Alexander sat on the edge of the building, watching the people shuffle around below him. He leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees, resting his head in his hands. “Earth is so pretty,” he giggled. He brushed a stray blonde hair from his face, and sighed, “Sure heaven’s cool and all. But it gets boring.” Even though he was only 14 years old, considered a baby amongst the older angels, he’d already gotten sick of the white paradise he was born in.
“Aha! I knew I’d find you here!” Alex stiffened at the sound of his friend’s voice.
He quickly turned around and smiled, happy for some company, “Nathaniel, what are you doing here?” Nathaniel was another young angel, only 17 years old. His hair was a cocoa brown, his eyes a deep green, reminding Alexander of emeralds.
Nathaniel grabbed his friend around the neck and grinned, “What else? I’ve been looking for you.” Alexander laughed and then tried to squirm out of his grip. “No you don’t,” Nathaniel tightened his hold on the struggling Alexander, who at that second, reminded him of a dog trying to run away while his collar was being held onto. He moved his face closer to Alexander’s and put on a menacing look. “You skipped out again,” he groaned. “I was stuck listening to those boring old geezers talk for hours. And then they lectured me because you didn’t show up,” he shook his head.
Alexander forced a laugh, “Uh... hehe... I meant to come, I just got... distracted.” He turned his head slightly so he didn’t have to look Nathaniel in the eye.
“Distracted?” Nathaniel let out an exasperated sigh. “Alex, you haven’t come to a single one of those meetings since the first.” The meetings were held twice a year, it was pretty much the same stuff that was drilled into them every time. Never take a soul forcefully from its host. If you find a lost soul, lead it to the gate of reincarnation. Never intentionally pick a fight, whether against a demon, or another angel. Never interact with humans or meddle in their lives, if it’s their time to die, they’ll die. And, Never, EVER, trust a demon. No matter what the circumstances, these were not to be broken.
Nathaniel could see he was getting nowhere with Alexander, and gave up. Alex stumbled as Nathaniel finally released him, nearly toppling of the edge of the apartment building roof they were standing on. His ears perked up as he heard a familiar sound, “Hey Nath, wanna get some ice cream?”
Nathaniel looked like he’d rather be getting home, but the look on Alex’s face made him sigh in defeat. “Sure, why not?” he shrugged.
“Yay!” Alex cheered. “Come on,” he grabbed Nathaniel’s hand and unfurled his wings.
“WAIT!” Nathaniel called out before Alex could take flight.
Alex stopped quickly and turned around to look at his friend confused. “Huh, why?” he asked as he cocked his head slightly to the side.
Nathaniel slapped his forehead and gave Alex an ‘are you serious?’ look. “You don’t think the humans would notice if a boy with wings suddenly came flying off a roof?” he raised an eyebrow.
Alexander’s shoulders sagged as he looked at his feet. “I didn’t think about that,” he mumbled as he shuffled uncomfortably, embarrassed that he’d been stupid enough to not realise that. “Well... I’ll race you down the stairs!” he called out to Nathaniel, already on his way down.
“Hey! Wait up!” he heard Nathaniel call behind him. He jumped as he reached the last few steps, and landed perfectly on the ground. A few seconds later Nathaniel caught up, “How... are you not... tired?” he huffed, clearly not used to running.
“It’s because you rarely ever come to Earth, so you’ve never had to get used to not using your wings,” he explained. While Alex tried to visit Earth at least once a month, he guessed that Nathaniel had been lucky to come down once a year.
Nathaniel shook his head, “Sorry that I don’t like Earth as much as you do. So are we getting that ice cream or not?”
“Heck, yeah!” Alex grinned, opening the door that led to outside. His smiled faded when he saw the boy standing across the street. He looked about 18. He had black hair, with his bangs falling over his eyes. The boy looked up as if he’d felt Alex staring at him and gave a smile. He waved and walked off, disappearing into the crowd.
A second later Nathaniel walked into him. “Hey! What’d you stop for?” he groaned.
“Did you see him?” Alex whispered.
“Him?”
“The demon,” Alex told him, shivering slightly. That was his first time seeing a demon, and even though he hadn’t looked threatening, Alex had been scared to death.
