When Angels Choose To Walk

When Angels Choose to Walk

-Sue Me

(taken from Collage 2nd ish 2007-2008: Cheating)

I used to throw old coins into the sea to make a wish come true. I would stand on the edge of an abandoned dock, toss my coin into the lapping waves, and whisper my wish to the wind. I knew my little hope of having an angel of my own would soon come true.

I had always dreamt of having a real angel who would come to my rescue, cover me with his silvery-white feathered wings and release me when I get tangled in webs of confusion, fear or tragedy. Yes, I prayed to the sea to send me my angel and it finally gave me my share of real fairy tales and miracles.

Just as I had imagined, I saw my angel on the shore walking to my direction just after I threw a fifty-cent coin into the dark water and whispered my aspiration to the breeze. The sun was setting down and the fiery colors in the skies created a silhouette of the angel. He walked slowly to me as if he owned Time. His wings were folded closely behind him; his face, concealed with the long locks of his hair, was slightly turned to the right. He just looked so much an angel that I forgot he was supposed to be looking at me.

The moment his bare feet left the warm sand and shared my wooden floor, I felt like he brought heaven to my god-forsaken place. My feet managed to walk a few steps to meet him.

“Did the sea send you?” I whispered, trying to conceal my amazement.

“Yes, it did.” He sighed and turned to look away to his right again.

I smiled in ecstasy.

“Then miracles do happen,” I whispered to the sea, the breeze and the skies. Without turning his gaze back to me, he said, “but not forever.”

I wanted to ask him what he meant because I did not fully understand what he had just said. But, I did not. I diverted my thoughts to his wings instead. For some fleeting moments, I savored the precious moments of being with an angel. I ran my hand over the soft down of his wings an wondered how a million of delicate feathers could carry someone to the person he is destined to be with.

I noticed the stray strands of his hair down his face again. I reached gently to tuck them behind his ear. Suddenly, he caught my hand, looked at me straight in the eye and said in an angry but hushed tone, “I know you didn’t understand when I told you miracles are not forever. Honestly, no miracles happen! Fairy tales are just an imagination!

He slowly released my hand.

“I am not staying here with you forever.” He confessed.

“You’re not? Why? I asked, stricken with confusion. I could never understand why he should go away. I fairy tales and miracles were not real; his confession sounded that way, too.

I walked to the edge of the dock and wrapped my arms across my body. The wind felt like a bucket of cold water against me and seemed to tell something I really ought to know. I looked back at the angel and he walked toward me. Then, he broke off his wings and thrust them into my unexpecting arms. Without his silver wings, he looked more like a stranger.

“I quit being your angel.” He sounded as if he knew I could find all the answers to my questions in that statement.

Without saying goodbye, he walked away to where his gaze had always been fixed from the start: On Stella – another girl on the edge of the dock, holding a brand new pair of wings in her outstretched hands.

I held the wings in my arms and wished that if miracles and fairy tales never come true, losing my angel never did, too.

Sue Me is one of those writers who have stories that reveal a part of me. I had taken a special interest in this story, When Angels Choose to walk, because it’s something I can always relate to. Every scene in the story had a similarity in one event of my life when I met the angel.

I also loved throwing coins to the sea to make my wishes come true. The sea and the sunset reminded me of wonderful things that I just took for granted. One day, the sea did grant my wish. He gave me my angel. He was too perfect to be real – even too perfect for words. For some fleeting moments, I cherished being able to have him… To touch him… To wonder if he’s really real. For a few moments, I thought I love him. But for some unknown reason, he left; leaving me to deal with a rejected love and a broken heart. He was mine, but not really.

A devil came along and turned my life around. I am happy now. But, I still think of my angel and wonder how he’s doing without me. He left me confused and hurting. I wonder if I hurt him too when I took him for granted. Maybe, he really wasn’t meant for me. I won’t wish for anything else anymore.

I hope he’ll also be happy.