Phew. Where do I begin? I guess an Introduction first would be the best thing to kick off on. My name is Wade Naem. I work for a highly successful corporation called Storm Co. I’m an office worker. I live a life that seems to loop between a state of forced civility and an uncontrolled mosh of chaos. It wasn’t always like this though; looking back I think I had it pretty easy. Well this is a story of how very little can make a big change and warped my perspective on…well everything.
If I recall correctly, it was caused by an impulsive decision made during lunch break that was suggested by one of my co-workers.
“Oh man it’s been a busy day. Anyone up for drinks? First drinks are on me.”
“Hell yeah, I’m down!”
I sat there quietly eating my lunch while my peers were engaged in a heated conversation for where they would go after the bar.
“Hey, Wade, what about you? You want to come out tonight?” Asked Johnson who was usually working in the office beside mine into the late hours of the night. “Yeah sure, sounds like fun,” I replied casually after finishing the final bite of my sandwich.
“Hey, hey, hey, Wade, coming out again tonight? It’s been a while buddy.” Suddenly our section manager walked into the room and started yelling. “Dan, what did I say about that? Don’t head out for drinks without inviting me!”
“Woo Mr Smith! I wouldn’t forget, sir!” Dan yelled carefree as always.
“I hope you boys brought your sippy straws because I’m gonna drink all of you under the table!” Sabrina taunted them from across the other end of the long table we all sat around. I left the room and went back to my office for the rest of the day.
Evening came and we all went to the bar only a few blocks away. The bar was quiet until we arrived. Johnson covered everyone for the first round of drinks and within an hour everyone was up to their fifth. Everyone except for me; I was only on my third since I was enjoying myself just talking to Johnson. Even when drunk he was level-headed and calm. It was a trait he rarely seemed to break so I found it easy to keep a conversation with him. Johnson himself was tall and often had his long brown hair in a ponytail. His voice was stern but caring and he usually wore a black tie just about every time I saw him, even on his days off that we decided to meet up. It was late into the evening when the bar closed and we were sent out into the streets. I felt tired and I wanted to go home but before I could say my goodbyes, Sabrina had everyone listening closely to her as she rambled on about some house that was supposedly haunted.
“Sabrina, there is no such thing as ghost and if there was, I doubt they would take kindly to someone invading their home,” Johnson stated clearly through the rest of the groups chatter.
“Wanna make a bet then?” She said with sly smile.
“No, I’m going home before it gets any later.”
“What are you scared of?” she teased as she laughed childishly.
“I’m no coward. Fine if it will prove you wrong, let’s go to the house for the night.”
I laughed under my breath as the two of them argued like a couple as we all walked to the house. When we arrived there, it left a menacing first impression. The house was huge and was in a worn, rugged condition. Broken windows, rotting wood and a damp scent left an idea that the house was once a luxurious home, hard to believe. We walked up a set of creaking steps and both Johnson and I walked through the front doors. Clunk! The door slammed shut behind us and locked the others outside.
“Open the doors guys, this isn’t funny!” Sabrina yelled at us in a panic.
“It wasn’t us, relax they’re automated doors. We just have to find the power to turn them back on again,” I said calmly trying to simmer her down.
“Alright be careful, we’ll wait here.”
We looked forwards to see another set of doors and behind those only a pitch-black darkness, out of reach from the moonlight outside. We went into a large open room past the doors, the cold air in the room made my skin crawl. Johnson pulled his phone out of his pocket and used the torch on it to make out some old couches and broken furniture in the shadows. He swept the light across the room to what seemed like to me he was trying to memorise the positions of everything in the room. On the second sweep of the light we saw a figure facing away from us sitting on one of the old couches. We swung the light back towards the figure, but it was gone and there was nothing but traces of displaced dust.
“You saw that right?” I asked Johnson as I tried to keep my legs from shaking.
“I did. I suggest we hurry in finding the power for the doors,” he replied calmly as if he wasn’t even bothered by it.
