The Fallen Angel

It was a bright night, brightest one I've seen, they said it was a due to solar reflection, or something astronomic and scientific such as that, I didn't fully understand it, you see I was never good at science, I averaged a D all throughout high school, the subject never seemed to make sense to me, I knew the stars were magic, great spirits of the fallen, watching over their young, but my teachers kept telling me it was some kind of gas, but if it was gas then where are the spirits? And if they are as far and old as my teachers say, then how are they able to watch over their young?

This is why I never understood that subject. But I always made due, I passed my class and made it to graduation, but the only problem was, I made it to graduation alone, still single, all my friends are now in couples, but me, I was still single, in fact I couldn't even find a date to my prom that night, well mine and my entire classes, well also the year 13 from the school next to us.

you see Both our schools were having money problems due to the recession, so our prom committees agreed to have one big prom amongst the two schools. The only problem was that, neither of our school students have met, we knew no one from their school and they knew none from ours, even the prom committees only met through email. We all had our worries, our final good byes before university, and we will be sharing this moment with strangers from a different school. we wondered who they were, what they were like, but those questions did not seem to bother me much, but I was haunted by my own worries, would they judge me for being the only one without a date? What would they say? Will there be someone there without a date too? Or would I become the victim of a cruel practical joke?

I was worried, and a little scared, I even thought about going back home and perhaps changing into an older, less expensive tux, if I am to be the pun of a joke, then I did not wish for my new tux to be ruined. I started to turn back home, I called my mum and asked her to get my old tux ready, she did not ask me why, I assume she knew what my worries were without me having to say.

My mother has always been like that, very intuitive to my feelings, especially when I used to get bullied, I wasn't liked very much, I was pushed, hit, wedgied and worse, but somehow, over the years, those very same bullies came to be my best friends, I was never certain as to what happened, but I always thought it was due to the strength and courage my mum had given me.

As I began to walk home, I heard a loud honking sound, and I heard Sophie scream

"whooooh"

, I turned around quickly with an instinctive chuckle, as this long vehicle, white in colour and hummer in make, stopped beside me.

"Hey John, get in, we are going to be late"

"Ahm sorry Dick, I just have to get changed into my other tux"

"John get inside now, or we're leaving without you"

I started to wonder if I should run inside.

"Let me just go get it, I'll change at the venue"

I figured that was the best thing I could do, but before I could move, my ears fell prey to the most high pitched tone of all

"Get in now, or I'm going to tell everyone that you used to..."

"I'm in jas, just shhhh..."

It was about a half hour drive to the prom venue, and for most of the drive Jasmine and Richard kept trying to cheer me up, jasmine and Richard were my best friends, and back in the bad days they were my only friends, we were always together, like the three musketeers, although back then we were called the three geeketeers, not very creative, but it still hurt the same, but they were never physically bullied as I was, but I sometimes felt they were in more pain from my abuse then I was, especially after I grew immune to the pain, in fact at one point I thought I was invincible, and it was during this time that Dick and I had our talk

"Hey Johnathen"

He said to me, which was very strange, as he never called me that before, I saw his face, he had this serious look, it worried me, I had never seen Dick this way before

"Ahm John, there is something I need to tell you..."

I got worried and tense

"I think I'm falling for Jas, and I want to ask her out, and I wanted to know what you thought I should do"

At that moment I knew I could have said no, and how it will change our friendship, but I couldn't do that, as I knew jas liked him too, so I reluctantly encouraged them, although seeing them be a couple while I was still single, caused a part of me to die inside, but I kept it hidden, it wasn't as hard I had thought especially as it was at this time Jason, my old bully apologised to me. I realised one thing, sometimes it is difficult to be happy, but sometime you have to wear a mask, metaphorically of course, but this is the only way to survive this world, sometimes the mask has cracks in it, which your friends use to see through, but most won't notice it.

"We're here"

The driver said, as the Limo came to a halt, we walked outside and I looked up too see the moon shine brighter than ever, at that point I began to wonder, what wonderful things the universe has in store for me tonight...

"Here they come" Jason screamed

As we all turned around,it was the moment I had dreaded so, there arrived the kids from AIS , our neighbouring school, all those haunting questions came back, and I could feel my heart beat faster, my hands began to Tremble and my legs began to weaken, and I swallowed my fear and prepared myself to great these strangers.

I approached them slowly and proceeded to greet them, and to my surprise, they were all friendly and kind. I did not know how, but before the prom even begun, I felt as if I had know them my entire life, they had members from all social ques but weirdly enough, they were not separated at all, everybody mingles, everyone were friends. the best example of this was the two they called "the unbeatable duo" there was Dexter, a jock amongst jocks, kind at heart, fierce on the field, but dumb as coconuts, he was offered a sports scholarship in many universities, and there was his best friend, Jack the brain, he was a die hard doctor who fan, his ideas and interpretations were... In a word enlightening, the two of them insuperable, and unbeatable in competition, I had heard rumors about them, but I had never imagined that this is how they would be.

"Lets go inside, it's almost time to start"

said an unfamiliar voice, but nonetheless I walked inside and so did everyone else, we to the hall right outside the ball room.

