Chapter 9

~Zayne Beckett~

At the end of the week, the chaos began. Allow me to narrow it down; all geography students met up in school at midday, got on some busses to the airport for an hour, then waited in the airport for almost two hours after organizing the plane tickets and we're finally on the plane. After the plane, there was just one more bus ride before we finally reach the hotel.

All students needed to be placed in our respected classes before we took off. I sat with Nadia as the teachers took registration for all classes. Once everything was set, we were soon in the air, in for a three-hour flight.

Momentarily after we got off the ground, Nadia and I were already looking at funny videos on Youtube. There was one where a dog came to look in the fridge for some food, but it didn't find any so it grabbed its blanket and went back to bed. Another one showed a guy, voice dubbing a group of raccoons on a catnip heist.

The watching of funny videos didn't last very long though. Carter came over after a while and asked to switch seats with me. Of course, I agreed, because he and Nadia were a couple. If they wanted their space, they had it. Sure, it was uncomfortable being alone around them at first, but they made it comfortable for me somehow. Either way, they would do the same for me.

When Carter told me where his seat was, I took my headphones out of my carry-on bag and made my way over there. I got comfortable by putting my headphones in, choosing my favourite playlist, and setting up a video game on my phone to play for the while.

"Oh, hi Zayne," I heard a familiar voice say. I glanced up from my game and saw Aurora, sitting in the seat next to mine. "Where did Carter go?" she asked.

"He switched with me to talk with his girlfriend, where else would he go?" I smiled nervously before turning back to beating my high score.

"Ah, okay," Aurora sighed.

As time passed by slowly, I listened to my music while playing the video game, not paying attention to anything else. The game was getting a little tiring after a while, unfortunately. I turned off my phone, leaned my head back, and closed my eyes.

I couldn't fall asleep on a plane, even if I wanted to. Whether it was burning daylight or freezing cold night, sleeping on an aircraft was not something I could do. The ride was going to be long, I knew that, but I had nothing else to do than eat baggies of peanuts. Maybe I should've downloaded more games on my phone.

Lesson learned I guess.

Instead of falling asleep, my mind wandered off as I imagined strange things. like people with horse heads, small T-rexes with huge arms, or even that giant floating baby head from Phineas and Ferb. I have a simple explanation as to why I was imagining those.

I have been spending too much time with Carter.

Every once in a while, I saw glances of Aurora in my weird fantasy world. At the times it had happened, I opened my eyes and glanced at her as she read a book, almost completely immersed in the plot.

No matter how many times I looked at her, she was nothing but beautiful. It made me wonder how someone like her could possibly exist. Until I remembered that she was an angel. A literal angel. But was she real? Was she just a spirit in the form of a human?

"Aurora," I called, glancing around to see everyone busy talking with their seat buddies, "do you think angels are real?"

She looked at me weirdly. She knew how stupid I sounded. I knew how stupid I sounded.

"I do believe so, yes," she responded slowly.

"I mean, do you think they are... alive?"

"...As in..?"

"Um, like a spirit in a human body. A-a physical body."

"Yes, I do think so," Aurora stared at me. She leaned in a little and whispered, "Now isn't the time to talk."

"You're right, sorry," I responded, turning back to my thoughts. Instead, they insulted me. Stupid.

Finally, we landed in a foreign country. It did occur to me that the teachers ever told us which country we were going to. But, then again, there were a lot of countries with ancient ruins. All the hustle to get carry-ons, luggage, and taking roll calls was boring, yes, but we managed to get on the bus to take us to the hotel on time. Thankfully, it will be worth it the next day.

Every class had arrived at the hotel and the teachers had checked us in. As I looked out at the sea of immature young adults, I remembered my teacher saying that someone anonymous was willing to sponsor the trip. I wondered who was wealthy enough to book enough rooms for a subject field trip. If not the entire hotel?

We were asked to get into groups of four with the same genders. I had refused to share a room with anyone else other than Carter, and luckily, both of us were the only guys left without a group. So we got a room to ourselves.

Nadia and Aurora had paired up but also had another girl with them in their room. All three of them together looked like the iconic - yet ironic - Charlie's angels.

With all the students settled in their rooms, everyone was ready to sleep out the night. Instead of doing so like normal people, Carter took a walk with Nadia. Since he did that and I was bored alone, I decided to pay Aurora a little visit. I wanted to know one thing from her since the night we talked under the stars.

