December 3rd, 2018
The body of an angel was found in Piazza Vecchia this morning at 6 a.m. The angel’s wings were broken and the face was squashed on one side, allowing honey bees to enter the space that would normally be inhabited by flesh and bones in human or animal beings. The angel seemed to mimic a female version of a body. It had curly, long blonde hair and the dress you would normally see in a fresco: brick-red and sky blue, with traces of white. This is one of the few instances when an angel was seen from such a close distance by humans. The body was found by the town sweeper, Marcello, who called the local police when he tried to swipe the body away and the bees started to come out of its face. The mayor decided to name the angel Valentina and arranged for a burial ceremony to take place in the old Duomo tomorrow.
December 10th, 2018
A circle of dead angels were found in Piazza Vecchia this morning at 8 a.m. Some were human, looking like twin sisters of the angel found on December 3rd. The angels had broken wings but were all holding hands. Some had the shape of dogs, others of cats, curled up at the feet of the human-like angels. A circle of bees was observed flying above the circle of angels. The queen was parading in the middle. Witnesses of the incident were tourists gathered to watch the clock tower parade. The parade circled the angels and mourned the dead bodies.
December 17th, 2018
The entire Piazza was invaded by dead angels this morning at 10 a.m. Our reporter is observing the crowd of bees flying all over the piazza. Tourists are carefully avoiding this location. This is bad news for tourism in our town today. Similar events have not yet happened anywhere else in the world, as far as our sources go. The angels have animal, flower, and human shapes, from various continents. Some say that angels carry messages from far away, but these have failed to deliver them. Some say it is the death of the angels that is the message. Our sources have so far been unable to find solid evidence for any of these working hypotheses.
December 24th, 2018
The buildings in the Piazza could no longer be observed at noon time today, due to the multitude of angel corpses, building a randomly shaped city in the middle of the city. Images from space are shocking. There is a tower of bees, resembling a spiral staircase, climbing up to heaven. Inhabitants of the town are moving to other regions, other countries, other continents. Some claim to have found dead angles in their beds, mimicking the shapes of their husbands, children, and pets. They are afraid that they, too, will soon turn into dying angels.
December 31st, 2018
Midnight, and the city is full of angels. They are alive and have taken over the places of the humans previously living here. Those inhabitants still alive and unsubstituted have fled town. The angels are joyful, tearing churches and old towers apart. Some have been seen making love with a powerful giant demon with an angelic face in the middle of the square. Our sources have been observing everything from space. Bees have been roaming above the mating rituals. Honey is overflowing in the streets. Honeycombs have taken the space of city walls. Rumors say that a human baby has been born – between the angel mimicking the queen bee and the strong devil – it carries the bee’s wings and the devil’s face. Our sources say he might be the true savior of the new world.
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Diana Radovan is a multilingual writer of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction living in Germany. She is a reader for Flash Fiction Magazine, a teacher in Sarah Selecky’s Story is a State of Mind School, and a Munich Stories 2016 co-author. Her work has been published broadly since 2004, most recently in Wax Poetry, The RavensPerch, Flash Frontier, 121 words, Friday Flash Fiction, Quail Bell Magazine, Flash Fiction Magazine, Poetry Breakfast, Dog-Ear, Text+Bild, and Tupelo Quarterly. Her essay “On the Way” was nominated for the Best of the Net 2016 Award and her poem “if you want to know me” won second place in the First Calgary Poetry Contest. She holds a PhD in Biophysical Chemistry and also works as a medical writer. Read more about her at dianaradovan.com.
Lead image: “Angel rubbing his eye” (via Flickr user MabelAmber®***Pluto5339***, incognito)