I hear the blackbird singing here as I stand on the bridge. I want to cross to the other side, but the sidewalk is a minefield due to the accumulated puddles. The cars don't make it any easier either. They love to splash me, as if they enjoy seeing me soaked, standing at the edge of the road in a dull red raincoat. While everyone hurries home at times like this, I wander aimlessly through the streets. It's well known that I'm not a true compass, so once again I managed to mistake which restaurant I'm meeting my girlfriend in. When I had completely lost sight of the tip of my boot among the puddles, I see a head of blonde hair waving at me.
"Avarka, hello!" she bounces over to me with incredible speed and hugs me, while pulling me in the right direction. "I had a feeling you'd be walking around with your eyes closed again," she teased, knowing what kind of traits fate has blessed me with. I can only smile at such playful remarks.
"It's not nice to make fun of a soaked pigeon," I say, gesturing to myself.
"Oh darling, you're more like a badly done coloring book. What is this hideous red coat? You can't be that desperate." I saw in her eyes that she was about to laugh as she took my arm and hurried me toward the restaurant door. I love it when she criticizes with such enthusiasm. With a bit of humor, of course. Without humor, she wouldn't be Elis.
"Don't even mention it, I've already packed all my clothes and checked them in at the airport storage. I bought this uniquely bad piece on the way, after realizing that it's pouring rain outside in the middle of summer, and I have, well," deep breath, or rather a sigh releasing all my burdens, "I don't have much time."
"Well known. You're famous neither for your navigation nor your luck. Come on."
"Elis, don't pull my arm so hard, you'll tear it apart."
"No need to shout like that, Red Riding Hood, we're almost there."
"Oh, I've been here before," I noted, as I took in the big green door, the Joybringer Restaurant sign, and everything else matching. I happily noted to myself a thousand times, I've definitely been here before.
"It didn't seem that way to me," my friend said, her face turning into an even more exaggerated grimace than usual, which I reciprocated with a similar expression, and finally we went inside from the rain.
"Ta-da-da-da, welcome to your majesty's first and last farewell party, that is, yours."
Elis's parents were there, looking at me with the same happiness as my friend. They stood up joyfully to greet me. I was filled with a kind of happiness hormone that has always kept me going, even on difficult days. The time spent with good people, the moments lived with true joy, have sustained me throughout my life and made me who I am: a cheerful woman who glides over every obstacle, loving herself in every situation, even in this truly hideous coat. Elis was like a sister to me, my little blue-eyed, mischievous blonde, who was as beautiful as she was clever and scatterbrained. I arrived at their home as a child to work as an au pair. Her family grew fond of me since I joined them quite young, and I was like a second child. They educated me, sent me to university—the best of all—I learned good manners and etiquette, just like Elis; they covered all my expenses, no matter what. Well, anyone who knows what it's like to constantly receive and feel helpless when you want to give back understands how I felt as the years went by. Although I worked for them, I never felt I could truly reciprocate all the good they offered me on a silver platter. Although they never sent me away, I decided that after 4 years, I would stand on my own two feet. Take my fate into my own hands, or however the great world-changers say it, and build a life for myself. My whole world fit into a single suitcase. Although I suspected and secretly hoped they wouldn't make a big fuss, they naturally managed to. Not that it wasn't an incredibly good feeling to have lunch with them, but it was also painful because this was the last…
"Great, that's checked in too," I said to myself as I checked in my suitcase.
I was about to settle comfortably into the seat I had reserved when a woman tapped me on the shoulder.
"Excuse me, this is my seat," she said, looking at me puzzled.
"I'm sorry, but there must be some misunderstanding; this seat is mine!"
"Definitely not; this seat is mine, look," she retorted, thrusting her boarding pass under my nose quite angrily.
Before I could continue the squabble, insisting that this was indeed mine, a blonde with sunglasses appeared on board, with an infuriatingly familiar appearance.
"Come on, ladies, let's not start bickering before departure; besides, this hairstyle suits you very well; it would be a shame to entrust it to my friend's hands," she remarked with humorous cynicism.
"Elis," I said, looking at her with a puzzled and slightly angry face.
"Oh, Avarka, you're here too! Come on, my friend, come on, my soaked dove, before she tears us apart first!" She began to pull me frantically through the rows for the second time today amidst awkward laughter.
"We'll leave this seat for you; this seat is probably uncomfortable," she noted again with humorous cynicism.
With that momentum, she pulled me into first class, and I plopped down into a truly comfortable armchair, opposite a uniformed, also sunglasses-wearing guy.
"I'd ask you to explain, but I'm afraid it's pointless," I said, looking at the girl.
"It is," she nodded vigorously.
"This is Oli," she casually placed her hand on the muscular, silent individual. "He ensures our safety since you didn't want to travel by private jet."
I just rolled my eyes.
"I'm going to work, blondie, did you forget? How would it look if I arrived as a housekeeper by private jet?"
"But you'll be studying too. You're not going there as a slave," she laughed, then suddenly looked at me with all seriousness.
