On Angels Wings

Chapter 1

Susie closed her eyes and sighed with pleasure, her head tilting back so she could feel the cool, soothing breeze blowing on her face and through her long blonde hair. She bounced up and down, the cloud she was sitting on feeling soft and squishy underneath her.
“This is the life,” Susie whispered happily to herself. “Or death,” she corrected, swinging her bare feet a little.
She leaned forward and gazed down beneath her feet at the endless blue abyss below. Susie felt that she would never get used to looking down from the clouds and seeing nothing at all instead of lush, rolling fields, wild blue oceans or snow-capped mountains. Even though she had been in Heaven for sixty-six years now, it still fascinated her.
Susie frowned and tapped her fingers on the springy surface of the cloud she was sat on. She got the feeling that she was forgetting something but just couldn't quite but her finger on what it was.
“Ah crud!” Susie shouted suddenly and leapt to her feet. Her feathered wings flapped quickly to keep her balance as she tottered precariously on the edge of the cloud.
Not that falling would do anything, the abyss below tended to repeat over and if she fell, she would eventually end up in this precise spot. Still it would take a while and Susie had suddenly remembered that she didn’t have a while to waste.
It was graduation, graduation from the Angels Academy where she was supposed to receive her halo marking her as a newly graduated Guardian Angel.
She pulled her sandals onto her bare feet and flapped her wings hopefully a few times, letting out a sigh of disappointment when she failed to take off.
“Stupid wings,” Susie muttered under her breath. Her wings never seemed to work for her. Most of the other angels could fly, even some of the younger ones, but Susie had never gotten the hang of it.
To relieve her frustrations Susie aimed a kick at a clump of cloud. She watched it curiously as the piece of cloud floated gracefully away. Susie couldn’t help but wonder where it would end up. Would it just float around Heaven forever? Would it attach itself to another, larger cloud? Or would it perhaps stop floating and grow, soon getting to the size of some of its giant brother and sister clouds?
Susie quickly shook her head to stir herself from these distracting thoughts as once again she remembered she had her graduation to attend too.
She cast one last look at the clump of cloud floating happily away before turning around and darting off up the marble steps set into the clouds behind her.
Luckily, the Angel Academy wasn’t too far away and Susie reached the huge, cathedral-like building in no-time at all.
The Academy was a beautiful place, Susie thought. Stretching high into the clear blue sky, made entirely out of marble, decorated with solid gold trimmings and surrounded by statues of the greatest Saints and Angels, Susie loved the place and felt proud to have studied here.
She took a few seconds to straighten her hair and smooth down her white graduation dress before trotting up the marble steps. Cautiously she inched open the oak door and risked a peek inside.
“Crud,” Susie said again upon seeing that already the grand hall was full of row upon row of Angels.. Each stood proudly as they listened to the Archangel addressing the graduates.
As slowly as she could, Susie pushed open the door, taking great care to stop it from creaking and giving away her presence. Hopefully, she could sneak inside and take her place before anybody noticed she was late.
She hunched down to make herself as small as possible, not a difficult feat due to her small size and walking on her tip-toes so as not to make any noise, Susie crept inside.
“Shhh!” she hissed, placing a finger to her lips as a plump female Angel gave her a disapproving stare.
“Susie!” A voice boomed suddenly. Susie jumped and stumbled backwards causing a male Angel to cry out in pain as the heel of her sandal pressed down on his toe.
“Sorry,” Susie said quickly, turning around to flash the Angel her best apologetic smile.
“Watch it!” Another Angel hissed, getting a mouthful of feathers as Susie’ wings buffeted her in the face.
“Sorry!” Susie said again and spun around to apologize to this Angel, accidentally treading on the male Angels toes again in the process.
“Susie!” the voice boomed again.
Susie froze and looked nervously up at the speaker, The Archangel Zadkiel.
“You’re late,” the Archangel said. Although his voice was stern, Susie saw a twinkle in his blue eyes and that the corners of his mouth were twitching.
