1. GUARDIAN (or the story of a celestial ghost)
once upon a time, the angel took the form of a man. he spread his wings still, but only for the princess, only for her secret smile. everyone knew who he really was anyway, but words would not escape their lips. they knew what happened with mortals cursed by the utmost divine. ragged whispers, stark white teeth in the corner of the attic. lamenting shadows. sometimes they saw a pair of scars, elongated and starved thin, running from the left shoulder blade to the end of the spine. the twin grinned widely at the attention, bleached nightmares sparkling in their wake. people wondered if the princess knew about it. none dared speak to her.
and so peace reigned. ‘twas, until the princess bloomed one day. suddenly, truly, devastatingly; a bouquet of roses dipped in molten gold. a transformation unannounced (and perhaps unwelcomed. it is natural to be terrified of something you could not make sense of.) like any other day, she sat in the empty fountain and waited for her friend, her guardian. the queen was nowhere in sight.
she smiled when the angel landed, and what was supposed to be a graceful landing became a treacherous fall.
“oh, what have you done, child?”
shards of sunlight stabbed him in the chest, where a human heart lay asleep. her eyes bore into him, and his breath quickened, unholy; while his skin burned and ashened and peeled away. her warmth poured into his ribcage. (it poisoned and it mortalized, but never would she tell him that.) what had the angel been thinking? what was an angel’s last thought? blood was gray and veins were withering, the no-longer-angel knelt by the princess’s feet.
“will you stay?” she asked, dull-eyed, warm, warm-mouthed. the answer could not be heard.
all they remembered was that it had been such a nice, sunny day.
she never expected you, death dressed in sugar pink blouse and dark skirt. annabelle killed herself, people said; clarissa jumped because she was pregnant, surely; mindy totally ran away with that skank, i mean, who doesn’t know that?
you smiled and you kissed her. you had a brother, you suddenly remembered; he loved both of you, but he shouldn’t have known what that lipstick smear on the mirror meant. you knew she knew, you remembered; and you loved her. none mattered anymore. you told her, “come with me,” and she had agreed.
red was the color on her cheeks when she let the earth hugged you into dreams. you were not surprised. you returned to the underworld, eventually, ribcage hollow. you waited.
HEADCANON MEME | ACCEPTING