"Please wait a moment, the ball room would be ready momentarily" said this strange, elegant looking man, I assumed he was the manager, but he carried no badge. I saw my friends both old and new, standing outside on the balcony, I decided to joint them and see what's what.

"Hey guys, what's up?"

That is all I remember asking, for before I realized, we were all engaged in a heated but refreshing discussion, and at this point I looked back up, and noticed that the moon had gotten brighter, I took no notice of it, and continued to talk, but moments after I said my last word, I began to smile, as my ears became blessed with the sweetest melody of all.

I turned my eyes and there she stood, this glowing, shinning, breath taking beauty, the sight of her reminded me of a poem by M.R Nazer, specifically the one titled 'A Glimpse Of Heaven', I have always enjoyed his poetry, their unstructured nature, made the raw emotion behind then seem real, there was almost no pattern to his work, and it seemed to represent the unpredictable nature of the heart, it always felt as of he too was in confusion unable to structure his work, if one was not feeling the emotions he intended at the beginning of the poem, one would by the end.

As I saw her standing there next to me as if she was new to earth, speaking, I stood there speechless, listening to her every melodious word, I tried to describe her, but for that I had no words, I thought back to how my favorite poet described angels in his poems, and I still drew a blank, she began to speak to me, as if we were old friends, I began to wonder who she was, was she human? Or was she something more?

I did not wish to think of her, for each time I though of a women, it always ended in pain, but this time it felt different almost destined, I no longer had control of my eyes, as they were slowly drawn towards her own, I noticed that she was also wearing a mask, I had begun to notice these things around the time I forged my mask, I saw how people instinctually wear these masks to hide their sadness, they do it keep their friends happy, they do it so they don't have to think about or worry about their troubles, but for some reason I could always tell when someone was wearing these masks, the biggest give away was their smile, you could tell it was forced, and it always seemed unpleasant and yet her smile seemed beautiful, radiant, it seemed to have the power to enlighten all those who were around her, and it seemed like she knew her smile had this gift and thus she never tries to hide it.

I always felt that my perfect women should seem like a delicate rose but must have her own thorns to keep her safe, this girl, she knew what it is she wanted, she knew exactly what she needed and she was not afraid of any mere mortal who wished to stand in her way, she payed no mind to any who might judge her, and it seemed this strength was acknowledged by all. At this point a quote by Nazer entered my head "she stood right next to mebut yet she seemed too far away for me to reach, I knew right then that I was not worthy, for I may be above those who made her hide, I was still no more than a mortal man"

"Hey John, Come on, let go inside, the two principles are starting their speeches"

"Ahm yeah, sure Jas, I'm right behind you"

I walked inside the ball room, it was magnificent, the decorations were formal, elegant yet simple, there were red table cloths and a chandelier in the centre a small dance floor and a dj stand in the corner, the stage where the principles stood was not big, but it appeared big in the room, they had a few chairs no tables and two mikes, with a giant projector in the back. Both principles took turns talking to their schools, they reminded us about the time we had shared, this was followed by the projections of two student made videos, with pictures of each of, I recognised some of the moments immediately, such as the picture of Dick throwing up after the eating contest, the time we all went camping, I would never forget that night, for it was the day I told jas that I would protect her as my own sister, it was one of those unforgettable moments, the rest was quite standard, nothing too important, this took about an hour of prom to finish.

When the projections ended people began to walk away, none seemed to want to dance for the dance floor was empty, I walked up to it, wondering if this was in fact a dance floor, for it had no one on it, I turned around to look for her, and as I was searching for her, I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder, my body turned almost instantaneously, and I saw her standing there next to me. I had asked Dexter her name but what he told me seemed almost impossible, for it was the same name as an angel that I knew, her I wanted to protect, but this girl, I wanted to join her on any and all adventures she wished to undertook.

"Hey, Jasmine right?"

"Yeah, hi, Johnathen if I remember correctly"

"Please call me John"

I noticed her phone started to vibrate, she took a glance at it almost and I noticed her smile began to fade as she walked away from me to sit down, I knew then I had to help get her mind of her troubles, so I ran over to the DJ stand and played a song that causes all my friends to dance, and as the loud music began to play, I started to rally up a crowd, straight on the dance floor.

"Hey jasmine, why don't you join us for a dance?"

"Ahm, I'm feeling a little tired"

"Come on, it's prom, everyone's already on the dance floor"

I got her up and on to the dance floor.

She began dancing with her friends but soon I found her dancing by my side, I noticed that she was feeling shy, I worried it was due to the message she received.

"Hey, come on, have fun, dancing is all about looking stupid, forgetting the world and not caring about what anybody think"

I did not think she would listen to me, but she did, she trusted me for some reason and she began to move freely, it was like watching poetry in motion, her every movement so gracefully executed, each finger in perfect symmetry, it was as if she was blessed with perfection, and for some strange reason I felt as if I could trust her, I felt a strange happy sensation when near her, it was almost supernatural, and I realised I had read a perfect description about this feeling before, in one of Nazer's poems, I knew right then what this feeling was, I knew right then she was no mere mortal, I realised why the moon had shun so brightly for it was the night angels share their blessed light, and I had fallen in love with her, a fallen angel.