Guardian Angel \\ l.h.\\ Luke Hemmings

Chapter Six: Ditching Reality (part 1)

Once lunch rolled around, it was safe to say that at least half, if not all, the female population in a my school had developed a crush toward Luke.

"He's so cute. I think he's a foreign exchange student."

"He's pratically a model with those eyes. If he wanted to mess around with anyone one, I'll be the first in line."

"He's literally perfect, by far the hottest guy at this school now. But what is he doing with that loser Cayler, I think that's her name?"

Luke pratically consumed the entire gossip system, every single eye was glued to him in a mix of curiosity, jealously (by most of the male population), and infatuation. This kind of publicity was uncomfortable for me, especially since Luke wouldn't leave my side the whole morning. I wasn't use to this kind of attention and I didn't think I would get use to it anytime soon.

Honestly, I enjoyed being the backaround, not the spotlight. Attention meant you had to meet the expectations of everyone, if not just with a snap of the fingers, everything could become a memory. Life is funny like that, you think you have it all but with a blink of an eye, the matters you once took for granted are now what you crave the most. It's the unfairness of life, the lesson we love and despise.

"Why don't you eat with your peers?" Luke asked. Lunch time had rolled around and although the quad and cafeteria was filled with the chatter of students, I chose my usual destination, the back of the school.

No one ventured out here, it was quiet, and lonely. The perfect atmosphere for me to just think, the most dangerous power bestowed to humanity.

"In case you haven't realized Luke, I don't have any friends." I keenly informed him while digging through my bag for my only stress reliever.

Luke's eyebrow raised with displeasure when I lighted a cigarette.

He scrunched his nose in displeasure, "You smoke?"

I shrugged, no one understood what kind of pain I was facing alone. The relief from smoke was the only few seconds I had when everything was just fine, where everything in my life wasn't going down hill and crumbling with every move I made. I craved l, no needed, to feel the calmness that I could only find in these material demons.

"You know at least half a million people a die due to smoking every year, precisely more then a thousand a day. That's fifty precious lives an hour and one every minute." I nodded pretending to care. I know the effects of smoking, but if I could rid my problems for a few seconds than it is all worth it.

"That's if you get lucky and survive; chances are you obtain a second diease and will eventually perish because of that. There's no benefit to that hideous activity." If he wasn't being very irritating with his lecture, I would have thought he looked pretty cute.

I exhaled the homicidal smoke, letting it consume my body, "There is one gain to smoking, death." I inhaled for dramatic effect but I could tell he despised my move, "Life is full of torture, worry, and stress. But death is sheer peace, infinite bliss. Smoking isn't death itself but it just speeds up the process with a short term feeling of ease. What more could you ever want?"

"What more could you ever want?" He repeated with a hint of anger, "What more could you want? Cayden, life has hardship, yes I will admit, but it's enticing. Life is the book that never finishes until your last breath. You would never want to read a dull, one noted novel of just happiness. That's not what makes it worth the crinkle pages or dog ear tips, it's the moments of impromptu actions, the moments of catastrophe, it's the moments of carelessness. The moments that took your breathe away, the moments you forgot about the world and just lived. Life is a mix of that and I want you to experience it all, not just sadness there's more then that. All you have to do is let me help you."

I sucked in the nicotine with no reponse to his request.

I don't need his help.

"That's it." He yanked the cigarette from my mouth, stomping on the roll until it deformed under his shoe.

"Hey! I wasn't finished!" I angrily sneered at him. Class was going to begin in a few minutes and I could already feel my anxiety rise up at the thought of having to be among the peers that didn't have a care in the world about me.

Ignoring my protests, Luke grabbed my hand and started walking away from buliding, "Come on, let's go."

"Where are we going? We still have to two more periods left." The whisps of vapor from the brief intake flew out of my lips.

"Away from existence."

...

The forest had not transformed in any way since I was last here. The raw green was ever most complemented by the endless, light drizzle. The sounds of droplets bounced off from leaf to leaf harmonizing into smplicity.

Luke had eventually lead me to the secluded the area where we had first met. Like the rest of this place, it was unharmed as if it was a private area secluded from the detrimental nature of mankind.

"Why did you bring me here?" I asked as we were perched on the two bases of a fallen tree.

He shrugged his shoulders, "Sometimes you just need a break from life and that's okay. It's okay to just want to detach yourself, it's part of being human."

"I don't want to be human." The thought spoke for itself while I stared off into the distance of endless trees. "What is it like to be an angel?"

"It not easy, especially being yours." He chuckled and I lightly punched his upper arm. "It's unusual but almost comforting to know you have the chance to save a soul. It's like you were given a second chance at life but not at all."

"Can you ever become mortal again?" I asked out of interest, letting my boots sags into the damp Earth.

He nodded, "Strangely, we are granted one opportunity but it's very rare that an angel will ever use it."

"What do you mean by that? Doesn't everyone want a second chance at life with what they know after death?" I asked. I, myself, have always wondered if I would repeat life I was aware of what was to come. However, with the situation I'm currently in, I don't even know if I want the life I have now.

"Well, the option is only given once so it only makes sense for an angel to savior it, until they sincerely are sure they want to become anew."

"How do you ever know?" I looked at him. An expression of heartache passed over his face for a slender second.

"It's smiliar to the question, how do you know when you want to leave this world? Honestly, no one is exactly dead on for the reason being. But it is a spur of the moment, you just know when you want to be. Recently, one of my mates turned back into a human."

"What was his reasoning?" My body unconsciously huddled near Luke's as a chilled breeze frisked through my thin jacket.

Luke naturally responded by leaning against me, "He had found his significant other. It's odd how love drives people to extraordinary feats."

"We are all puppets just waiting for love to use us and throw us away." I stated, it was true love makes a fool out of each and every single one of us.

"You don't mean that, we both know you don't. Cayden, please let down your walls for me, I just want to help." He puts his head on my shoulder but all I want to do is push him off and run away; away from all my stress, from life in general.

"What so you can leave once your finished?" I bitterly confront, everyone leaves me; I refuse to allow someone to hurt me again.

My thoughts were confirmed when he didn't reply. "I thought so." I mumbled, "Everybody just leaves me. There's no point in letting anybody in if they are just going to end up leaving."

"But-"

I interrupted him, "No. I don't want your help Luke. I don't need it, I can recover on my own."

"I-I'm, I'm fine. I'm fine." I mumbled again, not really sure whether I was trying to convince him or myself.