She Died

Point of View: Eros Magdayo

“It was nice meeting you, Eris. I’m really happy I got to meet Eros’ girlfriend,” Ate Risa said, her closed eyes like crescents and her smile pretty wide.

“Ate Risa, she’s not my girlfriend! Ugh!” I could only face palm, exasperated. She was always insisting that Eris, this crazy girl, was my girlfriend.

“What a shy boy!”

After she said that, she hit me on the shoulder.

“The fuck,” I just mumbled to myself instead of arguing with Ate Risa. She’s hopeless.

“Anyway, be careful on your way alright?”

“Okay, thank you again Ate Risa! See you later!” I really wanted to smack this Eris already. Ate Risa? What the fuck, she was acting as if she was already close to my sister!

“Yeah, yeah, now out!” I pushed Eris out of the gates of our house while saying goodbye to Ate Risa. I was going to walk her home like my sister told me to since it was already eight o’clock.

To be honest, I really didn’t care if she would get raped or if she would be picked on by the drunks by the sidewalks, but after some thinking I decided to just do it anyway as it’d give me some time to talk to her. I wanted to ask her about that granting me a wish thing after her mission or whatever that is. Maybe I really am going crazy for even thinking that what Eris said would be true.

“Thank you Eros for walking me home!” She grinned, her eyes twinkling and her arms swinging by her side.

“Tch. Hey, I want to ask you something,” I told her, my hands in my pockets as we walked together.

“What is it?”

“Are you real?”

“Uh… what do you mean by real? Original or made in China?”

“I really will hit you, that wasn’t funny at all!” I raised my hand as a sign that I really wanted to hit her, but I restrained myself.

“Eh…” She pouted, “What do you mean by real? I alredy told you I didn’t get it!”

“Before I start, how old are you anyway!?”

“Sevente-en!”

“Minus ten? You act like a seven years old,” I deadpanned, and she pouted. I groaned in exsperation.

“And stop pouting, you’re not cute! Fuck.”

“I’ll stop pouting if you stop cursing,” she answered back, pouting again.

“Tch. Are you really a genie? Can you really grant me my wish?”

Her pout became even more pronounced when I said that.

“I’m not a genie! I’m an angel but I don’t just grant wishes like some genie! There are rules, there are sacrifices you must take to have your wish granted.”

My eyebrows were knitted together in confusion, “huh? Rules? Sacrifices?”

“You see, I’m an angel but I wasn’t ready to be one. I died in an unexpected way, so I asked God if He could give me another chance to live again because I really, really, want to live again.”

“So that’s why you got a mission?” The conversation we were having were really making me feel so done already, it was as if I was talking with a seven year old kid that liked to talk about their imaginary friend.

“Yup. My mission involves you. You, Eros Magdyo, are a rebel. You like to fight people, you’re always mad and you always think that you’re a horrible person, but I want to tell you Eros… you’re not as bad as you think. You always tell to yourself that you hate everything but I know that deep inside,” she then started to point at my left chest, “you care for something, for someone. My mission is to make you realise that you are not really a person full of hate, and that love can also spring from that heart of yours.”

“You don’t know me- and you’re too close!” I removed her hand that was poking at my chest.

“You want me to heal your sister from her cancer, right? You want to believe in me because you’re hoping that I can heal your sibling right?”

My eyes widened at what I heard, “H-How did-”

“I told you I’m an angel, Eros.”

“So now, angels are mind readers too? What the fuck!”

“I can’t read minds but I have the ability to feel what you feel, Eros. I know how much you love your Ate Risa, you care for her that much. I saw how you looked at her with those loving eyes. Even if you deny it yourself, there is still love in that heart of yours Eros, I believe that there’s no one in this world who is purely evil…” She said, looking at me with sincerity in her eyes. I didn’t know what to say so suddenly when I felt awkward.

“W-What!? H-Hey! J-Just… shut up!”

“He-ey! He’s blushing! You’re so cute!” She giggled, her grin coming back.

“What the-! Don’t do that, damn it! Stop poking me in the side! Fucking hell, get away from me!”

“No way!” She teased me, continuing her task of annoying me, which she was successful at with even just her words.

“Try continuing it and I’ll smack you!”

She giggled, “fine, fine. I’ll stop. I’ll explain to you how this mission works.”

“Hey, who told you I’m interested in knowing?!”

She sighed, “oh come on, I already know you want to know, geez. I really can grant you a wish, including healing your sister, I can do that as long as we finish this mission in time.”

“Tch,” I huffed, but kept silent as she finally started explaining her ‘mission’.

“I have a heart necklace,” she suddenly held a necklace high, close to my face. The necklace had a clock pendant and in the middle of the clock was a black heart. Golden wings adorned both sides of the heart.

“And what do I care about your necklace?”

“Hmph, you didn’t let me finish, geez!”

“Tch.”

“The heart in the necklace is empty for now, but we have to fill it.”

“Fill it?”

“Yup, the heart on the necklace has to be fully red. When that happens, you can wish for anything. And for it to become full, you need to do good deeds. Everytime you do sonething good, the heart automatically gets filled. The amount depends on the level of your good deed, if it’s a light deed then of course, only a little will be added. But if you do a heavy good deed then a lot more parts of this heart would be colored and we would be much more closer to our goal.”

“So you mean I have to make that heart red first?!”

“Yips,” she nodded, happy as ever.

“Can’t we just paint it red?!”

“Wha-at! We can’t! Geez!”

“I was just joking.”

“But Eros, we only have one month.”

“Ha?”

“My mission time is only one month. In that time period, I have to make this heart fully red…”

“What happens if you don’t?”

