The girl shot to the sky, trying to hit a bird.
Instead, she shot down an angel.
She took him home, feeling regretful and anguished. For entire days and nights, she took care of him.
He was beautiful as the moonlight. His skin was dream-like craved and his eyes were crystal-clear. He had big wings with white feathers, like a sign of innocence and manhood.
Soon, he woke up. But he still could not move. She apologized a thousand times, as she cried with joy when she realized he was not dead.
And he, in return, was able to see her at his own level.
Humans always seemed so small from above. Living small lives, facing small problems, longing for small dreams.
But now, for the first time, he looked a woman in the face.
Her eyes were dark, but not empty. Her body was delicate, but not weak. Her skin was tamed, but alive. A voice full of candidness as he had never heard before.
They spent weeks living a life simple together. Weeks of accidental eye contact and conversations that went from uncomfortable to intimate, as they shared their dreams, desires and past. He had a glorious and epic history. She had a sweet and passionate existence.
When his body finally healed, she dismissed him with a goodbye that broke her heart.
But he did not want to leave.
He left his wings and became human. He took her by the hand and embraced her with the passion of a newly discovered love. She could finally cry on his chest, put her arms around his body and merge his newborn soul with hers.
They got married and had children. He got a job. He became fat, his skin got filled with wrinkles and his golden hair disappeared. But he saw his children grow and get stronger between pleasure and pain, the right of every father.
He was there when all of them found their own happiness with the right person. He proudly took them from their first step as infants to their first steps as men. His life was filled with grandchildren, who brought more happiness to him than he could ever believed possible. He felt as a child thanks to those innocent and new laughs.
His beloved wife spent many happy decades by his side. Every moment was a treasure that he never took for granted. Her figure, face and smile brought him a satisfaction even greater than all he got from thousands of years of adventures and flights. A sky wider than the blue one above his head, which he knew so well. A brightness in her eyes that was brighter than the light of the farthest and most beautiful stars. A willpower equal to that of the fiercest of his comrades in battle, since it was born from a similar purity of heart.
She left him first, giving him one last "I love you" that burned his soul. He knew that day, with a serene certainty, that he would follow her soon.
Some time later, on his deathbed, he was visited by one of his old celestial friends.
Dashing, winged, young and perfect. He looked the same as he remembered. The old man smiled. Nostalgia filled his soul like a warm breeze.
The angel looked at him in a sweet way and asked him if leaving heaven had been worth it.
With a smile, he answered using his last words:
"I never left heaven. I just found it in another postal code."
@flashfiction