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~ Dark Winds ~
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~Main ~Cast ~Me
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Part 6-
“Come, I want to show you something.” “What?” it was a few days after my little “incident,” and I was jumpy and anxious. Checking out the mail had become a daily torture. So I wasn’t in the mood for play. “You’ll see.” Not that I had too many choices it seemed. He led me by the elbow to an old white pick up truck. “Jump in.” I raised an eyebrow, but Aquariel wasn’t forthcoming with any answers. Oh hell. Whatever. As soon as he lighted the ignition, some sort of classical music permeated the inside of the car. I’ve never listened to classical before, mainly because,…well, I don’t really know. But this was actually very nice. Very calming and relaxing. Soothing. Yeah. A little corner of my mind kept pocking me as a reminder of all the unanswered questions I wanted to ask him, but I didn’t seem to care enough. And strangely, that didn’t even raise my suspicion. I simply sat back and enjoyed the ride, for it was rather long. After what seemed like hours, Aquariel smoothly turned his car onto a dirt track road that meandered in between low hills that slowly grew higher and higher, raising the road along with their peaks. After a while, my ears popped. And then again, before the blond braked into a cloud of gravel and dust and got out of the car. Finally. I badly needed to take a leak before I exploded! I followed, choking on the crunchy air, feeling the gritty sand inside my mouth. But I forgot about all my discomforts as soon as I stopped by his side, at the edge of the high cliff. It was breathtakingly beautiful. And the day was so clear that I could see for miles, my vision unobstructed by trees or rock. There were a few trees here and there; one actually stood just a little back behind us, and I quickly hurried over to it and used it as a urinal. After rejoining Aquariel, the pressure on my bladder gone, I could appreciate the view even better, if possible. Yeah, my apprehension of heights was gone. Well, it never really existed in the first place. I simply wasn’t in the mood the brave the rock all by myself yet. But if there was a safe way to get up somewhere, I was all for it. “Wow, it’s absolutely fantastic,” I whispered, my words flowing away on the gentle breeze. Aquariel simply flashed one of his grins. It was enough. I understood his feeling at this moment, for I felt them as well. The freedom, the height, the stretch of emptiness, the immensity of the sky…I could have stayed here forever, lost in this beauty. I barely heard what he said next. “I brought you here because I need to tell you something…” it was only the strange quality of his voice that caught my attention. I didn’t know how to describe it. “You are an angel, Nathaniel.” Ah, what? I don’t think I got the right meaning though, because when he saw me blush, he frantically waved his hands in front of him, red faced as well. “No, no no… I mean… not that way… what I mean is… you literally are an angel. You know, the ones from Heaven, the messengers of God, the dispensers of justice, the guardians of souls, the e…” I snorted in disbelief, my eyes going round as he enumerated. Aha. Yeah right. “Nice one there, Ariel.” His face was pretty serious though, and I marveled at his acting skills. “I’m not joking Nat. This is serious stuff.” “So is the letter I’ve been waiting for the past few days. Sure. Where are my wings then? I somehow can’t feel anything back there,” I patted my back. “And I seem to have lost my halo. Would you mind getting me another one, eh?” I rolled my eyes. Aquariel’s expression hasn’t changed. “We don’t wear halos, and as for your wings, that’s why we’re here. You’ll see.” “But everywhere y… ‘we’?” “…Errr, yeah. I’m an angel too…” he allowed a sheepish grin to crack his façade. “I thought angels were blond and blue eyed. And wore white.” I pointedly looked at him, the embodiment of all of the above, then waved at my own face. I couldn’t have looked farther from that description if I had done it on purpose. The fact that I was wearing black wasn’t helping at all. Fine, he could be an angel if he wanted to. But I wasn’t made of the right stuff. I wasn’t exactly angel material if you know what I mean. “Oh, stop it already. You’re making this way too complicated.” “Me!!” “Yes, you. Have you seen an albino gorilla in real life?” “Err, no…” “But it doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Same