We passed the ruined furniture and saw flashing red lights from down a set of stairs in the next room through yet another door. I grasped the door handle and the rusted metal scratched my fingers. I turned the handle slowly to avoid making any noise and opened the door just enough to poke my head through to peak around the inside. Not sure if I was being paranoid or cautious, I looked to my right after I heard the scurry of a mouse along the ground. Reassured that it was only paranoia, I went to withdraw myself from the door to open it completely. That’s when I saw a pair of blood red eyes stare directly at me. They were half obscured by ragged black hair and the skin around them was stained with streams of dried blood. I didn’t dare avert my eyes as I felt my heart would stop from the fear welling in my chest. The eyes moved closer to me and a face of a woman rested against mine on my left shoulder. She gave no warmth from her soft skin against my face. She was pale and wore drabs of loose hanging clothing that were also stained a dark red. Without breaking eye contact, she moved away from me and let out a faint sound before disappearing into the darkness. To me it sounded as if she was amused by my inability to turn away and that sense of interest left an uneasy feeling in my stomach.
“You really are more courageous than me, Wade,” Johnson said to me in a tone of admiration with his hand on my shoulder.
“Not really man, I was too afraid to do anything. I froze…who or what was that thing?”
He looked to me with a puzzled expression. “Whoever she is, she didn’t feel human.”
“Let’s move on then. If your instincts are telling you she is a threat, it would be best not to ignore them.”
We went downstairs to a dull, sodden room with a power box and flashing red light above it. Johnson spent a short while fidgeting with the panels and switches inside the power box before finally turning on the lights as well as restoring the power. We walked back upstairs now slightly satisfied with our accomplishment. We went to the front entrance where we were met by the group that had been pacing back and forth, trying not to worry about us.
“It’s about time, you guys took forever!” Sabrina scolded us but the relief on her face was enough to see that she felt responsible for the event in the first place. I followed behind Johnson as he walked out of the house first when suddenly the doors slammed in my face. The blunt force knocked me to ground. “Wade!” Johnson called to me as he threw himself against the door.
I looked up at the light as I held my nose. It flickered wildly before every light in the house blew simultaneously and I was now alone in the dark. A pair of pale feet appeared next to my head; I ran my eyes up the figure to see the red-eyed woman staring at my friends through the doors. They screamed at the sight of her while Johnson punched, kicked and charged away at the door. She leaned down over me and gazed deep into my eyes for about only a minute but to me felt like forever. Blood dripped down from her forehead onto mine and she smiled as she backed away, disappearing again in front of my very eyes. I got up and reassured my friends I was okay. I decided to go upstairs to find another way out of the house since the front doors would not budge at all. I wiped her blood from my face as my heart pounded like hammers in my chest. I felt a breeze against the side of my face as I entered the second story. However, the breeze didn’t expel the foul smell of death that hung in the air. The scent of decay seemed to leak from the attic above the end of the hallway. Putting my curiosity aside, I followed the source of the breeze to a bathroom on the right side of the house. There was a broken window which would be my escape. I don’t know if it was the alcohol running through me or absentmindedness, but I drew my gaze to a damp, slightly moss-covered mirror above the sink in the tiny bathroom which to me felt out of place in the massive house. In the mirror a pair of red eyes appeared, and I froze on the spot. She leant against my back and reached her hand over my shoulder to the mirror while resting her head on my other shoulder.
“Are you having fun?” she wrote on the mirror with the blood from her forehead. I said nothing; my tongue felt like it would be ripped from my jaw out of regret that pooled in my mind. She turned her eyes from the mirror to mine. She moved her face closer to mine as she walked around me to lean in closer. Then without thinking, as her face was less than inches from mine, I head-butted her and pushed the pale woman into the bathtub. She grabbed my hand as she fell and with surprising strength, she pulled me in with her. Her hands clawed over me as she laid on top of me. Her cold breath on my face gave me goose bumps and I almost forgot to breathe until the tap exploded with cold water as she accidently bumped it with her elbow. She gasped loudly as the water drenched her and she then disappeared into thin air. I didn’t question it, I didn’t stop to think, I dived out the window and rolled as I hit the ground and ran around the house to my friends. I fell to the ground at their feet under the weight of my ordeal and my soaked clothes.
