The day I left her I finally felt the pains of a human heart. A thousand years is nothing to me, but one minute away from her feels like an eternity. Now I can only watch her from afar, and I wonder if she still thinks of me.

It was only three months ago that I was sent down to earth in punishment, and I had despised the Creator for being so childish and literally grounding me to that hospital. He had said He wanted to "enlighten" me on the true nature of humans because of my stubborn beliefs.

Life and death mean nothing to humans. Their wars take hundreds, thousands of lives every year, every day, every minute. Their greed corrupts their communities and the lives of those who mean nothing to them. Besides wars, other forms of killings are done in pleasure and for pleasure. Selfish reasons make humans the most cruel species to ever walk the earth, and it is true for every human. They do not feel pain, and if they do, it is only temporary. I have seen it for thousands of years.

"Yoon, you know that the first humans were here before us and that the only reason we exist - I exist - is because of their beliefs. Why can't you see that we should respect them?" the Creator asked.

"Because my creation is not dependent on their thoughts, so I am not obliged to think highly of them," I replied logically. It was said that the first supernatural being was the Creator Himself. Everything that He is today is due to the fact that at one point in time, all existing humans believed strongly enough to mold up His being. And if one day all humans had the same belief that He did not exist, He would simply vanish into thin air. But that is highly improbable because there are now billions of humans that all differ in thought and cannot be convinced otherwise.

I, on the other hand, like all angels and everything else in this place called "Heaven", am created by the Creator. Of course, if he disappears, we would too, but I have no worry in that because I know that humans are not cooperative enough to ever all have the same belief in anything.

The Creator sighed. "It's been three hundred thousand years and you're still skeptical." He was like a patient father who still loves his children despite having failed to teach them.

Thinking our conversation was over, I turned to leave when He stopped me. "Yoon..." He started softly, as if reluctant to continue. "Go down there for awhile. Seoul's First Hospital." And with that, He was gone. I heaved an exasperated sigh. Although it sounded like an optional request, I knew this was a command not to be disobeyed.

"Seoul's First Hospital, huh?" I stepped out of His realm and into the living space of the angels. They were everywhere, beautiful beings sculpted by the Creator and His Helpers, and they were all staring at me in disbelief. I was the first and most respected by all angelic beings, yet I was being punished. The only other time an angel (other than a guardian angel) was sent to earth, she was punished to be reborn as one of them, a human.

And now here I am, heading to earth, all because of the Creator's strong love for humans. Before I had completely left the realm, I could hear His last words, "He needs to learn to appreciate. That's how angels are meant to be."

With a last twist of my body, everything turned white and I was out of Heaven.

When things came into focus, I was in a room filled with people, but they didn't look sick at all. Why would they be in a hospital?

They were all either reading magazines, listening to music, or watching the ever so soft TV hung up in the corner of the room. In the hallways, women in white uniforms pushed other people around in wheelchairs - people who also wore their own teddy-bear patterned uniforms that tied in the back.

I had heard of hospitals, but now that I'm actually in one, I realized I knew nothing. I didn't even know who was who and why there were so many unsick people here.

Suddenly I noticed an old man in the same teddy-bear uniform walking towards me; he seemed to be looking at me straight in the eyes. But that's impossible! How can he see me? Angels can't be seen by people and we can't turn it on and off; we can't choose who sees us and who doesn't, only guardian angels have that ability. So who was this strange man? He's not any deity I've seen before.

He stopped in front of me. "Sir, am I dead?"

I stared at him blankly, then I realized he wasn't talking to me. I turned to see Shin, an angel in black, angel of death, standing beside me. "Yes," he replied. The old man's eyes began to water and he asked, "Where are you taking me?" Shin only looked at him with pity, a feeling I have not yet experienced towards humans, and put a hand on the old man's shoulder to take him away.

I knew well where they were going. They were going to the Afterlife, where spirits would be recycled regardless of the deeds or misdeeds they've done in life. Humans were so vain to believe that there was some end judgement to it all. People did not become angels, nor were they punished for their wrong doings. We do not keep track of such things.

After Shin and the man were gone, I wandered around the hospital, wondering why the Creator had sent me here. What would this place teach me?

I passed many more rooms where the unsick people sat, but the teddy-bear people seemed to be getting the better end of the deal - each had a room to himself, and with a bed! But none of these things really caught my attention, not even when I passed into the room that had green people cutting into undressed men and women. I had learned this in class - they were "operating", and these green people were "surgeons."

Everything was so ordinary, but one thing did amaze me. Although no one could see me, none of them seemed to be running into me.

I was beginning to get bored when suddenly my amazement was smashed by a woman - no, a girl - who ran straight through me. It felt awfully nauseating to have a solid object pass through me that quickly. Down here, I am not a solid object as I was in Heaven.

Despite making me uncomfortable, the girl did not feel a thing. She continued to rush down the hall with some equipment in her arms and disappeared inside a room. I was somewhat annoyed with her, but let it pass thinking she must be one of the denser humans.

"Ha! Here's the high and mighty Yoon, stuck in a hospital." I recognized that voice, it was Jeremy, one of the only two angels brave enough to talk to me.

"Why are you here?" I snapped.

"Well, I'm here to keep you company," he replied cheerily, his neck arching this way and that as he observed every detail in the room. "Oh wow! Look at this place! I wonder why we never learn about hospitals? It's much better than the moon. It only has craters and those boring flags... How many were there again?"

I sighed at his immaturity, but couldn't help smiling too. "Six. There were six."

Suddenly a wailing siren split the air and at the front entrance a stretcher was being rushed in. As they passed me, the woman in the stretcher was with pain. Half her face was peeled away and beneath it was a bubbling red rawness. She had just been rescued from a fire and her family members lingered behind as she was taken through the emergency room's swinging doors. I still felt nothing.

I looked around to find Jeremy wistfully staring after the burned woman. "She must be in so much pain..." he whispered sadly.

"She's fine," I said indifferently. I didn't understand why he was so concerned. Humans have gotten what they deserved. It's only a cycle based on their own carelessness. They don't deserve any sympathy.

Jeremy turned to look at me with shock and pity in his eyes. "I see why He sent you here now." He turned away in disappointment. "I can't stay here anymore. Sorry, Yoon." With one last glance at me, the young angel began to fade away and within seconds, he was gone.

Jeremy is much too emotional. But that's to be expected of an angel who's only been around for a few thousand years. But then again, I was never this naive, not even when I was two hundred years old.