Fallen

Chapter Five: "Are you an angel?"

Around mid-day, Angella was sat on the couch, drawing in her sketch book.

"What are you drawing?" Asked Billy, as he walked into the room.

"Just a scene from a dream that I had once."

"Is it the dream you had when we played Lego?"

"Yes, I think it is, Billy."

"What was it about?"

"I don't know." Angella said, honestly. "I'm trying to figure it out."

"Can I help?!" Billy was suddenly excited.

"No I'm sorry Billy, but you can't help, this time."

"Oh... Ok then..." Billy dropped his head, and sat quietly opposite Angella.

"I'm really sorry, Billy."

"It's ok." The two of them sat in silence, for what seemed like forever, but was only about an hour, until Mrs Carpenter walked in. "Mother!" Billy exclaimed, jumping up from his seat. "Can I go to the park?"

"Only if Angella goes with you." Billy turned to Angella hopefully, as she lifted her head at the sound of the name.

"I'm sorry... Pardon?" Angella said, politely.

"Would you take Billy to the Park, Angella?" Mrs Carpenter asked.

"Ok. Yes, of course I can. When do you want to go, Billy?" Billy grinned from ear to ear.

"Now??" Billy suggested, cautiously.

"Alright then." Angella smiled. "Let me get my jacket.

"Thank you!!" Billy exclaimed.

-x-x-x-

At the park, both Billy and Angella sat on the swings. "Can I look?" Billy asked, pointing at Angella's sketch book. Angella nodded, handing him the book. Billy flicked through and stopped on a drawing of an angel and a demon. "Are you an angel?" Billy asked quietly, not looking up from the drawing.

"I'm sorry?"

"Well... Angels are always there when you need them; then they go away. That's what you did. You were there when I needed you; then you went away. So... Are you an angel?"

"I was."

"What was it like?" Angella didn't answer. She just sat on the swing and kept staring at the floor. "Miss Flen?" Still, Billy got no response from the girl sat beside her. "Why aren't you an angel now?" Silence. "I can help." Billy gave up. He started flicking through the sketchbook again, and didn't say anything. About five minutes later, Angella spoke.

"I did a bad thing." Billy looked up from Angella's drawings.

"What was it?"

"I don't remember." This was a lie. She didn't want Billy to be scared of her, so she lied. And she felt guilty.

"What do you remember?"

"I was an angel. I lived in Heaven. That was my home. God was my father, Jesus my brother. That's what it was like for every angel. We lived in long white gowns. Everything was white in Heaven. Everything was beautiful and painless. Of course, if I looked at it now, I would feel pain, and guilt, and jealousy. You see Billy, angels don't feel pain. Or sadness. Or guilt. Or jealousy. They only feel good things. Love. Joy.. Pride. Self-worth. That's all we felt. Those three things. We loved and were loved. We were proud or ourselves and each other. We felt worthy. We were happy and joyful when good things happened. That's all. Nothing else. Noting that would complicate anything. As an angel, my job was to be a guardian of children. There are lots of different angels, and lots of different guardians. There's lots more guardians of children than I could ever count, that's for sure. I was one of them. If there was a child in trouble, the Father would give the assignment to a guardian of children. I got a lot of assignments. I enjoyed it. I was happy with what I did, when I succeeded. I rarely ever failed. You were my second to last assignment."

"What happened on your last assignment?"

"My last assignment... Was the reason I felt guilt. The reason I walked out of Heaven. The reason I fell to Earth. The reason I keep having bad dreams."

"What happened?"

"I failed."

-x-x-x-

Angella wouldn't tell Billy why she failed, or what the bad thing was. She didn't say anything else on the subject of angels, and it was obvious to Billy that she wasn't going to, so he didn't ask her anymore. Although, he really did want to know what was so bad that Angella felt she had to let go of everything good that she had, and walk out of Heaven. She must have known that she would fall to Earth. But then the question was, if Angella did something really bad, and walked out of Heaven, and fell to Earth, why was she sent to Billy? What did that mean? Was he meant to help her? Neither of them knew. Neither of them said anything about it. Neither of them thought about it. And neither of them said anything else about angels.

-x-x-x-

Angella had had a whole two months without the bad dreams, but then one night, they returned. However this time, Amelia wasn't in them. This time, it was just Angella and the 'boss'.

-x-x-x-