“Wade, why are you drenched bro and how’d you get out?” Dan asked as he knelt down next to me.
“It doesn’t matter; just promise me nobody else goes inside the house, alright.”
“I’ll contact the police about this place tomorrow morning, that’ll do for tonight, see you all Monday, stay safe,” Mr Smith spoke responsibly only to trip on a rock and then swore under his alcohol-smothered breath.
We parted ways and headed home as the night came to an end. Except Johnson and I, we only lived a block from each other.
“I apologise if Sabrina’s poorly planned scheme to scare us backfired on you instead of her,” he said to me sincerely as he lugged both of our bags over his shoulder as we walked.
“It backfired on her; don’t you worry. She looked like she was going to be sick until you walked out those doors. Well hopefully we can just put all of this behind us after tonight.”
“Don’t you think you’re triggering flags by saying that much?” he asked bluntly.
“Well yeah…I have a feeling that was only the beginning to what’s to come, ha-ha,” I foolishly laughed already aware I had dug myself a hole by saying that.
He handed me my bag and put his hand on my shoulder again.
“Good luck, Wade,” he said to me before entering his house, leaving me to what would follow.
I arrived home shortly after that. I approached my front door and checked my phone to see the plastic case had preserved it from being drenched. It was three in the morning so I thought I might be able to come home unnoticed, however, I was wrong; the front door flew open and my father stepped out. See the thing about my dad is…he thinks I’m some sort of delinquent, ever since high school he’s thought of me this way. So naturally when I arrived home this late, he gave me an earful.
“Wade, coming home this late again I see, drinking your life away. Sigh. Why am I not surprised,” he teased me as he smelt my breath.
“Dad I’m twenty years old. I can make my own choices and besides, I haven’t been out to the bar in ages, remember?”
“Whatever you think now, son; come inside and try not to wake your sister.”
“You’re the one who scolds me every time I’m late to come home from work. I’m sure she’s wide awake still and just snacking in her room.” He laughed aloud and echoed across the street and then he suddenly stopped and looked at me with a serious gaze.
“Haha typical Wade trying to bring home girls again!”
Wait, what the fuck? I’m not with a girl! I screamed inside my head until I turned my head to see the pale woman resting her head on my shoulder.
“Where’d you find this one? Whatever, it doesn’t matter, bring her inside. She looks like she could use a shower after the crazy night you kids had.” I slapped my forehead so hard it rings even now just thinking about it. I took the pale girl by the hand and walked her inside resisting the urge to keel over at any given moment. We walked past my sister’s room that was illuminated by a laptop.
“Woah she’s cute, scary but scary cute. Where’d you find this one? Can we keep her?” She asked me while snacking on some chocolate.
“No! She’s like a ghost! Can’t you see that?” I yelled while trying to keep the pale woman away from my face.
“Just because they’re gone in the morning doesn’t make them ghosts, Wade,” she teased and then took a carefree bite of her chocolate.
“Shut it, Celia. Sigh. If my body is in mangles in the morning, I blame you.”
“Have Fun!” she yelled with a cheeky smile before slamming the door.
We went to the bathroom and I closed the door behind us. I was a little more confident now. She wasn’t all that threatening after walking her round the house like a child in a supermarket. I had my doubts and thought she could have been just playing around to isolate me from everyone. We sat on the bath together, our clothes still drenched from before. I tried to talk to her, but she just stared into my eyes with a smile on her face.
