Wings of Boden

by Erik S Lehman

  Wings of Boden

  By E.S. Lehman

  Copyright 2012 Erik Lehman

  Smashwords Edition

  ***~~~***

  Smashwords Edition License Notes

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  Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  ***~~~***

  Message

  Angelic light lingers behind your eyes.

  We are together.

  We are angels.

  We have descended from all that is good.

  Swept up into the turmoil of life.

  So take back your wings, without despair.

  To feel your wings, open your heart.

  Drop the chains of illusion.

  -- Celeste Soepheea

  ****

  CHAPTER 1

  Have you taken care of your wings today? 4 out of 5 doctors recommend preening twice a day and conditioning your feathers with Dr. Danyell's Feather Gloss; The preferred choice of angels since 2065. Pamper yourself and shine. —The advertisement from the new April issue of Angelic Teen Magazine, spread open on my classroom desk, held my interest.

  My choices were slim, flip through the pages, or jam a quill in my eye, while the geography professor went on, and on, with some coma-inducing story we’d heard a hundred times; the volcano story. One more option dawned on me, I could slap someone, anyone, and run out the door. Hmm, yeah, an intriguing idea, I mused. Then flipped the page to see a shampoo advertisement that asked, Do you have split ends?

  “Elle?” the professor called on me.

  A question came to mind as I swiveled my gaze around the room; how can such a bright, big classroom feel like a closet with no doors? The entire class waited for some kind of answer from me. Did he say Elle, or Al? At the back of room and to my left, Albert eyed me with a grin.

  Ugh. Tucking a loose strand of blond hair behind my ear, I turned back to the professor, then pushed my toes back into my heeled pumps and folded my hands on my skirt. It was then I realized I really had to pee, so I clamped my knees together and tried to put it out of my mind. The giant fruit smoothie from Luscious Berry Yogurt shop at lunchtime might have been a bad idea. I pulled my dainty necklace out from under my V-neck, held the heart charm between thumb and finger, rubbing it to distract me from the urgency.

  Sunlight streamed into the room, particulates floating on beams of warmth, reminding me of the freedom outside the windowed wall. Pungent male body odor forced me to wrinkle my nose and take shallow breaths to hold down a retch. It was so nasty I could almost taste it. Hello, stinky male, ever heard of soap. Angels shouldn’t stink, that’s just not right.

  “Elle, what do you think?” the professor asked from the front of the room. His folded wings showed such feather neglect, dull and unkempt, peaking over the shoulders of his button-down shirt. Shame on you, professor. He tapped his pointing stick to the marble floor.

  Tick, tick … Whatever.

  The boy in the next chair snickered! I cut my eyes to him, stretched out a white wing, smacked him on the back of the head and snapped out, “Shut it, little boy.” Chuckles and comments sprinkled the room even as a pang of guilt knotted my stomach. And I still had to pee.

  “That’s my girl,” Vyn, my boyfriend, said from the back of the class.

  “That’s enough,” said Mr. Stearn, in his low, end-of-semester drawling voice.

  Because the professor’s story had lodged in my mind, my gaze went over him to view the artwork hung on the wall above the blackboard—artwork depicting cities before the volcano catastrophe. Angelkind had descended to help clean up the mess. While staring at the artwork, I couldn’t help but wonder why we had to listen to the story, yet again. As if we could forget about the demon spirits that the storm of volcanos and earthquakes had released, I mean, all we have to do is walk outside at night and there they are, smirking at us.

  The clock beside the paintings taunted. The flappin class was two hours long, torture by a second hand. Just when I was about to voice my opinion, maybe, the second hand swept over the twelve and the bell rang out, sounding the official beginning of spring break.

  “Thank Source,” I said on a sigh of relief, then sprang from my desk.

  Students herded toward the door, chattering about vacation plans. As I joined the traffic jam of angels, Mr. Stearn’s voice phlegmed out behind me, “Elle, may I speak with you?”

