Fallen Angel

I realised two things during the hike up to the viewing point. Firstly, I had underestimated just how high the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park was. Had I been more organised I would have known that Clingmans Dome was 6,643 feet above sea level and when Eva asked if I minded walking the last part of the journey, it would have been a hard no. This lead me on to my second realisation: I had overestimated how fit yoga actually kept me and I made a mental note to add thirty minutes of cardio into my daily routine, at least three times a week, as I panted my way up the path.

“Do you want some water?” Harry looked a little concerned as we stopped and he extended a bottle in my direction. I presume this was because my face probably resembled a ripe tomato in colour and I sounded like a dehydrated dog. I glared at him from behind my sunglasses as I snatched the bottle out of his hand. Somehow, even though we had been walking for the last hour and a half in the rising August heat, he and Eva had barely broken a sweat. I gulped down a few mouthfuls of the cool water and sighed happily as the burning in my dry throat subsided slightly.

“It’s okay, we’re nearly there Cass.” Eva said with a small smile as she took a small sip from her own bottle. I nodded as I gave my water back to Harry and sat down on a nearby rock to try and catch my breath.

“How are you guys not dying right now?” I asked through ragged breaths as I looked up at them just standing and waiting patiently. They both laughed and shrugged as Eva came over to me and put her hand on my back and began rubbing small circles gently.

“No idea, you ready to get going again?” She asked me gently. I groaned and stood reluctantly before gesturing for them to lead the way. They walked slightly ahead, talking about the eclipse, and I tried to distract myself from the tightness in my chest by focusing on them.

Harry’s muscles rippled in his calf as he took each step and I realised that I had never noticed how well built he was considering I’d never heard about him going to the gym. He and Eva seemed to take every step with an effortless grace that I just didn’t understand, while I was practically crawling up the hill behind them. Another reason that they were just that ‘perfect’ couple.

Luckily for me, fifteen minutes later we made it to a large clearing and flat ground. A man took our tickets from Harry and in exchange, handed him three pairs of solar sunglasses that were specially made for the event. We walked through the crowded field, being careful not to stand on anyone who was already sat, to find our own space.

“Here looks good.” Eva said as we found a little patch of grass. Harry took his backpack from his back and pulled out a medium sized chequered picnic blanket for us to sit on. We sat down and I looked around awkwardly wondering what to do.

“So now what? We just sit here and wait?” I asked them, raising my eyebrows. I don’t know what I had been expecting exactly, but considering we had driven for nine hours and trekked up a hill for almost two hours, I guess had been expecting something a little more exciting. Harry chuckled and looked at Eva who turned to me with a small smile.

“Well, yeah… In about ten minutes it’ll start…” She checked her watch and then looked back up at me, “…then the moon’s shadow is going to take about ninety minutes to cover the whole sun until we’re in complete darkness for around a minute…” My mouth dropped open at this.

“A minute? We travelled all the way here for sixty fucking seconds of fake night time? You’re kidding!” I hissed, my eyes wide. I waited for her to laugh and tell me she was joking. Eva sat up straight, her smile fading into a scowl. She shook her head lightly as she did whenever she was annoyed in public and didn’t want to lose her temper.

“Yes, Cassandra!” I narrowed my eyes at her use of my full name, “A minute! If you don’t like it, you’re welcome to start walking back now!” She huffed quietly before turning her back to me to talk to Harry. I folded my arms across my chest, in a mood, and looked away from them angrily. I knew that Eva specifically hadn’t told me any of this before we came because she knew I wouldn’t have come. What a waste of my time.

I sat there quietly, pulling at the grass at the edge of the blanket for about twenty minutes before deciding I was too bored to keep up the argument. Usually I was more stubborn than Eva and nine times out of ten, she would apologise first, so when I turned to look over my shoulder to see her still sitting with her back turned, I was a little disappointed. I crawled over and set my chin on her shoulder lightly, earning a small smile from Harry who was laying back on the grass with his arms folded behind his head.

“I’m sorry…” I said quietly wrapping my arms around her shoulders for a hug. She sighed and reached her hands to my forearms in a gesture of forgiveness. I smiled. I loved that about Eva and I: No matter how hard we had fought about something, we always forgave the other one when they apologised. I released her from the hug and moved so that I was sitting next to her.