What am I going to do with her? If she won’t leave me alone and I’m not sure if she can entirely understand me either, I thought to myself until she stopped my train of thought by taking my hand and gently caressed her face with it. “You’re not a ghost? Is that what you’re trying to show me?” I stuttered as I grew more nervous by the second. She nodded and ran my hand through her brittle black hair. I looked at my hand afterwards to see it was covered in blood.
“Sigh. Alright if you’re not a ghost and you won’t leave me alone, I guess we gotta get you cleaned up a bit. My dad may be an idiot but if he gets a good look at you the way you are now…he’ll probably blame me.”
She giggled under her breath as if she couldn’t help herself, which made me only more suspicious and curious of her. I grabbed a soft cloth and held it under the tap and handed it to her. She refused to take it and closed her eyes expectantly, opening one eye slightly to check my reaction. “Really?” I asked slightly flustered and she nodded decisively.
I brought the cloth to her face and gently cleaned the dried blood off. Her skin was cold but very smooth and she seemed to enjoy me touching her as I cleaned her. She dropped some of her loose hanging clothing from her shoulders, implying I should clean her chest and work my way down from there.
“Hey…I’m not cleaning there. Do it yourself,” I struggled to utter words under the absurdity of the atmosphere in the room. She folded her arms and faced away from me. I sighed and went to wash my hands in the sink. In the mirror above the basin, more bloody writing appeared on the glass. ‘You’re no fun.’ It wrote as the blood streamed down the glass. She stripped out of her clothes and pulled the curtain across to shower.
“I’ll be back in a bit alright; I’ll see if I can find you some clothes. My sister might have something that fits you,” I said to her from the sink. She replied with a ‘hmmp’ and faced away from me. The shower curtain and her silhouette didn’t leave much to the imagination, so it left me feeling even more awkward. I went up to my room and rested in my bed for what felt like only five minutes but when I opened my eyes, I saw the pale woman wearing nothing but a towel, measuring the shirts that were in my cupboard against herself. She threw on one of my shirts; it hung loose over one of her shoulders and only just reached her thighs. She went to crawl over me until I slithered away from her.
“I’m gonna shower, just wait here. I won’t be long,” I told her before leaving the room. I washed the dirt, blood and whatever else from that night from my short black hair and changed out of my saturated clothes. When I walked back into my room, I went to lay down on my bed but before I could, I found the girl had thrown her arms around me from behind. She was surprisingly light as she clung to my back. I slid one of my hands between hers and turned my head and her face rubbed against mine.
“It’s four-thirty in the morning, I’m tired. If you’re gonna kill me or whatever, save it for tomorrow. I’m so out of it, it’s hard to see you as remotely frightening,” I said to her in a frustrated tone. I remember falling asleep shortly after that without much trouble. As far as I recall, that was it for the night. It’s what happened the next day what really kicked off everything.
I woke up next to her around ten in the morning; she stared at me some more as I tried to shake my hangover. We went to the kitchen where my Dad and Celia were already eating toast. We joined them and sat quietly nibbling on warm smooth buttered bread, until my Dad started asking questions.
“So, what’s your name, miss, and how’d you bump into my degenerate son?”
I went to give a vague answer for her to cover for us, but she answered his question before I had the chance speak.
“My name is Angel, nice to finally meet you,” her voice was charming and confident; it took away my initial impression of her completely. She gave off a vibe of maturity and high self-esteem.
Wait, finally!? My thoughts turned to paranoia after hearing that.
“Huh, how long have you two known each other?” My Dad asked curiously; she looked to me and winked with a mischievous smile on her face.
“I’ve been seeing Wade for several months now Giggle. He was so nervous about introducing me to you.”
Dad turned to me with a stone-cold stare, while I sat there with my jaw dropped at a loss for words. His stare turned to happy cheers and fit of fluffy laughter. “Where you been hiding her? She’s so adorable and innocent! Why would you be nervous of bringing this one home?”
