The normally blue sky was a cold gray, and there was no wind, no breeze. Ryan decided this was a good thing as he walked towards the edge of the concrete structure. He cautiously slipped his toes towards the edge, his brown eyes searching the empty alley below. He took a deep breath and wiped the salty tears from his face. He suddenly regretted not leaving a note. His parents would never know why he did it. At first he’d thought it was better that way. He pulled in another breath, his final breath. His hands shook nervously by his side, and sweat formed at his brow.

“Sorry,” he whispered to no one but himself.

Aurora perched on the lowest cloud in the sky, carefully watching Ryan. When she heard his last word, she took immediate action and swooped down to where he stood with his eyes closed, her white wings gracefully beating behind her. When she was in front of him, she arched her wings before swiftly moving her white feathers forward, sending a gust of wind towards Ryan.

Ryan gasped as a sudden gust of wind pushed him back, his brown hair blowing wildly around of his face. His eyes flew open with surprise and he landed painfully on the roof of the building. He closed his eyes and tried to remind himself to breath. He felt a tap on his shoulder and unwillingly opened his eyes to come face to face with a young girl, no older than Ryan’s fifteen years.

“Are you alright?” she asked nervously. Her pale hands played with the ends of her golden curls that seemed to explode in magnificent bunches from her head like a halo.

“I’m fine,” Ryan replied. His eyes widened when he realized what had just happened.

“Ryan, you don’t need to-”

“How do you know my name?” Ryan interrupted, his body filled with terror. Aurora mentally scolded herself. She’d slipped up already!

“I go to your school,” she said nonchalantly.

“I’ve never seen you before.”

Aurora quickly scoured her mind for a lie before answering, “I just moved here. I’m Aurora.” She smiled at the boy she knew better than the back of her own hand, elated to be conversing with him for the first time. This was her first job as a guardian angel, and she wanted to do her very best.

Ryan stood and brushed off his pants, offering his hand to Aurora to help her up. She grabbed his hand, quietly gasping when she felt a warm spark course through her body. Aurora quickly retracted her hand and stood on her own, making sure her wings were tightly tucked behind her back so Ryan couldn’t see them.

"How are you?" Aurora inquired.

"I'm good. How are you?" Ryan spoke this lie so often, he no longer had to think before speaking it.

"No, I really mean it."

Her reply caught Ryan off-guard. No one ever caught him lying. If they did, they wouldn't say anything. His eyebrows furrowed together, not sure whether he should trust the stranger or not. He quickly decided against it.

"I'm okay, I swear."

"Ryan, if you were okay, you wouldn't have just about thrown yourself of this building."

Ryan’s jaw dropped, and he swiftly turned and ran towards the stairs, fleeing away from the strange girl who seemingly knew everything about him. Aurora shook her head at her own stupidity and unfurled her wings, soaring down to the building’s exit. Ryan was running almost blindly, his tears contorting his vision. He ran into someone at the exit. His head started spinning when he recognized the crystal blue eyes that seemed to be filled with every imaginable emotion.

“What are you?” Ryan wasn’t sure whether he should be scared or intrigued. His panic grew when magnificent white wings extended from her back.

“Ryan,” Aurora began. Her voice sounded richer than before. “I am your-”

“Guardian angel,” Ryan whispered in awe. Aurora was emanating a bright glow from her wings, and it caused Ryan to squint his eyes. Aurora noticed the discomfort she was causing and quickly retracted her downy feathers.

“I’m here to stop you from ending up like me.”

“What do you mean?” Ryan questioned in confusion.

“I’m a guardian angel of those who wish to end their own lives because I was successful in my own extinction.”

Ryan continued to question Aurora, learning more and more about the mysterious girl. He couldn’t believe he had a guardian angel. Ryan was never religious, but now he felt the urge to learn more about what was going on above the shielded Earth. A kingdom no living human had ever explored was thriving in purity and peace.
***

Over the course of the next three months, Ryan and Aurora became inseparable. Ryan had never felt love before. He’d never loved anyone or had anyone love him, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to. However, being with Aurora changed his beliefs. If this was love, he never wanted to let it go.

Aurora had spent months studying Ryan from Heaven and knew every quirky thing about him. She knew he could recite the ABC’s backwards in less than ten seconds and could stand on his hands for three minutes. She was ecstatic when they finally met. Somewhere along the way, she’d broken the number one rule of being a guardian angel. Don’t fall in love with a human.

Late one night, when Aurora had to return to Heaven to get some sleep, Ryan laid in his bed, deep in thought. He mainly thought of Aurora, but it wasn’t long before the dark thoughts creeped in. Ryan squeezed his eyes shut, trying to drive away the pain. All the warmth Aurora had unknowingly given him quickly disappeared, replaced by the cold terror of his dark secrets; the anonymous hate letters that appeared in his locker every morning, the shoves in the hallway, the jokes about his dyslexia when he read aloud in class.

Ryan quietly got out of his bed and went outside. Before he could even think straight, he ran, letting his mind direct him. When his eyes flew open, he found himself back on the roof of the building he’d nearly plummeted from three months ago. He didn’t even take a breath. He didn’t even blink. Ryan jumped.

The sharp pain that stabbed Aurora in the chest caused her to shoot up from her bed, screaming in agony.

“Ryan!” Her heart had known what had happened before her mind did. “No! ”

Her violent sobs shook her petite frame, and she let the pain and sorrow numb her body. Her wings carried her to the only man she’d ever loved so dearly. When she found herself kneeling on the bloody asphalt, her hands immediately cradled the distorted body of the glorified soul. She spoke no words, just mourned in quiet misery.
***

“Ryan, Ryan, Ryan,” the resonant voice of God said with a hint of disappointment. Ryan stared in disbelief at the sight before him. He was in the kingdom he so desperately wanted to explore. Heaven.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“I have your first guardian angel mission for you,” God smiled, dismissing Ryan’s apology with a wave of his hand. “Go save my dear Aurora.”

Ryan’s very own wings extended from his back, and he flew to the sobbing Aurora, whom he engulfed in a tight embrace.

“Ryan . . . Why would you?” she cried, her tears soaking his t-shirt.

He thought for a second before stating the truth, “Because I needed to be saved.”

“That makes no sense. You can’t be saved if you’re dead.”

“In my case, I was. My death was inevitable, Aurora. I knew it from the beginning, and so did you. You saved me, and now I’m saving you. Earth is a cruel place for a human boy like I used to be, but now the world looks better through your eyes.”