Ethereal

Chapter 32

Knock knock.

My eyes fluttered open at the sound. I expected the usual tiredness that accompanied being woken up, but I already felt completely awake.

As it turned out, I could still sleep – and I could still dream. I had dreamt of Noah, flying in his arms, over the white cloudsoil that stretched across Heaven. I was left with a feeling of longing that couldn't be satisfied – it was possible that I would never experience that feeling again.

I got up quickly, heading over to the door. I had no idea who would come knocking on the door – we didn't exactly have friends, and we never ordered anything to be delivered.

Though as soon as I was in front of the door, I paused in my tracks – feeling something full of energy on the other side. Without a doubt it was an angel – the only question was which one.

Swinging the door open revealed the angel in question to be Andrew. He stood with a grin on his face when he saw me. "Hello."

"What are you doing here?" I frowned, surprised. I stepped out of the house, closing the door behind me.

"I just couldn't wait any longer to see you again." He smiled – I was shocked to hear him say this.

"Really?" I was confused.

"Yeah well... you know. I'm curious about you, remember." He hurriedly said.

"Oh, right. Yeah." I nodded.

"So, um. Would you like to go out for a walk?" He asked, his eyes seeming a little glazed over as he stared at me with anticipation of my answer.

"Uh, sure." I agreed, stepping away from the door. "Where to?"

"Let's go walk in the woods." He said, turning his back to me and walking round the outside of my house.

I followed him, strangely happy at his presence. It felt so normal to be around angels. I wasn't completely like them, but at least around them I could be honest about what I was.

We entered the woods slowly, soon covered by the shadow of the trees above us. We reached the stream quickly, the relaxing sound of rushing water instantly soothing me.

Following the normal route, I turned left, to walk up to the lake. Andrew placed his warm hand on my arm, stopping me. "I thought we could go this way?" He gestured to the right.

I glanced at the direction he meant, going away from the lake. It was strangely foreign to me, I had never actually gone that way... at least not that I could remember. Maybe my mother had taken me that way once but growing up it had been better to stick to her routines, always towards the lake.

Walking in this new direction made me feel a little disoriented... yet somehow, I trusted that Andrew knew where we were going, and that he wouldn't lead me astray.

We walked in silence for a while, eventually coming across a clearing in the trees where the grass grew longer, and the stream began to head in a different direction.

Andrew settled himself, sitting cross-legged on the ground. He patted the spot besides him and I sunk down so that I was next to him.

"You've lived here your whole life?" He asked, leaning his head back so that the sunlight bathed his face in a warm glow.

"Yeah." I confirmed. "Since I was born."

"You probably don't want to hear this..." He said, hesitantly. "But whenever human's get suspicious of us, we tend to leave town. It's for their own good. If a human was to find out about us... it wouldn't end well for them."