An Angelic Intervention

A Ball of Light

It was a nice, cloudless night. The perfect time to watch a meteor shower that was about to happen in less than half an hour; a perfect escape from the 3000-word paper that was yet to be written, or the worksheet that was yet to be answered. It was 1 in the morning anyway, so students should have already been resting and not worrying about requirements. Besides, those weren’t due for at least a few more days—a fact that first year university student, Karl Benedict (nicknamed “Kay" to avoid confusion with another Carl in his batch) clung onto as it provided his overthinking, anxious self a small feeling of comfort as he slung a blanket over his shoulder, and picked up the insect repellant right before leaving his dorm room.

Kay quietly closed the door behind him, careful not to make loud noises in the middle of the night that would get him hated on by other students. After all, he was technically one of the newest faces around, as he was only able to enroll for the last trimester of the school year. This meant that all the other first years in the Engineering department had two trimesters to get to know each other and form bonds. This also unfortunately meant that with him being the “new guy,” he was put under some sort of scrutiny—which is a fact that he didn’t enjoy.

It also certainly didn’t help that he was older than most of his peers. When he was in a senior back in high school at his home town, he had the misfortune of falling off the roof which had him hospitalized for quite a while. No, he wasn’t trying to do anything dramatic or heroic on the roof. In fact, he was just innocently trying out this new telescope he had received for his birthday, when his clumsiness got the better of him and he ended up slipping. That tiny act of carelessness bought him a few days of unconsciousness, a couple of broken bones, months of physical therapy, and it made him re-do his entire senior year since he missed a lot of classes. In addition to that, his parents—ever so well-meaning—made him take a gap year after he graduated from high school, claiming that he should join them in their travels to get “life experiences” and “peace”—both of which he didn’t really achieve.

All of that led to him enrolling in university at twenty years old, during the fall trimester—making him the “older new kid” which did nothing but make his social anxieties even worse.

Thankfully, and by some sort of miracle, Kay was able to make a friend. A friend who, in fact, was waiting for him in front of the Main Accountancy building just a block away to watch the meteor shower with him. Since their university was made up of different buildings scattered across the city, this meant that he had to pass through other commercial buildings and houses before he could get to his destination.

It was a good thing that the city was relatively peaceful and quiet, especially at night since all establishments close by 11 in the evening. This made Kay feel a little bit safer walking outside at 1 in the morning. Although, the empty streets did make it feel like he was walking through a ghost town—even if he didn’t believe in such paranormal things.

Kay stopped at the foot of the pedestrian lane, planning to cross the street in order to get to the side where the Main Accountancy building stood. He made sure to look sideways first, even though the stop light was red and there were obviously no cars around. As he was walking across the road, he saw that he wasn’t alone. There, right on the other end of the pedestrian lane was a woman who he could only describe as beautiful and elegant. She wore a dazzlingly clean white blazer and white pants, and she had white boots on. She was just standing there, looking up at the sky as if waiting for something, but when Kay reached the middle of the road, she noticed his presence and looked at him.

Their eyes met for a good few seconds—her blue eyes staring right into the browns of his. Her expressionless face was suddenly disturbed with a small frown and a tilt of the head, regarding him with curiosity. Meanwhile, Kay immediately looked away, feeling that it must have been rude of him to stare that long. The woman stayed in place as he got to her side of the street, and he noticed that her eyes followed him even as he walked away.

Once Kay reached the gate to the Main Accountancy building, he quickly glanced behind him and saw that the woman was gone. The streets were empty again except for him. Even though it was admittedly odd, knowing that there wasn’t anywhere the lady could have gone to that rendered her out of sight within a few short seconds, Kay was the type to think nothing of it. In fact, this type of occurrence had happened quite a number of times. Ever since his senior year—after his accident, to be exact—men and women with a certain calm, unapproachable aura to them, all dressed in white, would sometimes stare at him or look surprised, and then somehow move out of sight impossibly fast. Only Kay failed to make any connection to those instances, and dismissed those as mere coincidences. After all, he wasn’t the kind of person who minded other people's businesses.

Unbothered, he went into the Main Accountancy grounds where he immediately spotted his closest friend in the university, Gina Black. He found it to be quite ironic that her last name was such, especially when her short hair was dyed in rainbow colors, making it easy for anyone to spot her in a crowd.

