Ablackwing

A few of his feathers reached right near me while floating in the air. I couldn"t help my hand from reaching towards them. I grasped one of them. It was so soft. A velvet will be considered rough if it is compared to it. It was as black as night but it had this l.u.s.ter like it was polished. It was shining like a black diamond. Comparing them with feathers of a bird would be their dishonour. I guess that"s what it"s called otherworldly, something far from the reach and understanding of humans.

I looked down again. After he fell, the feathers of his wing fell after him. There were many of them, falling swiftly and softly on the green gra.s.s. I was going to have one h.e.l.l of a time in cleaning up the backyard I thought.

That guy was lying, motionless in my backyard as I looked at him. His wing was resting on the left side to his body. I realized I should see if he"s even alive. No human would survive that fall but he was after all quiet... special.

The fright in my mind gradually took up on my excitement. The only thing I knew was that he wasn"t like other angels because of his black wing. I was still frightened about thinking what if he was actually a devil. Those thoughts were chilling me up to my bones. The winds blew through the trees and the sound of fluttering leaves made me realize I was doing nothing, like a deer caught in the headlight.

Whatever he was, an angel or a devil, he wasn"t a human for sure. I had to check on him.

"Positive. Positive. Be positive. He"s not the bad guy." I tried to console myself with those positive thoughts. There was no use in thinking the other way.

I ran. I ran through my room, down the stairs, across the hallway, towards the backyard. I ran the way I would if a calamity was to fall on me. Something was fallen through but I wasn"t sure if to consider it as a calamity or not.

As soon as I opened the door to backyard, I saw him lying flat on his stomach. His face was facing the other direction. His long coat was covering him like a black shroud covering a dead body. I, just then realized that he was wearing a white scarf. It was surprising that I couldn"t see a white scarf in total contrast with all black clothes he was wearing. I guessed it must be due to his silver hair hiding it.

He was neither making any noise or showing any moment. I feared that silence. I was still frightened but I took small steps and went near him. They say that we have to keep moving on no matter how frightful things might be. It doesn"t matters how small those steps might be. All it matters is you keep moving on. I reached him quicker than I originally thought I would. I guess my steps weren"t that small after all.

I bent a little. Knowing that I was finally going to touch the wing of an angel, I was overjoyed. Angel, I said it again. I didn"t even knew what he was but I keep referring to him as angel in my unconscious mind.

My hand were still trembling. But I dared to touch his wing. It felt like touching cloud. It had to be a cloud made of softest cotton ball. It attracted my hand like a magnet attracts iron. At that moment, all I wanted was to keep my hands touching that cloud. The wing looked like it were mine of deadly black diamond in the form of the feathers. I was touching those out of the world diamonds that couldn"t be softest. I just caressed it.

Just then, his wing started moving. It shook at first like it was waking up from sleep. I pulled back my hand and backed off a few steps. It started to like disappear from the point it was connected to his back. It crumbled within itself and started disappearing inside the body of that angel. I wondered how the wider part of the wing would go inside him but that part just shrink gradually and easily fit inside him, like a cat that looks big but is flexible enough to pa.s.s through small hole. Those freaky cats came to my mind. I cursed myself for using the example of cat. The better example would be that wing was a sword and his body as the a heath engulfing the sword.

When his wing completely a disappeared, I saw his black coat torn from the center horizontally. I guessed that it must have happened when his wing came out. I looked closely to realize that he was not wearing anything inside his coat. A little portion of his back was visible from that torn coat. I have imagined a wound when I saw the wing go inside him but his skin was without any mark. I wondered how it happened. The wing was contracting and squeezing itself inside him, there had to be a mark or a hole of some kind. But that was a small mystery compared to his whole self.

I went near him again and pulled his arm so that he would turn.

I referred to him before as a coward when he was falling. But as I looked at his face, I regretted saying those words. From that close, he looked so innocent. His face was dipped in serenity. It was glowing with brightness of peace looking as innocent as a child"s face, if not more. Children aren"t cowards, are they? They are just children. Their heart is pure without any want of being a hero, being scared, being hopeful or anything. They just do things. Yes, I didn"t know what was inside his reasons for wanting to die but from his looks I did knew his heart was pure. Someone with a pure heart can never be a coward.

