Heaven on Earth: Terminus (Book 1)

Chapter 6: Tormentor (Nate)

Queens, New York

Walking home from college isn’t the most eventful thing in the world but most people have to go through it. I was one of those few idiots who chose to live in an apartment rather than at the dorms at NYU. Unfortunately, I live in Queens and the school is in Manhattan, so it takes about an hour to get there and the journey isn’t exactly easy going; I have to walk to get the F Train and then climb out of the subway to take a Q30 bus and then some more walking. I was almost late this morning but that’s behind me and I’m now on the final walk back home. Damn, my shoelace is undone. I check my watch and it’s 5:30PM. Great, the evening rush hour is coming up and you don’t want to get caught in that while hunched over on the ground tying your laces, the end result is a night at the hospital with minor head injuries. I quickly scan the neighbourhood and it’s fairly quiet, there’s a modicum amount of people streaming by and luckily, I find a small park that’s easily missable because of a huge willow tree blocking it from sight but two cherub statues catch my eye.

I push open the wrought iron gates and after stepping inside, I wish I didn't. I think either the willow tree caused the park to be like this or the tree was planted here on purpose to cover it up, but that doesn’t sound plausible. The park is quite compact, stuck between 2 tall apartment buildings. Someone could easily mistake it as a graveyard or even any scene from a bad horror movie. There’s a small pond in the corner that is filled up to the brim with green algae, several plants thrive around the edge of the pond, this is some bad case of eutrophication. However, that’s not what’s creepy. There’s a sole cross that sits fairly close to the pond and a few meters away is a swing set that’s so incredibly rusted that no ghost would want to revisit it even if it’s the sole thing keeping them from going to Heaven.

I crouch down and kick out my right foot to tie up my converse. I’m one of those people who still have to process what to do next when doing something as simple as tying a shoe. I feel incredibly wary and I look up after every step, I don’t know why, but I do. I think to myself, That goes round like that, and that goes through, and pull, and finished. I stand up to admire the knot but when I look up back to the cross, something crashes through the willow branches and lands dead on in front of it, my soul leaps out of my body and I stumble back in terror. My heartbeat fails to steady itself and it takes twice the effort to breathe properly. Someone just fell out of the sky, someone quite literally fell for me. I get up and stumble over to check the assumed dead body but when I reach it, the girl, judging by the long wavy blonde hair, is in a crater and I know that that wasn’t there before. This girl created it, she must’ve fallen from a great height. I jump in the crater and move her hair to place two fingers on her neck, I find the jugular vein and wait. There. A pulse. This girl’s alive!

I turn her around and I would be completely floored by this girl’s immense beauty right now but now isn’t the time. “Hey, can you hear me!” I shout but no response, I check for any blockages and she’s clear but her breathing is almost nonexistent. Here we go, I think to myself, I have to give her CPR. I tilt her head back and blow into her mouth twice, I pump her chest and wait. After a few seconds, I repeat. Blow, pump, blow, pump, cough. She’s coughing, spluttering actually but she’s breathing and now on her knees. I lean back on the heels of my hands and give the biggest sigh of relief I’ve ever given. “Are you OK?” I ask pushing myself closer to her,

“Yes, I’m fine now. Thank you.” She looks up and smiles at me, I smile back and hold her gaze for a few seconds but she shyly looks down. “Where am I?”

“You’re in Queens, New York.” I say, “I think the big question is though is where did you come from?”

She looks up and shakes her head, “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” She says,