Halos and High-tops

 I was out on a run with my friend, Rob. I was listening to my playlist through my AirPods and he was just running, a look of concentration on his already red face. We were just passing the halfway point of our run when I suddenly heard a noise in an alley. I paused my music and tapped Rob to get his attention.

“Hey, man, did you hear that? It sounded like something heavy fell in that alley. We should go check it out.” Rob shook his head.

“Nah, I didn’t hear anything. You can check if you want, but I’ve got to be home soon, so catch up, ok?” He took off and left me standing there, peering into the alley. I pulled my phone out and turned on the flashlight. I waved it around a couple of times, venturing deeper into the alley. Then, at one end I noticed something moving. I slowly walked over to the thing and then it stood up. It was about as tall as me, but it was struggling with a tarp. It fell over again and wrestled with the tarp some more.

“Hello?” I called, my voice shaking a little. The tarp made a little squeaking noise. Suddenly a head peaked out. It was a girl, about my age and she had slightly curly brown hair that was all over the place from her scuffle with the tarp. Her dark eyes were wide and sparkling, even in the dim light. Her lips were full and rosy, making a full ‘O’ of surprise. She was beautiful.

“Charlie?” She asked, standing up and tripping over the tarp, “Is that you? Well, of course, it’s you, what a silly question. Hi, I’m Celestia.” She held out a small and delicate hand, probably for me to shake. I frowned at her and didn't take her hand.

“Who are you? And how do you know my name? What are you doing in an alley?” I blurted, a bit flustered by her beauty.

“Oh.” She said, stepping over a couple more piles of rubbish. She had a gold jumper with a white shirt underneath, and she had these cool skinny jeans that faded from a gold colour at the top to white at the bottom. Not the best clothes for dumpster diving.

“Hmm, I forgot, you stopped going to church once your mum died. This is going to be a lot harder than I thought.” She took a breath and looked at me, her perfect lips pursed.

“Right, I’m going to say this once. I’m an angel. You are my human, and God sent me because he thought you could do with a bit more encouragement. He thought it would be best if He sent me in person to help you. So that’s why I’m here, in this alley and that’s how I know your name. I’m also here to keep you from dying a horrible, painful death.” I stood there and stared at her. I opened my phone and started dialling 911.

“I’m going to call the emergency services, ok? You don’t need to panic, but you obviously need help. There might be some loud noises, so you just need to stay calm.” I looked up at her from my phone and she looked like she was trying not to laugh.

“Ok, but see how far that gets you.” She let out a little giggle and waited for the call to go through. It didn’t. I frowned at the ‘no signal’ message that had popped up on my phone. I could’ve sworn there had been a signal when I turned my flashlight on. 

“Just so you know, going out to the end of the alley won’t get you any more signal.” Celestia said smiling at me weirdly. It was such a shame that she was so beautiful but she was so obviously challenged mentally. Just then, a message pinged through my phone. Ok, this was starting to get creepy. It was from my dad, he was wondering when I was going to be home. I slowly looked up at Celestia.

“Who are you actually? I’m not in the mood for a prank, so you’d better tell the truth.” She sighed.

“Look, Charlie, what else do you want me to say? That I know you used to write, but you stopped once your mum and sister died? That your sister was your best friend and your inspiration? That your mum used to take you to the park so you could write in a beautiful environment? That your dad is barely home anymore, working two jobs so he can pay off the funeral costs but still keep you in school? Do you want me to show you these?” She started glowing and suddenly she had wings sticking out of the back of her jumper, all feathery and white. Then I noticed the halo. It was the purest colour of gold I had ever seen and it floated about a foot above her head. Then I fainted.

When I came to, Celestia was kneeling next to me, snapping her fingers by my ears. I grabbed her hand before I could think and suddenly I heard music. It was like a holy orchestra playing a strange yet wonderful song. I let go of her hand quickly.

