Crossroads by Mary Ting

so
profound had been revealed. A secret that had been concealed for
who knows how long. And I, a mere human, was responsible for its
exposure. I wanted to tell them how sorry I was, how ashamed I
felt, but they didn’t even look up at me. Their heads remained low,
almost as if they were embarrassed about who they were. I quickly
turned back so they wouldn’t notice me.
    “ Are you an alkin?” I
asked Philip.
    “ No. I am one of the
Twelve.” There was a note of arrogance to his tone. “When the
alkins were found, a few of the Twelve Angels were reassigned to
Halo City with them. It became our responsibility to guide and
mentor the alkins to be more like angels rather than humans. That
was the day the Twelve Angels were divided. Margaret, Agnes, and I
were chosen to become their mentors. The rest stayed behind to
continue their assignments. Like humans, angels were not created
perfectly. There is one particular angel who has rebelled and has
taken many alkins with him. We call them the fallen. We don’t know
where they are.”
    He suddenly and gracefully stood up
and spread his wings. It was a vision of elegance and poise,
majestic and holy; a miraculous moment that I knew I would never
forget. I was overwhelmed by the beauty and reality of what was
happening. Part of me wanted to touch him, to be sure that this was
real. Was I truly witnessing an angel? Was I really having this
conversation? I was completely unaware of the fact that my eyes
were wide and my bottom lip might as well have been on the floor,
until Philip cleared his throat.
    Embarrassed by my actions, I quickly
diverted attention by asking another question, “What do the fallen
look like?” I was relieved to finally get to this question, seeing
as they would be the ones coming after me.
    “ You ask many questions.
You already know too much,” he said softly. I thought that was the
end of our conversation, but he continued to speak. “Humans would
imagine them to look like monsters, but in fact, they look like
us.”
    I was in shock. I had expected him to
tell me otherwise. “Then how can you tell the difference between a
fallen and an angel?” I asked with a worried expression.
    “ By appearances, you can’t
tell us apart.”
    A part of me was glad that they didn’t
look like hideous creatures, but knowing the possibility they might
be after me sent a painful chill through every bone in my body. Now
that I had that information, I wanted to know more about the
alkins.
    “ How many alkins exist
here?” I asked, eagerly thinking that I’d finally get the answer
that Michael wouldn’t reveal. Then I worried that maybe he wouldn’t
tell me since he thought I knew too much.
    “ There are thousands of
alkins who reside here. I would like you to meet the officers who
already know you are here. The other alkins are not aware of your
presence, and I would like to keep it that way.”
    Wow! Thousands, I repeated Phillip’s
words in my head. My whole body seemed to explode with excitement
and I could barely contain myself.
    “ I would like to introduce
you to…” motioning his hands, they entered one by one. “Vivian,
Caleb, Ruth, Paul. And you’ve already met Michael and Davin.” Each
was flawless. Their beauty was breathtaking, a vision of royalty at
its finest, and they all possessed a soothing glow in their eyes. I
had pictured them in white gowns, but they were wearing jeans and
T-shirts just like Michael and Davin. They were dressed just like
human beings. It was true…you couldn’t tell the difference between
humans and the alkins.
    Nobody said a word. There was an
uncomfortable silence. I became their subject, and they stared at
me with confused and curious eyes.
    Phillip broke the silence, “You have
to excuse their demeanor. It has been quite some time since they’ve
seen a human. We are going to have to monitor you from here on. It
is important that we keep an eye on you, just in case the fallen
find out about your involvement