Genesis of an Angel

The whirring noises made by the machines were the only signs of any life throughout the Research Facility Lab.

A man stood along the dark corridor, in front of a room separated by a glass screen. His face was impassive as he looked at the woman inside, the only thing keeping her alive being the endless number of tubes and machines hooked on to her.

Yet despite all of that, she looked peaceful.

The man let out a momentary sigh of relief.

Just as he was about to leave, he heard running footsteps in his direction. From the dark, a voice called out to him. A small boy hurtled himself at him, grabbing on to his legs and hugging them.

"Teacher!" he affectionately called, as he continued to stay glued to the man's legs.

The man smiled as he ruffled the boy's hair, letting his guard down.

Before he could ask how the child had gotten there, the boy launched into narrating the whole story of how he kicked up a fuss at home and demanded to be taken to the lab.

"I've told you to never come here" the man bent down to lift the boy into his arms.

Just as the boy was about to protest, his eyes widened and jaw dropped when he saw what the man was looking at before.

It was silent for a moment, before the boy gathered the courage to ask.

"Teacher?" he turned to the man "Is that an angel?"

The man looked at the woman inside.

She was an angel.

To him at least.

Even with all the medicines and machines, her wavy brown hair and pretty face looked like it was plucked out from a picture frame.

But that wasn't what the boy was talking about.

"She is one! Isn't she ?" he turned pointing excitedly.

"Look! She's even got wings!"

From her back, two huge white structures emerged. Adorned with feathers tailing all the way to the ground.

They were spread out, with machines attached to both sides monitoring them.

The boy turned expectantly, for an explanation.

The man didn't answer him. He just looked through the glass at the machines.

Seeing as he wasn't going to get one, the boy started making up his own reasons.

"I know what happened" he nodded "The angel was taking people to heaven, just like how daddy went. Then this one flew the wrong way and crashed. That's why the wings are broken."

He looked over to woman. The point from where the wings emerged from her body was bloodstained through the bandages, and at some points, the bone structure of the wings were visible.

The man smiled "You could say something like that happened."

The boy beamed.

"But that's not what happened."

The boy's face fell.

"But she's here because you're going to fix her, right?" the boy asked expectantly.

Silence followed.

The man didn't even look like he was listening. He just gazed in the direction of the angel. Finally after a few moments he spoke.