Any potential for a good sleep that night had vanished. Karina woke up earlier than usual to discomfort, physically and mentally.
The want to meet someone dear to her kicked in. She opened her phone and texted someone.
"Meet me?"
"Did something happen?"
"Yes but I don't wanna talk 'bout it."
"Ok. Leaving in 2."
She internally smiled, feeling relieved that they could meet.
*********
She drove fast to a small dusty building that sold dumplings along with other food items. The owner was a feisty old lady who She'd bonded with over the years.
"Grandma!" A rounded up a wide smile when she caught her eye.
"I told you not to yell so loudly! Where are your manners?" Karina's eye roll in response to her usual grumpiness was inevitable.
"You know whatever you say just runs past my head right?" She giggled walking closer to the counter.
Grandma returned to the counter with a box of spring rolls. "You're meeting him again?" To which she nodded.
Grandma slightly shook her head as she let out a small chuckle.
The old concrete staircase ushered the familiar air she was welcomed with whenever she visited. She climbed up the stairs, reaching the roof of the building.
The terrace was old and crusty, scraped and old grey concrete. A small space on the opposite edge of the building faced the city providing a pretty view she could always come back to.
This place was her haven. It was already personalized considering the number of times Karina had came here, suffused with many silent memories.
He was already there, sitting in the small space with a wrinkled blanket laid out.
She pulled the sleeves of my hoodie harder while she walked up to him. She sprinted and jumped to sit next to him. "Heya." He smiled, the corners of his eyes wrinkling.
"You got them right?" He nudged to the box of spring rolls, still hot, the smell diffusing into the chilly air. She nodded and settled comfortably next to him opening the box.
"Why so early in the morning Rina?" He held my hand.
"I woke up early...felt a bit weird. I just wanted to be with someone...normal."
"That's what you think of me?" He scoffed in exaggeration.
"That's indeed what I think of you. Unspecial worthless thing." She held back my smile.
He played along, "You reek of shit Rina, fuck off before I eat all this." He snatched the box in front of us and swallowed a whole roll.
"You piece of-" She playfully hit him, laughing like a witch.
"Didn't know you had the energy to rip me apart even when you're sad."
"I'm taking offense. How could you have not figured it out?"
"You just...don't show it." I couldn't say anything to that.
"Fair. I'm just..drained right now. Too much shit going on."
His head tilted upwards. "Let's stay here for a while." To which Karina hummed in agreement before she put her head on his shoulder. She could feel the way he subtly tensed up at first.
The discomfort she was feeling since morning slowly faded, dulling as the sun gradually rose.
******************
Work seemed more hectic and she felt anxious as the minute passed, thinking of Milo coming back. Karina was ready to hear an explanation. They were her 'friends' after all.
Speaking of the devil, Milo stood outside. She was, in a way, curious about what was going to happen. She got more nervous when he finally approached her.
"Karina...hey." He kept shifting his posture. Karina silently acknowledged him.
"This wasn't something-" Fumbling with his words, "...Screw that. Let us explain things. You need to know that..we aren't gonna hurt you..in any way."
"How the fuck can I be so sure Milo?"
"There's no damn reason for me to befriend a random human, and not kill them immediately. You wouldn't be alive till now If I was out to get you." He snarled. "Nor would you have lived to see Dario's fall!"
Karina scoffed, thinking of the strange happenings. She thought for a second before saying.
"Okay. Go ahead. Tell me. Everything."
*********
"So you're saying...you're-...um...angels?"
"I guess you could call it that. We're not...from the human world."
"That..seems pretty obvious, Milo." She grimaced, which in turn brought an annoyed look from Milo.
"Karina do you want me to explain or not?" That shut me up fast.
He continued. "We're from a different realm...called Enkeli. We're all angels made of different..essences, you could say. Kind of like an embodiment or essence of abstract things...or qualities on earth."
"Me, Jonah, Gabriel, Dario...we're all angels."
She nodded slightly, her gaze still not meeting his.
"We're like brothers. Close from the start. But... what you saw...he was banished here."
She added. "He looked like he was very much in pain." It was disturbing.
