CHAPTER ONE- Meeting Humanity
I looked at the two humans before me, both amazed and horrified. I'd never seen God's creations so close-up before. I shifted a little, about to stand. However, a horrible sensation ripped through me.
Holy saints above... that hurt.
My back felt as though it had been roasted over a fire-- or, at least, what I'd imagine being roasted would feel like. As I sat up, I felt oddly light. A giant weight had been removed from me, so I felt off-balance and unsettled.
I gave the couple of humans another glance, awkwardly trying to stand on my feet. Staying on balance was difficult, it felt like there was a great force pushing against me on all sides. Even breathing was weird, the air tasted dirty and tainted against my tongue. I was used to Heaven's sweet and light air, not this thick and musty stuff. Not to mention the liquid dripping out of the sky. I was covered in the water, feeling like I just took a bath with my clothes on. Speaking of, I disliked the blue fabric clinging to my legs. It felt oddly scratchy and hugged in all the wrong places. Meanwhile, my chest and back were covered by a bright white shirt.
I missed Heaven already.
The human woman looked at me with apprehension, "Well, Ich-male," I grimaced as she butchered my name, "How long have you been here?" She asked shrilly, "Why are you here?"
Angels didn't have a concept of time, at least not like humans. Existence was infinite, time was irrelevant. Luckily, I had learned a bit about God's creations and knew the basics of how they measured such a thing. I shrugged, "A few seconds." the second question brought a frown to my face, "I'm here because... uh.... someone made a mistake."
The woman's eyebrows pinched in, "Wha--"
"Stop questioning the poor guy," The man cut in, resting a hand on her shoulder, "He might have gotten hit in the head or something." His attention went back to me, who had certainly not been hit on the head, "Here, I'll come down and help you."
The man immediately crouched and began to slowly descend into the hole with me. As he sacrificed his comfort and time to help me, I watched with fascination as his soul tinted lighter. The crater was relatively small, so he was easily able to slide in.
I was finally able to get a hold of standing, finding that I needed to adjust my balance to meet my new wing-less life. I was glad that the fall hadn't further damaged me.
The man grew closer to me, enough to reach out and touch me. I fought to not jerk back as he approached. A bright flash of lightning broke through the sky, lightening the man's features. His skin was dark brown, blending in with the sky's darkness. He was quite tall, easily a head above my average height. He also held a great deal of unruly facial hair, which perfectly framed his square jaw.
The man seemed to be assessing me just as thoughtfully. I watched as his head tilted in the darkness, "Your ears are really pointy."
My hand jerked up to my ear as if to assess his statement. I quickly looked at his ears, finding a smooth curve. I scoffed, "Yours are just too roundy."
The man laughed wholeheartedly, "I suppose you're right." He held out a hand to me, "I'm Grant."
I stared down at his hand, wondering why he was holding it in the air like that. The longer he kept it there, the more uncomfortable the air grew. I sent him an uneasy grin, "Nice to meet you, Grant."
The man looked embarrassed as he slowly lowered his hand. He coughed awkwardly, "So... you're not hurt at all? Need help getting out of this crater?" He asked, avoiding eye contact.
Glad that the weird exchange was over, I nodded, "Help would be lovely."
Grant awkwardly held out the hand again, raising an eyebrow. I stared at it wide-eyed. What were his intentions? Seeing no progress until I bent to his will, I hesitantly set my hand in the palm of his.
He gripped onto me strongly, taking me by surprise. Before I could outwardly express my shock, he was leading me out of the hole. I followed and thanked him as he helped pull my unsteady body out of the crater.
We got to a particularly steep part. If my wings were still here, I'd just fly over it with ease. My uncoordinated legs tried to lead me up. I gasped as I hit a loose rock and slipped. Grant was quick, pressing a hand into my back to steady me.
A shout of pain flew from my mouth as his hand made contact with my wounded back. Grant immediately pulled back, choosing to grip my shoulders instead. He gave me an incredulous look, "You said you weren't hurt?"