“Oh, good, you’re awake. I was getting worried then. God wouldn’t have been very happy with me if I had given you a heart attack.” I sat up too quickly and I got dizzy for a second.

“Wait, so that glow-y-wings thing really happened? I wasn’t imagining it? You’re actually an angel?” I said, the last few minutes coming back to me in a flash. She nodded and smiled at me.

“Do you believe me now? It would be really hard to do my job otherwise.” I nodded dumbly, sitting back on my hands before I remembered I was on an alley floor. I stood up, brushing my hands on my trousers. Celestia stood up as well and we walked out of the alley together.

“So, let me just text Rob and see where he’s at and then we can join him on his way home.” Celestia pulled her lips back and sucked air in through her teeth.

“Oh, I might’ve forgotten to mention, but uh, Rob’s dead.”

“No, he’s not,” I said slowly, “He and I were on our daily run and he just went on ahead of me so I could check out the noise. It was you, so mystery solved and we can now catch up to Rob.” I pulled out my phone and tapped Rob’s icon. Then the ‘no signal’ notification came up again.

“And what do you keep doing to my phone?” I said, tapping Rob’s icon again and again.

“Look, Charlie, he’s dead, I’m telling you now. That’s mostly why I’m here. I mentioned it earlier, but I’m not sure if you were listening by that point. If I hadn’t distracted you, you and Rob would’ve crossed the road a couple of houses from here and…” She took a deep breath at this, “And a car would’ve run the red light and killed Rob and ultimately killed you as well. You would’ve been critically injured and then died in hospital tomorrow. That’s why He sent me. He didn’t want your dad to be left alone, and besides, you have soo much left to do! You are going to start writing again and inspire so many people! Well unless SHE gets to you first, but I’m here now so tough luck, girlie!” She said the last part to herself, mumbling to the side.

“Wait, so Rob is dead and I would’ve been to?” I said, my voice cracking at the last bit.

“Yes, but don’t think about it too much now, you’ve still got to look heartbroken when your dad tells you the news tonight. I’ve got to go, but remember, look both ways before you cross the road!” Celestia ran off in the wrong direction, weaving down streets I didn’t know until she disappeared. I decided to listen to what she said about Rob so I pressed play on my AirPods and went back the way Rob and I had come earlier, still in a daze about everything that had just happened.

ㅇㅇㅇ

The next day at school, I was trying my best to not break down about Rob before class started when a girl bumped into me.

“Oh, sorry, Charlie. I didn't see you there.” Said the stunning blonde I had never seen before. 

Her light-gold curls fell gently on her shoulders and her bright red lips curved into a coy smile. Her eyelashes were long and feathery, and her crystal blue eyes stood out against the small black shirt she wore. It scooped down quite low so I could see a lot of cleavage and it was covered in a black leather jacket that was definitely NOT school dress code. She had black faux leather leggings covering her legs, although you could still see all her curves. Her top stopped right below the waistband of the legging, so if she moved her arms at all you could see a little skin between all the black.

“S-sorry, do I uh, do I know you?” I asked, trying to keep my eyes on her face instead of…anywhere else.

“Oh, I forgot, we’ve never been properly introduced. I’m Luicie.” She tilted her head at me, studying me.

“You’re better-looking than I thought you would be. What class are you going to next?” I glanced at my schedule, forgetting everything I was going to do.

“Uh, Chemistry. What do you have next?” 

“Oh, goody, I’m heading there as well. I’m visiting, so I don’t really know my way around here very well. Do you think you could show me the way?” Luicie said, shifting her weight so one hip was higher than the other one. Not that I was looking at her hips.

“Y-Yeah, sure.” I grabbed my bag from where it had fallen on the floor when I collided with Luicie and we set off down the hallway. Wich took me until the first bell to realise was the wrong one and we had to double back and run to get to the Chemistry lab on time.

