How long has it been? Truth be told, I’ve lost track. Cen­turies, at least. Prob­a­bly mil­len­nia. I’ve almost, but not quite for­got­ten about it. The day I saw what the future held, the day I was found out, the way He looked at me…

Still, I’m here now. The thought of return­ing still cir­cu­lates around my mind, as does the thought of oppos­ing Him. I sup­pose, with­out real­is­ing it at the time, I really did Fall.

But more immi­nent things keep me busy from day to day. Cig­a­rettes, cof­fee. Research, the­ol­ogy mainly. And other things, too — things where it’s damn handy to be immor­tal and not to be in a rush. It ain’t as if I’ve got to fit as much as I can in eighty years.

But lately, something’s been unusual. A sort of tense feel­ing in the air, like something’s hap­pen­ing. Could it be the End? The whacked-out Evan­gel­i­cals and the hip­pies are prophe­cy­ing it, but haven’t they always? No, I don’t know what’s hap­pen­ing, even if anything’s hap­pen­ing — it ain’t as if He keeps me in the loop any­more, y’know? But I feel like I ought to be… ready. For some­thing, any­thing. Some­thing more than cig­a­rettes, rail­way bridges and rainy Tues­day afternoons.