He with Missing Wings

2 / Tether

"Good morning."

Kylel's dark hair dangled over my face. He batted his long lashes as a mimic to my wearied expression.

"You're still here," I whined, covering my mouth to relieve him of my unholy morning breath.

"Of course I'm still here. 'Guardian angel' is not a part-time job, Christina."

It warmed my heart to see Kylel smile above me like a dopey child. He had an innocence about him that we humans as a destructive race desperately needed in our lives.

"I can sense that you're feeling stuffy in this room. Take my hand?"

I paused. "Why?"

"Have faith," he insisted.

I hovered my hand over his, keeping my gaze fixed on Kylel's hairless face. The space all around him flashed a bright white, and seconds later, we were surrounded by a deep blue sky. I fell back to discover that my shoes were flat against a rooftop. It looked like my roof. It was my roof.

"It worked," he remarked, his hair a wild mess from whatever teleport magic he'd just used on us. He sat me down on the edge of the roof and pointed to all of the unknowing pedestrians below.

"That man there. He is having an adulterous affair against his wife. His heart is almost entirely consumed with darkness. See that short woman over there? She has been holding a grudge against her mother for over two years. Her heart will congest with darkness until she forgives."

"How can you read people's hearts like that?" I queried.

"I cannot answer that."

"Did the dinosaurs exist before, or after Adam and Eve were around?"

"I haven't the slightest idea. That was so long ago."

"When is Jesus coming back?"

"I definitely cannot answer that. Look, there are some things that The Creator just does not want you people to know about."

Kylel tapped his foot nervously. The topic brought him discomfort somehow. I wanted to stop asking him questions but I felt the urge to try one last time.

"Wait, you're saying... G-God is real?"

"Of course. If angels are real then you know that The Creator is real. If The Creator is real then you know that The Evil One and his demons are very real. Knowing this, it's clear that there has been an ongoing war between good and evil since the beginning of time, over you people. The chosen one, the 'Intermediary' is supposed to protect the few of you who accept him."

My eyes were so wide that they could have popped from my skull.

"You know, I spent my entire life despising God for the shitty life He gave me. To the point where I stopped believing in Him. And now you're telling me that He's real without a doubt?"

Kylel nodded.

"He's very lenient towards you humans. There is nothing you can say to Him that He hasn't already heard. Believe me," Kylel said while swinging his legs.

"How blessed you people are, to have everything given to you."

I attempted to pat Kylel's back but failed to remember that my hand would only pass right through him. That would take some getting used to.

"But there's one thing I don't understand."

Kylel turned towards me sharply, and I could have sworn that there was a reddish glint in his eyes.

"If you're an angel, why did you and I like... do 'stuff' in the bathroom yesterday? Aren't angels supposed to be these benevolent beings? What you and I did was immoral, wasn't it?"

Kylel shut his eyes to suck in our Earth's oxygen. "Some angels have different 'abilities' as you humans may call it. There is an angel of death. There are many messenger angels. There are archangels, the most powerful. I am an angel of compassion, how fortunate for you."

Kylel edged back and received the rising sun. How anxiously I wanted to lay on him like he was a body pillow.

"Go ahead," he said. "Give it a try."

I lowered my head near his exposed chest, and to my surprise, I didn't fall through. I could lay on him.

"Help me become 'real' and we can lay together like this every day, Christina."

I cushioned my head further between his armpit. The sun's heat was no match for Kylel's height.

"You are my tether to the world," he stated, watching shapeless clouds float in the horizon."

His smile triggered mine.

"I like the sound of that."