"Not from the fall," I grunted, trying to breathe the pain away.
There was a sigh from him, "Come here, let me check it out." He gestured to a patch of land outside of the crater and gently began to help me climb out. The steep portion was hundreds of times more difficult with the burning reminder in my back.
The human woman was biting her lip, watching us with apprehension.
Grant kindly set me down and lightly started to lift up my shirt. Thousands of years of modesty made me gasp and quickly snatch my shirt from the human's hands. I twisted away and gave him an accusatory glare.
He frowned at me, "Dude, I just want to see if you've got a bad bruise or something. I swear it's no homo, I even got my socks on." As proof, he pulled up a pant leg and exposed the white, cottony fabric underneath. I frowned at his socks, not understanding what they had to do with anything.
The woman scoffed, "Put your socks away," she gave me a skeptical look, "If you didn't hurt your back by falling... how did you?"
I sighed, remembering the last moments of my life with anger, "They used Hellfire to saw off my wings." I explained, "It's still a bit sensitive."
Out of all the responses I could have had, she certainly didn't expect that one. Her eyes widened, mixed with shock and disbelief.
Grant's face went deadpanned, "Oh, man, you really did hit your head." He sighed and looked up to the sky with a silent curse, "Do you remember who you are?"
I blinked at him, "I told you. I'm Ishmael."
"Ishmael..." he trailed off, motioning his hand in a "go-on" motion.
My lips pursed, "Ishmael." I repeated.
"Do you have a last name?" He asked more directly, sitting on the ground with me.
My eyebrows drew in at the particular question, "No."
Grant looked like he gave up. He sighed and glanced at the woman with a remorseful before training back on me, "Do you remember where you live? I can take you home." He offered, looking like it physically pained him. I could tell that he wished to spend more time with the woman instead.
I scowled, "Do you have in and out access to Heaven?" I asked sarcastically before rolling my eyes. I paused and read his dumbfounded expression before continuing, "No? Didn't think so." I glared up at the clouds with malice, "I don't have a home anymore."
The man looked annoyed, but quickly washed it away with a deep breath, "Ishmael," he spoke calmly, "Do you remember anything about your life? How you got here?"
I gave him a tense smile, "I was a perfect angel with a perfect record for being perfect. But I suppose perfect isn't good enough, because they'll still rip the wings off your back and throw you 14 billion miles. Happened to land here."
"Okay," Grant gave me a large, fake smile. It was easy to see right through him. He looked like a parent, nodding along to their toddler's nonsensical rants. He stood up and wiped the mud from his pants, turning to the woman and not-so-subtly motioned her to follow him.
As if I wasn't there, they both ducked away and began to whisper to each other. Either I had super-hearing, or they weren't all that good at whispering.
Clearly, I could hear Grant sigh, "Not much for a first date huh? Sorry, Renee."
"Not much?!" The woman, Renee, practically squealed, ruining any level of discreteness, "I wished upon a fallen angel tonight! Not a dumb fallen star! An angel. It's truly a miracle." She began to rant, glancing at me with interested eyes.
Grant looked at her like she was crazy, "Do you really believe him? Renee, he's delusional. He got hit on the head by a falling object," Grant reasoned, giving up on whispering completely. I watched with wide-eyes, offended that they were talking as though I wasn't ten feet away.
"What if he was the falling object?" Renee retorted, looking back at me with hope, "Maybe God is real after all, and I didn't waste 23 years praying to nothing."
Grant looked taken-aback, "That really sounds like a personal issue that you should sort out," he swiped a hand through his cropped-hair, "But not right now. We need to figure out what to do with this confused man." He gestured to me loosely.
I scowled, leaning back, "I'm not confused."
Grant looked at me and slowly nodded, making an over-exaggerated expression, "Uh-huh, totally." He turned back to Renee and let his poor mask slip, "Should we just leave him here?"
"We can't abandon him out here! He's literally a divine creature!" The woman shrilled, "We should take him to a church." She suggested, a blinding smile on her face.