That lying little…but before I could finish my thought, she continued her act. She grabbed me around the arm and rested her head against my shoulder. “I hate to impose any further than I have already, but my parents want to move to France. I’d rather stay with Wade; I couldn’t imagine life without him…so is it okay if I stay here for a while?” She asked carelessly while snuggling my arm. He shrugged his shoulders and just like that, from that morning on, she would be living in my room with me. I sat there trying not to be sick at the thought that I’d be living with something from a haunted house. Angel giggled in excitement and dragged me back to my room. She rolled around in my bed while I sat there, stunned.
“Angel.”
“Yes darling?”
“What just happened?” I asked as I looked up the ceiling while lying on the bed.
“I’ll be living here for a while with you, is that okay?”
“I got that much but why? What do you want from me?” I asked calmly despite feeling like dropping dead.
“I don’t know because I feel like it,” she said as she fell in my lap and stared into my eyes. I had no idea what to do but to call Johnson and ask for advice. I told Angel I would be making a phone call and stepped outside the room in the hallway.
“Hey Johnson, what’s up?”
“Oh, hello Wade, how are you feeling from last night?” His voice seemed slightly rushed and struggled to follow the conversation.
“I have a serious problem. You don’t mind coming over here, today, do you?”
“I’m sorry, I’m pretty caught up right now; I’ll do my best to come over around five o’clock,” he then hung up the phone after I heard a small scuffle in the background.
“Sigh. He must be with Sabrina today. Alright, just gotta keep Angel happy until then,” I said out loud in an exhausted tone.
I got some more toast and went back to my room. I handed her some and sat down next to her. I suggested we watch a movie to pass some time. She happily nodded and I chucked on some movie. I honestly can’t even remember what it was about. All I do remember is sitting on my bed with Angel sitting on my lap, her head resting deep into my shoulder. I don’t think either of us even watched the movie; we would stare at each other examining one another’s features until our eyes met, that’s when we would dart our eyes back to the TV.
“Hey, Wade,” she spoke when neither of us had said anything in over an hour.
“Yeah, Angel?”
“I’m going to the bathroom, can you let go of my waist?”
I looked down to realise I had been holding her as I leant against the wall behind my bed. I felt slightly ashamed as if I was buying into the whole lover’s act. “Oh sorry, I keep thinking you’re a creature or spirit…it’s easy to forget that you’re just a regular girl,” I said anxiously with my hands behind my head. She tensed up slightly but then calmed down within seconds.
“Well I’m not normal but I’d like it if you would see me as a girl, not a monster,” she replied softly while holding her arm. Rather than walking out the door, she vanished without a trace. She reappeared a moment later, but her head began to bleed again. I held another cloth against the cut above her forehead and did the best I could to prevent any more blood loss.
“Doesn’t this cut hurt? How’d you even get this?”
“I don’t know, it doesn’t hurt though.”
“This is pretty deep and how it hasn’t become infected yet is another question entirely. I’ll have Johnson look at you when he gets here; he’s surprisingly good with this kind of stuff.” She then stared at me with her big red eyes as if I had said something I shouldn’t have.
“Johnson?” She asked tilting her head slightly with a smile.
“Yeah, he was with me when you and I met in that house.” Her expression changed as she recalled who he was. She nudged my hand away from her head. As if I had blinked, she vanished and reappeared this time holding one of my sister’s dresses.
“I’m getting changed and then we’re going out. So, unless you want to help me squeeze into this thing, get out.” She shoved me into the hallway and locked the door.
Wait, going out? Where are we going? I thought to myself until she suddenly flung open the door to have me tie a ribbon around her waist for her dress. After that she led me by the hand out of the house and dragged me across the street to Johnson’s house.
“How did you know he lived here?”
“I followed you home remember?” she said cheerily. She walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell. We could hear some shuffling inside and about ten minutes later, Johnson answered the door. His eyes shot open as he saw Angel’s bright red eyes staring at him. He glanced at me unsure of what to say, expecting me to break the ice.
