Fallen Ash

Chapter Four: Conception

"Did you see his face? Like a puppy that had just been kicked. Jesus Christ, Ash, what did you do to the poor boy?"

"I didn't do anything. And stop calling me that."

Heather cackled as she walked, her long legs always propelling her a few steps ahead of her companion who followed with her arms close to her chest and the steaming latte cup resting beneath her chin. The densely populated shopping streets diverged into smaller districts, and by now, they were passing the towering office buildings sequestered within walking distance of the train station. There were few people to eavesdrop on their conversation now that the lunchtime crowds had dispersed.

"Well, what am I supposed to call you?" Heather asked, beginning to nibble thoughtfully on the lip of the paper cup. 

Without the bundle she had been carrying to keep her warm, Ash was beginning to shiver slightly, her teeth chattering involuntarily. 

"Nothing," she retorted, evasively.

It was a challenge to walk, talk and feel at the same time.

She heard an exaggerated sigh ahead of her, and like a drill sergeant, Heather halted, before marching back towards her companion. 

"This isn't a hivemind, Ash," Heather said with mocking derision. "People do have names here, and these rich, complex inner worlds. You have to try to act like an individual, and the first thing any individual possesses is a name."

She was blocking Ash from walking any further, and so Ash stood docilely, biting her lip and averting her gaze stubbornly. "I just want to get this over with," she said quietly, "and go back."

"Trust me, I want you out of my hair too," Heather replied with a sigh, "but you're going to have to try to fit in, or else I'll have to have you institutionalized for having potentially dangerous, psychotic episodes fixated on religion. Believe me, I've done it before. Although times have changed a bit since then, I suppose." 

Ash breathed in deeply and stared at her reflection in the window for a few seconds, as she expelled the air through her lips. "Fine," she said finally, "call me whatever you want."

Heather laughed in triumph and started to walk backwards.

"Honestly, you're acting like this whole situation is funny," Ash derided as she sipped, with distaste, at the latte in her right hand.

"Ash, it's hysterical," Heather stated, "you, getting demoted, out of the whole lot of them. I don't know what you did but, fuck, how the mighty do fall. And coming out of it all looking like a sweet little butter-wouldn't-melt college student, too. I had you down as a middle-aged tyrannical matron when I saw you at the council meetings."

"This," Ash retorted, gesturing to herself, "isn't permanent. More importantly, when are you giving me my first assignment? I returned the boy's parka like you asked."

"Listen, sweetheart, you'll get your first assignment in due time," Heather said, turning back around to push the button on a pedestrian crossing. "It's a tad more crowded here in the Third Sphere – and there are Angels far more qualified than you in abundance. I need to see you interacting with people a bit more first."

"Listen, this isn't fair, my domain was nature-"

"Fabulous, let's start with human nature."

Heather, in her skin-tight black jeans, moved with unnatural grace and fluidity as she stepped back against the brick wall of a generic building with barred windows, and through its bottle green door. Awkwardly, the shorter woman ambled after her, through the airless passage up rickety stairs, each floor seemingly abandoned and smelling faintly of raw potatoes. As they reached the fourth floor, the entire floorplan opened up into what, at first glance, appeared to be the office of a struggling start-up company. Several grim-faced individuals were hunched over laptops, their engines whirring impatiently like helicopter blades, with old-fashioned oil heaters systematically arranged around their desks for maximum reach. Heather bypassed them all, clutching her takeaway up and head raised high before she slipped behind the desk overseeing it all.