Message in a Bottle

I opened my eyes and saw a beautiful woman standing close over me.

"She's waking up," the woman said, backing up a bit and giving me a better view of my surroundings. There were waves in the bluish green air around me and elegant castles far off in the distance. The woman before me was truly exceptionally beautiful. I could now see more of her perfect body, which was covered up with only a loose white top. Her white-blonde hair flowed behind her although I did not feel any wind. "How do you feel?" Her voice was distorted, but then I was a bit disorientated myself.

"A little dizzy," I replied, my own voice distorted as well. I asked the question that had been burning at the front of my mind since I'd woken up here. "Where am I?"

"You're in heaven," she told me. "Do you remember dying?"

"Heaven... Dying? What are you talking about? I'm not dead! I..." My sentence trailed off when my memories started to clarify. I was, in fact, dead.

"You remember," the woman said, as though to make sure.

I nodded. I remembered my death, and I also remembered my daughter, who now had no mother or father. "Harvest. Where is she?"

"Don't worry. Harvest is safe. She's being cared for by her older brother."

Sitting up, I demanded, "Let me see her."

"Collewyn, I'm afraid you can't leave yet."

"You must let me talk to her. I need to tell her..."

The woman turned, exposing the right side of her neck to me. I thought I could see it moving slightly, but the wind, which I still could not feel, blew past, making it hard to tell. A handsome man, who had been standing behind the woman, walked—no, glided—closer and said, "You may write your daughter a message. Ephinea, would you get her a piece of paper?" And Ephinea turned and left.

The man looked at me with an expression of sincere empathy. He sighed, exhaling bubbles. I frowned when I saw them, but the man distracted me by speaking. "I'm sorry that you didn't get to say goodbye to your daughter," he said. "You will get a chance when Ephinea returns. I'm Lynas, by the way."

I shook his hand. "Elle," I introduced myself with my middle name, the name everyone knew me by. "Ephinea called me by my first name..."

"We're angels," Lynas explained. "We know everything about you."

Thinking about this, I inspected him. He too had flowing golden hair, light blue eyes, and a graceful, angelic physique. Still, something was wrong.

"Where are your wings?" I inquired.

He smiled. "If you're well enough to get up, I'd like to show you something."

He extended a hand for me to take and helped me off the stone platform I had been laying on. I slid toward him, through the surprisingly thick air, and instead of landing right on the ground, I began to fall. Screaming, I looked down to see how high up I was and saw something even more shocking than an infinite distance between the floor and my feet.

I had a fish's tail.

I screamed again, and Lynas pulled me up and held me close to him. He waited until I had calmed down, then said, "Something they never tell you about heaven—it's underwater. And angels? We're really quite more like mermaids."

"So you don't have wings?" I asked, withdrawing from Lynas' hold.

"I have them," he said, taking my hand. "Come with me, and I'll show you."

He pulled me up toward the surface of the water, and when we were within ten feet away, he stopped and let go of my hand. Almost effortlessly now that I could utilize it, my tail gently swayed, which prevented me from falling. "I'll keep going, but don't follow me," Lynas instructed. "It's not safe. Just stay here and watch me."

I did as I was told and watched Lynas approaching the very surface. When he began to emerge from the water, two small white wings poked out of his back and expanded until they were nearly twenty feet in length. I observed in awe as he flapped them and flew around in loops. He flew until I couldn't see him anymore, and suddenly came speeding down and plunged into the water. He went straight past me and stopped a few feet below me, then swam back up. I could see his wings receding into him.

"I'm an angel too, right?" I asked when Lynas was next to me again.

"Yes."

"So that means... I could do that?"

Smiling, he said, "Not quite. For one thing, it takes a lot of practice, and for two, you haven't gotten your wings yet."

"Why not?"

"You have to earn them."

"How do I earn them?"

"Well," he began, "there are hundreds of ways. I earned my wings when—"

"Lynas, you showoff!" Ephinea yelled, cutting into Lynas' story. She made her way up to us and handed me my writing tools. "He thinks he's special, but all of us can do that stuff. Once you earn a pair of wings, you'll probably be more coordinated than he is." Ephinea winked at Lynas to show she was kidding. "Go ahead and write now. The quicker it's written, the quicker it'll be delivered."

I looked in my hand and noticed that the piece of paper was only slightly larger than a sticky note. "How am I supposed to write on this?" I asked.

"You can't write much," Ephinea shrugged. "The dead will always have a number of complications communicating with the living. If you put too many words, they'll be indecipherable by your daughter. Also, if it is addressed to her, she will be the only one who can read it. Are you sure she is who you wish to write to?"

"Yes," I answered and put the pen to the paper. I wrote only five words before handing the paper to Ephinea. "What do I do now?"

"Whatever you like," Ephinea smiled. "I shall take it from here. I'm sure Lynas would be delighted to show you around."

"Certainly!" was his response. Ephinea waved goodbye and took off in one direction, and Lynas steered me in the other.