“She followed me home ha-ha,” I said casually trying not to be as serious.
“Come in, you do however owe me an apology. I said I was busy today, but I’ll make an exception for this.” His tone was still as serious as ever. We entered his home and we went to the living room; he parked us on the couch. Sabrina sat on one opposite of us separated by a glass coffee table. She looked at us as if we were intruding on her and Johnson, which we probably were. She looked at Angel with a serious gaze for a moment until she clung to her and hugged up to her without warning after leaping the coffee table.
Huh? She doesn’t recognise her from last night? I screamed inside my head. “You’re so cute and that dress, it’s way too mature for you. How old are you, sixteen? Seventeen?” She adored her while basically feeling her up.
“Uh Sabrina?” I tried to stop her, but she wouldn’t listen.
“Shame on you, Wade, you shouldn’t be dating students just because you can’t get any girls your own age.”
Angel leant over to me and buried her face in mine and gave me a kiss on the cheek; her lips were cold. As flustered as I was, I felt somewhat on edge and my shoulders tensed up to my neck. “I’m eighteen and Wade treats me just fine; I don’t care if he’s a little older,” she replied assertively.
Johnson walked into the room with a tray of coffee and a jug of juice. He pulled me aside to the kitchen before doing anything else. “Explain,” he said bluntly. I told him that she had infiltrated my family and had seemed to convince everyone she meets that she and I were a couple. He bonked me on the head and stared at me in disappointment. “You must stand up for yourself, Wade, or these things will happen more often than you think.”
“Yeah, sorry,” I replied rubbing the back of my head.
“The only one you should be apologising to is yourself. Now what do you want to do? I can’t decide in how you handle these situations,” I told him about her injuries and how I wanted him to at least know what exactly she was. He brought her into another room, and I was left with Sabrina. She teased me saying things like that Angel was almost too good to be true to be with a guy like me. I chuckled to myself, trying not to burst into laughter. I guess the thought that the Angel she saw in the house was unrecognisable to her from nothing but a change of clothes and a shower; well it was pretty funny to me.
“What’s so funny?” she asked in a frustrated tone.
“Nothing, so how are you and Johnny doing? Enjoy yourself last night?”
“Butt out of it. It’s complicated, okay?” She looked away from me and pouted.
“Still? You two have been running with that since high school. Nobody will be upset if you guys come out with it.”
“It’s bad enough you know about us…” she mumbled to herself, I pretended not to hear her.
After an awkward silence between Sabrina and me, Johnson and Angel walked back into the room. The girls sat down together while I discussed what Johnson found. He delivered surprising information that changed my perspective of her.
“As far as the cut above her forehead goes, it’s already healing quite nicely but what she is, is another question entirely. Her skin is cold, her eyes as you can see are an unnatural red. However, her heart is beating and her behaviour although strange, mirrors a girl of her age. She’s human but with some rather unusual traits.”
It was a lot of information to take on at once, but I tried to plan on what to do next. “Any suggestions? I’m kind of at a loss for how to act on this.”
“Talk to her, ask her what she wants and come to an understanding with one another.”
“Yeah, alright. Thanks man, I can always count on you for when things get crazy like this,” I replied gratefully.
“No problem, I’m going through a similar thing myself,” he laughed anxiously while looking at Sabrina.
Things were about to spiral out of control when Angel opened her mouth. “Your boyfriend’s really nice, Sabrina. I really appreciate the effort the two of you are going through to help us out,” she said with another mischievous smile. Sabrina froze up and then her face melted under the red that consumed it within seconds. Johnson tried to back out of the room, but things were already set into motion.
“Now she’s did it,” I complained as Sabrina threw her hands on Angel’s shoulders.
“Angel he’s just a friend okay? I-I’m not his girlfriend or anything like that…we just hangout sometimes, that’s all.”
Angel turned to me and winked before speaking again, which had me even more worried. “Oh, he’s not? I didn’t know friends had sex on their days off together…are we friends, Wade, or am I more than that?” She pinned the conversation back onto me.