  Ugh, what now? The fruit smoothie seemed to be out of patience with my bladder, and wasn’t going to wait much longer for freedom. With my books held to my chest, I spun around on my heels, clicked my way across the marble floor while my angel classmates nudged by me.

  Mr. Stearn lowered into his chair as I stood before his desk. He began straightening his mess of papers. The boy, Aalek, approached with a humble smile, exuding his brainy innocence. Dark hair flopped over his forehead and ears. His skin held a pubescent oily sheen. He stood a little less than my height, maybe five ten, in slacks and short-sleeved dress shirt. The poor guy had a set of small wings too. They would grow in a few years, I knew, but it must’ve been difficult for him, what with the shallow females and their affinity for large wings. Probably didn’t matter to him, though, too busy with his brain.

  “Elle, here’s your quill,” Aalek’s young voice crackled while he held out a feather in his hand. “It dropped on my desk when you smacked me.”

  So sweet, why did I do that? “Oh, thank you, Aalek. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

  “That’s okay. I understand. Spring break an’ all.” The corner of his mouth twitched into a blushed smile. “Um, okay then, here ya go.”

  “Just keep it, sweetie. It’s my fault. Write me a poem with it. That’d be so nice.”

  His eyes glittered. “Really? Thank you, Elle. I will. I will do that.”

  “Okay,” said Mr. Stearn, steel gray eyes lurking under bushy brows, “that’s a start, but you’re not getting off that easy, young lady. I’m sure your father wouldn’t want the Soepheea family represented that way.”

  Whatever.

  Shifting my books to one arm, I did a mental eye roll, adjusted my purse strap on my shoulder. Then wiggled my hips, clamped my knees and tried to keep moving in the pee dance.

  He opened a desk drawer, looked in as he said, “Tell me, Miss Elleria, do you think your sister would have reacted the way you did.”

  No, she’d have punched him in the forehead; the thought made me curl a grin.

  “I’ll see you later, Elle,” Aalek said. “Thank you.” He shuffled off to join the others. Near the door, he showed some friends his new quill. “Really, she gave it to me,” he said to a doubter. How could I not smile for that? So cute.

  Mr. Stearn bent over in his chair, searched through a lower desk drawer, no doubt looking for some sort of punishing homework. Sparse gray hair encircled his head, and the top was so shiny I could’ve used it as a mirror to touch up my lip gloss.

  Homework? It was spring break, how could he do that to me?

  “Um, can this wait? I really have to use the restroom.”

  “This’ll only take a second, just relax.” Another drawer opened. His search continued.

  Knees clamped tighter. Hips wiggled. Weight shifted from foot to foot. Oh my Source, I’m gonna die. Even as I scrunched up my face at Mr. Stearn, I tried to take my mind off the restroom, so I thought about the plans to go visit my dad at his home near Boden—a mountain wilderness city
. A visit with my dad would be nice, in addition to the bonus reason for the trip: Angel’s Closet, my dream store, had finally made it to Boden! Get outta my way, here I come. No, seriously, get outta my way. I need to pee! I snatched the paper from his outstretched hand and streaked out the door, heels click-clacking the marble at a frantic pace.

  ****

  “Why do I have to say this every day?” I asked Vyn as I stood in my dorm with an angel mantra paper in hand. Hints of feminine charm sprinkled the room. White walls with peach trim, a few inspirational posters hanging. My dressing table held various perfumes, creams, a small bin of hair ties and accessories, along with a stack of fashion magazines. The student desk held a scattering of pencils and open textbooks. A puffy down comforter and matching pillows covered my bed like a welcoming cloud. The scent of flowers infused the room; lilac was the candle of choice for this week, next week would be cherry blossoms.

  Vyn sat hunched over on the edge of my bed, elbows on jeaned knees and chin propped on fisted hands, eyeing his crumpled T-shirt that lay on the carpet in front of him. Scruffy dark hair fell around his face as he reached down and scratched his ankle. “You wanna pass, right?” he said. “Maybe you should’ve listened to the lecture instead of messing with your feathers.” When he lounged back on his wings, and clasped his hands behind his head, I saw the infinity symbol birthmark on the left side of his bare chest. All of us have the same birthmark, mine’s on my right ankle. But for some reason his looked, well, yummy, and I felt the need to bite it like a juicy apple. Jeez, calm down, Elle.

