"Holy crap, I am NEVER doing that again!! Until I get to Jamie! Then I'll have to! But not until then!" I quickly pulled my shirt over to where nothing bad was exposed.
"Pardon my American French", I screamed, "but what the hell is going on?!?!"
     Mum gave this look of 'how dare you say that, but I understand why you'd say that' and said, "Okay, look at the shadows."
     "I have, Mum."
     "So, you should know that A, you have wings, B, they're some of the most beautiful wings I've ever seen, and C, that you're flying with said wings. Come on, now." My mum's sarcasm, everyone.
"But, how?! How do I have wings?!?! Last time I checked, giant feathers were not apart of human anatomy!" All my life, I thought I was at least "normal" in terms of being a human. My mother took my hand and flew with me back to the roof and sat me down.
     "Well, I guess you're not human, huh?" She sighed, pausing for a moment before continuing.
     "Do you remember when I told you about all those mythological beings, like angels, unicorns, faeries, elves, gnomes, stuff like that? Well...they're real. All of them." She paused.
     "Close your mouth, you'll catch flies." 
     "So, theoretically, I could ride a Pegasus into the sunset while flipping off a gnome? Oh, and is the garden gnome below me an actual gnome? Now that I think about it—"
"Focus, Max. Each creature has a purpose—"
"That just sounded like a PETA hippie or something." My mother stopped.
"I am so sorry you got my mind. Anyway, gnomes are protectors of important places, dwarves are builders, elves are scouts and hunters, so on and so on. What I'm trying to get at is Angels are the soldiers; we fight for the protection of Heaven and Earth against Hell." Mum looked me dead in the eye.
"I'm sorry that you're your father and I's child and that you have to do this..." Her voice drifted off to the ocean, floating across the water.
"Woah woah woah, why'd you get so sad all of a sudden?!"
     If you think being thrown off the roof and flying is too weird for you, you'll die of weirdness overload when you hear that Mum opened a portal from her hands. Yes, from her hands, she created a golden portal.
     "While you're in Heaven, Earth time for you won't change, so you can come home from school, finish homework, go to Angel training, and be home in time for dinner." She let go of the portal, pulled me into her arms, and slowly descended to her knees. I watched as tears fell onto the roof gravel, leaving dark spots.
     "Mum, why are you crying?!" You see, I'm not exactly the comforting type. I remembered this when more spots appeared.
     "She's just registering, she's just registering...", Mum kept whispering and praying to herself.
     "Mom, I'm sure I'll be alright." She looked up at me, her eyes wide. I only call her Mom when I'm serious, which is practically never.
     "God, I hope so." There was a sudden roll of thunder, as Mum muttered, "That is a holy wish of mine, dear Lord", then continued, "Maxine, go through the portal. From there, go to the booth that says 'Registration'. Your classes should start the day after Easter. Can you do that for me?" I stared at her in disbelief, and she solemnly stared back.
"Of course I can, Mom." I gave her one last hug.
"Please, for the love of all that is holy, BE SAFE."
"I will. Promise."
And with that, I literally stepped into Heaven.

     You know how most depictions of Heaven are all white and fluffy with pearls everywhere?
     Well, where I was, it's more like a bright, happy version of a major city. Sort of.
     Large buildings pierced the sky, and flowers lined every street. The air was crisp and fresh, with hints of freshly baked cookies. Oh, wait, that was just a bakery that was close by. Sorry.
     But here's the best part: there were all kinds of living (and some deceased) things. Unicorns, ghosts, spirits (which are different from ghosts), elves, gnomes, dwarves, the whole shebang.
     And then there were the Angels. Crap, they were amazing. When they came marching down the street, everyone stopped to face them and clap. The dirt on their faces clashed against their off-white and gold uniforms, which had holes in the back for their wings. Their wings. They practically glowed. They were so beautiful and fluffy! Ahhhh! Amazing.
     After the Angels left, I looked around for the Registration Booth. No luck finding it. So, I went into the bakery and asked the ghost at the counter where it was.
     "Just down the road", she said, her voice slightly shaking due to her age. "Then, look right. You can't miss it."
"'You can't miss it.'"
     I missed it. No clue. I decided to go up the other way, and, sure enough, it was there. "Registration!", a banner read.
     Something swirled in my stomach and made me feel nauseous. There was an aura around the booth that was wonderful and horrible. Mystifying and terrifying. And part of me didn't want to know why. Just walk away from it, back to Mum and Jaime. Back to my home and my beautiful CoD setup, consisting of a beanbag and a stupidly soft blanket that was practically calling (get it?) my name.
Despite wanting to curl up in a ball and shoot some virtual zombies, I took a deep breath and walked up to the guy running the booth.
"Howdy, what can I do for ya?" His accent wasn't completely hick, but it was a good 79%, with the rest being a mixture of general Southern and valley girl. Weird combo, I know.
"I, uh, would like to register for the Angel training", I tried to say confidently.
"Alrighty, I'm gonna need your full name, the meanin' of your name, your date o' birth, and proof that your wings are real and functional."
"Uh...my name is Maxine Elise Diano, and I was born on December 15th, 2001."
"Alrighty, then, what about your name's meanin'?" The name's meaning? I was screwed; I had no clue.
     Oh, wait! The voice from earlier, that called my name! Haha!
     "My name means 'the great oath to God'."
"Oh, my stars, you wouldn't happen to be related to Anna Carpus, would ya? Anna Carpus Diano?" I stared at him. He looked like he was about to explode with happiness.
     "Yes...? That's my mom.", I said, questioningly.
     "Oh my sweetness, your mama and I were in trainin' together! She was amazin'! Tell her I said hi, pretty please!"
     "...will do, sir."
     "Anyway, all I need is proof of your wings. If ya don't mind, lift up your shirt real quick." My eyes widened. Crap. I took another deep breath lifted lifted my shirt to where only my back was showing. He gawked.
     "Lordy Lou, those are beautiful! Probably the most beautiful I've seen in a long time!" He took some notes and then asked, "Now, can you show me that you can fly?"
     "Um, if I jump of a high building, I guess."
     "Excellent! I'm on that!"
     Suddenly, we shot up. The ground beneath us was growing and moving toward one of the many skyscrapers. Finally, just when I thought I was going to puke, we abruptly stopped. Hick angel guy was absolutely unfazed by everything that just happened. He stepped off of the once ground-level ground and on to the roof of the building. He offered a hand to help me off, which I shakily took. Even with his help, I stumbled about and walked in a zigzag for a little bit. After putting my hands on my knees and breathing in and out, I looked up at H.A.G. (Hick Angel Guy (I did not mean for that to be hag, but holy crap, I have to keep it)).
     "I never got you name. Who are you?", I said, gasping in between to prevent the spillage of partially digested rainbow-sprinkle pancakes.
"Hezekiah Anani Gentile, meaning 'God strengthens my cloud of gentleness, kindness, and nobility', at your service, m'lady!"
"That's...that's a really nice name!", I said, when it hit me.
His initials are HAG.
Great, now I have another excuse to call him that! It's not mean, it's just coincidental. That's all.
I tried to focus on what he was saying instead of my revelation.
"Alrighty, so are you ready to fly?", he asked with his Southern drawl.
"I think so. I hope so."
I stepped onto the ledge and refused to look down. The air was a little thin, but still nice. I thought about everyone I loved and did something I hoped to never do again.
I jumped.