“So… what do we do while we wait?” I asked with a small smile. Harry sat up and reached into the backpack and produced a pack of playing cards, placing them on the mat in front of me.

“You can even pick the game.” He smiled as he crossed his legs and I opened the pack and shuffled them.

“Hmm… Egyptian Rat Screw?” I asked as I began dealing out the cards. Harry beamed and rubbed his hands together excitedly while Eva groaned and rolled her eyes. Her attention span wasn’t good enough for this game, so usually, she was the first player to get caught out. We played for an hour until Harry won and then changed over to play Bullshit until we realised that we were beginning to strain our eyes to see the cards.

“Oh my god! It’s actually happening! How amazing is this?” Eva squealed as she shook my arm excitedly and stared up at the sky through her special sunglasses. I nodded and looked up through my own glasses, although I still didn’t really get what all the hype was about. So the sun now looked like a waning moon… so what? What was so special about that? I didn’t say anything though, I didn’t want to upset my best friend for the second time today.

I watched as the moons shadow crept ominously in front of the sun and couldn’t help the chills that ran up my spine.

“Guys, its literally a minute away!” Eva’s voice sounded like she was moving away from me slowly even though I was sat next to her. She stood up, pulling both Harry and I with her excitedly, but I was barely paying any attention now. I began to feel light headed and like I was going to be sick, but knowing how excited she was, I decided to keep quiet so I didn’t ruin her fun. The nausea got worse as there was little more than a sliver of sun left in the sky and my vision was going blurry. I realised I was about to pass out.

“Eva…” I whispered as the crowd broke out into loud cheers. I couldn’t control it as my eyes closed and my knees gave way just as the sun disappeared. I reached out for her wrist to catch myself, but I lost all my senses and I was in complete darkness. I couldn’t hear the crowds cheering anymore. I couldn’t feel her skin beneath my fingers or myself hitting the floor. I could see nothing. I wanted to call out in fear, but I couldn’t.

Slowly I regained feeling and realised that I was still standing and there was a firm hand on my shoulder. I opened my eyes expecting to be standing in the clearing still and that the hand would be Harry’s, but this wasn’t the case.

I was surrounded by a grey nothingness that seemed to go on for miles with no distinguishing features and no end as far as the eye could see. It wasn’t Harry with his hand on my shoulder either, but instead, it was a man that I had never seen before. He had slicked back ashy hair, a long thin nose and stood at around six foot seven. His eyes caught me off guard, they were opened wide in a way that seemed almost unnatural but they reflected real excitement as he flashed me a perfect white smile.

“Who are you?” I stammered as I shrugged my shoulder out from his grip and stared at him. He took a step closer and tapped a finger on my forehead before I could even process what was happening.

“On the day that moon veils sun from earth…” His voice boomed in my ears as his skin began to glow, getting brighter and brighter until it hurt to look. I shielded my eyes, feeling the burning heat of the glowing man on the back of my hand until it disappeared suddenly. I lowered my hand and the man had disappeared.

“…The exiled one, from his cage, shall have his rebirth…” I spun around as his voice echoed inside my head again. The ground beneath my feet began to shake and rumble violently, knocking me to the floor. A small crack appeared by my foot and I pulled it away abruptly in horror. The shaking continued, causing the crack to grow bigger and let a blood red light flood through into the room. It became hotter and smoke began swirling up and around me. I held my breath as I looked around frantically for an escape to no avail. The smoke got thicker, obstructing my view, as my lungs grew tight from the decreasing oxygen but I tried to fight it. I watched in horror as suddenly a silhouetted figure rose from the floor slowly, walking as though he were unsure of himself. He looked at his hands as though he were checking they were still there before searching his surroundings. I thought to call out to him but then noticed that he was surrounded by a small golden outline and that he might not even be human. I forgot that I was meant to be holding my breath when he faced me, because even through the thick billows of tinted red smoke, I could see that his eyes were a shocking blue. The angel from my dream. I gasped, but he didn’t seem to hear me as he continued turn on the spot in a confused manner.

“…And with his honoured brother, shall reunite, for one more battle, on the same side…” I jumped again, as the voice echoed off of the walls. I watched as another figure, emanating a brighter golden light, seemed to appear out of nowhere. He was silhouetted again, but this time I recognised the hair and build. Harry walked toward the blue eyed man who instantly took on a defensive stature and Harry mirrored his pose. They circled one another as though they were ready to fight. I was about to call out to Harry when the voice spoke again.

