Heavenly Creatures

“You’re a menace,” I growled as I came out of my trance. “What’d you do this time?”

“I’m sorry, but I had to figure some things out,” Sun said, looking miraculously apologetic. “If it’s any consolation, there was precious little information given, but I do know that I should walk you home now.”

“Walk. Me. Home?” I glowered. “Yeah, right!”

“Tara, you promised that you would help me, remember? And it would really help if I could walk you home.” Sun clasped his hands together in a pleading gesture, which annoyed me to no end.

“The insincerity of that gesture is mind blowing,” I growled.

Sun put a hand to his chest, feigning hurt. When he saw that it had little affect on me, he smiled sheepishly. “You’re a very defensive, mistrustful person, aren’t you?”

I gaped at him a moment, lost for words, before my brain kicked back into high gear. “Welcome to Earth!” I said, shoving my papers back into my backpack. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go home and watch TV now.”

Sun seemed to catch on that asking for sympathy was not the way to go. “Okay, okay,” he said. “Fine. Think about what’s in it for you! It’s not every day that a human meets a celestial being. Aren’t there things you’ve wanted to do or be? I can give you the merits to achieve them!”

“Not interested!” I said, already walking away.

“What about a sibling?” Sun asked, following me. “Have you ever wanted a sibling? Or I could help your father’s business. I could make you extremely popular. I could get you into any college you want. I could make you a genius! Tara!”

The words came out before I could stop them. “Bring my parents back.”

Sun stopped. We had arrived at my front door.

“What do you mean by that?” Sun asked, scratching his head.

I shook my head. Why had I even said that? I didn’t want Sun to know about these things.

“Never mind,” I said. “I’ll see you Monday, yeah?”

“Tara, what did you mean by—?”

“Oh, look,” I said, laughing nervously, almost maniacally. “My mom is calling me. ’Til Monday!”

Sun stood forlorn on my steps, looking confused as I slammed the door behind me.