Lessons Learned

Part 24

This time I woke up in a meadow. I was curled up in the sweet grass, surrounded by flowers of every color imaginable. "Huh?" I sat up, my pink sundress pooling around me as I rubbed my eyes in confusion. This was weird. The other boy's limbos had all been the places where their Nephilim selves had broken free of their real selves. It had been the places where their lessons were learned for the first time. But here was just an endless field of flowers as far as the eye could see, with a sky so blue overhead that it made even the gorgeous shade of Niall's eyes pale in comparison. This looked more like one would imagine an eternal resting place to look. I glanced around, searching for the final boy in this otherworld adventure. I just needed to learn Harry's lesson and I would find out my fate. Would it be life or death? At this moment, I really didn't care. Either way I would be without Niall.

"Harry?" I stood, feeling the cool grass underneath my bare feet as I tried to find the final of the five boys. He had to be here somewhere. "Harry?"

Suddenly a curly head showed above the cluster of flowers to my left. Harry's green eyes were wide with surprise, "How do you know my name?"

"Niall," I kept my voice level, not wanting to cry again. I was tired of crying.

"Well that ruins my entrance," he stood up and brushed a few loose strands of shockingly green grass off his khaki trousers. "But I'll forgive you for that. Hello."

"Hi," I shifted from foot to foot as I squinted into the sun. It was really bright out here. "Where are we?"

"You tell me," Harry walked over and gave me a dimpled smile. "You made it."

"Huh?" What did he mean I made it?

"This," Harry spread his arms out in a sweeping gesture that encompassed all of the flower filled field. "It came from your mind."

"What is it?"

Harry shrugged, "Your idea of paradise I guess."

I shook my head violently, "No, paradise would be somewhere with Niall."

"Well," Harry sank down in the soft grass and crossed his legs Indian style. "Why don't you sit down and we'll have a little chat?"

I sat down next to him, smoothing out the hem of my dress and wondering what he wanted to talk about.

"So how did you like Zayn? What did you think of his lesson?"

"I liked him and it was good I guess."

Harry's green eyes bore into mine, "You see I'm the last person you are going to meet up here. After me that's it, you're done. So it's my job to make sure you've actually learned what you were sent here to learn."

I interrupted him, "Aren't you going to teach me something as well?"

"I will," he gently plucked a pink flower from its stem and twirled it around in his long fingers before handing it off to me. "But it's different than the other boy's lessons. I didn't have an 'ah-ha' moment like they did. My lesson is something that's been ingrained in me and should be known by everyone. For that reason, I don't have memories like the others. So you're just going to have to bear with me until I decide to let you in on what I know. Make sense?"

I nodded, the silky petals of the flower brushing my nose as I ducked my head. It smelt amazing.

"So Zayn's lesson?" Harry brought the train of conversation back on track. "What was it?"

"Don't be afraid to try something just because you think you'll be bad at it," I recited.

"Good," Harry had drawn another flower from its stem and I watched as he brought it to his nose. "Now apply that lesson to moment in your life."

"What?" I felt the way I had when I had first been thrown into the limbo; lost, dazed, confused, and a little scared. This wasn't the way things had gone with the others. This was different. I didn't like different.

"Apply it to your life," he repeated, the flower forgotten as his green gaze locked on mine.

"I, I don't know," I stuttered under his intense stare. I couldn't think with him looking at me like that.

"Come on, I know you can do it." He gave me a brilliant half smile, his dimples standing out in relief.

"Ummm," I racked my brain. "When I first went to Niall's limbo I was scared to slide down the banister because I was afraid I would make a fool of myself."

Harry's smile faltered a bit, "Annabelle you're supposed to be applying the lesson to your life, not your death."

"Can't I do it this way?" I pleaded. "I don't like thinking about my life."

"You have to accept your life at some point babe, that's just the way it is."

"Fine," my voice was ice cold but I knew my anger wasn't directed at Harry. I was angry with myself for, well, everything. Why hadn't I been better at life?

Harry seemed to know what I was thinking and laid a comforting hand on my shoulder, "It wasn't your fault Annabelle. You didn't ask for those things to happen to you."

I narrowed my eyes; how did he know what happened to me? The others hadn't.

"I'm in your head," he finally answered. "That's how I knew this was your paradise. I told you before; I'm different from the others."

"Why?" He went to answer and I knew he was about to recite the same speech as before. I cut him off, "No I mean why did you get to be a Nephilim if you didn't have a moment?"

Harry lifted his shoulders in a half-hearted shrug, "I'm not a Nephilim."

"Then what are you?" I regarded him cautiously, not really sure what to make of this news.

A bashful half smile settled on his face, "I'm an angel."

"Like a full one?"

"Yeah," he was plucking at the grass again, nimbly weaving it into a braided rope with his slender fingers.

"But you were alive. You were in a band with Niall," my voice had an accusatory tone and I didn't try to hide it.

"Angels walk among the living every day love," Harry ran a hand through his silky brown curls. "You've probably met one or two."

I let out a loud, sarcastic laugh. "Not anyone in my life, trust me."

Harry shrugged again, "You never know. Give me your wrist."

"Why?" I kept both my hands in my lap, not giving him what he wanted until he explained further.

He wiggled the braided rope he had made back and forth, "I want to put this on."

I obliged, holding out my thin wrist for him. He gently knotted the grass in place before I pulled my arm back and studied the way the vibrant green looked against my skin. "When you go back to the real world it's going to stay. Even though it's grass, it will never wilt or fade. It's a reminder not to cut."

"How do you know I'm going back?" I kept my eyes on the grass bracelet, imagining how it would look soaked in crimson blood.

"Stop," Harry gave me a disapproving glare. I had forgotten he could hear what I was thinking. "And I'm the one who makes the final decision, that's how I know."

"Can you send me back to Niall?" my voice rose hopefully.

"Sorry Annabelle, I don't have that much power."

His words suddenly sunk in and I realized how truly hard this was going to be. "I'm going back? Like definitely going back to the shitty life I left? What happens if I try to kill myself again?"

"Yes you are and don't worry, you won't," he said so certainly that I knew it was true. This time, I was in for the long haul.