“Hey!” Gina loudly greeted as she spotted Kay, not minding that other people are already asleep at that time. She stood up from where she sat on the grass, picking off the small bits of dirt that clung to the black leggings under her leather skirt. She had sunglasses at the top of her head, which Kay gathered was more for fashion than use, and she had on this jean jacket that had silver studs on the shoulders. It could be argued that she was compensating for the fact that she spent years dressed in long sleeves and skirts that had to end below the knee, being in all-girls Catholic schools most of her life. When Gina once told Kay about that part of her past, he must admit that he couldn’t even imagine it. How was she able to hide this extremely colorful and loud personality of hers underneath all the constricting uniform?

Meanwhile, Kay stood there simply dressed in a sweater and sweatpants, which was how he had dressed his entire life—the complete opposite of Gina's exuberant fashion statement, and very defining of his own colorless personality. It was a wonder she ever approached and made friends with him.

“Gina,” Kay greeted back with a small smile as he walked up to her. “You got here earlier than I thought.” He unfolded the blanket he brought and neatly settled it on the grass.

“Or you’re just later than usual. What was the hold up?” Gina asked, helping him get the corners straightened. “You fell asleep, didn’t you? Ah, no, don’t tell me that you were doing that paper!”

Kay guiltily smiled at her, giving his answer away.

“You’re such a nerd!” Gina teased with a howl of laughter. “That thing’s not due for, like, a week!”

“Actually, three days,” Kay corrected her, splattering a bunch of insect repellant onto his palm and offering the bottle to her.

Gina took it as she sat on the blanket, and only applied some to her hands—which wouldn’t really do much repelling. “You’re the most workaholic first year I’ve ever met, I swear. Weren’t you informed that you’re supposed to have fun and party during your first and second years, start bucking up a bit on the third, and then actually try to get good grades only on your fourth year?”

Kay sat down a respectful distance away from her, lightly chuckling. “I’m quite sure that’s not how the education system goes. Besides, I'm having fun. I’m out here with you right now at 1 AM instead of studying, right?”

That made Gina raise an eyebrow at him. “Honey, you wouldn’t know fun until it bit you in the face. This,” she gestured at themselves and at the sky, “is okay. It’s a nice hobby you have, you know? Watching the falling meteors event.”

“A meteor shower.”

“Right, a meteor shower. Watching this and nerd-ing out about astronomical events are all nice and good, and I respect your hobby to the point that I’m babysitting you tonight, but university life is much, much more than that. It’s about—about life! It’s talking to people, partying, playing pranks, joining clubs, going to class shitfaced, dating!” Gina passionately said, dramatically moving her arms and hands to prove her point.

“I don’t really know a lot of people yet, let alone other students to party with or date.”

“Well, you've been here for like a week or something, you’ll get there,” Gina assured him as she lied on her back. “I will be the Yoda to your… no, the Obi Wan to your Ana—to your Luke. I don’t want you turning into some Sith Lord or whatever. So, tell me. What is it do you look for in a girl?”

The question immediately made Kay’s cheeks redden. He wasn’t much of a person that talked about himself, especially when it came to private matters such as this. It wasn’t like he was ashamed, no. He simply preferred asking questions more than answering.

Gina sat up in a rush to take a look at his face. “Look at you, blushing already at that question! Are you—” she gasped, placing her hands on her cheeks. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, though. It’s fine. I totally respect that.”

“No, no, it’s not that I don’t want to tell you,” Kay quickly said, then took a deep breath. “It’s just… I don’t like talking about myself that much. I like guys. It’s not some big secret that I keep, I mean, my family knows and my old high school friends, too.”

“Oh, that’s cool. So, what type of guys do you like then?”

That question prompted an image of a certain person to pop inside Kay's head, which made him smile and mindlessly answer, “Someone nice, kind, and tall. Dark-haired—"

“Wears glasses, looks straight-edge, a president of a photography club?” Gina suggested, making his eyes go large in panic. “Got you there, didn’t I?” she teased, pointing at him. “I called it! I so called it!”

“H-how did you—”

“Dude, it’s pretty obvious!” Gina happily exclaimed. “You know that on the day I first met you, your face was literally beet red while talking to Leo. I mean, the guy barely had to say a word and you signed up for the Photography Club!”

“I was not beet red!” Kay defensively said, his face turning the same color he was saying he wasn’t. Her words rang true, though. When Kay met third year Leo during his second day on the campus, he had only spent less than five minutes with him and he was already convinced to join his club—even if he wasn’t into photography.

Kay turned his face away from Gina in his embarrassment. In the process, he saw that the show they been waiting for had begun. “Oh, hold on, it’s starting,” he said, immediately shifting into an excited state as he looked up at the trail of light being drawn in the sky.

“Oh wow,” Gina muttered beside him. “It’s pretty, but it’s slower than I thought.”