Aside from innocence, his face had this devilish handsomeness. His skin was pale whitish, and he gave off a charm I can"t speak of. A few of his hairs were scattered his face. I pushed them behind his ears softly and traced the curves of his face. He was a handsome angel. I looked at him like there was no tomorrow. His beauty was transcendent. Though his eyes were still closed, I felt they were beautiful. He had narrow cheekbones and a tapering jawline. And his blood red lips just made me want to devour them.

I somehow came back to my senses. That moment, a voice screamed inside me that I had seen him before. If I had seen that pretty face anywhere, I"d surely remember it for the rest of my life. But I just couldn"t remember where I saw him before. I tried hard to remember but it was all for nothing. It was just like I dream you see but you can"t remember it no matter how hard you try to remember.

He shook a little. His mouth opened. His facial features didn"t change. Neither he made a painful face by tightly closing his eyes, nor stayed in state of rest. From his expressions, he didn"t look like someone who had just fallen from thousands of meters.

"Now..." he said in a faint voice. I brought my ears closer to his mouth so that I could understand what he was trying to say. Those could be his last words after all. The thought frightened my heart more than cats would. It was the same kind of fear I felt when I saw my little sister lying in hospital trying to fight with death. I almost cried when my mind thought that he will die even after all those efforts to fly with his one wing.

"Yeah? " I replied so that he could know I was listening.

"Now... I"m gonna be... alright... Angelheart..." he said and stopped moving. I was afraid of them being his last words. I almost cried right there. My hand moved on his chest. His long coat was open from upper portion. My hand went over his heart. His heart was still beating. I was soon glad. The tears that almost came out stopped on the way. He was alive, just pa.s.sed out cold.

What"s this angelheart? Did I hear it right? Was it some code word? Nah, why would angels need a code word? Or it was name of something? Or someone? What was he trying to say?

My mind wondered about mysteries of his word. Like the other mysteries weren"t enough already, he added one more. I didn"t know what he mean by angel heart but I knew he wanted me to know that he will be alright.

I decided to take him inside first. It was cold out there. His coat was thin and he wasn"t wearing anything inside. He perhaps wouldn"t die of falling but he would probably die of cold out there. I wasn"t sure how I"d be able to take him inside. He was around six feet tall and appeared to be perfect in health. But I still put his arm around my neck to get a grip and tried to pull him on his feet. As expected, I was having a little trouble in maintaining the balance. The unexpected thing was his weight. He appeared to be 200 pounds from outside but he felt almost half that weight. I should have expected there would be something unexpected.

I kind of half dragged him to the room that once belonged to my parents. It have been empty for a while but I was glad I cleaned it up a while ago. Otherwise the room would have been a mess, unable to provide a resting place. My mind thought how I"d be able to take him upstairs in that condition if room wasn"t clean. But that thought was pointless. I laid him on the bed and sat near him. I deserved rest for my hard work.

But then my little caring heart screamed at me and said it wasn"t time for rest yet. I had to look at him for injuries. Whatever he had said he still had fallen from the height of clouds or from somewhere even above the clouds.

I hoped he forgave me for what I was about to do.

"I"m sorry for doing this but you must know I"ve to do this for you." I apologized in advance though I knew he wasn"t listening. I had to took off his coat to inspect for injuries. My actions were slow, so that I would not accidently hurt him.

My eyes widened and I gasped when I finished stripping him of his coat. Not because he was hurt. He had just a few scratches, everything looked normal. The cause of my reaction was that that everything was just too good. My eyes traced his body. Wide chest, his biceps bulging and his abs were just oh my G.o.d. I realized I was just looking at him for quiet a time and might even start to drool in a few moments. I certainly didn"t want to look impolite if he gained his consciousness then. I quickly moved and covered him with a blanket. After making sure he had no injury on upper half of his body, I decided not to continue.

I folded his clothes and put them near him. I sat on the couch near the bed and just gazed upon that creature from heaven. He looked so beautiful, smiling, laying quietly like the sleeping beauty who is waiting for her Prince charming to wake her up. His smile made me smile. I just felt happy from inside. Maybe it was the magic of an angel.

Perhaps he was in the peaceful slumber he so desired by wanting to die.