Everyone in the room went quiet until Sabrina burst into a panic of confusion. “What? We weren’t—”
“You’re not wearing panties and his shirt’s inside out,” she cut her off midsentence. Sabrina looked down at herself and tears started to well in her eyes as she looked back at Angel with a smile on her face. “Don’t worry I’m not wearing any either,” she said as she went to lift up her dress. I quickly rushed to her to stop her and ran outside with her, leading her by the hand.
“Sorry man!” I yelled to Johnson as I legged it. He rubbed Sabrina on the head as she steamed up more and more from the tears that fell from her eyes.
When we arrived back home, we spent the rest of the evening until dinner just lying in bed with each other, making no real serious conversation, just talking about anything, really. After a while, things did get serious as if we had just been putting it off.
“So, Angel, what do you want from me? This charade has been fun and you’re one of the most interesting people I’ve ever had the chance of meeting but tell me why are you doing all of this.”
“Because you haven’t run away, and you have no intention of doing so; it’s been a very long time since I’ve had someone look me in the eyes and smile. It’s been so long since I’ve laughed, so long since I’ve felt like someone has cared about me,” her voice softened, and I could tell she was really baring her soul.
“And the lover’s act?”
“I like it…it means I can show I care about you too. I don’t see it as an act,” her words really moved me and under my blushing face at the time, I felt guilty that I thought that she was out to hurt me. I hugged her and less than a minute later, we called to the table for dinner.
“Heh, with her you actually come off as a decent guy, Wade.” Dad taunted as we entered the kitchen.
“Hey! Is that my dress? At least tell me if your girlfriend’s going to borrow my clothes,” Celia scolded me while munching down on a steak.
“I’m sorry I just didn’t bring any clothes with me before I moved in,” she apologised for herself while looking down at herself. Dad looked at me expectantly with his dinner untouched.
“We’ll have to go clothes shopping on my next day off ha-ha,” I said trying to cover for the both of us.
“Day off?” she whispered in my ear.
“Well yeah I have to work; it’s how I earn my keep,” I whispered back.
“When’s your next day off?” she asked curiously.
“A week from now…” I watched her heart sink at my words. She picked at her plate for a little while and we went back to my room shortly afterwards. I rested in my bed but wide awake until midnight. Angel fell asleep beside me long before I did. As I laid there unsure of how our future together was going to pan out, I received a phone call from Johnson.
“Hello Wade? Sorry if I woke you but I forgot to mention something important.”
“Don’t worry I wasn’t asleep, thanks for calling man, if it’s important I’m all ears.” He then told me that from when he examined Angel that her pale skin would burn in the harsh sunlight of the approaching summer. He explained she would probably be fine on the regular spring days though. “Alright thanks for letting me know, see you tomorrow morning.”
“No problem, see you then.”
I got up early that morning and walked to work under the sunrise. I was one of the last to arrive. Everyone else was already in their offices. I passed Johnson in his office beside mine and I got straight to work. At the time, I guess I was relieved to be in my office. It gave me a reason to forget or at least distract myself from Angel. Around lunch break in the afternoon, Mr Smith called me to his office. I sat down in front of his desk which was covered in files and coffee stains. “Yes, sir?” I asked politely.
“Wade, call me Rex. I’m not really into the whole suit and tie act.”
“Yeah okay. So, what did you want to see me about?”
“Well it’s about Saturday night and that creepy ass house. I wanted to ask if you’re okay. You’re not too shaken up or anything like that?”
“Thanks for the concern, but I’m fine. Don’t worry, it didn’t get me freaking out or whatever.” I honestly just wanted to forget about it, but I knew I couldn’t even if I tried.
“Alright, well, tell me if you have anything come up, okay? I like to look after my employees.”
