The Angels' Last Gift

Chapter 2

By unfolding my wings I had done two things, firstly I had created a kind of shield between the wolves and the young boy, secondly I had revealed that I was not human to both parties.

The wolves took a step back, unnerved by my decided action and clearly unsure of what to do about the sudden change of the situation they were now facing.

The little boy, carefully reached his left hand out towards my right wing but looked up at me, as if asking for permission to continue. I gave a light smile and quietly asked,

"Do you like them?" he nodded but still held my gaze waiting for a signal from me that he was okay to place his hand against my wing, I chuckled and said calmly,

"You know what, if you want to prove to yourself that they're real you can touch it." he made no verbal reply but began to stroke the feathers with his fingers before looking up at me again and whispering,

"You're an angel right? My mommy told me that angels have really big wings and they come to the earth to protect the defenceless. So you must be an angel." I smiled at the young boy and admitted,

"Yes, I am an angel, but I'm not the only one, there are many others who help all kinds of people around the world. I'm just unique because of my wing colour, most of us have white feathers but mine are silver." the little boy smiled and said,

"You must be popular among the others because of that." at this I frowned slightly and said,

"Actually, it doesn't work like that. When I first became an angel some of the others would tease me for it." the little boy tilted his head slightly and said in reply,

"Then they would have been punished for treating one of their own like that, that's what my mommy and daddy say happens to angels and people who do bad things." I nodded and responded with,

"That is true, they were thrown out. This is is what we call becoming a fallen angel, one who has done bad deeds and must therefore prove themselves worthy of their wings."  I followed with the question,

"What is your name?" he quietly muttered,

"Luke, my name is Luke. What about you?" I found myself having to think, my name that I had now was not the name I was given at birth but I replied with both,

"My name now is Jade, but back when I was still human my name was Laura." he looked down at the snow and whispered,

"Funny, back when I was a 3 year old, my family lost a member, my older sister who was called Laura, she died while me, her and our mommy were walking home, we were attacked by a couple of men who were carrying guns, one of them aimed at me but my sister yelled and dragged me in front of her protecting me but gave her own life for mine... I miss her, we were really close."

This triggered a slight flash back in my mind, it had been spring and me, my mum and my 3 year old brother were on our way back from school, suddenly two 35 or 40 year old men leapt in front of us and demanded,

"Give us your money!" my mother replied with,

"We have no money on us, let us pass." the older one then growled,

"Well then, if you won't pay with money, you'll pay with blood..." he proceeded to aim a pistol at my brother, I yelled a warning, pulled him into my chest and shut my eyes hard, there was a loud bang and then everything went black. I was 10 at the time of the accident.

I looked at the young boy, could it really be Luke, my brother, 2 or 3 years older?

That explained why I felt at ease when he first met my eyes, I knew him, everything was starting to make sense. He then said,

"You're crying... Why are you crying? Do you know what happened to my sister? Is she at peace?" was I crying, I hadn't realised. But I swallowed a breath and said in a shaking voice that didn't belong to Jade, yet it belonged to me,

"Luke, it's me, I'm Laura. Has it really only been two years?" at this he looked up, met my eyes and smiled, as he said,

"I felt like we'd met before, I just couldn't remember where." I then realised how dark it was getting and whispered,

"Come on, let's go home."