Eve

"I want to see you fly," I whispered.

He released me from his warm embrace and stood up. My eyes were on the ground at his shadow. He started walking away from me, slowly. And it hurt. I felt like I will never be able to see him again. There was a strange feeling inside me that wanted him to ignore my words and stay.

His leather shoes stopped making that certain noise they were making while tapping on the pebbles. I raised my head to look towards that boy. He had stopped a little farther from me. His black coat, long enough to reach his knees, fluttered as a little breeze passed by.

He turned his head and looked back. His long silver-white hair having bangs parted on either side of his face shone brightly under the light of the moon. His green eyes, still visible in the small amount of light, looked into mine. At that moment, I saw a few drops of tears, shining like pearls, dropping down his eyes. He was crying. But he soon closed his eyes and gave me a bright smile.

He turned his head forward again and looked above. He raised his right hand in an instant pointing it upwards, towards the clear night sky. Something as white as snow came out of his back and split into two. It grew up on both sides and took shape of the wings.

Those wings were spread afar. He lowered his hand, bent his legs a little, getting ready for the flight. He leapt upwards and flapped his wings. The winds his wings created forced me to close my eyes. When I opened my eyes, he was gone.

I raised my head to look towards the sky. He was flying. His wings were glittering with lustre as they glided him in air. The sight of that angel soaring towards the heaven was soothing my very soul until he disappeared in the clouds.

Gloominess surrounded my heart. The moonlight faded as my sight blurred. Darkness pulled me within its grasp. I couldn't see anything. I couldn't hear anything. I couldn't feel anything.

And I woke up...

Even though I've had this dream since forever, it always feels unreal how one moment I was at that dark place and the other moment I was back in my room. For years, that boy has come in my dreams at random nights and stealing away my peaceful slumber.

It's not that I hate this dream. That warmth of his embrace, that swooning sight of his flight and that sorrow of his never return. They all feel more than real. It's hard for me to find such heartfelt feelings in the real world. It's just the eternal mystery of this dream that saddens me. The fact that I could never know anything about it ever makes me want to never dream again.

Angels. Even though it might sound childish, I believe in them. I believe they are among us helping us from the shadows. They must disguise themselves so that we can't point them out. Perhaps this dream of mine was the reason for my blind faith. But no matter, I will always believe in them.

I snapped out of my thoughts. The green light from the clock told me it was half-past five.

I was not a morning person, but I had trouble falling asleep again after waking up. It would be such a waste to wake up so early and not greet my good friend Sun. I got up and folded my blanket. How shocked my mother would have been if she saw me do it. Imagining her eyes widening in shock made me laugh a little. Mother would definitely suspect that some alien was impersonating her girl.

Before I used to let the room stay messy until mother would give me a god long lecture about the importance of tidiness. I didn't like that, but I was a lazy brat. I would stand there and let her scold me because after a while the sweet mother of mine would help me pick up the mess. I never thought I would someday tidy the room myself while missing her lectures.

I went to the kitchen to make myself some latte. The kitchen was my least favourite place in the house. To be honest, I sucked at cooking. I had the power to make the best of the dishes taste like shit. But you can't eat outside all the time, right? So sometimes I visited this place, wishing for the magic to happen.

Every time I brewed latte, I hoped that the universe will take pity on me and bless me with a good drink. I didn't always love latte. It was my little sister Lucy who made me fall in love with this drink. I have visited a lot of cafes, but never have I ever had a latte that could rival Lucy's. Those weren't even close. Lucy would be celebrating her seventeenth birthday next month, if only...

I missed them all so much. Life was so empty without family. Just like an empty void that can never fill up. Why did they have to leave me all alone? Why didn't they take me with them?

I took a deep breath and focussed on the latte again. I had followed the instructions on the internet to utmost perfection, but the latte still turned out below average. Perhaps there was a curse in my hands.

