Cherub.

10

"Is your home not heaven? the sky asks as I descend through it. In another world maybe, but it never truly was. "

"Gemini, please help me." Angelo weeped as his shaky fists pounded against the door. He didn't know why he'd come to a man he'd been avoiding but here he was, crying for him. "Please." He still felt his being vibrating through the bones of this body.

"Angelo?" The man called after snatching the door open.

~

The church was tiny and cheap, with plastic stained windows instead of glass. Instead of pews, metal benches ran across the room. With a shiny tiled floor and the smell of old cigarette smoke, it was practically a Las Vegas Chapel. Angelo couldn't bare to be in the other church anymore—not after what happened with Kahlo and Cael.

When Gemini arrived at the old church, everything was the opposite of what he'd expected. Angelo was supposed to be over-awed whereas he was supposed to be cold and stoic.

Angelo stared around at the few empty pews, hesitant with where he wanted to sit, eerily quiet. Gemini, on the other hand, saw an old neighbor in the front pew with her peach hat and his older cousin in deep discussion with Reverend Brown. He could already hear the organ music and smell the fresh flowers brought by the fussy old ladies who dusted even when there was none. He saw the children chasing each other to their parent's exasperation and the delight of the lonely widows.

When church began, he felt haunted within the walls and overwhelmed. Moments where his mother would take him to this church had been locked in a special place in the back of his mind but were resurfacing. It was his turn for tears. Rare for him, but he let them flow. "What is the matter?" The cherub asked, his face holding a look of curiosity. Pesky emotions, Angelo thought.

Gemini always knew he was going to hell. As a child, he'd been mean to his sister and zoned out in church. He had lustful thoughts and not just about girls either. His nails were painted and he'd cheated on a math test one too many times. God wouldn't like that at all. For some reason, today, it felt harder to grasp. He noticed how godly Angelo was—how the man couldn't harm a fly if his life depended on it. He admired that and wondered how he could be so attracted to a man like him. A troubled man like Gemini.

He ignored Angelo and stared onward as the choir talked. Sensing the intense emotions practically radiating from Gemini's skin, Angelo didn't speak again and averted his gaze to the choir as his friend did.

The children fidgeted or whispered through the service and the smaller ones played with their smocks. The old people in the congregation flicked their eyes toward them all through the sermon with exasperated expressions or scowls but once they sang, all was forgiven—their voices were as sweet as rain after August heat and it echoed amongst the masonry and up to the rafters. Angelo hadn't heard anything like it. They sung To God Be The Glory.

Once the Sunday Service was over, Angelo couldn't help but murmur to Gemini. "Why did the children sing so well?" They were quickly heading through the door. His pace was merely keeping up with Gemini's fast stride.

"Ask em and they'll all tell you it was for Ms.Jodie's chocolate cake." With a pause in his walking, he chuckled. "She still bakes one every week and once their smocks are off, everyone can take a large slice. She was the reason I loved Sunday school so much."

"I'd sing for cake." Angelo said. The seriousness behind his words made the man laugh.

"I know, Angelo." Angelo was hard to stay mad at with his innocence and childlike mannerisms, Gemini couldn't help but still feel some kind of way at being ghosted.

You don't just ignore someone then show up at their door at the crack of dawn, sobbing and babbling Bible verses—it just didn't seem right. But Angelo's contagious sobs and dramatic cries to heaven had possessed him yet again, causing him to open the door for the stranger. "Are you sure you're okay? Last night was scary." Gemini broke the silence. Angelo grew quiet at the mention of last night's pain.

He'd begged Gemini to bring him to a church in the morning. He need to feel Him. He needed to feel God.

The pain he felt when he'd lost Kahlo didn't feel like a paper cut or a headache—this pain hurt the Cherub. The angel beneath the skin; a feeling that he'd never felt before. The angel didn't tell Gemini what truly had him so distraught; he only said he'd lost a friend that night.

After Cael's cries, he left him at the alter to wallow alone. He couldn't stand the sight of his dear brother for what he'd done—Kahlo wasn't bad. He was still an Angel in the eyes of Angelo. His father was an Angel so he was; forget the rules.

"I'm okay." Angelo said plainly. The lie nearly burned his throat. "It...still hurts."

"Of course it will. You lost a dear friend; it never stops hurting." Gemini glanced at the ground. His own feelings of grief reminded him of his revelation.

"You still hurt?"

"Everyday." Gemini sniffed and started to blink to avoid crying in front of the angel. "But she's in a better place. Like your friend."

"Every soul is taken care of." Angelo spoke faintly. "Hurt does not exist in heaven." Gemini blinked, unsure of how to respond. Angelo was so knowledgeable.

"Let's do something—write poetry, go to a club, something. I need to feel alive." Gemini quickly changed the subject. He needed to wind down.

"Gemini, you are alive." Angelo reminded him. His legs dangled now from the front of Gemini's bike as they sped through dirt roads.

"I know. But, let's do something fun. All we do is go to church and eat sweets." He sighed, coming to a halt.

"What's wrong with church and candy?" The cherub whispered, slightly offended. Church reminded him of Kahlo.

"Nothing, lets just do something that I like." He said. "We'd spent enough time with God and getting cavities."

"Okay." The angel obliged.