“…Seven have risen to play a dark, twisted game, to reveal inner truths and lead heroes astray…”

Just as the voice warned, seven more figures rose from ground just as the angel had. Only this time, something was different. They were not surrounded by any kind of bright light and they seemed to fill the air with ice and the strong smell of sulphur. I felt a chill run up my spine as I heard their cackles resonating around me and I knew they meant to do harm. Harry and the angel stood back to back now, seemingly trusting each other over the new figures that seemed to be closing in on them.

“… Four will fight, two will be lost…” I looked on curiously as two more figures appeared next to Harry and the angel. One was unmistakably Evangeline, her long legs and clean cut figure visible to me as she held Harry’s hand facing three of the seven. I was confused by the other girl though. I could see through the smoke that her hair was a mess, her small figure standing defiantly in front of the blue eyed angel, protecting him. My eyes went wide as I realised it was me I was looking at. How was that even possible? All of the figures suddenly faded away as the seven covered them from my view, followed by screams while four words danced around my mind. Two will be lost. Which two? I blinked and the smoke was gone along with the crack and the figures. The man with the wide eyes was back in front of me, his crazed smile still reflected back at me.

“… But to win this war, that is the cost.” He spoke evenly. Before I could say a word he reached out and tapped my forehead again. My eyes instantly snapped shut as I felt my legs give out underneath me and I fell back. Instead of the cold hard ground that I was expecting this time though, I felt grass beneath me. Slowly, the sounds of the cheering crowd filled my ears and I managed to open my eyes. Harry and Eva were staring down at me with terrified expressions on their faces.

“Cass? Oh my gosh, thank god! Are you okay?” Eva asked frantically. I nodded as I sat up slowly and Harry handed me my water. I took a small sip and tried to take small breaths, I was still a little dizzy. It was only then that I realised that there was a sliver of sun visible in the sky.

“What happened? Did I miss it?” I asked before taking another sip of water.

“The sun disappeared and suddenly you passed out… you were only out for like a minute… but yeah, you missed it.” She said sadly, reaching out and rubbing my back gently to be comforting, “Do you know why you passed out?”

“I just felt really sick and dizzy all of a sudden… I think I just got a little dehydrated or something…” I shrugged quietly.

“I’ll go and see if we can get on one of the busses, I don’t think you should walk down.” Harry said in a quiet voice as he looked around for someone in charge. His voice brought back images of the blue eyed angel and the dream I had just had. I could hear the words of the tall man echoing around my head as clear as day, making the hairs on the back of my neck prickle. Harry seemed to notice my change in demeanour, narrowing his eyes and tilting his head to the side, but he didn’t say another word as he left to go find someone.

Thanks to Harry, we were able to get three seats on a bus down the hill and I didn’t have to walk. I sat alone, a few rows ahead of Harry and Eva, staring out the window as the words echoed in my head. I wanted to understand what they meant, or if they even meant anything at all.

The first part was easy but the rest left me with more questions than answers. The day that moon veiled sun from earth was the day of the eclipse, blue eyes was the exiled one and Harry was his brother, that much was obvious. That still only created more questions though. Who was blue eyes? Why was he exiled? Was he really Harry’s brother? I searched for an explanation, but decided to just try and push it to the back of my mind once I realised I was just going round in circles.

As soon as we got back to the hotel, we started the eleven hour drive up to NYU. After stopping for dinner around six, Eva took the backseat to stretch out and sleep while I sat up front next to Harry. We sat in comfortable silence listening to the radio quietly as he drove along the empty highway.

“You feeling okay after today?” He said softly, breaking the silence. I shrugged gently knowing he wouldn’t be able to see me in the dark.

“Yeah…” I lied. I didn’t care about the actual fainting, I was too busy focusing on the dream that I had tried so hard to forget. He seemed to sense that I was holding back as he pressed on.

“Are you sure? You don’t seem yourself?” He questioned. I hesitated and then sighed.

“When I passed out, I had another really weird dream.” I admitted, looking down at my hands as my fingers fiddled with one another. He paused for a second before speaking again.

“You did? What happened?” He asked. The softness and concern seemed to have been replaced by a tightness to his voice as though he were trying to sound casual and failing miserably.

