Angel’s Wings
By Ashley Lavering
“Aisha,” Mom hollered as she ran through the snow in her
slippers, waving my sheet music.
I rolled
down the car window. “Oh geeze! Thanks Mom. Mr. Skilty would've had my head.”
“I know
you’ll sing their socks off.” Her breath plumed in the icy December air.
I rolled my
eyes at her singing metaphor. Really, they were all that corny.
She smiled, chuckling softly. “I’ll
see you in two hours.” She slapped my doorframe. “Drive safe.”
“I will.” I rolled up my window and
drove down our snowy dirt road. My little Ford Tempo wasn’t the best winter
vehicle, but Mom splurged this year and bought studded tires.
Charging up the freeway ramp, I
tapped out Jungle Bells on my
steering wheel as it blared from my Ipod. I was desperate to drown out my
nerves and the annoying hope, I’d see Devon there.
Not
likely. I sulked.
My heart ached remembering his deep
blue Milky Way eyes that enveloped me in the cloak of his galaxy. How my blood rushed
as his cloud-like lips had touched mine, deepening into breath-catching storm. That
night, I’d soared the heavens in my dreams, only to crash to Earth in a heart
shattering heap in the morning when his chair was empty in second period and
the only text I got read, “Mistake.”
I shook my head. Two weeks of
misery was enough. It was Christmas in five days, and I was determined not to
let him ruin my holiday. I reached for my Ipod, needing something more thought
drowning and accidentally bumped it off the armrest. It thudded on the
passenger side floor.
“Crap!” I strained to reach it, my figures
barely brushing the smooth surface. I gave the white dusted road a quick glance
before ducking the extra inch to grab it. My fingers slipped around it, and I
snapped back to sitting.
A brown blur darted in front of me.
I yelped and jerked the steering wheel. But the sound of bone and metal
crunching came anyway. My hands flew to protect my face at the deer carcass
flew into the windshield. The airbag punched me so hard I barely could breathe
through the pain. Metal screeched and glass shattered all around me as the car
slammed into the ground, rolling over and over again. Something sharp pierced
the airbag and my abdomen. I screamed as pain lanced through my flesh like a hot
iron.
Dear
God, don’t let me die.
The car came to jarring halt,
hanging me upside down. The seat-belt and the twisted metal pinned me to the
seat. Wet blood trickled across my chest and neck. Dark spots dotted my vision.
I hovered in and out of consciousness as a woman’s ethereal voice floated on
the chilly air.
“You can’t do this!”
“She’ll die if I don’t.” A deep
voice rumbled.
I struggled to understand the
voices, everything sloshed together in my pain fogged mind. Was I already dead?
Dreaming?
“You’ll die if you do! How can you do that to me!” The woman snapped. My temper instantly lit in the stranger’s defense.
The flapping of wings and a glorious
light filled my vision.
This
is it, I’m dying.
Then suddenly, I was yanked
forward. Lightning pain exploded through my body, stabling my mind into
darkness.
I woke to a sweet citrus smell. It
overwhelmed my senses, bringing a painful ache to my chest. I whimpered. Was I
in Heaven or Hell?
“Shh..” A soothing voice sang
through my ears. A gentle finger wiped at my damp cheek.
My eyes flew open. “Devon.”
His glorious face hovered over me, his
eyes sparkling as if with the stars. I moved to sit up, but he pushed me gently
back into snow.
“You’re hurt.”
My mind flashed with the horrible
crash. My figures found my abdomen whole without any gaping holes. “But how?” My
mind buzzed. “The voices, the light?”
He looked worried. “You hit your
head.”
“No,” I said stubbornly, my mind
clearing. How was he here? Who pulled me from the crash? Something crazy popped
in my head. “You saved me.”
He frowned, and my heart lurched at
something the women had said.
“You’re dying!” I sat up so fast
the glimpse of my mangled car swirled like melted wax.
“Aisha, calm down.”
He tried pushing me back into the
snow, but I latched on to him. “No! You can’t die. Not for me.”
“I’m not dying.” He let out a frustrated
sigh.
“But the woman…”
He looked at me with his endless
eyes and tucked a blonde strain of hair behind my ear. “I’m mortal now.”
I gaped at him and he chuckled.
“That face right there is one of many reasons I can’t live without you.”
His words warmed me. I lifted my
hand to wipe his curly brown bangs out of his eyes. “What are you?”
For a brief second, sadness filled
his eyes. Then his lips curled into a smile that lit his blue eyes like the
morning sun. His hands cradled my face. “An angel who gave up his wings for the
woman he loves. To be mortal together for the rest of our lives.”
He brought his lips to mine, and my
heart nearly thumped out of my chest. I wrapped myself in the arms of my
eternal Christmas present.
The End
