Winged

The Fall

"The Fall?" I question.

"The Fall is what we, angels, refer to the day that almost all of the angel population fell to Earth. We fell for many days. When we did finally make impact, many of the angels died and those who didn't had their wings damaged." He pauses and unfurls his wings motioning to the light grey and clipped feathers. "We lost all contact with heaven and we have been here for a very long time, watching mortal lives go by and new ones start." He closes his pain filled eyes.

"Why did the angels fall?" I ask quietly.

"To make an example." He says and turns his back to me. "To keep people from conspiring against the highest authorities." He says sadly and leans against the counter. I walk up behind him and gently stroke his wings.

"Were you... conspiring against them?" I say very quietly. I start to notice that his wings are radiating heat, but not as much as Nathan's.

"No... My close friend was and when questioned about it, he told them, I was." His wings shake and I continue to softly stroke them.

"That's terrible." I say barely audible. He nods and turns around to me. He stares down at me as his wings slowly start to gravitate to me. "Do your wings hurt?" I ask and gently set my palm against the feathers.

"They ache, but the aching goes away when you touch them." He says and watches me. I nod slowly.

"I never got the chance to tell you, but thank you for saving me from being hit." I say and scan his wings as they slowly wrap around us. I see him smile out the corner of my eye and I look up at him. I hear a car door shut outside and Etheriel quickly retracts his wings. I walk up the stairs, to my room and Etheriel follows closely behind. He shuts the door behind us, locking it and flops down on my bed. I sit at my desk chair and watch him unfurl his wings again then turn over so that he is laying on his back and wings. He looks up at me for awhile before sitting up.

"How was school?" he asks and smiles.

"Boring of course." I laugh and he laughs to. Suddenly there is a knock at the door, but before I can say anything and before Etheriel can hide his wings, Nathan walks in.

"Nice wings, Etheriel. So is this a wings safe zone?" he asks seconds before his mid-night wings unfurl and extend. I stare at him staring at Etheriel who is staring at him. I look back and forth between the two of them and they finally break eye contact and both look at me at the same time. Nathan walks toward me smiling as Etheriel shifts restlessly on my bed. Nathan stops in front of me and pulls me up by my hand; he places it on his wing and makes me stroke the feathers. Etheriel stands and pulls his wings close to his back, taking a step to us.

"So, Nathaniel, why were you locked out, and shunned before the fall?" Etheriel asks and tilts his head. Nathan stares down into my eyes.

"Cohabiting with mortal women." He smirks and looks over at Etheriel. He nods and comes over to us.

"Well, I am going to have to ask you to not 'cohabit' with this mortal." He says and grabs my arm gently pulling me to him. Nathan puts his hands up in defense.

"If you're worried about me harming her, don't worry I won't, because she is different." He says smirking. "Well, I should get going."He kisses my forehead before he turns and walks out the door. Etheriel watches the door for a few seconds before looking back at me.

"I should probably go too." He says and goes to the window, opening it.

"What are you doing?" I ask watching him put a leg through the window about to jump.

"Wouldn't it be strange if two men walked out of your room?" he says and jumps. I laugh silently to myself.

"Trinity, Dinner's ready!" my dad yells from downstairs.

I feel myself falling. My stomach is dropping and my heart is beating rapidly. All around me, my surrounds, is lightning striking down and things falling along with me. Looking closer at those things I see people with wings. Angels. Angels falling unable to catch themselves. Lightning strikes close and I hear yelling of the other angels trying to figure out what is going on. A sudden pain jolts through me as lightning hits me. My vision darkens and when it clears again an angel is shaking me yelling something. I can't hear what they are saying I can't hear anything, but my thoughts.

I'm going to die.

I am going to die.

Someone help.

Then suddenly I hit the ground and I feel every single bone in my body break all at once. About ten feet from me someone makes impact and they don't move. I know they are dead but I still search for any sign of life in them. Around us I hear bodies hit the ground and in the distant I see dark shapes still falling. Lightning continues to strike. I stare up at the sky unable to move and time slows as I see a lightning bolt coming straight for me. My hair stands on end and I feel the electricity in the air.

I sit up covered in sweat, breathing heavily. I glance over at my alarm clock and I have only been asleep for three hours. I sigh and lay back down without the blankets over me. I close my eyes to sleep, but bodies hitting the ground and horrifying screams fill my mind and I can sleep. I open my eyes and roll over to look at the window. It's raining. Lightning strikes followed by booming thunder making me jump out of my skin. I roll around for hours until I start to see the sun in the sky and sunlight shining through my window onto my eyes. I decide I should get up so I put on and go downstairs. My mom and dad are sitting at the table eating lunch when they both look at me and smile. My mom's smile disappears and she stands.

"My god, Trinity, you look sick. Did you not sleep well?" she asks walking up to me and putting the back of her hand on my forehead. "You have bags under your eyes and you're very pale." I smile my best smile which isn't very good.

"I'm fine. Just a nightmare." I mumble.

"Are you hungry? Sit, Eat." She pushes me to a chair. I sit and she sets a sandwich in front of me. I eat half the sandwich and a couple chips before getting up and tossing the rest of the sandwich in the trash. I check the clock on the stove. 2:23. I am completely exhausted so I decide to go into town to get a coffee to help me stay awake the rest of the day.

I walk into the coffee shop and up to the counter. A blonde girl bounces over smiling big.

"What would you like, miss?" she asks and glances down at the cash register.

"Just a cup of black coffee." I say and glance around the shop for an open table. I give her the money and someone else behind the counter gives me a mug of black coffee. I smile and sit at an empty table in the back by a window. I take a sip of the coffee and almost spit it out. I don't actually like black coffee I just needed it to wake me up. I put a few packet of sugar in it to help. It barely does, but I drink it anyways. After a few hours, I walk back home. When I get there, no one is home so I just walk to my room and work on weekend homework. There is a knock on the door so I turn my attention to it to see Nathan walking in.

"Hey, Trinity." He says and sits on the bed. "What are you doing?" he scans my face and smiles.

"Homework." I say and turn back to it. I glance out the window only to realize that it is completely dark outside.

"That's fun." He says in a sarcastic tone. I nod and roll my eyes. I hear the wind against my window causing me to glance over to see that it also started to rain again.

"You should head home before the rain gets too bad." I say and continue on my homework. He nods in agreement and stands up.

"It was nice seeing you for about five minutes." He laughs and leaves. I look at the time. 10:07. I decide I should try and get sleep so I get up and climb under the covers.