"He 'fell.' A lot of things fucked up for him...." None of this felt real even now.
"Right. So...why did you approach me then? Why were you so curious about those flowers?"
"Those are-" He was stopped by the ringing of his phone from his pocket. "What?" He sighed. "Okay. I'll come back." He said before he hung up.
"Rina, I have to go. I'm sorry this couldn't have been a way worse time."
"Milo- what the fuck?" Karina gaped at him, her temper rising.
"Shit. I know this looks so bad right now. I-...Dario! He'll talk to you."
"What now?"
"Karina..he really isn't a bad person. We aren't out to get you humans. It just happens to be that we're on earth and you got involved with us somehow."
"I-...so what? You want me to talk to him now?"
"Yes. I have to go now." In a flash, he was displaced from where he was in front of her. Vanished in a second. She just stood there gaping.
*******************
Karina was greeted by the familiar atmosphere of the woods. Rays of sunlight peeped through the canopies, desperately attempting to set foot.
She had been wishing to go back to the woods again, though small traces of fear lurked.
But she wasn't ready to let something else stop her from going to the one place relishing in her memories. She couldn't let the fear of some creature stop her.
She walked around humming a song that she was addicted to for the week, rightfully knowing how tone-deaf she sounded.
Stuck in her own bubble, she didn't realize the presence of someone.
Karins cried out loud after seeing the tall figure of Dario. He just stood with a point-blank face. She instinctively started taking steps back. He didn't move an inch, just stood there with an uninterested gaze.
"Don't you dare come close to me." Her voice was feeble
He rolled his eyes. "I don't plan to." She still didn't let her guard down.
"Karina isn't it? Look, don't think you're that important to us, because you're not. We didn't even know you existed until recently." He rolled his head side to side, cracking it. "Milo asked me to explain things to you."
"I'm not talking to a stranger."
"Can't say we're strangers now. You watched one of the most consequential moments of my life.." She recalled the scene. His wings...fire... "You know my friend..you met me."
"Give me one reason that'll convince me you're not out to murder me."
"I'm an angel, Karina." His dazzling eyes were, as always, fixated on her. The sunlight that caressed his face, illuminated his golden orbs. Karina almost fell under a spell.
"Do you think I came here to explain things that aren't even known to the human race, just to kill you?" He smirked.
Her eyes were on the ground, not wanting to meet his eyes. Fuck she was such an idiot for doing this.
Both of them were walking silently, when Dario resumed, "Look, I'll get straight to the point."
"We're what you can define, as angels. But we aren't exactly the type humans think..we live in a completely different realm. Our entire life force is different.."
"I heard from Milo….Enkeli, is it?" He nodded in approval.
"Yes. Every angel is made up of an essence. It's like your realm is our counterpart. We are made of essences of different qualities and abstract things that are existent in the human world. But we look, feel, and talk like humans. We have thoughts, feelings, a body. But in the end, we have something more that makes us angels, these essences."
Fascinated, she let her curiosity get her, "So..you all have different essences?"
He gave a smirk so subtle, his eyes cold."I'm the archangel of temptation."
Karina gaped at him, my eyes wide. "Oh-..Archangel?" She couldn't believe what he just said.
"Yes. As I said, we're also like a civilization. A lot of angels have the essence of temptation. But some are born powerful than others. That's when you become an archangel. We have a superior who helps maintain order among us, a system of justice."
"So...Milo, Jonah, Gabriel... and the other, angels, too?"
"Yeah. All of us are archangels of a different essence. Milo..is of love and acceptance. He radiates that."
"Holy..that makes a lot of sense." She played with her fingers.
"Jonah is the angel of memories and light. And Gabriel, the oldest among us is of spirit and youth. "
"Damn.." Listening to this made her feel ten times more interested.
"Wow...are you guys like-" She snorted, giggling. Dario looked annoyed, "Spit it out."
She cringed at herself, "Forget it."
That's when something occurred to her. "Um so..Jonah had once mentioned that there were 5 of you. But you only mentioned 4."
Dario's expression darkened, his facial muscles tensing, as he lowly whispered. "We were 5."
"What?" Did that mean what she thought it meant?
"He's dead."