L. Castillo - After the Fall

She went to the spot where she knew she could get the best view of Welita’s house. Her hand brushed over the familiar railing. Again, her heart raced in anticipation.

Knock it off, she told herself. Stop making a big deal about this. You’ve looked in on Welita lots of times.

Taking a deep breath, she leaned over the rail. The water was still. It was like looking through smooth glass. For a moment, she saw nothing but the clear water. Then slowly, the familiar small white house emerged.

Her heart slammed against her chest. Something was wrong. Something was off.

The once lush green and perfectly manicured lawn was filled with knee-high weeds. The flowerbeds that Welita so meticulously cared for, her pride and joy, were overrun with crab grass and littered with beer cans.

She slammed her eyes shut. This couldn’t be Welita’s house. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. Don’t panic.

She was obviously looking in the wrong direction. She just had to be more careful.

When she slowly opened her eyes, she saw the same small white house in the same place. She moaned.

It is Welita’s house.

Shattered glass littered the front porch, and the screen door banged loosely in the wind. Worst of all, every single window was broken.

What happened? Welita and Chuy would never let the house look like that, unless...the house was empty.

“No!” She wailed as she threw herself against the rail, leaning over as far as she could. The house was Welita’s pride and joy. She would never leave it. Her father grew up in that house. Something had to have happened—something so awful that Welita had no choice but to leave.

Fear stuck in her throat as she thought of the one thing that could pull her stubborn grandmother away from her home.

No! No way! Welita was not dead. There was no way that could happen. Welita had been in the best of health when she last saw her a few weeks ago. It had to be something else. It just had to be.

Frantic, she ran along the side of the bridge, trying to get a better look at the surrounding neighborhood, desperate to find a clue, anything to explain what had happened to Welita and Chuy.

“What’s wrong?” Lash followed close behind her.

“Welita’s gone.” She sobbed.

She looked at the other houses near Welita’s. They all had the same haunted, broken-down appearance. It looked like the entire neighborhood had been abandoned. “They’re all gone!”

“What? Are you sure?” He leaned over the railing and peered at the water.

“I-I don’t understand. It’s only been a few weeks since I last saw her. Everything looked normal. There were cars lining the street. The neighborhood kids were playing basketball. Everything looked exactly like it did when I left.”

“It’s been a few weeks,” he mumbled.

“Yeah, an entire neighborhood block can’t just up and leave in a couple of weeks, can it? I mean look at the grass. It’s almost knee deep!”

He pinched the bridge of his nose and gritted his teeth. “A few weeks,” he repeated.

“Why do you keep saying that?”

He groaned and then slammed his hand against the railing. “Shit!”

“What? What is it?”

He paced the length of the bridge, running his hands through his hair and cursing under his breath.

“I didn’t think anything like this would happen,” he mumbled as he dropped his head into his hands. “Stupid, stupid, stupid!”

“Lash, please tell me. You know something.” Her voice grew louder with each word. She grabbed his shoulders when he wouldn’t answer, shaking him. “Tell me!”

Tormented eyes met hers. “It was a few weeks...for you.”

She blinked, confused. “For me? What do you mean, for me?”

“Well, for us actually.” He turned his head away, unable to look at her. “I can’t believe I didn’t tell you.”

She placed a hand under his chin and directed it towards her. “Tell me what?”

He inhaled sharply and held his breath before he let it out in a rush. “Time is different here than it is on Earth.”

“What does that mean? Time is different? How different?”

Her heart dropped to the pit of her stomach. Oh, God! Maybe they’re all dead.

Lash’s face zoomed in and out of focus, and she felt herself falling.

“Naomi!” He cried as he caught her.

“How...long?” Her voice was soft, fearful.

“You’re in shock. Let’s get you back home. I’m so sorry I forgot to tell you. I can explain it all to you and then we can figure out—”

“No.” She took a deep breath and forced herself to stand. Now was not the time to be weak. Now was time to be the archangel she was training to become. Taking another fortifying breath, she said, “Tell me. How long has it been?”

“I never really paid much attention to time. We don’t measure time here like on Earth. I’d say maybe”—he gulped and eyed her with worry—“a year.”

“A year! I’ve been gone for a year?”

“Maybe less,” he said frantically.

She let out a breath. She should be thankful that it was only a year. She turned and stared down at Welita’s house. She had planned to sneak in a visit when she was given her first assignment. She had wanted to give Welita some kind of sign that she was still with her. Even if Welita wasn’t able to see her, she knew Welita would know it was her. She’d even planned on seeing Chuy, knowing that he too had grown to believe that angels did exist. Now, they were gone.

A sudden thought hit her. “Archangels are powerful. They can pretty much do anything, right?”

“I wouldn’t say anything, but, yeah, they have powerful gifts. Why?”

“I can find them.”

“You won’t be able to go down to Earth unless you are given an assignment or one of the archangels gives you permission.”

“But I’m an archangel.”

“Technically, yeah, you’re an archangel, but you’re in training. You’ll still need approval from Michael or Gabrielle, and they would never give it, unless it was to serve some higher purpose.”

Her face dropped. What was the use of being an archangel with power if you couldn’t use it? What was she going to do now? Tears slid down her face. “I thought Heaven was supposed to be a happy place.”

He gathered her into his arms. “Naomi, please don’t cry.”

She couldn’t help it. She wanted to be brave, to be the powerful archangel they expected her to be. She couldn’t. It was hard, so hard to leave a part of herself, the part that made her who she was, behind, her family: Welita, Chuy, her parents. Having them made her feel like she could do anything. When her parents died, she’d felt like she lost a little bit of that. And now, with Welita and Chuy gone, it felt like she was left with a hole in her chest.

Lash placed a finger under her chin and lifted it up to meet his eyes. “I’ll take you to find Welita.”

“How?” She sniffed. “You don’t know where they are.”

“I have a plan. Go back home, and when I return, I’ll have the permission you and I need to go down to Earth.”

Her eyes widened. “I don’t want you to do anything to get kicked out. I can’t lose you too.” She wanted to find her family desperately, but not at his expense.

“It’s perfectly legit. I promise. I can’t tell you now. Just know that I’ll get it for you. Do you trust me?”

She looked into his glorious face, and his eyes gazed at her tenderly. She sighed, feeling hopeful. With Lash by her side, they could do anything.

“Yes.”

Lash trudged down a worn path alongside the stream, a path he had taken hundreds of times over the years. I can’t believe I’m actually doing this.