Angels sang overhead in a perfect harmony. They were truly beautiful, unlike anything I’ve seen before and no creature on earth could match their radiance. They were far beyond Michelangelo’s magnificent dome; instead of fair skin, stolen dove wings, they were different to a six years-old’s imagination of an angel. They were unlike us that were crafted by God’s hands and with a breath of life; they were amorphous, taking in forms of pure white light and were born from human laugher, joy and peace.
Soon no later, I found myself drifting through space. I was no way as good enough to become one of those ethereal beings and was still in my human form; just another soul to be collected. I watched unearthly spheres of energy or should I say angels floated by as it was their fastest and easiest way to move. At rare moments, I witnessed some had shifted into human forms, light radiated from their shell and spurted from their backs.
Amazed from what I’ve seen so far, I twirled around in my fathomless world. The blue sky, decorate with fluffy shades of pink, purple blue clouds were beneath my feet, more clouds extended into the sky like stair ways to heaven. I was only at the foot of paradise and the glimmering silver gates were not far head.
Suddenly millions of silver butterflies appeared before my eyes and formed a bridge. It looked delicate and one false move the bridge will break away.
The bridge extended out cross the sky to the other side where the stairs awaited promising no hunger, no suffering and shelter. I walked to it as beams of light shifted into their human form standing at the other end, their seraphim voices sang out to me.
“Wait, don’t go any further!”
I stopped midway and turned around to the voice. An orb of golden light different from the other white lights, hovered behind me. It took me by surprised when it slowly summoned every matter in the world creating a body for its own.
“Don’t go, don’t cross the bridge,” a strong structure planted his feet in the clouds.
He was beautiful but nothing holy about him. His skin did not illuminate like the other angels and wings didn’t fan out behind him. He looked…normal just like me. However behind his soulful brown eyes, it contained precious memories of a girl with flaming red hair and emerald jeweled eyes, producing an air of love and lost. He had something that the angels lacked, he has love and humility.
“Do you know me?” I cocked my head to the side.
“Yes I do,” a gentle breeze picked up his brown wispy hair and brushed over his hazel eyes. “You’re Sophie Harrison, you don’t belong here well not yet,”
A thunderous pain strokes my head.
“Stop, I don’t know who you are and that’s not my name!” I screamed in agony as the name pounded my head.
I fell to the ground, holding my head as it spun round and round in a mess of memories and emotions that did not belong to me.
Angels at the other end of the butterfly bridge sang louder bribing me with their soothing powers and other tempting offers. The boy was speechless, his face was shadowed with grief, his form slowly dropped away disappearing at every second. I didn’t know if time existed here but seeing him like that made my heart break.
“Child of God, you are stuck between life and death. You are not destined to remain in limbo. You are free to choose your path as today will be your judgmental day,” a voice echoed from the doors of heaven. “Let go and let the light embrace you or continue the where you have left off as you wish.”
“Do I go to heaven or not? It seems like it’s the only thing I knew closer to home,” I said to the world.
“The answer lies within you,”
Then there was a long silence that’s when I assumed he was gone.
I was stuck between two choices. One was heaven where I would be forever at rest in my own utopia and another was a mysterious man with his arms wide open, eyes full of hope and life. I hesitated. I didn’t remember who I was anymore and maybe I was in a process of applying for citizenship in heaven when this young man had interrupted before I was approved that I was legible enough to become one of them.
“How old am I,” I turned to the boy.
“Eighteen,” He answered with an edge of desperation.
“Do I have a bright future?” I asked him again.
“Yes, you’re the smartest, kindest and stubborn girl I ever met,” he replied with a heart stopping smile and somewhere in my heart I know he was telling the truth, though I felt a bit of annoyance with the insult.
“I may not remember you but I guess I found my heaven,” I ran in to his arms as he lifted me into the air.
Bits and pieces patched themselves together and filled in the holes weaving back into picture perfect memories then into my head. The silver butterfly bridge scattered away, the angels retreated to their true forms and drifted away. The ground beneath us slowly shrinks till there was nothing. The man of my dreams held me tight in his arms as we plunged through time and space.
****
Light flooded in. My world was white and instead of heavenly voices, soft humming of machinery filled my ears. My eyelids were still heavy and sticky for sleeping to long. My body ached, sending warnings that I should get moving or my muscles will rot away and it burned mixing in with another higher level of pain.
Then my heart leaped. Two familiar figures in their late forties looked down at me with tears in their eyes. I could feel their loving touch on my hand and slowly my brain began unlocking doors to every memory that I could remember.
“Mum…? Where –am I and what are you too doing here?” My head felt hard and sluggish.
“Oh my goodness! Oh thank you, thank you, Jesus Christ, Buddha, Ganesh, whatever! I mean, thank you thank you all for bringing my baby back,” My very own mother was going loony, bowing and praying to all different directions.
“WHY are you both here?” I raise my voice forcing my words to come out loud and clear to stop it from getting stuck in my itchy and arid throat. “I’m supposed to meet Nicholas at the Central Garden.”
“You’re at the hospital,” my dad told me with an assuring pat. He was my good old dad, always calm at everything unlike someone I know and apparently married to him. “You’ve been comatose for over two days after several broken ribs, a fever over one hundred Fahrenheit then took a bullet in the shoulder. You’ve gave your poor mother and I fright,”
The list went on forever and the world whirled round and round till I closed my eyes to stop it going any further. My brain wasn’t working, in fact I had no idea what on earth my dad just spoke about and I think he’s starting to turn out as crazy as my mother. What locked and drowning in a cellar of an old church? Or charging up on the stage like a mad horse while the crowing was taking in place and took a bullet for the princess? Yeah, cool story bro, but the last thing I’ve remembered was getting off the bus at the Central Square junction and not some kind of drama that my parents watched on the way here.