When we got there, one of my classmates had moved seats to be next to her friend, so there was a seat next to me for Luicie to sit at. I couldn’t focus on the lesson and whenever I was called on I just stuttered and blinked. I couldn’t keep my eyes off Luicie and I caught her looking at me a couple of times as well. When I got out of class, Tyler, one of my other friends asked me to meet him in the bathroom. I made a quick excuse to Luicie, who nodded understandingly and I rushed after Tyler, finding him standing with his arms crossed in front of the mirrors.

"Sorry to hear about Rob, he was a good guy," Tyler said and I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat and trying to keep the tears out of my eyes.

“So, who’s the hottie?” He asked, never one to beat around the bush.

“I don’t know, she just bumped into me before Chemistry and then she sat next to me. Apparently, she’s visiting for a while.” I said, leaning against the sinks.

“Are you calling dibs? ‘Cause if you aren’t... Well, maybe she’s in my next class.” He said with a stupid grin on his face.

“I’m not sure, but don’t make any moves before I decide.” Tyler nodded and we left the bathrooms, me going first as Tyler actually needed to pee. When I got out, Luicie was waiting.

“So, my next class is Math, do you have any idea how to get there?” She said, looking at a schedule she hadn’t had before.

“Oh, well, um, that’s actually, uh my next class too. We can walk together?” 

“Sure,” She said, tucking the paper into her jacket pocket, “And I was wondering, do you know any good places we could go after school? I’ve got nothing to do except sit around all day at home.”

“Oh, well, I’ve got homework to do today, but maybe tomorrow?” I said, fiddling with the straps of my bag.

“Ok.” She said brightly, and we set off for our next class.

ㅇㅇㅇ

“So.” Celestia said, suddenly appearing beside my bed, where I was doing my homework.

“Oh my God! Don’t do that!” She had a hard look on her face and I had no idea why.

“Ok, first of all, don’t take the Lord’s name in vain, and second, you shouldn’t be hanging out with HER.” Celestia raised one eyebrow, clearly annoyed at me.

“Hanging out with who? And why do you care about who I’m spending my time with?” I said, rolling my eyes and trying to focus on my math work.

“I’m your guardian angel, that’s why I care, and I don’t want you hanging out with ‘Luicie’. She’s bad news. Literally.” She said, crossing her arms.

“And how would you know?” I said, scribbling down an answer and trying my best to ignore Celestia.

“Have you ever heard the phrase ‘Devil’s Advocate? Well in her case it’s not a figure of speech. She was sent, just like I was, but from a completely different being. And her purpose is to get you to join her little crew. Unlike me, whose sole purpose is to keep you on the straight and narrow and help you to inspire the world. Which you will do if you stop cosying up to Miss Temptation.” Celestia snatched my pencil out of my hand, making me look at her.

“Look, Charlie, I want this to be your choice, but I’m telling you now, if you don’t start writing, really writing like you used to, bad things are going to start happening around you. Even worse than when your mother and sister died in that car crash. I know you think it can’t get any worse, but trust me, Luicie can cause ten times the pain and suffering. I just want you to think about it.” Then she popped out of my room to who-knows-where. I sighed and looked at my English homework. It read:

Students, this week I would like you to write a short story that includes some of the beliefs or practises relating to Catholicism. As you know, I and your history teacher are going to start collaborating on our classes soon, and I would like this to be a taste of what will mean. I hope you all have fun!

If I’m being honest, I think Celestia did this. Just like that weird thing she was doing with my phone. Fine, Celestia, you win.

ㅇㅇㅇ

Charlie dropped his paper into the basket on the teacher’s desk, on top of some other’s work. Sighing, he walked away.

Ms. Harrison, the English teacher brought the basket home, wanting to grade her students’ papers as soon as possible. When she got to Charlie’s she wrote something at the bottom of the paper.

ㅇㅇㅇ

Well done, Charlie! I’m impressed with your work. It was a brilliant idea to make some of your classmates characters in your story! I hope to see more of this soon. A+