"Girl, I understand that you feel you want to give something to our family. And you know I've assisted in all your crazy ideas so far, but isn't this a bit much? Buy flowers, sing some cute song, go to Mom's silly fancy lectures. She'd surely be happy, and that's it," she shared her ideas distractedly, but seeing my cold gaze, she took an unusually deep breath and continued.
"Look, no one asked you for anything. Do you think I don't know exactly what you're up to? There are so many cities on Earth where people like me live. But you want to move exactly where the most arrogant, most repulsive, but also the richest and hottest individuals live?"
Here, she got a bit sidetracked.
"Elis," I said firmly, "I took you seriously a few minutes ago."
She looked at me sternly again.
"If Mom and Dad knew that you're not going to the inhabited part of Switzerland, you definitely wouldn't be sitting here now. This is not a game, Avarka. Not all angels are like my parents or those they've introduced you to. We are the fallen ones; this is not a glory. Some don't handle this as cultured. There are many things you don't know about us."
"Kind of you to say, but I'm aware that not everyone is good. That's why I'm training myself to protect you."
I tried to find understanding in her eyes, but instead, I found a fear I had never seen over the years.
"So," she swallowed hard, "you're really going to train yourself, and the job is just…?"
"The job is just for accommodation and some money, yes," I looked into her eyes angrily. "I want to develop, be a useful member of your world. Although you're different from me—clumsy too—and if not in everything, I'm aware that in the heart of your kind, in Rindanorf, they are much stronger and more developed than you. But there, I can develop and become an angel protector!"
I tried to be convincing, but my voice trembled a bit.
Now the dialogue is clear and structured, making it easier to follow! Let me know if you need any further refinements.
"Avarka," she looked deeply into my eyes, "you have no idea how much stronger they are than us, do you?"
"No, not really," I admitted, "but that's not the point. As an angel protector, my life gets a purpose. I can do something for you, something that matters."
"I need a drink," the blonde jumped up, grabbed the prepared champagne bottle, took a good swig, then sat back down, trying to stay calm. "Just try not to get yourself killed, okay? It's not easy to hurt us, and we can only be wounded, but the same can't be said for you," she pointed at me irritably with her finger.
"Okay," I agreed.
I felt she was having a hard time accepting it. I felt her pain, her despair. But at the same time, I knew that she knew she couldn't talk me out of what I had already decided. And I knew that she would cover for me.
Night turned into day, then dawned into another. We were in the front part of the plane. Thanks to my friend, there wasn't a soul in our section besides us, but then the loudspeaker announced:
"We are about to land."
Elis, as if she had never slept, jumped up and started waking the bodyguard in the adjacent cabin.
"Oli, hello, Olikaaaaaa, Oliiiiii… Oh my God, that's why I brought you along, they could have taken us away by now!"
I tried not to laugh, then she looked at me.
"Maybe it's good if you learn some self-defense after all."
At her words, we both laughed.
Elis looked radiant. Her royal blue jumpsuit and golden blonde hair whispered that she might truly have an angelic nature.
I was still planning to wear my dull red coat, but I had to abandon that idea quickly.
"No, no, no! You're taking that off right now! No way am I taking you to the city of angels in such attire."
"What do you mean by 'taking me up'?" I asked, puzzled.
"What did you think? That you'd teleport straight there from the Swiss airport? Or that a taxi would take you up?"
Judging by my expression, she realized that's exactly what I had thought.
"Oh my God! It's a good thing you have me. We angels aren't that simple-minded!"
After she lectured me sufficiently and the bodyguard had composed himself, we disembarked. In the meantime, I put away my red raincoat and donned a much more flattering, white, form-fitting dress. I pinned my hair into a loose bun. A black AMG Mercedes awaited us at the airport. A bald man in a suit sat in the front. He wore sunglasses similar to those of Elis and the bodyguard. That was all it took—Elis handed me a similar pair.
"Here you go, my friend, you'll need this."
Once we all looked sufficiently like some avenging team, we set off into the mountains. Hours passed. We wound our way past numerous lakes and mountain ridges. As we progressed, my heart began to beat faster. It felt as if something was waiting there, as if something was pounding more intensely as I approached. I watched as the wind wandered over the green meadows, as the snow covered the traces of flowers, as gradually an entirely different world unfolded before us. It was as if I was slowly separating from the Earth's pull.
"Are we there yet?" Elis's impatient voice snapped me out of my train of thought.
"Yes, ma'am, the gate is just ahead," replied the driver.
"Now listen, my friend," the blonde looked at me excitedly. "This is the gate of Rindanorf. Only those of my kind or initiated elite humans can bring anyone through it. So, you're welcome," she winked at me playfully.
While she was enjoying herself, my heart was pounding even harder; I could hardly breathe from the overwhelming feeling. I was gasping for air more and more; an inexplicable sensation coursed through my entire body, as if my whole being was burning, being consumed from within.
A moment.
That's all it took, and the ground slipped from under my feet.
My last memory is sitting on the ground, my long brown hair falling loose around me.