Divine

Chapter Two: Brighter Horizons

The thing about sleeping for angels is that it's not a necessary part of our existence. Neither is eating or drinking. But we do it because... well, it's kind of nice. I like to carry out these simple activities because it makes me feel human.

Sleeping can help excel healing after we receive any particularly bad injury. It also lets the mind wander away from the situation we're in; we are creatures that exist in this mortal world, no physical difference between us and humans, and yet we somehow stick out like a sore thumb. For instance, and I will draw from my own personal experience, humans can get a little frantic when you start to walk across the street, only to get hit by a truck and get sent flying into the other lane because you still have yet to learn the art of looking both ways before crossing. They also are quite frightened when you can stand up ten minutes later like nothing happened, then manage to speed walk away before any of the ambulances they called come.

So I don't know if Joshua slept at all. Maybe alcohol just dries up in an angel's system like poison does. That's one of the stories Nixie told me, about a Fallen she met on her travels through Europe who got bit by some nasty snake, which she still thinks is a mythological creature of some sort, and then had to lie paralyzed for five hours straight until the poison cleared out. Apparently internal damage to our systems take longer to fix. Maybe Joshua just sat in the room and waited, then snuck out quietly in the middle of the night without a word. I wouldn't have heard him, as I was sound asleep, dreamless for the first time in months.

I open my eyes to darkness. My head turns so I can see my clock glowing lime green in my fuzzy vision. It's four-thirty in the morning and my body is alight with energy. The nightmares usually drain me, leaving me weak and tired throughout the whole day. I don't feel that now. It feels like I could do a million things before everyone else even starts to emerge from their rooms. Maybe even fly around the world twice, clockwise and counter-clockwise. Actually, no. No flying. But that doesn't matter, because a giddy feeling is rising in my stomach.

I'm too excited to go back to sleep. I can't even pin down exactly what I feel like. My body is buzzing with energy that I'm not used to having in me. I feel like I'm some sort of electronic device that, for the first time in far too long, has been plugged in and is now fully charged.

Yes. That's it. I'm electric.

I actually get dressed now, pulling on a nice, if not slightly frilly, white blouse. I find a nice pair of jean shorts and slip into my black flip flops. Every part of me wants to move, and I wiggle my toes and grin down at them. I'm not used to this feeling, but it's quite nice.

I peek my head out into the hallways. Every door is shut tight and it's quiet as a graveyard. Lightning strikes my mind as it races with all the things I suddenly want to do. But it's four in the morning and nothing good is actually open, and if I went for a walk I'd probably get mugged. So my feet guide me up the flight of stairs, which I never use, and I don't stop at the floor above mine. I go all the way to the top. To the door that lets out onto the roof.

I don't know why, but being so close to the sky both chills and sets my body on fire. And I'm not even outside yet. I lean against the heavy metal door, just slightly. It's propped open, like always, by a safety cone. My breath comes out uneven, my brain reeling with panic and longing. Then I gently push the door open.

I'm not alone.

Stars glitter like little pockets of light against the dark navy infinity. Frail morning light cracks across the skyline, barely illuminating the tall buildings and bridges around Two Tone. The city glows below, all neon signs and flashing car lights. There's a car alarm going off a few blocks down, and a police siren erupts from the concrete jungle, somewhere unseen and in the distance.