Featherless

This is a short story I wrote for school. I got a 100% A+ on it. I'm planning on turning it into a novel. Hope you like it! It's about an angel who must save the world and heaven.

     Heaven, it’s the perfect place, paradise even. Flying on angel wings through crisp air. My hair blowing wildly in the wind. Nothing is better than paradise, except for when all hell breaks loose, literally. Heaven has been at war with hell for almost two-thousand years now. In the mortal world, whenever a battle breaks loose, volcanoes erupt and burn things to ashes, waves slam the white sand of ocean beaches with fury you couldn't even imagine.

     "Watch out!" Screamed a near-by comrade, in an instant a demon was upon me and ripped the wings from my back. That's how I fell, I fell from heaven and now I'm on Earth with nothing but a white T-shirt, a pair of jeans, and a name. I am Tenshi and I will get my wings back!

~  

   I’m an angel of youth, and without my wings I’m no more than the fifteen year old boy I look like, with blond hair reaching past my chin and blue eyes people say they could fade into almost like falling through the cloudless sky. Tall and thin as I am, it would take no-one by surprise to learn that I’m an angel. In fact they may wonder where my wings were. 

     That's what I thought about while I was walking down the busy New York sidewalk. 

     "Where to now...?" I mumbled aloud, "I don't even know where to go next. Heaven? Hell? I can’t get there without my wings. "I started to get odd looks from people passing me by, so I thought it best to stop talking.

  Just then I came to a crowd of people and it made me wonder what was going on. I pushed my way through the group to reach the center of what seemed to be a crescent shape of men, women, and children alike all huddled around a building and all staring at the same thing. I turned and looked up to find a little girl hanging from a window of the apartment complex. Her doll was lying on the ground under where she was hanging from. Tears were welling and overflowing from her eyes, you could see she was slipping. A woman shrieked in sheer terror as the girl slipped and fell from the tenth story window.

      I ran to where her doll was lying, arms open ready to catch her. She fell into my arms and the force pushed me to my knees. Everyone in the group erupted with cheers and sobs of joy as they crowded around us to see if we were all right. I picked up the doll and handed it to the girl.

     "Here you go, be more careful from now on, alright?" 

     "Thanks mister! I will! I promise!" She replied with tears of joy and shock in her eyes, and she held out her pinky and pinky swore on it. "Oh yah!  My name’s Emily, what’s yours?" She asked.

      "Tenshi." I replied. 

     She repeated my name as though she didn't quite understand it. "Emily!" A lady pushed through the crowd and dropped to her knees next to me. I put Emily down and she went to hug the lady. 

     "Mommy! I was so scared! But Tenshi saved me!" Her mom looked at me. "Thank you so much! You’re an angel."  I just smirked and replied, “You have no idea."

~

The crowd seemed to disperse and Emily, along with her mother, returned to their apartment. I was left all alone on the sidewalk. I was about to continue walking when a mysterious voice called my name. I looked around anxiously. 

     "Who's there? How do you know my name? Answer me!" The voice didn't reply, and the city smog seemed to thicken. By the time the voice spoke again, I was nearly blinded by smog.

      “I am an oracle,” With this an elderly woman stepped through the fog. Nestled into a wrinkled face were two brown eyes full of wisdom. Gray hair reaching past her waist.

      “I have foreseen that an angel would fall from heaven, but will restore his wings. By doing so this angel will save not only the mortal world, but stop the war between heaven and hell as well." The oracle's voice seemed to drift off, as she was fading away into the smoke. 

     "Wait! How am I supposed to save anything without my wings?" I screamed.

      "Travel to Niagara falls, there lies the portal to hell. That is where you shall find your wings." The voice was nothing more then a whisper now, and the smog had cleared, people went by as though nothing happened. I stood completely baffled.

      "Niagara falls, huh?"

~

     I had been walking down the sidewalk for a while now and I was starting to get cold and the sun was setting. I looked around and noticed for the first time all the graphite and run-down buildings. Long alleys stretched between the homes and abandoned apartments. I sighed and kept walking with my hands in my pockets.

      The silence was broken suddenly when a loud scream echoed from an alley. I ran down the alley as fast as I could to find the source of the cry only to find a young girl who had long black hair pulled into a pony tail and furious green eyes that resembled a burning forest.

     Standing across from the girl was a man who was pointing a gun at her. The man gestured to her purse.

     “Give me your money!” He shouted in an angry yet shaky voice.

     She defiantly put her foot down and yelled back at him.

     “Now, why the hell should I do that!?”

     “Because I’m the one with the gun!” The man’s finger tightened around the trigger as he argued with the girl. 

     I had seen enough at that point and I rushed toward the man. I tackled him and tried to get his gun.

     “Run!” I shouted to the girl who was standing bewildered staring at me. No doubt she was wondering where I came from and how long I had been watching. Her face changed to a defiant expression then. 

     “Not until he gives it back!” She screamed at me.

     I tried to reply but the man punched me in the jaw, effectively cutting me off before I could even get one word out. I thought when he punched me, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something fall out of his sweatshirt pocket.

     I ignored it and continued to try to get the gun away from him, when suddenly a loud bang pierced the night air. I felt a sharp, stinging pain in my right shoulder and blood began dripping down my arm. The man pushed me off onto my injured arm and stumbled quickly away. I screamed in agony as it finally occurred to me that I had been shot. Things started to become blurry and dark as I went into shock. Just before everything went black I heard the girl scream.

     “Oh my God!”

