I Have Friends In Both Places

It had been two years since that day, and Atlas found himself befriending the human boy named Galen. In the beginning, it was strange, the two living together. Galen found it even stranger after Atlas explained he had been watching over Galen since the human was born, recounting the c-section birth like the back of his hand. The day had been a mess from the start, and Atlas knew this would be the human he would stay by.

The day Galen was born, they were in the middle of nowhere on a road trip, barely making it to the hospital before his mother passed out. The doctor on duty had passed out from low blood sugar, and the only other doctor was three-hundred miles away on a job. The small hospital never had to worry about something like that until that day. After another hour of his mother trying to push the baby out, they decided to get a c-section as to not hurt the mother or baby after more issues came up. The surgery was performed by two nurses and a college intern who had only been in school for a year and was only there for the credits he needed.

Galen was the healthiest little boy they had seen though. He hadn’t even cried out as a baby. He simply laughed and looked around with wonder, and it made Atlas happy he had been chosen for the job.

Galen was a hard child to look after, though. The boy was always curious, and he found himself discovering more about the world than most people did in their lifetimes. Galen found the supernatural community of his small town, and he was being trained by a druid to become one. He was something special.

The main thing Galen had always been curious of, though, was mythology and religion. When he was growing up, his mother would tell him the child versions of Greek and Norse mythological stories. Sometimes she would talk about Christianity or Wicca, but it always kept Galen listening. The boy would spend hours in the library reading the stories when he was in middle and high school. However, he had always been drawn towards the angels of stories. Valkyries, Guardian angels, demons, and anything in between filled notebook upon notebook in his room.

When Galen was gifted with the power of sight, he was absolutely delighted and made Atlas tell him every story about them he knew. Atlas was happy to oblige, proud of his heritage and proud to have such a dedicated friend.

Atlas only wished the friendship could have lasted longer, but he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. Atlas told two of his best friends who he looked up to a lot.

Jameson and Jackson were older than him, so they knew more, and they had taken him under their wings, literally. When Atlas had met them, he was only three years old. He had run into the two, running from two bullies. The two had wrapped their wings around him to hide him. From then, they had watched over Atlas with a careful eye.

Atlas, however, had made the mistake of trusting them with something as big as befriending a human. It had been a Thursday night in the middle of fall for the human world. The three were sitting in Montreal, their humans all asleep for the night with no harm coming in the near distant future. They had their wings spread out widely, flexing them for the first time all day. The brown, dark blue, and bright yellow seemed to blend together effortlessly.

Jameson was talking about what his human, Erica, had been doing all day. She had ended up in the hospital because when he tried to stop the robber, he tripped over his own feet and didn’t make it to her until she had already been stabbed. Of course, she was fine now, but it had been a huge scare for him.

“What about you, Atlas? What’s happening with your guy, Galen.” Jackson looked over with a reassuring grin.

Atlas fumbled with his hands for a second, wanting to tell them the truth. “Can I tell you guys something? It’s something you can’t tell anyone else.”

Jackson’s eyebrows furrowed in questioning. “How bad can it be?”

“Oh, bad. Atlas never gets in trouble, so this has got to be good,” Jameson responded. “C’mon. Tell us!”

Atlas took a deep breath before letting it tumble out, clenching his hands into fists. “I may or may not have actual contact with Galen, and we may or may not have been literally talking to each other for over two years now.” He let out a deep sigh after. His chest felt lighter as the secret he had been carrying left.

Immediately, Jameson let out a loud guffaw and snorted, leaning forward as laughed loudly. Jackson, however, looked utterly shocked, his eyes wide and lips forming an o. Atlas let a shaky smile take over his face as he placed his hand on Jackson’s shoulder.

“Are you okay, Jackson,” Atlas questioned.

Jameson cut in before Jackson could say anything, laughing in between his words as he spoke. “This- This is everything. Oh my goodness. Jackson, I knew it would be something like this. I knew it!”

Jackson shook his head. “What are you talking about? That’s not even possible, and how could you hide it for so long?”

Atlas shrugged his shoulders and looked down at his hands, sad about how they were reacting. “Uhm, Galen found this spell to do it, and I- I don’t really know how it happened, but it did.”

“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Jackson questioned, his eyes holding concern.

Atlas sighed and shrugged his shoulders again. “Because I know you’re about to do something drastic; I can already tell. I’m about to get in major trouble, and I can’t stop you, but I couldn’t keep it on my chest anymore.”