Kay nodded, taking out his phone to take a picture. “It’s bound to take some time, so we don't have to sit here until it finishes.”

They watched the meteor shower for about an hour of silence, which would occasionally be broken when Gina would ask questions about it. At around 2 in the morning, she finally decided that she needed to get some sleep since she had a 10 AM class that day. Kay had offered to walk her back, knowing that her dormitory was two blocks away, but she declined, saying that, “No, it's fine. I’ve walked along the streets at this hour dozens of times. Plus, I like walking alone at night. It feels like I’m in a music video.” So she bid him good night and left.

With Kay all alone, he lied down on the blanket to get a better view of the sky without having to crane his neck. It was peaceful and quiet, and it reminded him of the times he used to do the same at home. If he were in their backyard right now, or in a tent, he would have slept under the stars; but when 3 o'clock came, he began to pack up.

Kay had just finished shaking off the dirt from the blanket when it happened. A small flash of light came from above. At first, it looked like it was part of the meteor shower, but as he looked more closely, it glowed brighter than the others and it also moved faster in a different direction. Even at a distance, it was already clear that the flash—no, the ball of light was getting bigger as it came closer and closer.

A meteorite that had gone off-course? Headed for land? But it wasn’t burning up, nor was it big enough in size to be one.

It was nothing Kay had ever seen; it was strangely beautiful. However, the fascination was quickly gone when he realized that what once was a ball of light the size of a thumb was now the size of a car, and it was headed towards the Main Accountancy building.

“Oh, s**t!” Kay cursed out loud in a panic, quickly grabbing the blanket and running for the closest and biggest tree he could find. If something of that velocity and of that size hit the ground, it would surely eviscerate things within more than a 500-meter radius, and Kay would never be able to outrun it.

Within a few seconds, the ball of light passed behind the building and Kay hugged his knees, protected his head, and tightly closed his eyes from behind the tree. He didn’t think that this was how he would go—alone, scared, having had never dated anyone, a freaking virgin. He hoped that his next life would be much better, but he wasn’t even sure if there was a next life.

His heart thumping wildly against his chest to the point he could almost hear it, he readied himself for impact.

But nothing came.

There were no sounds of explosion, no concrete flying around, no smoke. It was only the wind that grew slightly stronger, blowing the crisp Autumn leaves around. Kay opened his eyes. At that speed, it should have already hit the ground. Was he imagining things?

With his knees shaking, he stood up from where he sat and peeked at the building. There it was, still intact, only something behind it was producing a bright light, which he could only assume was the falling thing he had seen before.

Kay was not the type to be courageous. In fact, it could even be argued that he was a coward, but this time, his curiosity got the best of him and he decided to move out of his hiding place. He slowly walked towards the side of the building, then he went into a full-on jog until he reached the corner where he stopped. With a deep breath, he took a peek.

The light was almost blinding that he had to shield his eyes, but as it pulsated, it grew weaker until Kay could see that there was something in the middle of it. No, not something—someone. Soon enough, the light disappeared and he could see him more clearly. There was actually a man there, right in the middle where the center of a crater should have been.

Kay looked around, wondering if there were any other people in sight. With how bright it shone a while back, some people would have been bound to notice it, but there was no one. He didn’t know what to do, but he knew he had to do something. So, he slowly approached the man.

The person was dressed in white pants and a white long-sleeved shirt that made him look like he's cosplaying as a fairytale prince. As Kay got closer, he was able to get a better look at him. He could see that he was breathing as his chest softly rose and fell, which immediately made Kay feel relieved. His eyes were closed and his face looked serene, as if he was sleeping. He was young—probably the same age as Kay or maybe slightly older. His light blond hair was slightly messy, but he looked good nonetheless—beautiful, actually, like the lady in white that Kay had seen earlier in the night.

Kay stood a good few feet away from him, staring in a daze until the man's eyebrows slightly moved and his lips parted to let out a groan. Kay took a panicked step back and took out his phone, finally thinking that he should call the authorities. Then, he realized that he didn’t have their number, so he ran inside the building where he knew a landline telephone would be with the campus directory.

His hands shook as he held the receiver to his ear, listening to the ringing until someone finally picked up.

“Hello! T-there’s someone, I think he’s injured? I-I’m not sure if he fell from the sky or some kind of light fell on him, but he’s unconscious behind the Main Accountancy building! He's breathing so please hurry up! I-I need to go and check up on him. Please hurry.” With that, Kay hung up and ran back to the back of the building where he left the man, only to find no one there.