“This guy told me this poem and it had these… these visual representations, I guess?” I said, not intending to say anything else on the matter. Now that I was saying it out loud, I realised just how crazy this whole thing actually sounded. I turned away hoping that it would be the end of the conversation, but Harry seemed determined to continue.

“A poem?” He asked. I hesitated wondering if I should tell him.

“Yeah, I can’t really remember it though…” I lied again.

“You don’t have to lie to me Cass.” He said in the same strained voice. He sounded like a parent scolding a child that had misbehaved in public, “You can tell me, I promise I won’t think you’re crazy…” I hesitated, looking over at his face shrouded in darkness and wondered how much I actually trusted him. There was something about Harry… despite thinking that he had secrets, I had never got the impression that he was untrustworthy.

“On the day that moon veils sun from earth, the exiled one from his cage shall have his rebirth… And with his honoured brother, shall reunite, for one more battle, on the same side... Seven have risen to play a dark, twisted game, to reveal inner truths and lead heroes astray… Four will fight, two will be lost, but to win this war, that is the cost…” I recited back to him quietly. He sat in silence staring ahead for what felt like an uncomfortable amount of time. I began imagining what was going through his head: ways to tell Cass she is crazy; ways to get Eva to agree to put Cass in a mental hospital and ways to ghost irrational friends were my top three guesses.

“Have you always had vivid dreams?” He asked me suddenly. I sat and thought for a second.

“No, just every now and then I think. Most of the time I don’t remember them when I wake up.” I answered finally.

“Do you get déjà vu often?” He added thoughtfully. It reminded me of when you go to the doctors and they ask questions to diagnose you. In my mind, Harry was about to attempt to diagnose me as mentally unstable, clearly.

“No, every now and then… why?” I countered, growing suspicious.

“No reason… You should get some sleep.” He said and reached out for the radio dial on the dashboard, signifying the end of the conversation.

I closed my eyes in defeat and tried to get some sleep, but my mind was buzzing too much so I just sat there quietly while Harry tried to find a radio station to listen to. He seemed to be flicking through channels for all of the news reports, almost as though he were searching for something in particular and for some reason then stopped on the police radio channel. For an hour there was nothing interesting, until something seemed to catch his attention and he turned it up just a few notches.

“… Patrol car nearest to Trout Run, code 653, dangerous obstruction to road, officers requested for assistance in traffic flow and safety precaution…” the crackly voice came through the speaker. I felt the car suddenly pick up speed as Harry put his foot down. I then felt the car tilt slightly as we turned off the highway and slowed down. I opened one of my eyes slightly to peak out of the window and see what we were doing since I knew we couldn’t be there already. We were no longer on open road, and instead were passing by houses and suburban buildings. He drove for half an hour before we hit slow moving traffic and the car moved about an inch at a time. Unable to keep my curiosity at bay, I sat up and rubbed my eyes tiredly, pretending to have just woken up.

“Are we here?” I asked in a sleepy voice looking around and taking in the long line of cars. Harry’s face, lit up by the surrounding break lights, looked pained as he gave me a small, distracted shake of his head and tried to offer a small smile.

“Took a wrong turn.” He whispered dismissively.

Liar.

“Mm.” I hummed understandingly. I sat back in my seat quietly, waiting patiently to see what Harry had brought us to the middle of nowhere for. The flashing lights of a patrol car came into view and Harry seemed to sit up a little straighter. We crept closer slowly with the rest of the cars until it was our turn to pass slowly by the whatever the patrol car was blocking.

We both looked out of the window and I felt a small chill up my spine as a large hole in the road stared back at me. It looked exactly like the hole that I had seen in my dream at the eclipse… but it couldn’t be? Could it?

“Damn it!” Harry muttered aggressively, hitting his hands against the steering wheel as we passed and he began to pick up speed.

“What’s wrong?” I asked in a voice barely louder than a whisper, almost scared that he would tell me the truth of what I thought I had already figured out from my dreams. Instead, he looked at me with an apologetic smile and gestured to the satnav sitting on the dashboard.

“We were under trees so it lost signal and now it’s added another hour to our journey.” He said calmly before looking back at the road. I watched him for a few seconds, one word blaring in my head like a siren.

Liar.

Notes

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