I left his office and went back to mine. It was around ten pm when I walked home with Johnson. We talked about nothing really all that important until I got home. He gave me some parting advice and went home. “Be careful how you act with her, the two of you still aren’t sure where you stand with each other.”
When I got home, I quickly had a shower and went up to my room. Angel looked at me with her big red eyes, expectantly. She was sitting on my bed wearing one of my old t-shirts. I sat down on my bed beside her and then fell back against my bed. “Ahh that’s better. How was your day? You find a way to keep entertained?”
She shook her head and tugged her shirt over her knees, resting her face in between them and her arms. I sat up and rested my arm around her shoulder. I brought my face closer to hers as she darted her eyes away from mine. “Don’t tell me the girl that stalked me home gets this down when she’s lonely,” I teased her a little hoping I could get her to bite at what was eating away at her, but it was for nothing. I got up and grabbed an apple from the fridge in the kitchen for the both of us. She nibbled at it while I chomped down on mine after a long day at work.
“Seriously, what’s wrong?” I asked as I brushed her hair away from her eyes. My hand was covered in long strands of brittle pitch-black hair as I moved it from her face; they fell to the carpet and blood dripped down her face. She turned to me and with a dead, tired gaze as she spoke.
“Wade?” she said softly.
“What is it?” I responded, trying not to panic as if I had pushed some unknown boundary.
“What am I to you?” She brought her head from her knees and moved herself closer to me. I slowly began to freeze up as she rested her head on my shoulder, utterly depressed, so much so to the point where it was discouraging for me. I wasn’t sure how to comfort her, but I held her close; her skin was cold and sent chills down my spine.
“I don’t know, why? What do you want to be?”
“I feel like a monster…my hair keeps falling out only to grow back dry and worn out. No matter how much I bleed I just won’t drop dead and my eyes, I keep forgetting they’re not normal. I am afraid to face anyone…from the way they look at me.”
“You’re not a monster. Monsters act like what they are deemed. You’re sweet and as much as I don’t want to admit it, I really have started to take a liking to you. You’re growing on me, Angel.” I hated seeing her upset like that. She began to cry into my shirt with blood-mixed tears and I could feel her weight against me as she gave up on even trying to hold herself up. I held her for a while and turned off the lights. We laid in bed together in the dark; it helped me calm down a little as I stared up at the ceiling.
“Say Angel? What brought this on? You were perfectly happy yesterday.”
“You don’t realise how lonely you really are until you have someone and then they disappear.”
“Well I’m back now, aren’t I?” I said, not sure whether I was going to regret it. She wiped her blood-sodden hair and tears from her eyes and sniffled a few times before cheering up a bit.
“You asked what I wanted you to be to me?” she asked softly.
“Well yeah if I’m going to be living with you, we may as well know our boundaries.”
“I want to be lovers. I want you to see me as your partner, over an uninvited guest. Because I like you a lot too, Wade.”
Now that I think about it, it’s funny how off guard she caught me, no matter how prepared I thought I was.
“Y-yeah okay. If you really feel that way then let’s be lovers,” I stuttered as she climbed on top of me.
“You really mean that?” She closed her eyes and brought her face closer to mine.
“Yeah, I do,” I said as I closed mine.
We kissed and my heart for the first time felt as if it had melted. That dead and cold vibe she gave off turned to a soft and refined taste from her lips. She held the back of my shoulders as she ever so gently pressed herself against my body. It was a new sensation that I thought I’d never enjoy as much as I did. She moved her face from mine and licked the saliva from her lips. With a smile, she laid down next to me and giggled to herself.
“What’s so funny?” I asked, feeling flustered.
“Nothing; it’s just I think you’re cute when you’re serious.”
“And you’re not? Are you telling me that was all an act?”
“No, I meant every word and I’ll hold you to yours,” she said after sniffling some more. I fell asleep that night, lost in thought, even more so than I was before but one thing that I did know that my life with Angel, a woman I knew hardly anything about, had just begun and wasn’t about to slow down any time soon.