~   

  I woke up hours later and found myself in an unfamiliar room. It was a well lit but somehow dreary room. The beige wallpaper was torn and peeling. The couch I was laying on was caked in dust. I looked at my now bandaged shoulder and bruised torso. I just moaned and continued to look around the house. On a small table placed at the end of the couch near my head was a photograph covered in dirt and dust. The girl I saw earlier was standing in the middle of the picture with arms wrapped around her. I grabbed the picture and wiped off the grime to reveal a bright eyed, smiling woman with her arms draped gently around the girl’s shoulders. They were standing in a park with green grass and trees surrounding them and a field of flowers the colors of violet and purple. Though the flowers were beautiful the most distinct part of the picture, was most of the right corner was torn completely out of the picture. The only part of the missing portion of the picture I could see was a hand resting firmly on the woman’s shoulder.

     “The woman is my mom.” A quiet voice said.

     I jumped when I heard her. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be right behind me.

     “Thanks for saving me,” she said, “my name’s Alice.” 

     “Tenshi.” I replied.

     She looked at me like I was crazy.

     “Tenshi? What kind of a name is that? Were your parents insane or something?”

     I simply shrugged and put the picture back. I then thought of something that was still bothering me.

     "Why wouldn't you run when I told you to?" I asked.

     "Well," she began "He got something that was very valuable to me. It's a red, checkered bow with a ruby fitted into the middle that my mom gave me. It's been in the family for years. I always wear it."

     She turned her head and, sure enough, pinned neatly into her hair was the bow.

     "I'm just glad it fell out of that mugger's pocket. Anyways, we should see how your shoulder's doing."

     Alice carefully unwrapped my shoulder. She suddenly went wide-eyed at what she saw under the bandages. The bullet hole was already closed and there was no scar. It only ached a little.

     "How?" Was all Alice could say.

     Even without my wings, I still have some angelic powers. Even my bruises were fading. Alice continued to look at me wide-eyed, not horrified, but amazed.

     "Tenshi, what are you?"

~

     "So basically you're an angel whose wings were ripped off, you fell to Earth, and now some oracle told you that you need to get through Niagara Falls to get to hell and recover your wings?" 

     I nodded in response to Alice's question.

     "That's, so, cool!" She exclaimed. "But how are you supposed to get to Niagara Falls? It's all the way across the state!"

      "I'm not sure." I shrugged.

     "I have an idea." Alice said with a conniving look on her face.

~

     Pretty soon after that little conversation, Alice had already hot-wired a car from the nearby junkyard and we were on our way to Niagara Falls. 

     "It'll take a while before we get there." Alice was practically shouting over the noise of the rusty old pickup truck.

      It was the only one that would actually even start.

     "How is the po-." Alice was cut off when a demon dropped out of the sky and landed on the hood of the truck.

      It roared and Alice screamed. The demon slammed its clawed hand through the windshield and grabbed me by the neck. It dragged me out through the hole in the window and I winced as I felt the glass cut my legs. I heard Alice scream my name.

     "If you come anywhere near hell or your wings, we will kill you." It growled in a low, menacing tone.

     It dropped me and disappeared through a portal that left as quickly as it came.

     "What was that?" Alice shrieked out the open car door.

     "A demon, he doesn't want me to get my wings back." I answered in a monotonous tone.

     "So, are we still headed to Niagara Falls?" She asked.

     "Hell yah." I replied.

~

     Hours of dirt road and Alice's singing later, we had finally arrived.

     "You know, I can't come back once I go." I told Alice.

     "I know." She admitted "But I'm glad I got to meet an angel. Good luck." 

     We hugged before I stepped toward the edge of the viewing point.

     I leapt over the edge of the point and went over the falls. It was a beautiful starry night sky and I wished I could enjoy it more, but right now, I'm headed to hell. Once I hit the bottom of the falls and resurfaced, I looked toward the falls. It was almost like they knew I was there for, when I got closer, the falls split in two with a brilliant show of lights. A large gate appeared and opened where the falls once were, and I swam through.

~

     I found myself in a room lit by fire and furnished with red furniture. My wings were mounted to the wall over the fireplace. I touched them and as soon as I did, a bright flash lit up the room and my wings were back to where they once were. I was a full angel once more. Suddenly the gate burst open and an angel of death with black wings and reddish eyes accompanied by what looked to be his servant, who had shorter hair and golden eyes, walked through.

     "I am Lucifer," the dark angel said, "you are trespassing. Did my Lackey not warn you to stay away?"

     I glared at him.

     "Attack and command seems closer." 

     At that I jumped at the two and tried to punch at least one of them, but they simply evaded my attacks. 

     Lucifer nodded to the servant and he stood back towards the fireplace. Suddenly Lucifer was behind me, and with one powerful kick he sent me flying through a door and out of the room. Where I ended up was a thing made of nightmares. Fire burned every where. There was a ledge and below, boiling lava. Lucifer emerged from the room, black wings held high. He picked me up by the shirt collar and walked toward the ledge. I kicked him in the stomach and dropped to my feet. I ran behind him as he was winded, grabbed his left wing, and snapped it. I kicked him over the ledge and into the lava. Lucifer was dead. 

     As I walked back into the room I saw the servant run through the gate.

     "Wait!" I screamed.

     It was no use, he was already gone. So I simply ignored it and walked out through the gate."

~

     After I had gotten back to heaven, I found that because Lucifer was dead, the war between heaven and hell was finally over. Because of this not only was heaven at peace for the first time in two thousand years, no more natural disasters would ever strike the Earth. All would prove to be peaceful for eternity.

     ~The End.

Reviews

[Nox]

This story has a wonderful tone to it. The descriptions were vivid and made me feel more like I was watching a movie rather than reading a story it was so good. It was short but very enjoyable. Hope to see more writing from you soon.

[Von Alis]

Awesome story, the details in it are are great! I can't wait to see what you do with this! And welcome to the site!