaving the warm covers, reminding her there was surely snow surrounding the cabin and the mountainous world outside was nothing like the temperate terrain back in Cumberland.

As she stepped closer to the brightening curtain she hesitated to pull it open to investigate. It was just too distressing that she might see something again out in the snow to put her sanity back in question. Nevertheless, Evie pulled one side the drape open several inches and peered out.

Her heart began to pound at the sight of her biggest fear. It was the young woman again, in the distance and in her white dress, walking. An intensity of light, again eerie, engulfed her brilliantly as she moved across the snow. She was making easy progress in the knee-deep drift up to the house. Evie's heart pounded and her mouth was dry with fear. The lightly dressed girl was fully bathed, as before, in the uncanny light which, without a source, once again defied all logic and experience.

Evie watched breathlessly as the girl walked up to the drive from the snow field. She proceeded to come toward the cabin. And more specifically, to the front door downstairs. At a precise point before disappearing under the eve of the roof, Evie opened the curtain more fully and stared down while the girl stopped. She surprisingly looked up at her from the walkway and motioned to her with her un-clothed arm and delicate hand. She seemed to want Evie to come down the stairs and open the door. This greatly panicked the young mother of two as the angelic apparition waited patiently for her to respond.

As if beguiled by an insane curiosity or some other hypnotic force, Evie left the window and started down the stairs to the cabin's lower level in her nightgown. Halfway down the stairs she saw the living room was brightly alit as if the fireplace was flaming. She quickly stopped in her path before reaching the bottom of the stairs. She could see then there was no need to cross the room and open the door—for the brilliant girl with the angelic face was already in the room, illuminating it and seeming to make it warm with her presence.

Evie descended the stairs now completely, and felt strangely fearless standing before her. The young woman took a chair at the table and waited for Evie to do the same. The girl's beauty up close was exceptional. From of her flawless face and arresting ice-blue eyes, anyone could realize they were in the presence of something supernatural or more highly evolved in some ineffable way.

"Do not fear me. I only wanted to protect your children," the light being said in a soothing voice. There was the twinge of a foreign accent to her annunciation which Evie could not place.

"It's strange but . . . I do not fear you now," Evie whispered hoarsely.

"I know. But I wanted you to understand why you saw me. And what I have come to tell you. You see. . . that you must unite with others. And must remain as one with your convictions."

"Convictions?  I . . . I don't understand."

"That you are female . . . the only hope and salvation for your world right now."

"That's . . . What do you mean?"

Evie could see the girl's white clothing were pristine as she spoke, as it if they had been freshly washed, not out in the elements all day.

"We have come here to your world many times in the past. To help you. To give advice."

"So . . . you really are an . . ."

"We are called many things. In many of your languages. But our message has not mattered much in the past. It did not take hold. Mainly as it was told only to men."

"Wow."

"And this led to divisiveness and wars. Our message was used to gain power over the less fortunate and create a domination of you, the fairer sex."

Evie felt astonished by these words. The girl's astute message.

"Well if you're talking about religion, then I must agree . . . it just never seems to . . ."

"Call it what you will. It has just not worked as we had hoped. As we had tried to guide you."

"We?  So then . . . who are you?"

The beautiful face broke into a smile

"Just call us, the light. For light is hope. Light is wisdom. We have always offered you those for starters."

"Great. So . . . Angels, right?"

"Just a name to you. And to us. We have been called many things in your past. . . Akero, mal'akh, fravashi, ahura mazda. You see? Just words. Elohim, angelu, hasatan, dardail, chitar, gupat. We are all the same. Simply manifestations of the benevolent light."

Evie could not believe she was talking and listening so deeply to the apparition.

"And yes. We have been called out individually with names, too. Names to many to share with you here. . . Nike, Eratos, Thanatos, Raphael, Michael. I have personally been called Uriel and Sophiel  in my past among others. And most recently, Suzie, by a little one like your daughters."

The young woman smiled and Evie smiled too, feeling comfortable enough to bring her legs up underneath her in the chair.

"But in the end . . . we are all nameless. Just energy from above. You might say . . . energy that is good. We work to keep the duality which surrounds all in balance."

"I see. That's actually pretty cool."

"Yes. But now things have become critical here. On the verge of destruction. We come again to give a last effort. And only your sex can make a difference, it seems."

"My sex? You mean . . ."

"Yes. That you are female. In many ways, you already hold the balance here and have always tried to hold it. We are counting on you now to push your goodness beyond your present reach. That selfless instinct you have for your children . . for those you love . . . your life's industry of protection."

"Yes. I see."

"You, as women, and your girls must unite to conquer the coming darkness. To defeat the long  dark night of greed, jealousy, anger, hate and intolerance. All of these abound with a vengeance right now.  And they are winning throughout your world."

"That's true."

" You must temper and halt it. And above all break the cycles of  violence. Carry your feminine essence beyond your children. Across to those who have no children. And children who have no parents. To those who are lost. Those in need of hope and love. Help them. Then teach them to teach others by example."

"Yes. I see what you say."

"So. Can I count on you to carry this message forward? Tomorrow and a thousand tomorrows?"

"I will try my best. To do what you say."

"Good. For I must tell you . . . in your world now, there is no other way."

Evie looked back up at the empty stairway leading to the bedrooms.

"Please tell me if this is all a dream. That I am seeing you here. I just need to know."

"What you need to know is what you have always failed to see," the radiant girl whispered seriously. "That all  is a dream. Whether we are awake or asleep. I am no more of that dream than you. And we both have the power to make it a better dream. That is what I have come to share with you and many others while I'm here."

With that, the girl stood up. She moved across the room quietly toward the door, her aura throwing spears of light against the floor and ceiling. She did not open it, nor did Evie. It was as if her warmth and light had just instantly faded into the night, leaving the young mother in the darkened room to think about what the illuminated lady had told her. And how she too might truly influence that dream.

* * *