Page 153 of Demons Dig Donuts

Indy leaned his head on Mr. Heiss’s shoulder.

“That’s it?”

“What?”

“Normally, wouldn’t you be pestering the fuck out of me? Dragging me across the coals until you got what you wanted? Annoy me with your endless innuendo and provocative teasing?” Mr. Heiss snorted. “Giving up so easily doesn’t seem like your style.”

“Well, we can take turns being the asshole, I’ve decided. And right now, it’s your turn. I’ll bug you about it later.” Indy shrugged. “Right now… Just doesn’t seem like the right time. That’s all.”

“All right.”

“Now. Drag queens! I’ll give you head if you guess who wins correctly.”

Mr. Heiss smiled, but he didn’t offer up any guesses to win any potential fellatio. He was quiet for several minutes, so quiet and for so long that Indy was in danger of dozing off. He was warm and comfortable, a dangerous combination for staying awake, and the next episode started before Mr. Heiss spoke again.

“When you’re an angel—” Mr. Heiss sighed. “Shit.”

Indy stirred and lifted his head to meet Mr. Heiss’s gaze. “Hmm?”

Mr. Heiss was still staring at the television screen, and his brow was scrunched up in an awful scowl. He seemed uncertain, tense as a spring about to pop, and he pinched the bridge of his nose. “I have not talked about this in a very, very long time. It is not… easy.”

“Hey, we got time,” Indy said softly. “Whenever you’re ready, remember?”

Mr. Heiss nodded and then took a deep breath. “When you’re an angel in the Light, you have no idea how full of shit anyone is until…”

“Until?”

“It’s too late.”

CHAPTER

TWENTY

“Being in the Light is warm and beautiful,” Mr. Heiss went on. “You feel such love. It is what that place claims to be, after all. Pure love. And it certainly seems like it. You’re with your family. You’re connected. You’re home. You could easily spend eternity in that blissful comfort without caring about anything or anyone else. Nothing else would matter. But the Celestial is the closest realm to the Terrestrial, so close the lines can be blurred, and we can often hear things…”

Indy laced their fingers together. “Hear what?”

“Prayers? Dreams? Cries for help?” Mr. Heiss sighed, and he seemed ancient in that moment. “We could hear so much, but it was always ignored. We were told to ignore it. We were told we had to or else we’d lose our place in the Light. Over and over, we were told that love and joy only existed amongst our fellow angels and what we heard were nothing but twisted lies fed through the veil between our worlds to tempt us away. If we left, we would be corrupted, we’d become fallen, and we would never feel the Light again.

“I know now that was the lie. All of it. Every word the angels spoke was complete and total bullshit. They’re selfish and greedy, and they care for nothing else but themselves. Oh, they pretend that it’s for your own good, to keep you safe, but all they actually give a shit about is making sure you never leave. They only fucking care about their stupid, precious Light and ensuring it never goes out. Because, you see, the Light is only as strong as its angels.”

“And angels leaving means less Light?” Indy ventured.

“Yes. Less Light, less power, less control, and that is exactly why they don’t want anyone to leave. It’s why they lie and fearmonger and do everything they can to keep everyone trapped in the Celestial.” Mr. Heiss scowled, but it didn’t seem angry—only sad. “Once you find out the truth, they’ll throw you away. Once you can no longer contribute to the Light, you mean nothing. I know that now. I didn’t then, not for a very long time, but it changed the day I heard someone laughing.”

“Laughing?”

“Yes, laughing.”

“Like, a nice laugh?” Indy asked. “Joker laugh?”

Mr. Heiss cracked a small smile. “It might have been a child, maybe some other kind of young human, I’m not sure. But it was so pure, so joyful, exactly like the Light we lived in, and I wanted to know what it was. I couldn’t believe such a thing existed outside our realm after what we’d been told. I had to know the truth, and so, that was the first time I went to Earth. It was also the first time I met him.” Mr. Heiss closed his eyes. “The first time I met Ethan.”

“Ethan?” Indy repeated the name with reverence, as if it might somehow unlock every secret he’d ever need to know. He had a feeling if he was patient and kept listening, it might.

“Ethan was a young human, probably not much older than you.” Mr. Heiss shifted his weight. “I found him feeding birds out in the woods, experiencing such happiness doing nothing more than scattering seeds on the ground. I’d never known that any creature, angel or human or otherwise, could feel that way without being in the Light. I was… captivated. It was as if he was the Light, like he had a piece of it inside him. I wanted to know more about him, wanted to know everything, and that’s when I decided I would reveal myself to him.”

Indy arched a brow. “Reveal…?”