Helplessly, I held the cup and went back to my room. I'd say my room was perfect. It had a big attached bathroom. From the balcony, I could see our backyard, the trees of the forest directly the front, a little distance away from the fence. We lived near a forest. So we had fenced our place. But I had never seen any wild animal near our house except a few small and harmless ones. The best part about my balcony was the breathtaking view of sunrise. After fetching the book from the shelf, I opened the gate to the balcony and the cold winds greeted me. They sent shivers down my spine. I went back inside and put on a hoodie.

I sat down on the carpet, trying to adjust myself to the cool air. A few of the early birds had already started chirping. I guess they wanted to wake up their friends. I took a sip and the hot latte helped in heating up my body as it reached my stomach and spread its heat.

I opened the book and read a few paragraphs, but for some reason, I could not concentrate on what I was reading. I loved reading, but at that moment I didn't feel that desire. It wasn't the story's fault though. It was something else. Something inexplicable was unsettling me. I put the book down and gazed down the balcony.

The grass in the backyard had grown tall because I had neglected them for so long. I made a note in my mind that I will clear it on the coming weekend. But then, out of nowhere, I started drawing a picture of that kid in my dreams, standing in the backyard. It was fascinating how many details I remembered. I could almost imagine him standing right there... I was seriously considering a visit to a psychiatrist.

The imaginary kid jumped and started flying towards the sky. He disappeared in the clouds, just like in my dreams, and I stood there blankly staring at the clouds. Just then, the clouds roared. There was no lightning, but I heard the loud sound of thunder. Winds started to flow in circles around that certain point from where the sound had come. It gradually rotated faster and before I knew, it had become a vortex, a singularity that devours everything. It looked like a hole was poked in the sky.

A black object dropped from that hole. I looked carefully, and I realized that it was like a person dressed in black. It appeared that the person was upside down while falling. I was frightened me out of my wits because of these strange events.

Just then, another hole appeared in the sky. Far ahead to the north side of the first hole. Then another one towards far left. Many other holes started appearing in the clouds. I didn't count them, but my eyes could see like a dozen of them.

People were falling from those holes. It appeared as if they had lost their balance and tripped down from the clouds. But these people would open something like a parachute on their back as they fell and regained their balance. When I tried to look carefully, I was dumbfounded. They didn't have a parachute. They had wings!

Angels!

They were all angels!

They had spread their wings and started flying after coming out of those holes. The sight of angels flying in the sky was literally breathtaking. The way they were flapping their wings like they were some half human half bird made my mind race with million thoughts.

I wish I could fly like them.

My thoughts were interrupted when the sun started rising from the horizon. My eyes moved a little down, and I saw that first angel dressed in black was still falling. The falling angel and the sunrise in the background. That sight was so beautiful...

His black wing, that was spread afar, curled and wrapped itself around him. It was like the wing was hugging him. He only had one wing.

Was he hurt?

Could it be that the angel wasn't able to fly?

That person's face turned towards me while he was falling. He wasn't even trying to fly or resisting his imminent death. Even though he had only one wing, he could at least try to slow down his fall. Chances of survival might be less, but having a chance is way better than having none. It looked like he had given up on everything.

"Fly! You idiot! Or you're gonna die." I screamed my lungs out. Though he almost had travelled half the distance towards the ground, he was still far away from me. It would be hard for my words to reach him. Nevertheless, I screamed. I couldn't just stand at the side silently and watch him fall to his death.

It was like he heard me. His wing spread itself afar in the sky again and flapped. It seemed to lower his speed, but he was still falling down. Flying with one wing was still impossible. His wing steered him towards me. I don't know if he was just trying to get to me or he was trying to slow his fall.

That must be a coincidence, I thought. But as I looked at him carefully, I realized he was definitely trying to fly towards me. His hand was pointing towards me as if he wanted to grasp me.

When he came closer to me, I could see him more clearly. His expressions were that of wanting something with desperation. I saw the sight of falling angel from so close in disbelief, thinking it might just be a dream. But it wasn't...

In the end, that angel couldn't reach me and crashed in my backyard while tumbling and rolling. Just then my mind realized that he was the only angel with black wing. Every other angel had white wings. He was different from them. Moreover, he had only one wing.

Was he even an angel?