My eyes widened because of the sight before me. The way the clouds slowly moved away from each other, the way the clouds seemed to melt to reveal the moon, shining brilliantly among the mantle of twinkling stars. It was like a show, a drama being unfolded before me.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Angel asked as she lay beside me on the grass.
“Sure is…” I smiled as I closed my eyes to breathe in the cold air around me while I felt the waves of the lake touching my feet.
We lay there for a moment with no words spoken between us. We listened to the rustle of the leaves above us and the waves by our feet while the billowing blow against our bodies. By the distance, we heard the faint ringing of church bells.
“I love you.” Angel said as she placed her head on my shoulder, her arm wrapped against my chest.
“I love you too.” I replied caressing her hand as we glared at the stars above us.
“Shall we go search for it?” she whispered as I opened my eyes looking at the strands of her long brown hair that was tousled by the wind.
“Search for what?” I chuckled. Angel looked at me with a smile. She sat up and kissed me on the forehead.
“Christmas,” she giggled as she stood up with haste, brushing off her thin jacket that exposed most of her thin delicate arms. She briskly tied her hair back with both hands.noticing that I was still laying on the ground. As she offered me her hand, I grabbed hold of it with two hands with some force that it almost made her trip.
“Who said that you’re not strong?” she chuckled placing her right arm by her chest.
“You did.” I laughed and she laughed in turn.
“So, shall we go looking for it now?” she crossed her arms leaning her face close to mine.
“Christmas…?” My cheeks flushed in pink while looking at her. I moved back a few steps almost tripping to a rock.
“Sure, what else?” she winked at me before moving back.
“But isn’t today Christmas?”
“I am talking about a different one.” She tilted her head to her right. “Not the one that is always seen in TV but different…like….like…well, something different.”
“I think I’m getting where you are going,” I laughed.
“So shall we start searching?” she clasped both hands and I nodded.
We walked by the banks of the lake humming some random Christmas song while we both looked at the stars above us. Often, the winter wind would come and tousle her hair in different directions. The cold bit through my clothing, making me huddle myself closer, a shiver running down my spine. I looked toward her lowering my head while I blushed. By her fourth finger on her right arm was a gold ring. Encrypted on its surface was the word, Engele.
It has been ages since I’d seen the woman who gave me the ring. I breathed out as I raised my head towards the stars. Who was she anyway? It has been quite a while since the school ball a few months when I met the woman by the bench. Heck, I was just sitting there waiting for her when out of nowhere she gave me a ring. That must have cost her something but why give-especially to me. And after that she simply disappeared.
“Frederick, are you okay?” Angel looked back with widened eyes.
“Sure,” I waved back at her before I sighed with the last words of the woman echoing into my mind. Please, I do insist you keep it. It will be such an honor for you to keep such thing and to give it to your date.
“Don’t worry; I think we’re almost there.” I nodded in response, breathing out loudly, kicking a pebble with my foot towards the river. Ahead of me, I took one more gazed at the ring. Ever since I had given her the ring, she had held the ring dearly. Each day I saw her, the ring was always there by her finger. Sometimes, she spent a moment simply holding it closed to her.
I pretty bet she’s happy that I had given the ring to Angel. Besides, on how surprised Angel was when I gave it to her; I think I fulfilled my promise to that woman. I smiled as we reached a steep hill which was covered in tall grass, blowing gently in the wind. From the distance, it almost looked like the waves from the sea. Angel struggled for a moment climbing the slope. I went towards her just before she seemed to fall and grabbed her.
“Come on, we’ll get there.” I laughed as she looked into my dark brown colored eyes that had made her slightly chubby face flushed into pink. She placed one hand over her small mouth and looked at me causing me to blush as well. I widened my eyes as I almost lost my gripped on her. Fortunately, she found her footing. Standing just below me with the wind blowing against us, she placed both hands on her hips.
“Aren’t you just the cutest? I tell you what, not many guys blush as easily as you.” She laughed looking up at me. I adverted my gaze away from her rubbing the back of my neck while trying to breathe properly.
“Like you said,” she said loudly grabbing my wrists, “we’ll get there.” Together, we ran towards the peak of the slope. Behind me, the grass had again taken the shape of the waves. By the horizon at the other side of the lake, I took my sight on the church with its windows lit up. Its bells ringing continuously as people walked inside of its front door.
At least I fulfilled my wish to that woman. I thought again raising my head to the stars. I had given the ring to Angel.
As we stood at the top of the slope, we gazed down on a large field before us covered with hills that seemed to stretch endlessly. I stood there bewildered with a growing smile appearing on my face. Above those hills was the twilight sky adorned by fixed stars.
“The first time I came here… I saw a falling star.” I turned my head to my side and saw Angel sitting on the ground. She huddled her legs so that her knees were touching her face.
“You know what, Frederick,” she added as I sat down beside her. “The night that the first snow began to fall, my father and sister died.”
“I’m so sorry.” I said startled as my eyes were transfixed at her huddled self.
“Heh,” she tried to laugh. “You should have seen me back there, Frederick. I was all crying and saying that I cannot go on forever. Heck, I had been a so desperate about it that I had even tried to kill myself.”
“Angel…” I whispered as I lowered my head.
“Hey, don’t get me wrong, Frederick.” She looked at me alarmed shaking both hands. “I would never kill myself but I was so desperate back there that I didn’t have a clue on what I was doing. But you know what-here is the interesting thing- before the eve of Christmas, I met this woman.”
“Woman…?”
“Yep, I don’t know who she was but she told me, ‘Do you want to see Christmas?’. At first I thought she was a nutcase. Didn’t she know that Christmas was all around us with Santa Claus, and Christmas Trees? But then she added, ‘Your sister will be there. She loves the stars’. Obviously, I was startled. How did she know my sister loved astronomy?”
“So what did you do?”
“I followed her. I don’t know why but I just did.” She raised her head to the sky. “We got here just before the eve of Christmas and by that time; I was greeted by a meteor shower. I really don’t know why but I felt at ease like someone had taken a large weight off my shoulder. Heck, I had even cried.”
“What had happened to the woman?” I raised a brow.
“I don’t know. One moment she was there beside me through this shower and by the next second, she was gone. But you know what? Just before leaving me she told me something.”
“What?” I asked as I pondered for a moment about this woman. I wondered if she was the same woman who had given me the ring.
“She told me that my sister and father had enjoyed the view as well and that they promise to be with me someday.” She finally breathed out a sigh as she fell down against the grass in which I followed.
“So…” I paused as I breathe in the cold air. “Do you think she was…an angel?”
“Maybe… I think quite so. I would love to believe it that she was one.”
“Not yet decided?” I laugh heartedly.
“Just say, that it is still too early. Soon, I wished. Soon, I may be able to believe.” She looked at me holding her hand with the ring above her. She spun her hand around looking intently at it with a smile on her face.
“I never did reveal to you what is Christmas did I?”
“Not yet?” I asked her.
“It is hope, Frederick,” She replied as we held each other’s hands “Christmas is hope from the heavens.”
