Heroes.

How long had he been walking? Forever it seemed.

The winds pushed against him cutting straight through to his bones. In his mind’s eye he could see the people out searching for him, crying and screaming his name. Like a silent movie it played out in his head and he smiled sadistically to himself at their tears. Little did he care.

Being strong was overrated. It was cruel and unsatisfying; hiding was never fun if you were never found. Always like a pillar, being toppled with burden and woe betide if you crumble.

The bitterness of the weather matched that of his heart. He had long since given up on the notion of being saved yet he spread it like the word of ‘God’. It was lies; horrible, misleading lies.

Even heroes have a right to fall so where was his right?

When the aching in his chest became too much he fell to his knees and pulled his thin sweater around his body. There he was hunched into a tight, human ball upon the frosted ground. He was engulfed by the solitude of the mountains, nothing and no one around him for miles. The sky and the clouds where his only witnesses.

He had waited so long to lay down and give up that the aching wails broke from his body almost desperately. He barely registered them; he just allowed them to flow. It felt like the blood being released from an infected wound and he could hear his inner agony in each scream.

The pressure in his lungs had become too much, there was only enough air for him but barely. The burdens he held for others were smothering along with his own; there was simply no more room. With shaking fragile hands he began to grind down the gravel. His palms became raw and sore within moments and droplets of blood oozed from the scrapes.This was his reward; the right to break down. He would scream it from every roof top, every mountain, that he had fallen and fallen hard.

And when he is set on the road for judgment, as we all will be, he will whisper; Even angels have the right to bleed.

Author's Note

It was actually a short piece about a fallen angel. If you are of the Christian faith (which I was but did not practice) then you were maybe told by your Mum or Dad that angels are listening. What if angels listen too much? I think even they find it hard sometimes.

Reviews

[Samuel Dickens]

Excellent. With the exception of missing commas, this an outstanding piece of writing. Is this a fragment of a larger work? If not, I think you might consider providing the reader with a bit of background on the protagonist.

[Phil]

Nice writing. I actually got a little anxious reading it because you were able to pull me into the story so well.