goes for you.” “So what am I then, some kind of dark angel or something?” “Well, yeah…” Great. Just great. Can you hear the sarcasm here? “I’ve got enough problems in my life. I don’t need this.” “Come on, come over here. We don’t have all week.” I cautiously sidled up to him, wondering what crazy thing he would invent next. “Jump.” I definitely wasn’t anticipating that one. Did he mean what I think he meant? “Riel, stop being an ass and let me enjoy the view okay?” he could delusion himself all he wanted about being an angel, but I didn’t feel like participating in the fun. I wasn’t feeling particularly suicidal right now. “Oh Michael, give me strength,” he said as he raised his hands imploringly to the sky, a note of exasperation making its way to his voice. “I’m sorry Nat.” What for? Aha. He raised both hands, palms out toward me, eyes looking straight into mine. I didn’t have time to see what was hidden in their depths. One moment, I was standing on firm ground, frowning at my friend, the next I was shoved off the cliff and began to fall like a rock. I guess it was time for the “Aaaaahhhhh…..rieeeeeeelll !!!!!!” my stomach flew up into my throat as I realized what had just happened. My best friend had just pushed me over a cliff. I kept on screaming, hoping that in death, I could come back and haunt the bastard for the rest of his miserable little life. “Use your wings you idiot! Nat! Use them, damn you!!!” what was he talking about? I almost couldn’t hear him above the wind rushing past me, and the wild beating of my heart. I kept on flaying my arms around, for all the good that did, and my back started to hurt –you know, that annoying twinge on the sides of my shoulder blades after I strained too much- except that now, it wasn’t a twinge. It was a full blown, searing pain. Yeah, time to scream some more –if I have a voice left, that is- as I plummeted to my death, vision blackened by agony. One moment, I was wondering why my life wasn’t flashing in front of my eyes yet, and the next, I felt as if someone had stabbed me in the back and drawn the blade down. Twice. I stopped moving altogether, paralyzed with fear and pan, and let myself drop. There wasn’t much else I could do anyway. “Pump your wings Nat. Come on! Don’t let them hang there! Use them!” I didn’t have the strength to answer him, or wonder why I could still hear him. Heck, I didn’t have enough strength to keep my eyes open. But they flew wide apart on their own accord when I felt something tugging me up in little jerks. I looked at the ground and didn’t understand why I was moving parallel to it instead of straight down. Curious, I craned my neck back…and spun out of control without catching sight of what was –had been- holding me up. There were still some of those jerks, but more…well…jerky, irregular and shallower, and I still wasn’t falling as fast as I should have. Not that I was complaining, but the ground was approaching way too fast for my peace of mind anyway. At the last minute, I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth, bracing myself for the impact. It was more of a dive actually, with a long slide on my stomach, ending with a remarkable back flip that left me out of breath, and staring at the sky in stupor. I hurt in more places that I could count, and in some that I didn’t even know I had. But I was alive. I don’t know how, but I was. And I would seriously hurt Aquariel for this little experiment of his. Damn the bastard. With anger somehow fueling my battered body, I sat up, feeling uncommonly heavy, as if the earth wanted to drag me back into its embrace, and wincing in pain at every little cut and scrap that stretched. Lying scattered all around me were feathers. Huge feathers. Iridescent white and gleaming black. I reached for one of each color, and held them both in a trembling hand. And then, in the corner of my eye, I saw him running toward me. Aquariel. I didn’t wonder how he had made it down so fast. I didn’t even think about all the ways I could exact my revenge upon him –the more painful the better-. I was way too preoccupied by the two huge white wings that fluttered behind him, propelling him forward much faster than his feet alone could ever have. Feathers. Wings. White. I looked down at the feathers in my hand, my eyes locking on the black. I was afraid to look, and as afraid not to. I slowly turned my head back…and froze. Black. My wings… … and the oblivion that engulfed me in its embrace.
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