I Have Friends In Both Places
Fifteen

The next day, contrary to what Alijah had said the night before, Atlas started training. He was taught what to say, how to act, and how to easily pull of a fake speech about how he wanted back in. He was taught the code word that meant to attack, and he was taught a few fighting moves that he wasn’t very good at. He had never fought before because he never had to. He was a guardian angel not a warrior.

His role was fairly simple; get into Heaven, plead for their mercy, call the code word, attack. Easy, right? Almost all demons would be fighting. Only the pregnant or children would be staying back with a small number of guards to keep the souls in check.

Atlas still hadn’t told Alijah of what he had learned, though Galen had shown up at his room the night before to fully explain everything. He was a bit in shock if he were being honest, and it was like he had no time to really comprehend everything as the fight drew nearer.

Atlas was currently laying in the library on the seventh floor, looking down at the first floor where Alijah was sprawled across the sofa in front of the fire. He was telling himself that it totally wasn’t creepy to be watching the boy from afar, but even he didn’t believe himself. Yet, he still stared on.

Atlas wasn’t sure how to describe how Alijah looked right there. The boy was completely at ease, his shoulders that were normally squared fell as he was by himself, unaware of the boy watching him from above. It was dark in the room as night was slowly approaching. Atlas had noticed how, to simulate the human world a bit, as the night grew near, the lights around would dim to almost nothing unless you intentionally turned them on. It was like their own little piece of the nighttime, and Atlas loved it, especially in moments like this, where the main source of light was coming from the fire lit in front of Alijah. It cast a soft glow against his features, outlining every curve and dip of the boy’s outline. He looked beautiful, but even that didn’t seem like the right word.

Atlas could never replace the right words to describe Alijah, because he was a complete contradiction to everything he had known. He could be the sweetest boy Atlas had ever met, eyes lighting up and swirling like pools of honey, eyes that Atlas found himself drowning in every time, but Alijah could also be the most terrifying being he had ever seen, with glowing red eyes and a fierce tongue, his wings covering corner to corner of the room like the elders’ and horns shining a bit at the tips from pure anger rushing through his body. He had only witnessed that state once, after overhearing about a few angels, and then a human on Earth, who had committed sins Atlas couldn’t even comprehend from how disgusting they were. Even so, Alijah was also so smart, street and book-wise, but he always had his moments where he couldn’t replace the right words to say or where something was. He was forgetful, but he always remembered the important stuff, and he was everything Atlas wanted, he decided as he stared down.

Yes, Atlas thought he might as well have never heard of the prophecy because it was inevitable in every sense of the word. They were made for each other, and no matter what, Atlas would have found himself falling in love with this boy over and over again until the sun finally exploded, and then a little bit more, because Alijah was someone he could never avoid, nor forget. Alijah was his sun, and Atlas figured that he was the moon, because if Alijah were to ever stop shining his bright light, Atlas would be shadowed in darkness and thrown off orbit, only sent to destroy the others around him. Alijah simply made Atlas want to live.

Atlas let out a quiet sigh and rolled over, facing the ceiling instead of the boy below. His heart was pounding, and his cheeks were filled red as he thought about the boy, and he was perfectly content to stay that way, but he was tired, and he wanted to go to bed. So, he pulled himself up from the floor slowly and stumbled his way to the stairs, trying not to be too loud and break the silence. The socks on his feet made that pretty easy. Well, it was easy until he found himself plummeting down two flights of stairs after his foot slipped on the hardwood floors.

Atlas let out a yelp as he hit the ground on the first floor. He landed with his feet in the air and his arms flung out, his back on this ground - more specifically, his wings. He groaned loudly as his head began to pound from the fall. He closed his eyes for a moment to try and make his vision clear, and when he opened them again, he was met with the sight of Alijah, who was grinning a bit, his eyebrows raised in amusement, but his eyes showed a bit of worry. “Are you okay there? That was a pretty hard fall, babe.”

And even though he really wanted to say that it hurt more than he thought it would, all Atlas could think about was the way the word ‘babe’ slipped off Alijah’s tongue effortlessly. “Yeah, I’m perfectly fine,” the boy squeaked out, moving to his feet. His head and wings were throbbing dully.

Alijah watched as Atlas scrambled up. He reached out to help the boy, but Atlas stepped away from him, a shaky smile on his face. Atlas was terrified to speak, scared he’d end up spilling what he was thinking about, that Alijah was his soulmate. “No, I’m good. I’m good.”

Alijah shook his head and let out a small laugh. “Atlas, your wing is twitching pretty bad. I’m pretty sure you’re hurt somewhere.” And though Alijah was laughing a bit, his voice also held a bit of concern.

“I’m fine, Alijah.” Alijah didn’t look convinced in the slightest. “I promise.”

Alijah rolled his eyes. “Well, your promise isn’t good enough right now. C’mon, let’s go get Galen to help you.”

“No, he’s probably already asleep.” Atlas was hopping from foot to foot, wanting to flee the situation and run to his room and fix his wing himself. He didn’t want to be standing in front of this beautiful boy with a few simple words sitting on his tongue, three words that he wanted to spill so easily, and he knew it would make him feel so much better if he simply said those three stupid words, but he didn’t. He just stared at Alijah, so close to holding his breath.

Alijah sighed. “Well, you need someone to fix it up a bit because I don’t want you hurt.”

Atlas bit his lip. “Why do you care so much, anyway.”

Alijah was silent for a few moments. “Because I- whatever, don’t go to Galen. Go do whatever you were gonna do. Sorry for being annoying.” And then Alijah was leaving the room, his hands clenched in fists, and Atlas felt his heart break just a bit. He should have just taken the help. Now Alijah was mad.

Atlas stared at the ground for a second before sighing lightly and making his way out of the library, making sure everything was turned off before he left. The halls were silent except for mumbling from a few rooms, people talking to each other as quiet as possible. Atlas stuffed his hands in his pockets, and he watched his feet as he walked down the quiet corridor toward his room.

Atlas pursed his lips as he approached his door, and he turned his head a bit to look at Alijah’s door. It was so close. He could easily walk over there and tell him. He could fix everything, but he was scared, so he simply shook his head and stepped into his room. His head was still throbbing, and he could feel his wings twitching, but he ignored it. Instead, he collapsed on his bed with a loud groan escaping him only to get muffled by the bedding. He was exhausted, mentally and physically.

He took a few moments to breathe properly before kicking off his clothing and pulling his sheets over him, ready for a long night’s sleep.

That long night’s sleep, unfortunately, was very uncomfortable. He couldn’t seem to replace the right position to sleep in, it was too hot and then too cold, and he felt like something was off. All he could think about was how he really wished Alijah was laying beside him so he could wrap his arms around the boy and stay like that forever, protected, but all he had were the pillows surrounding him and the blankets covering him. So, he grabbed one of the longer pillows and hugged it tightly to him, pretending it was the boy he wished so desperately for.

Even then, his mind was running with the thoughts of the simple interaction from before. What was Alijah going to say? Was he going to say the three words or was he just going to say he cared? Did he care? Of course, he cared. He had shown that enough. Yet, there was still doubt lingering in the confines of Atlas’s mind.

After an hour or two of turning restlessly in his bed, he finally fell asleep, and when he woke up, there was a small note on his bedside table with two pills and water.

’Angel,

I’m sorry for walking out like I did, but I do care just enough.

Here are some pills to help with the pain, they’re for angels.

Be ready by 3 for practice. Today is combat.

xx Alijah’

And Atlas might have smiled just a bit at that.