I reached for the door handle and hesitated. My hand moved back and knocked on the door instead. The door opened, revealing Aurora in cringy pink and yellow pyjamas. "Zayne," she smiled, "you seem really talkative today."

"Where's your roommate?" I asked, ignoring her words.

"Hailey? She's out exploring the hotel." Aurora makes way, letting me in the room and leaving the door open. "Why would you like to know?"

I closed the door before I spoke. I didn't want anyone to know her secret coming from me. Who knows what punishment I would've gotten?

"You didn't answer all of my questions," I began, before walking toward her with a stern look. "If you're an angel, then why are you here? On Earth?"

Aurora bit her lip but I could've seen the honesty flowing through her eyes. "A star broke. I know it may seem ridiculous since stars really are just spherical gases. But, some stars that are solid keep allegorical worlds and different dimensions stable. Such as my home, Heaven."

I grew more curious, listening intently to Aurora. "The star has been broken into thousands of pieces and fell to Earth, and I had been sent to reclaim them all. I have managed to collect most of it. It's a little tricky to pinpoint the rest, but there is definitely one in this country and particularly near the ruins."

"But how did you know we were coming here on the field trip?" I questioned.

"I was the one who sponsored it."

I was amazed. "You booked the hotel? The flights? The tour?" She nodded at my obvious questions. "How? Is there like spiritual money or something?"

Aurora giggled. "Good idea, but that's not the case. I have been on Earth for several years. Over time, I realized that money would be the way to go unnoticed by humans. I decided to work hard for the money to legally get tickets to travel the world and not go illegally by... well, my wings."

"Wow," I gaped. "But if you had the money to buy the tickets for yourself, why did you enlist in school?"

"Honestly, I go where God guides me."

"So does he tell you straight up? Or gives you physical signs?"

She tightened her lips. "God doesn't communicate with people easily. There's just something that tells me to do this and that, and I believe that's how God communicates with me while I'm in my human form. Though, I still need to pray to talk to him."

"Alright," I nodded. My mind wandered back to her star situation. "Wait, what would happen if you don't collect the star pieces?"

"Then the universe will most likely close in on itself. Spiritual worlds will cease to exist. Planets will cease to exist. Every living creature will cease to exist. If I don't collect them, anything will become nothing."

If Aurora was a real angel, which she was, then everything she said would have been true. The world- no, the universe was at risk. I couldn't be more interested to learn more about these bizarre phenomena. A real angel on Earth, the universe colliding with itself, everything would just disappear.

Although, I didn't want that to happen. Even if I was more curious than a dolphin around humans.

"How many star pieces are left?" I asked her.

"There are five more, but it's becoming difficult to track them."

"What do they look like?"

"They have the size of small stones on Earth, but they have a unique colour so they're easily distinguishable from normal stones." Aurora cocks her head to the side, giving a confused look. "Why do you want to know?"

"Let me help you."

"No."

"Aurora, the fate of the universe depends on it. What if you can't find them all before the end of the year? What if the universe begins to- to close in on itself?"

"Zayne, I've gone on many dangerous adventures to gather the star pieces. Even at the top of an active volcano. The star piece was on a ledge inside of it and I had to fly in." She paused. "This mission is too risky for a human."

"But you said it yourself; God has a plan for everyone. If he didn't restrict you from helping me, then what else he planned for you and me?"

She regarded my words. It confused me to see her so lost. From the small time I have known her, she always knew what she was doing. Was she hesitating because I was vulnerable to the perilous travels ahead of time? Did she want to keep humans safe while on her journey? Or did she not want me to get in her way?

Eventually, she exhaled heavily. "Alright then."

I stared at her. "Wait- really? You'll let me help?"

"Yes. I feel that this is what God wanted for us."

I couldn't help but smile and pull her into a strong embrace. My emotions got the better of me, blinding me from realizing what I was doing. When I did, I forcefully pulled back and cleared my throat. I stood there awkwardly, trying my hardest to avoid eye contact.

"Excuse me," I said, turning on my heels.

"Zayne," she called.

"Yeah?"

"Goodnight."

A smile made its way to my lips. Without turning, I responded with, "Goodnight, Aurora."