Paradise lost

The windswept gently under her wings as she landed softly on the branch of a tree. The morning sun made her pure white feathery wings glitter like a chandelier and made her pale skin glow. The tree was in the middle of a park, and many people were there walking and doing exercise. Normal people usually can't see angels unless the angel is willing to show themselves to the mortals. Rachel was not planning to reveal herself to any of them because it was against the code, and she knew it very well. However, she was here for one man whom she had fallen in love with. And she also knew that an angel is never supposed to fall in love with a mortal; it was against the law, but still, she couldn’t resist.

The mortal's name was Leon, whom Rachel had been watching for the past few months. It all started the day she accidentally met him. The day when Leon saved a little girl from certain death. Low-ranking angels such as Rachel have a day-to-day job of circling around the neighbourhood and watching out for Demons that may cause chaos among the people, such as accidents, robbery, murders, etc. That particular day, one sneaky little demon cunningly escaped from Rachel's attention and tried to push a little girl in front of a moving vehicle. But of course, mortal people couldn’t see that; all they saw was the little girl who had slipped and fallen on the road.

Before Rachel could act, Leon came dashing between the moving vehicle and the girl and pushed her off to safety. But unfortunately, the vehicle hit him hard, and he was hospitalised for a few weeks. During those days in the hospital, Rachel always sat beside him, watched over him, and prayed for him. And in the process of his recovery, she fell in love with him.

Ever since then, she always watched over him whenever she had a chance. She absolutely loves to watch him sleep; she would spend hours sitting beside him and watch his chest rise and fall slowly as he breathed. She always communicated with him in his dreams by projecting her home world and its colossal beauty, the real paradise that waited for anyone who lived a worthy life and passed through death. It always gave her an immense pleasure to see him smile in the morning when he wakes up from the dream.

Today, she has finally decided to reveal herself to him by breaking all the codes and disregarding all the possible consequences because she was in love. Rachel saw Leon enter the park as usual, so she knew he would come to the very bench under this tree within a few seconds to have his sandwich, as he always does. So, she got off the tree and landed on the grass delicately and folded her majestic wings behind her. She just hid her wings from the normal eyes, and became visible and waited.

Leon, as usual, came walking slowly, carrying his bag and taking in deep breaths of the fresh morning air. His chest still hurt whenever he did that, but still, he was more than glad to stay alive. It was a miraculous recovery after the accident. No one, to his knowledge, has made such a fast recovery. He silently thanked his guardian angel and proceeded to his usual bench that is located under a tree.

As he approached the wooden bench, he saw a woman sitting there. He stopped and just stared at her. Her beauty was breathtaking. Her golden hair flowed over her shoulder in an eye-catching manner, and her face was too perfect, like a faultless art. Overall, she looked like an ideal statue made out of marbles. When she saw him, she gave a striking smile, which brought him out of his reverie.

"Hello," Rachel said, getting up.

"Hello, please sit down. I will pick another bench today," Leon answered back with a shy smile.

"No, please. Let’s share," Rachel repiled softly, and Leon nodded in acceptance. Both of them sat together and exchanged pleasant conversations. What started between them as pleasantaries turned into deep, emotional exchange. An hour passed like minutes as both of them sank deep into each other. Something about her face was so familiar to Leon, as if he had seen her in his dreams. As time glided by, Rachel got self aware of her situation. She gently got up, excused herself, and told him that it was getting late. She took her leave and left, leaving Leon in a trance.

She walked past the park and made herself invisible once again. Then she slowly hovered over the trees and saw Leon still sitting on the bench, staring at the direction she walked off. Smiling to herself, she flew back to her home with a content heart.

Leon also went back to his work with an unusual warm feeling within him. Every cell in his body ached to see her one more time. The entire day, he was so unfocused on his work and was distracted. He couldn't even be able to sleep that night. The next day morning, he went to the park, hoping to see her. He almost ran to the place with anticipation. And his heart skipped a beat when he saw her sitting the exact same way he had seen her yesterday.

From that day on, they started to meet in the park every day in the morning. As the days turned into weeks, Leon’s love for Rachel grew exponentially, and she reciprocated his feelings with equal intensity. Whenever they were together, they were immersed, and when they were apart, even hundreds of miles, they missed each other dearly. Every day of their lives started to roll around this one hour, and it was worth more than anything to them.

One day Rachel got caught in her act of being a mortal. Since this act was considered against the law, it's treated as a sin, and Angels are never allowed to sin. Therefore, Rachel was ripped off from the gift of becoming visible to the mortals. This threw her entire world upside down in a split second; like a lightning cracking through a tree.

Every day she would fly across the two lands to meet Leon, but he wouldn’t be able to see her. Even though she was standing next to him and called him, Leon was totally unaware. He just sat there day by day, waiting for her, hoping that one day she might come.

Rachel just stood next to him every day with tears in her eyes and a broken heart, knowing that even though the man she loves is right next to her, she may never have him, realising that her paradise is lost forever. And this is why Angels don't fall in love with mortals.