I gasped and sat up straight, suddenly remembering a dream that I had. A sharp wail shocked my parents as I winced at the pain coming from my shoulder which I had no idea how I got it from.
“What are you doing? Lie back down! The doctor’s coming,” Mum tried to put me back to bed without touching my wounds.
“What’s wrong, Sophie? Do you need something to drink?” Dad turned around to the table beside the bed and began to pour a glass of water.
“Where’s Nicholas?” I demanded, nimbly remembering parts of the dream which involves him. “Where is he?”
“He said he needed to take a breather up at the roof. I should’ve told him first thing when you’ve woken up. That foolish boy wouldn’t let go of your hand until your mother pried him off,” Dad replied without haste.
He was about to pass me some water when I flung my covers off with my good arm and tore out the IV that punctured my skin. I winced at the pain but it didn’t stop me from diving out of my parent’s reach and plunging head first out onto the corridor. A doctor and two nurses had to move out of the way as I limped pass holding on to the broken side of my ribs.
The ward was quiet as this was the private part of the hospital and I realized that I was still in Genova and not back at home. Nurses and visitors spoke either French or Italian and stared at the weird lady who looked like a bum that’s just woken up from serious events. I brushed passed a woman in her mid-twenties carrying a bouquet of fresh lilies.
“Sophie?” she called out for me.
I looked over my shoulders but made no attempt to stop. She had slightly tilted her huge bee’s eyes sunnies and stared at me with disbelief and a little hint of joy. I gave her a small smile and continued to search for the angel of my dreams. And even though the dream were filled with holes, it felt real and the only thing I can remember clearly were a pair of brown eyes reflecting back at me.
The door to the roof was wide open. By the time I made it up two flights of stairs I was already half dead. I leaned on the frame; the winter chill attacked my gown. I tremble and pushed myself to stagger further.
My bare feet touched the wet concrete floor of the roof. The once in a life time quinquennial snow was long gone while I was gone for two days and melted into puddles of murky water. It was sad to see it be gone so quickly because it’s not every day I get to experience powdery snow but if the snow didn’t go away then flowers will never find the strength to raise their heads.
The mess of medium tousled brown hair was distinguishable in the midst of the grey world surrounding us. His back was to me, his palms pressed firmly on the ledge, his unbuttoned white shirt flapped behind him behind him like wings.
Nicholas let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes as he lifted his head to the sky. The wind teased his hair and played with his crumpled shirts. He was tired and looked a lot older than before with the slightly visible stubble on his chin. His battered look was breath taking and knowing that he’s worried about me eased away most of the pain.
If anyone asked me where and how my feelings for him began, I wouldn’t even know where to begin. He was always there at the beginning when I barely even noticed and went many lengths to reach me. If this was all a lie, I don’t think I’ll survive and ever love again.
He was still immersed in his own world and was unaware of my approach. I couldn’t help myself and flung myself at him. I remembered the first time when I held him like this, we were on the Segway touring around the old parts of Genova and that’s when my feelings for him slowly blossomed. My feelings for him then and now have increased that not even heaven or earth can bring me down.
I could feel Nicholas twitched in my embrace. He wanted to turn around, so I squeezed my arms around him tighter and face pressed in to his shirt. He smelt awful but I easily ignored to the body odor and wanted to stay like this forever.
“Hey, welcome back,” he took the signal not to move.
“Mmm,” I muffled in his shirt. “Thank you for coming after me,”
I lifted my head away and looked at him as he turned his head over and gave me a puzzled look. I gave him a know-it-all smile rested my head again on to his back. And of course he didn’t know what I was talking about. If I was really locked in the world of between life and death, he would have to concuss himself to come and take me back. Besides I don’t believe in dream seers so it’s highly impossible that all of that that I’ve dreamed were real.
“Hey Nick,” I mumbled.
“Yeah?” he replied.
“You really need to hit the shower,”
Nicholas’ muscles began to flex. I immediately let go of him as he jumped around, a soft blush on each side of his cheeks. I couldn’t help laughing though my stitches hurt so badly and quickly moved away every time he tried to catch me.
“Well so do you,” he chuckled.
“Stop, seriously, stop,” I said between laughs. “Don’t forget I’m the patient here,”
Nicholas had picked me up in to a bridal style and spun me around before he set me down back onto my feet. I had to hold on to him till my world stopped turning.
When I regained my balance, Nicholas stared at my wounds, his face was twisted with anguish. He noticed me looking at him and quickly looked away, raking his hair thoroughly.
“Is there something that’s on me that disgusts you?” I asked, even though I already figured out the answer by now.
“Urgh, I’m so stupid,” he squeezed his eyes shut then looked at me with sad eyes. “Who would let their girlfriend go saving the world after she was nearly drowned in freezing water with broken ribs? You’ve even took a bullet for someone you barely even know. I thought I lost you forever,”
“Oh shut up,” I told him roughly for my own benefits because he looked he was about to cry. Not the manliest thing to do. “Look aren’t I’m still here? I remembered a certain person told me that I was stubborn so there’s no way I won’t fight for my life back.”
“Which guy dared to call my woman stubborn?” Nicholas cracked his knuckles.
I laughed and that cooled him down a bit. If I ever told him that it was him who said it in my dream, I wonder how he would react but I decided to keep it to myself, dream or not dream it’s something I don’t think I’ll experience –no –dream ever again.
_________________________________________________________
So okay, I have to admit that this isn't the best chapter you've ever read in your life. So many errors and sentences don't flow. And not to forget to mention it's so short.