Fallen Angel

The sky was a navy blue with glistening lights contrasting sharply against the darkness. The stars were much brighter than usual, which was something I hadn’t anticipated. Excitedly, I looked through the eyepiece of the telescope, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the stars. What I saw was something far from normal, something that should have been impossible.

“Holy crap!” I yelled out as I continued peering through the looking glass. What I thought was a flight of the stars was much more than that.

A humanoid figure was falling through the sky at speeds that should have burnt them to a crisp, but they looked fine given the circumstances. The figure was zooming faster than the eye can see, falling through the air wrapped in a ball of blue fire. It was so bright it felt almost as if I were staring at the sun. A sizzling noise accompanied their descent, the ground shook from underneath me as the figure got closer and closer to the crust of the earth.

Then, nothing. I was expecting a boom or an explosive thunder as the mystery man hit the ground but it was unnervingly quiet. The buzz of the cicadas had hushed and the frogs had stopped croaking. In a rush, I grabbed my equipment and hopped into my tiny and beaten-up car. I drove down the dark roads until I found the crash site.

“Wow,” I whispered to myself as I saw the area. I was expecting decay and ruin and even a hole in the ground. But I was met with growth and life, flowers and trees had blossomed into a cocoon where I assumed the man had landed.

I parked the car on the side of the road, out of the way of any incoming traffic, and ran into the open field. The man was laid gently in the center of tulips and roses, his eyes were closed and his hands were clasped over his chest. His black hair fell in ringlets on his forehead, sweat rolled down his cheek. Scratches and bruises covered his arms and face but, for the most part, he was okay. It was a miracle he survived in the first place.

“That is not possible,” I said, gasping at the man who was beginning to show signs of waking up. Although it would have been smart to get help or run away from this unnatural occurrence, I was compelled to get closer to the man. I walked up to where he laid, gently sitting down next to him. As I sat down, his eyes fluttered open, landing on my face.

“It’s you,” he said, his voice sounding hoarse and dry. What he said, though, rattled me.

“What?” I asked, my brows furrowing in confusion. I wasn’t sure how he could possibly know who I was. After all, he literally fell from the sky.

“I finally found you, Angelique. My love, it’s been so long.”

“How do you know my name?” I was shocked. I had no idea who this man was but he seemed to know me. He even thought we shared an intimate relationship.

“You mean you don’t remember?” His eyes felt as if they were looking directly into my soul. Once again, I analyzed all of his features. All of the injuries he had sustained from the fall looked as if they were already healing. The bruise on his face was a yellowish color and the scratches looked faded.

“Remember what?” My head began to hurt, and an itching feeling from the back of my mind took over. It felt as if I should remember what he was talking about. I felt a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach as I looked at his familiar yet distant face. A name, his name, was at the tip of my tongue but I couldn’t quite place what it was.

He raised an eyebrow as he grabbed my hands. He looked me in the eyes as he spoke. “Angelique, we’re from the city of angels.”