  “I can't wait till school is finished.” I reined in my thoughts, turned and stalked over to the second-floor dorm window, gazed out over the night campus. Cottonwood trees arched over the shadowed cobblestone path that snaked across the lawn, lampposts dropped pools of light here and there. A few lamps were broken, some flickering, others completely out. But a maintenance angel, driving an electric cart across campus, seemed to be on his way to fix them. “I just wanna move on with my life,” I said to the window.

  “I know, Elle, again. Do you have to do this every Friday night?” He blew out a sigh. When I turned around, he grinned at the ceiling, patted the comforter. “Come sit by me.”

  “Is that all you ever think about?” My wings flittered in frustration so I folded them tight to my back. “Let's go for a walk, c’mon, please. It's almost Saturday and I'm done with study. I need some air.”

  “Well open the window then.”

  With a slit-eyed glare, I folded my arms over my chest, spun around and marched off.

  “You can stay here if you want. I'm going to see Angie,” I called back to Vyn while I stood on the carpet of the walk-in closet, contemplating my clothing choices. I dressed in a white, knee-length pleated skirt; a silk bra; and powder blue cotton V-neck—the back shaped like an upside down T. After buttoning the shirt’s wing-flaps on each side of my hips, I pulled my hair from the neck hole and folded my wings to my back.

  “Hey,” Vyn called out while I debated sandals or flats for the walk to my sister Angie’s home. Vyn would often tell me I should just go barefoot. That’s what your feet are for, he’d say. No, not these feet. Besides, the shoe store Petals-N-Toes had always been like a friend to me, I couldn’t just abandon a friend.

  Sometimes I wished we could fly at night, to save my heeled shoes from wear and tear. Vyn, being a scientist, had once told me that earth’s gravity is so strong that we can’t sustain our flight without a constant supply of light. This is the reason angels had first descended in the daytime. That was well before my time, though, so I never paid attention to the specifics, didn’t really care. But Vyn likes to talk about stuff like that, so I listen, sort of.

  “You going with me?” I voiced out as I stepped into a pair of flats. After pacing over to stand in the closet doorway, I saw Vyn hunched over on the edge of the bed again. “How do I look?” I asked.

  He lifted his head. “We’re you even listening to me?”

  “What?”

  “That’s what I thought.” He gathered a breath. “I was saying. Just wondering about, oh, never mind.” His eyes went to the carpet.

  “What, what is it?” Was he finally trying to tell me he loves me?

  Vyn looked up. “Just wondering if it bothered you about my height, you know. I mean, we’re in college now and I haven’t even reached your height yet.”

  “Not this again, of course I don’t mind. Besides, I thought you liked where your eyes end up when I’m in front of you.”

  Vyn’s mouth curled a small grin of remembrance. He lifted off the bed.

  After I stepped over to him, I realized, yet again, the exaggerated worries of a male. Vyn, only inches shorter than my six one, stared into my eyes like a pet asking for a treat.

  “Go ahead,” I exhaled the permission. His blue eyes surveyed my curves. “Here, get a better look.” I reached out and pulled his head in, mashed his face to my chest with a giggle.

  Choo, he sneezed into my shirt. Not because of my perfume, he always sneezes when he gets, well, excited. I always thought it so cute so I smiled.

  When I let go, he stood all glassy-eyed and flustered. I pecked a kiss to his warm cheek, drew back. “Now, are you going with me or what? That glow you have could light my way.”

  His wings flittered with a blue-tipped sheen.

  “Put those things away, Vyn, we’re leaving. And put your shirt on.”

  He puffed out a breath and pouted. “Fine. Let’s go.”

  CHAPTER 2

  April air, temperature in the mid-seventies, perfect weather for a walk under the stars while enjoying the smell of fresh-cut grass. Vyn strolled over to the manicured lawn that bordered the path, buried his bare feet in the turf and let out a long sigh.

