Descent - Tara Fuller Page 0,3

would do the work I never could. The piece that would heal his heart.

April.

He’d found her crying on a park bench on a Wednesday, shaded by a willow, holding a crumpled letter in her fist. The stains on her cheeks made it look as if her tears were made of ink. He hadn’t handed her a tissue, or asked if she was hurt, the way most humans would have. Instead he’d told her her tears were beautiful. She reminded him of a painting he saw once when his mother took him to the Metropolitan Museum of Art when he was in the sixth grade. Her sadness had drawn him in, something familiar that made him feel not so alone. And together they’d done something I had been trying to do for months. They were lighting their own path, up out of the dark, with torches fueled by love.

And today all of the broken pieces would be made whole. Today Tyler was going to tell April he loved her. I should have been content to leave them to their fate, but I wasn’t like the others, who looked at each human as nothing more than an assignment, a temporary task. My heart ached to see this through.

If Sky caught me, she’d be furious. If anyone other than Sky caught me, I’d be cast out of the heavens. But it didn’t stop me from peering back into the waters and searching until I found the girl with pale, freckled skin and strawberry curls, stretching her hand out to frantically wave down a taxi.

My insides sang with glee, seeing her broken soul stitched together and made new again by love. I smiled and watched a wisp of her purple dress get caught in the yellow door before she sped toward her little corner of forever and the picture clouded once again. I sat back on my heels and stared into the glassy pool. A mirrored version of myself stared back, looking a little lost. Red hair floated around me like flames, and my clear eyes seemed to disappear in its depths.

After this I wouldn’t have an excuse to linger with Tyler and April anymore. I was going to have to find a way to let go. I was going to have to find a new challenge. A new way to fill the void within my soul.

Shaking off the strange twinge of discomfort in my chest, I dipped my palm back into the water to find Tyler again. He looked restless. Even across the great expanse of Heaven and earth separating us, I could feel his dread. His anger and sadness and confusion slowly erected a dark wall between us. He’d been afraid to take this leap in the first place. He dug his wallet out and tossed a few bills on the table before grabbing his backpack and slinging it over his shoulder.

“No…Tyler,” I whispered. “Just wait. She’s coming.”

“Gwen!” Sky, my best friend and partner, shattered my concentration. I quickly swept my hand through the bottomless pool of water to clear away any trace of Tyler and April. “I know you’re here somewhere, Gwendolyn. I can sense you. Stop hiding from me!”

I sighed and climbed to my feet, smoothing my hands over my white robe before waving my hand to clear away the cloak of mist. The fireflies scattered across the sky like stars, revealing a very irritated Sky on the other side. She swatted at a firefly and swept past me.

“What were you searching for?” she asked, peering down at her flawless reflection.

“Why?”

She turned, and her clear blue eyes that looked like mine were tired. “Gwen…”

“He’s going to tell her he loves her!” I said. “I had to look. And it’s a good thing I did. She’s late, and he might leave before she gets there. We have to—”

“No!” Sky held up her hand. Light burned holes through the remnants of cloud that surrounded us. “We’ve done our part. It’s time for them to move on. It’s time for you to move on, Gwen. This isn’t healthy.”

“Standing by and watching him needlessly hurt isn’t healthy,” I said. “Taking the chance he might slip back into that hole I pulled him out of, that’s not healthy.”

“Gwen…”

“Help me see this through and I promise things will change.”

She narrowed her gaze, looking skeptical. “How?”

“I’ll stop getting attached,” I said, already regretting my words. I had never told a lie. I couldn’t. I wasn’t wired that way. If I told Sky I would change, I’d have