The Girl That Fell From Heaven

The stars hang over me from their lofty vantage, peeping out through the blackened sky. I look at each one in turn. Wondering where she is? Wondering if she if staring up into her sky, trying to find me? Wondering if I will ever hold the ‘girl that fell from heaven’ in my arms again?

  It had been an evening not unlike like this one, when she appeared before me. My marathon shift had ended and my bed was calling out to me. The journey home had taken me down an old country lane: shrouded in darkness, with ancient crumbling walls encasing the pock marked road. The caffeine from my final coffee had almost left my system and my eyes were flickering like a pair of faulty bulbs. My car swung around a blind corner and there she stood; her pale skin almost translucent in the glare of my headlights. Stamping both feet to the floor and and digging my nails into the steering wheel, I brought the car to a shuddering halt, mere inches from her ethereal frame. In hindsight, it is a miracle I did not hit her. My anger was tempered by my exhaustion and I climbed out the car to approach this strange woman. Her eyes glistened like dripping honey; her features sharp and angled, as though she were carved by a master sculptor. Her expression did not change as I stood before her, speechless and spellbound. Before my vocabulary could reassemble itself, she stepped forward and placed a hand on my forehead. It felt like a jolt of lightening crashing through my veins, ready to explode from the top of my head. In this moment, everything seemed possible and life appeared infinite. Her amber eyes gazed into mine and I felt a connection with this woman that I had never experienced with anyone else. It was as though we had shared a life together and knew one another so intimately that we shared one soul. Then she released me, and the feelings vanished.

 'What was that?’ I said, staggering backwards.

  She did not speak and her look of serenity did not change.

  'Who are you?’

  No reply.

  Before I could ask another inane question, the sound of a car could be heard, distant at first but drawing closer. Glancing around in the darkness I realised it was coming straight toward us, but before I could react the woman scooped me up in her arms and carried me to the side of the road. Seconds later, the vehicle screeched around the corner and ploughed into my car. The grotesque sound of crunching metal echoing across the deserted fields that surrounded us. Even though the air was cool and fresh I could not seem to draw any of it into my lungs. I attempted to use my shaking legs to approach the wreckage, but stopped when a delicate hand rested upon my shoulder.

  'There’s nothing we can do,’ she said.

  'But we have to try, we have to do something,’ I pleaded, tripping over my words.

  She shook her auburn hair from side to side, then took my hand in hers and led me away.

   In hindsight I knew this was wrong, and in the years to come the guilt from this act would eat away at me like a swarm of locusts devouring a field of crops: relentless and uncontrollable. But I was spellbound by this woman and even the thunderous explosion from the car wreckage did not cause us to turn back. She led me to the middle of the field and proceeded to sit down cross legged. Her flowing white dress rode up above her ivory knees, revealing candlestick legs that shone in the moonlight.

  ‘I can only stay here for one night and then I must return,’ she said.

  Part of me knew this was the way it would be, but a larger part of me refused to accept it. ‘Return where?’

  She stretched out her arm and pointed to the sky with a long slender figure. ‘So we need to make this a night that neither one of us will forget,’ she said, as a glowing smile crept across her face.

   It was at this point my natural self-conscious nature began to seep in, trying to prevent me from experiencing everything I ever wanted. The lingering tiredness still clung to me and the scent of burning gasoline was now drifting across the field. My eyes began to roll back into my head and the sickness that rested in my stomach began to race towards the surface. The last thing I remember were her golden eyes peering into mine, as though she were examining my soul. Finally, she placed her hand upon me, and everything stopped, my panic dissipated and the feeling of contentment that seemed unobtainable flooded my battered body; then everything went black.    

   I am awoken by a bright light in my eyes and a terrible pain in my skull. Something trickles down my face and turns my fingers a dull crimson when I touch it. A man in a fluorescent jacket is asking questions that I cannot understand.

  ‘Where is she?’ I said, slurring each vowel and consonant.

  ‘She’s dead,’ comes the reply.

  The darkness returns and carries me away in its shadowy arms.

  Now I am in this place, and I can hear the nurses calling for me. The one with the medication will not be far behind and they will lock me in my room again. They said it was all my fault. That I was not fit to drive. That I was intoxicated. That I tried to leave the scene of my crime. I know they are all jealous. I know they would give everything to spend a few moments with her. But they will not listen, and they say I cannot leave until I am better, whatever that means. The calls are getting louder now. I am not going anywhere. I will lay beneath you, and until they find me, I will continue looking up to the stars. I will never forget you my love.