  “Wear shoes and your feet wouldn’t be so sore,” I called to him. Just don’t wear the pointy ones, I neglected to mention, no reason to fuel his opinions.

  Vyn ran up and wrapped his hand around an unlit lamppost. He leaned back and spun around it with a grin, his wings pushing a rotation as he called out, “Come here, Elle.”

  Shadows fell across the moonlight-spattered ground, as light worked its way through the canopy of branches above. The maintenance crew had watered the grass and sprayed the path. Moist glinting cobbles drew my attention, as always, so I kept my gaze to the path. As I pulled my little purse straps higher on my shoulder, a dreamy feeling floated through my brain, a blissful tingle arousing my sense of wonder.

  Then there was the voice again; the little girl voice in my head that always talked to me at the same time each night. I hope you can hear me. I know you’re probably busy but, um, I need your help. My mommy and daddy are gone. And the boys are teasing me. They make me cry and hurt my feelings all the time. I’m alone now. Please help me. Um, okay, that’s all. I love you, Elle, goodnight.

  “Here, Elle!” Vyn reminded. “You have to try this.”

  Vyn twirled around a pole like a fledgling on a fieldtrip, his wings following every movement. With a little deeper focus, I caught a glimpse of light on his chest, mag-netizing me for closer look. I’d asked him to put a shirt on for this very reason. He’d slung it over his shoulder to appease me, and now held it in his hand while he played.

  “Stop for a second, will you,” I said, standing on the edge of the path.

  He stopped, let go of the lamppost, stood there with a childlike grin, feet buried in the lawn. “Yeah? A nice night, huh?”

  I didn’t say, “Of course it is, little boy,” but I thought it, as the light on his skin rendered me speechless. I removed my flats, held them in my hand and stepped through the cool grass, then locked my mesmerized gaze on his chest and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

  “You’re lookin at my sexy, aren’t ya?”

  “What?” I slid a glance up to see his grin. Then dipped my eyes back down. When I touched a fingertip to his skin, it dimpled rings like a raindrop on still waters. “Ohhh.”

  “Uh, Elle, wha
tcha doin?”

  I looked up. “I’m sorry, it’s just— and you know how I love the moon.” My eyes narrowed. “I told you to put a shirt on.”

  A half grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Maybe that’s why I didn’t.” His eyebrows flicked up and down and made me giggle.

  “Hey,” a nasal voice startled me to look up as Mawlkon Boshaunn—a long-limbed drekavac—stood above on a cottonwood tree branch, leaning against the trunk, wearing nothing but tight black shorts over stick legs. Moonlight shone through tree leaves, dappling his pale gray form—skin wrapped on bone. He picked his jagged teeth with a fingernail. An oversized, hairless head balanced on his neck. Swollen plum eyes leered at us like some kind of sinister bug. “You guys weren’t about to flap, were you?” he said with a smirk.

  None of your business, I wanted to say, but snapped out instead, “Shut up, Mawlk.”

  Touching wings, flapping, is a demonstration of love, like an awesome kiss, though not allowed in school, something about public display of affection. But, whatever.

  Vyn gave me a grin, looked at me as if to say, Were we?

  “You know you two should be careful out here at night,” Mawlkon said. “You wouldn’t wanna end up hunter food. You know how much they like sweet angel meat, and you two look. Delicious.”

  My glare shot up at him. “Were you watching us like some kind of pervert?”

  “I was here first. If you guys need some hunter protection, I could do that for ya.” He hopped down from the tree. All seven foot something of him stood before us. He folded his dark wings back and said, “For, oh, ten diamonds. Whattaya say?” He reached out his bony fingers to shake.

  “Don’t touch his hand, Vyn,” I said. A mosquito found my neck and I brushed it away.

  “We can take care of ourselves,” Vyn said to Mawlkon. “Shouldn’t you be scavenging?”

  “Just finished a tasty little boar, short stuff.” Mawlkon sucked his teeth, lowered his hand.