Chapter 1
CHAPTER ONE: WHEN HEAVEN KNOCKS
Kyle preferred receiving respect above all things. Not that he returned it nor deserved it. He just required it. Any ounce of disrespect got regurgitated a hundredfold, probably along with a broken jaw.
The teenager ambled home—well, to his resting place. The faint hum of a busted streetlamp flickered over his head as he wiped his lip with the back of his hand, the taste of iron settling on his tongue. His hoodie was stained with blood that wasn’t his, at least not all of it.
His knuckles were bruised from punching Miles’s yellow teeth in. His eyes narrowed at the thought. He pulled the lone tooth out of his pocket and stared at the scarlet that doused it. He had promised to grind it and feed it to Miles the next time he saw him. That was a lie.
He flung the tooth down the street. “No way am I holding onto some guy’s molar for more than a day.”
He opened the door to his house. Silence. Just what he needed.
His father wasn’t there, as expected, and his mother sat on the couch. The muffled murmurs of the malfunctioning TV were the only source of noise in the dark house.
“I’m back.” He said half heartedly. No response. He caught a glimpse of the cheap liquor in her hand and said no more. Not a single sound would be out of her for the rest of the day.
He mounted the stairs to his bedroom, ignoring the creak of the wooden steps. When he closed the door behind him, he went to his nightstand and took out the roll of bandages. He pulled his hoodie over his head as he plopped down on the mattress. His undershirt, thankfully, wasn’t stained as heavily. He gazed at the bandages wrapped haphazardly over older wounds and began to undo them.
The room felt...different.
The hum of the streetlamp outside faded. The air, usually stale with dust, felt clearer, charged. A warmth pressed against his face, growing steadily, like standing too close to a fire.
Kyle frowned and looked up.
A light—brilliant, shifting,alive—stretched across the walls. It pulsed, too bright to stare at directly, and from within it, a voice spoke.
“Did you get into a fight again?”
The voice wasn’t human. It was layered, an echo, vast and calm, as though spoken from the depths of eternity. And there, a boy, or something like one, hovered at the centre of the radiance.
The boy levitated in the centre of the room, white robes pooling around his feet, golden curls framing a face too delicate to be real. His eyes, infinite and gleaming, held something deeper than mere sight. And his wings, huge and magnificent, feathers soft and pure in colour. Each spun from something more than mere light, woven from the dawn itself, shimmering with fluorescence.
One delicate hand extended, reaching for Kyle’s bruised knuckles.
Kyle jolted back, eyes wide in disbelief. His hand retracted instantly. He couldn’t land a punch on...whatever this was. And the strangest part, besides the whole what-the-actual-hell-is-happening situation was the way the being smiled at him. Wide. Reassuring. As if he belonged here.
As if he hadn’t just stepped out of eternity and into Kyle’s room uninvited.
“Oh! Don’t be afraid.” The being lowered, trying to appear more passive.
“Afraid?” Kyle shouted, more irritated by having that word connotation to him. “What the hell are you?Whoare you? How did you even get in here?” He yelled, ignoring the obvious answer to all those questions.
The being blinked as if processing what to answer, then smiled wider. “Heaven! Not hell.” He spoke with his hands as if unable to keep them in one place. “I’m an angel. Clearly.” He flapped his wings as proof.
“Get out.”
“Well, that’s not very welcoming.” The angel, because what else could he be, pouted.
Kyle took a step forward, every muscle tight. “Try breaking into someone’s room and see how welcoming you are.”
The boy let out a laugh, light as a breeze. “I didn’t break in. I appeared. Like poof! Or...POOF!” The angel mimicked the explosion with his hands, quite amused with himself.
Kyle felt his shock zap away. He was left with the familiar feeling of being in the presence of someone annoying.
“...Oh.”
The angel folded his wings neatly and gave Kyle a beaming smile as if this were a perfectly normal Tuesday night. “My name is Jeremiah. But, um, you can call me Jem! I’ve been assigned to help you.”
Kyle’s brows furrowed. “Help? With what?”
“Get closer to God!”
He paused, then scoffed. He rubbed his face. Hard. “Yeah, no. I’m done.”
“I’m serious,” Jeremiah—no, Jem—said, taking a step closer. “Your personal guardian angel—in the flesh! Not many people get this chance!”
Kyle laughed. Actually laughed. A sharp, bitter thing. “Yeah, that’s not happening. I don’t believe in that stuff.”
Jem’s smile didn’t falter. If anything, it softened, like he wasn’t expecting Kyle to believe him right away. “That’s okay,” he said simply. “I still have to complete my mission.”
Before Kyle could retort, Jem’s whole form shifted. The glow dimmed, the robes vanished, and suddenly, he wasn’t an angel anymore. He was just a boy. A normal-looking teenager with tousled blonde hair, oversized clothes, and wide, glacier blue eyes. Well, aside from the ethereal beauty that lingered.
Kyle blinked. “What.”
Jem stretched, adjusting to his new human form like it was a new outfit. “Better?”
Kyle was at a loss for words. His mouth opened to say something, then closed. “You just...you’re...what is actually happening...” He muttered to himself, his mind on a rollercoaster. “You just turned into a person. No, it’s not better.”
Jem chuckled, looking around Kyle’s room. “Well, you’re gonna have to get used to it. Cause I’m staying.”
Kyle’s fists tightened, and his eyes closed in an attempt to control his anger. Working...working.
“You’re not staying here.”
“Yeah, I am.”
Kyle’s eye twitched. Failing.
He grabbed Jem by the collar of his shirt, momentarily startling the smaller boy. “Iwillthrow you out.”
Jem tilted his head in amusement. “You’d throw out an angel?”
Kyle smirked, vividly annoyed. “I really want to.” He murmured through clenched teeth.
Jem only laughed again, and Kyle was hit with the strangest feeling. This guy wasn’t afraid of him. He wasn’t judging him or against him like every person he’s met in his tragic life. Almost as if he wasn’t about to leave, no matter how much Kyle tried to push him away.
Kyle stared at him, at the absurdity of the situation, at this kid who didn’t belong here. He let go of him harshly and turned back to sit on his bed.
“You’re really rude.” He grumbled, resuming the bandaging of his knuckles. This wasn’t like him. Not at all. He didn’t know if it was Jem’s divine nature that stopped him from knocking his face in or the exasperating look of compassion plastered on the angel’s face.
Jem smiled and sat at Kyle’s feet. “You’ll be fine.”