“I’m sorry,” Susie said quickly. “I was erm…on my cloud thinking about stuff and kinda…lost track of time.”
Zadkiel smiled and gestured towards a row of white-clad angels, in the middle of which was a single empty seat. “Do not worry Susie,” he said kindly. “Just try and take your seat without…” he trailed off, apparently trying to think of the correct words.
“Doing anything clumsy?” an Angel in the back row suggested to a few muffled giggles from some of the others.
Susie glared at the speaker and stuck her tongue out at him. “I’m not clumsy,” she said, lifting her head up and sticking her nose in the air in what she thought was a dignified manner.
Susie made sure to take great care as she scooted down the row of angels. She didn’t want to tread on any toes or bump into anybody with her wings in case it made the others laugh at her again. Luckily, she made it to her seat without any mishaps and squeezed into the gap.
“Now, if I may continue?” Zadkiel fixed his clear blue eyes on Susie and raised his eyebrows.
Susie smiled and gave him the thumbs up.
“As I was saying, being a Guardian Angel is no easy task. You will be responsible for your human. Responsible to ensure they remain safe from harm, safe from suffering, safe from illness…” Zadkiel said.
Susie pursed her lips and lifted her gaze to the mosaic depicting Adam, Eve and the Serpent on the ceiling of the hall. Already her attention was ebbing and she started to daydream about herself protecting somebody.
Maybe if I protect them from something really nasty like a Demon or a Dragon, I can become a Saint? Susie grinned as the thought popped into her head. Saint Susie, it had quite a ring to it or so she thought.
Maybe once I’ve guarded a normal person successfully, I can get a promotion? I’ve always wanted to be a Seraphim. Now a vision of herself standing proudly behind Gods throne, actually tending to the All Mighty himself, appeared in her mind.
Becoming a Seraphim was the hopes and dreams of even the lowliest Angel and it was a position that very few ever attained. Even then, it was only after thousands of years of servitude.
Still, Susie supposed where there was a will there was a way and if she put her mind to it, she felt confident that she would one day be one of the Seraphim.
She blinked and quickly shook her head as she felt a sharp prod on her back. “Susie,” the red-haired Angel next to her whispered and nodded her head towards the Archangel Zadkiel.
“Erm…Sorry, what was the question?” Susie asked, realizing that Zadkiel was gazing expectantly at her.
Zadkiel laughed. “There was no question Susie. It is merely time for you to come and collect you’re Halo,” he said, raising the golden ring up for her to see.
Susie blushed, silently cursing herself for her lack of concentration, as she eased her way through the rows of seated Angels.
“Sorry.” She folded her wings close to her back to stop them from bumping into anybody.
She smoothed down her long white dress and hurried towards Zadkiel.
“Susie,” he said kindly, his eyes twinkling merrily.
Susie remembered the tradition and dropped to one knee in front of him, her neck bending to expose the top of her head to Zadkiel.
“Susie, you are of course the youngest graduate this year.”
Susie grinned with pleasure at Zadkiel’s words.
“It is with great pride and the deepest pleasure that I present to you your halo, the sign of the Guardian Angel and a Symbol of your place in the Third Sphere Angelic Choir.”
She felt a tingling on her scalp as the Archangel Zadkiel placed the halo on her crown. It gently brushed against her blonde hair before rising to its correct place, floating 4 inches above her head.
“You may now rise,” Zadkiel said and Susie did so.
She leapt to her feet and let out a cheer of excitement. “My very own halo!” she crowed, giving the golden ring a prod with her finger. The mere touch sent a pleasant shiver down her spine.
She shuffled her feet and flapped her wings in a form of victory dance. All shame that she might feel at doing this in front of other Angels was temporarily gone, such was her excitement at finally graduating from the academy and earning her halo.
Paying no attention to the odd giggle and the few “awww’s” that followed her little dance, Susie returned to her seat, a broad smile on her face. She just couldn’t wait to go and show off her new Halo to everybody else and especially her favourite being in Heaven, St. Peter!