Amid Heaven and Hell Chapter 1

"I'm not accustomed to wandering without reason, but the day was beautiful, a sweet spring warmth. I went out to the park to smoke a cigarette and clear my mind. The streets were empty, unusually quiet for a Sunday, perhaps because it was a weekday, and people couldn't make it. On the other hand, here I was, wandering around, wasting my days. It doesn't matter. I sat on one of the empty benches in the park and lit my cigarette. Surprisingly, just a few meters away from me, there sat a couple, chatting.
The man was handsome, with a bold gaze and a radiant face. You could tell he wanted to talk to you, to lift your spirits, with a kind smile. The girl was also beautiful, but her eyes emitted flames, her smile mischievous, not as reassuring as her partner's. I couldn't help but think that if anyone got involved with her, they'd solve a bunch of their problems and take on new ones...
They didn't do anything, not even touching each other, but they gazed into each other's eyes in a way that sent shivers down my spine. As they conversed, they gazed into each other's eyes so intensely that they didn't even notice the passerby who had stopped and stared.
The conversation went on like this, from the point I started to listen, at least...
"And then you tell me about your compassionate and kind and blah blah blah father. If he knew what was really going on down here, I'd tell you," the girl said, seemingly getting agitated...
"Come on, show a little understanding; he has so much on his mind. And after all, we're here to discuss the future of the universe, not bicker," the young man replied with the same calmness as if he were saying, "Excuse me, our gyro is over, shall I throw some burgers on?"
"Well, if my father knew what I'm really doing here... not to mention, he was one of you, and your father kicked him out..."
With this statement, the smile of the man turned into a smirk, and his eyes seemed to spark. He subtly raised his voice:
"And why do you say it as if it was my father's fault? Your father was the one who made a mess because he didn't know his place and wanted power. You know he was his favorite..."
"A slave? 'Cause that's what he was." The girl made no attempt to hide her anger.
"And we paid the price with him," she went on, but the young man had lost his smile, and sparks were flying from his eyes. His raised voice more.
"It's not like you didn't provoke him, by building an army and staging a coup... You were warned!"
At this point, I felt like I saw flames swirling around the girl, and I looked at my cigarette, to make sure I was smoking one of my “special” ones
"No, sir, we didn't want it. We wanted freedom and our own voice. But your dictator father..."
What was left of the man's calmness, disappeared. With a voice that seemed to resonate to the ends of the earth and eyes that now literally shot lightning, he raised his hand and said:
"How dare you, fallen worm, judge my father in earthly terms, terms invented by brainless apes. I won't be responsible if I erase you HERE AND NOW."
The sky darkened ominously, and a wind that threatened to become a typhoon, at any moment, started swirling. Lightning and thunder tore through the sky. And every time the place lit up from the lightning, with my peripheral vision, I though I saw wings on the shadows of the couple...
He had raised his hand as if to strike her, his gaze fixed, as if the earth and the world around him didn't exist. The girl had fallen on her knees and burst into tears. I thought, he might strike her, and I stood frozen like a post, not daring to move a finger.
But suddenly, the wind ceased, the sky lit up again, and the young man slowly lowered his hand, but he didn't smile again. In fact, it seemed to me that I saw tears in his eyes now. He bent down and picked her up as gently as a brokenhearted man would.
"Forgive me," he said with a broken voice, "I'm new to this... emotion."
"Since we started, let's go through with it," the girl said, without a trace of insincerity or indifference.
He bent down and kissed her softly, and she reciprocated with tears, and I felt like a fool and got up to leave, pondering what I saw and heard today.
"Excuse me," I heard, and I turned to see the young man who called me. "Do you happen to have a cigarette?" He asked me with such calmness and serenity that it took me a couple of seconds to respond.
"Two if you so wish", I said and offered him the pack, smiling like a fool.
He gave one to the girl, she seemed to light it with her finger, and he put the other one in his mouth, and I offered him a light. As I lit his cigarette, he looked me in the eyes and said, "We'll meet again"...
A chill ran down my spine and I turned to leave.

I saw them again, this time amid chaos...