My eyes widened, "Absolutely not." I tried to stand, struggling again with balance and weight. Once I was upright, I took cautious steps to them, trying not to teeter over. I joined their group, "I don't want them to see me in this pitiful state." I muttered saltily, crossing my arms.
Grant shook his head, looking annoyed, "We need to get him to a hospital, if anything." He looked to me, "Especially if his back is having issues."
Renee shook her head, "No! They'll probably do science on him or something."
"No, because he's not an angel." Grant sighed, rolling his eyes, "You're both insane." He turned to me, "Ishmael, show me your back so I can figure out whether we're abandoning you out here or taking you to a hospital."
I scoffed, "How kind of you," I swirled my finger in his direction, "You're the problem with humanity, Grant." I turned around and lifted up my shirt and winced as the rain collided with the sensitive skin,
"Holy shit!" Grant yelled, probably looking at my back, "Hospital. Hospital now." He said intensely. I twisted my head to look at him, looking at the sheer horror on his face.
Renee didn't look scared at all, she just looked amazed. Her eyes scanned my back, "Wow," she breathed, "you are a fallen angel."
"He's a man that got his back chopped out by some psycho." Grant said softly, pulling a device out of his pocket, "I-I need to call 911 or something, there's so much semen oh my God--"
Renee set her hand over the device, stopping him from doing what he was doing, "Grant, hun, I think that's his blood. His blood is white."
I frowned at them, "Yours isn't?"
Grant's hands were trembling as he stared at my back, "Holy fuck, angels are real."
As they continued to stare, I grew more and more uncomfortable. Eventually, I let my shirt drop and turned back to face them.
Grant was staring straight into my eyes, "So... your weirdly glowing, gold-ass eyes aren't just cool contacts?"
"Contacts? What are those?" I asked, staring at them both blankly.
Grant didn't question me this time, he just nodded dumbfoundedly, "That's fair."
It seemed like none of my questions were going to be answered today. I sighed, "So, what now? Are you two going to go off and abandon me?"
"No, no." Renee cut in, "We'll take you in and nurse you back to health!" She grinned, latching onto Grant's arm, "Like a bird with a broken wing! Like our child!"
Grant's eyebrows raised, "Like our what? Renee, this is a full-grown man."
She latched onto both of his shoulders and spun him so they were face-to-face. She looked at him with determination, "A full-grown man who doesn't know... like, anything."
"I know plenty," I muttered, taking offense.
Renee ran over my statement, "He needs guidance, someone to make sure he doesn't get lost and hurt. And God has chosen us."
"I'm pretty sure he dumped me somewhere random."
Renee ignored me like an expert. "Plus," she smirked, her intense expression fading into a more playful one, "It'll give me an excuse to see you again." She flirted, winking at Grant.
Grant's distrusting expression lit up immediately. He looked at me as if I was a golden ticket to Heaven. A large grin took over his face, "Alright, I always wanted to be a dad. Twenty-two is a bit younger than my original plan, but okay... yeah. He'll stay with you, right?" He spoke to Renee, but looked at me.
I didn't bother explaining that he wouldn't be my actual father, since they weren't listening to anything I said anyway.
Renee hissed, leaning away slowly, "Abooout that... yeah, no. I have three roommates and we have a 'no boys' rule."
"Wait-- you want me to take him?!" Grant exclaimed, turning to her with a disbelieving look.
"Yeah," Renee shrugged, "You live alone, right?"
Grant shook his head, "No, I have a roommate. He's out of town right now, but--"
"Then take him for now," She suggested, "At least until your roommate comes back. He can stay in your room, you can stay on the couch--"
"Why do I get the couch?" Grant grunted.
Renee's eyebrows perked up, "Because you're not a divine being, must I explain everything?"
Grant scowled, "But it's my bed." Renee gave him a dead expression and Grant groaned. After a second, he finally snapped, "Fine! But this is temporary!"