Jackson went silent while Jameson spoke up. “Well, duh we’re going to tell someone! That’s a huge rule, dude! You’re going to, like, go to freaking jail or something!” He paused for a second, his face twisting in confusion. “Wait, what’s the punishment for that?”

“I- I don’t know, but I can’t keep this, Atlas. I’m sorry. I have to go,” Jackson mumbled, shaking his head back and forth.

“Wait-“ Atlas started, but Jackson quickly disappeared, flying back up to Heaven. Atlas’s shoulders slumped in disappointment. “Wait.”

Jameson cleared his throat and gave Atlas an encouraging smile. “Don’t worry. I’m sure the punishment won’t be that bad. I mean, you were only talking to him. It’s not like you fell in love or something.”

Atlas nodded and thanked Jameson quietly before standing up, brushing off his pants. “I guess I should go say goodbye to Galen.”

“Yeah, it’ll probably be one of the last times you get to considering they’ll probably reassign you to another human after your punishment.”

Atlas nodded and looked around at the world around him. “I’ll, uh, see you later, then.”

“Bye, Atlas.”

Then, Atlas was gone, flying across the world to California. When he arrived at Galen’s house, the boy was passed out on his couch, a half-empty bottle of gin beside him. Galen often had terrible nightmares that left him screaming and crying in the middle of the night to the point where he refused to sleep no matter how much Atlas told him to.

After days of experimenting on what could help, they discovered that if Galen drank just enough to become a bit tipsy, he could fall asleep for hours without dreaming and wake up just fine the next day. Galen was hesitant at first, questioning if doing that was a sin, but Atlas, after thinking about how hypocritical that was since he had committed some major sins already including witchcraft, explained that drinking was okay as long as he didn’t use it as an excuse to sin.

From then on, Galen had used gin or wine to fall asleep, and he hadn’t had a bad night in almost a year.

So, Atlas was hesitant to wake up the boy, but he knew he needed to say his goodbyes. He placed his hand on the younger boy’s shoulder, shaking him awake slowly. “Galen, man, wake up.”

Galen grunted and rolled over, almost falling off the couch. “Atlas? What are you doing,” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes as he sat up. “I thought you were with Jameson and Jackson?”

“I gotta talk to you.”

Galen nodded and yawned loudly, looking over at the time. “You couldn’t have waited ’til morning,” he questioned, laughing a bit at the end.

“No. I couldn’t have.” Atlas’s serious voice caught Galen off guard. He was never serious around Galen unless it was important.

Galen looked over and put his full attention on the angel. “Well, what’s wrong, man?”

Atlas huffed and wiped his eyes as he felt tears gathering. “I- I’m not going to see you for a while, man. I really don’t know if I’ll ever see you again.” He let out a broken sob and ran a hand through his hair. “I told them, man. I told them about how we’re friends, and they’re gonna go tell the higher-ups. I’m going to get in so much trouble, and I’m probably never going to be able to come back here.”

“What,” Galen breathed out, standing up to get closer to Atlas. “What’re you talking about?”

“I messed up! I’m so sorry!” Atlas gripped his hair and bit his lip.

Galen wrapped his arms around Atlas in a hug as Galen began crying with Atlas. “It’s gonna be alright, man. It’s gonna be alright. I’m sure it can’t be that bad. You’re gonna be okay.” Galen let out words of reassurance, gripping his shirt as he placed his head on Atlas’s shoulder.

Atlas gripped the boy’s shirt as the two cried, and his wings wrapped around the boy, trying to just take in the last few moments he could be with his best friend. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” He mumbled the words over and over.

“You’re okay. It’s not your fault.” Galen mumbled, trying to comfort the angel.

Atlas’s chatter slowly halted, and his sobs turned to sniffles. “I don’t know why I did it. I didn’t have to. I just needed to get it off. Please, hide yourself. They’re going to try and find you. I know you have spells to hide yourself from angels. Use them. Use them all. Leave this house for a while. I don’t want you hurt because of my dumb mistakes. I’m sorry.” Atlas’s voice was raw as he spoke.

Galen nodded and pulled away from the hug, immediately moving for his desk and boxes full of spells and witchcraft materials. “I can hide you, too.”

“No, no, I need to go. I’m sorry.”

Galen nodded and turned his head back to Atlas only to gasp loudly. “Atlas? What’s happening?”

Atlas hummed in questioning before looking down, gasping loudly as well. “They’re bringing me up. I’m sorry.” Atlas’s body was slowly disappearing and showing up back in heaven. “Stay safe, Galen. Stay safe. Hide yourself. Leave this house!"