“Mission… failed.”

“So you won’t get to live again?”

“Yes…” She sighed, nodding glumly.

“Wait, so we have to make this red fast?”

She nodded her head again in a very enthusiastic way, “yips! And as soon as this heart gets filled, you can make a wish and afterwards I would disappear and not bother you anymore because I would be alive by then and it would be bye bye already! Wouldn’t that make everyone happy?” She grinned widely, bouncing excitedly as her eyes sparkled.

“Wait a moment… are you really an angel? I’ll believe you and accept your mission if you can prove to me that you’re really an angel,” I challenged her, my eyebrows raised in disbelief. On one hand, this was for my sister, but in the other hand all this seemed so ridiculous and without proof…

“Huh?” If it were possible, then Eris’ whope face would be painted with question marks as if she didn’t understand what I was asking her about.

“Where are your wings? That circle thingy you have on your head? If you’re an angel shouldn’t you have that!?”

“Ah!” She smiled when she understood what I said, before she closed her eyes tight and…

1…2…3…

POINK!

“Fuck that shit,” I mumbled, dazed. If my eyes could go any wider than they were, I’d be amazed.

“Do you believe me now? I can’t show my wings because they’re too big, there’s a chance that somebody will see us,” she said, eyes glittering, her hands on the sides of her waist.

“I- can’t- what the fuck- I- holy fucking shit.”

I must have inhaled way too much of what I smoked and am now hallucnating, because otherwise how would I see a yellow circle above this crazy girl’s head?

… I think it was called a halo… What the fuck, maybe I should stop smoking from now on, since all the smoke must have messed up my mind, I though, gaping with my eyes wide.

She giggled, “alright, alright. I’ll hide my halo for now, you get surprised so easily you know!”

POOF!

Her halo quickly disappeared after she said that. She was smiling wide, and I om the other hand was still surprised… Although soon enough I recovered from the shock.

“So… you’re real…”

“Yips! One hundred percent original, made in Heaven!” She grinned, her eyes glimmering as she pumped a fist in the sky like an idiot.

“O-kay….” Fuck, fuck, fuck… Am I dreaming or something?

“So come on,  let’s start the mission already so we can make the heart fully red before the deadline! Come on, come on!” She exclaimed, jumping in her excitement and clapping her hands as well.

“Stop,” I placed my hand on her head to stop her from jumping around.

“Eh?”

“Let’s just start tomorrow, I feel a headache coming on because of you,” my head really was starting to hurt because it was still trying to process everything that was currently happenig.

“Go home first, I’m going to head home too.”

Aftet that I turned around. I didn’t want to walk her home anymore, I was feeling too lazy to do that. She can just go home on her own, she’s an angel anyway so she can take care of herself if anyone tries to do anything bad to her.

“Wa-it!”

I suddenly felt her hold on to the back of my t-shirt and stop me.

“What!?” I shouted at her, annoyed, before I turned around, “just go home already! I said let’s just start tomorow!”

“Where am I going to go…?” She asked, looking up at me with innocent, pleading eyes.

“Where are you- of course to your home, where else are you supposed to go!? Tch! Just let go of my t-shirt so I can go home already!”

“I don’t have anywhere to live in…”

“And why should I care about- ha!?”

“I don’t have anywhere to live in,” she repeated.

“Ha?”

“I don’t have anywhere to live in!”

“What are your superpowers for? Can’t you just use them to make yourself a house!?”

“I don’t have superpowers, geez!”

“What kind of angel doesn’t have superpowers? Tch!”

“I told you already I don’t have any!”

“Then just ask that… Uh, what do you call it again… That god of yours or whatever! Doesn’t he have superpowers? There you go!”

“I can’t do that either, protection is the only thing God gave me but as for the other things, I’ll have to provide that on my own, that’s part of my mission.”

“Tch, whatever. Just go sleep on the streets or somewhere else. That’s your problem, not mine. Just go to me tomorrow so we can start the mission!”

“But Eros…” She sniffed, tears visible on the edge of her eyes. She bit her lip, looking as if she was about to cry.

I just ignored her and turned around to leave, but before I could really leave, I felt something wet hit my cheeks… It surprised me and moreso when more and more drops fell down…

Drip, drop.

…it was raining.

“I don’t have anywhere to live in…”

The shower eventually turned into a harsh rain, making the roads wet and slippery.

My lips twitched into a frown. So what? Why should I care if she got wet in the rain!

I just ran home so I wouldn’t get too wet. Why should I go back for that woman anyway? Tch, she was an angel. She could manage being in the rain or whatever.

“Eros, it’s a good thing you got back before the rain started to pick up. Come on, let’s dry your hair,” Ate Risa gave me a towel as soon as I came inside, a relieved look on her face.

“Did you already walk your girlfriend home?”

“Ate, that wasn’t my girlfriend.”

She just giggled at me, her hand coming up to cover her mouth,”oka-y, whatever.”

“Tch,” that was all I said before I went upstairs and into my room to change my t-shirt. Tss! I just changed earlier and now I had to replace my shirt again. Damn rain.

***

When I finished changing my clothes, I walked over to my window and watched the rain go by.

“Huh, the rain is pretty heavy,” I muttered to myself while I gazed outside. The rain kept on pouring outside, making the outisde world look dim and a bit blurry. I stopped when I thought something.

“I wonder how high the level of goodness would be for helping someone homeless, especially in the rain? Hm…” I paused, thinking about it.

“I guess I do need to make the heart fully red as soon as possible like Eris said, since there’s a deadline…”

“… if for Eris she only has one month for her mission, then for me… I have less than month, according to what Ate Risa’s doctor said.”