Angel (Cody Daniels Book 1)

Chapter 4

After Aunt Suzie left (wondering where her knife had gotten to), I cleaned the knife thoroghly and returned it to the rack. Then, I half-filled the bathtub with warm soapy water and dropped my bloody clothes in. 

The water immediately turned pink, and I dropped down in front, using a scrubing brush from under the kitchen sink to start removing the blood stains.

I kept looking down at my hand, though, where the cut that had caused the blood stains should be. But there wasn't even a mark. Somehow, I had healed my hand. The same way that I must've healed myself the day before when I'd been mugged. 

When the clothes were blood-free, I drained the water, cleaned the bath out and hung the clothes up to dry in my room. 

I put a film on in my room, but wasn't eager to watch it. I curled up in bed, exhaustion finally taking over me, and fell into a deep sleep. I was immesurably surprised when Aunt Suzie woke me up some time later, and I hadn't had any nightmares. 

She smiled as I opened my eyes, groggily looking up at her. 

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. You left your TV on." 

"Yeah, sorry," I muttered, not fully awake yet.

"I'm going to order a takeaway for dinner tonight, if you want." she said, sitting down on the end of my bed. 

"Yeah, that sounds great." 

"Why are your clothes wet?" she frowned up at my t-shirt hanging on my wardrobe door. 

"I was running myself a bath and fell in." I said. 

"You're really clumsy." she said. "You get that from your dad's side, I expect." 

A silence descended, as always when either of my parents were mentioned.

"Do you think he's ever coming back?" I asked quietly. 

"I don't know, Cody," she said with a heavy sigh. "The police say that he's dead. You went to his funeral." 

"But I don't think he's actually dead." I said quietly. 

"What's up with you lately, Cody?" she asked me. "What are you keeping from me?" 

"What do you mean?" 

"You've not been sleeping or eating properly, then there was that fight and the 'going for a run' business yesterday. Since when do you run?" 

"Honestly?" I said. "There's a new football team that's doing try-outs soon, and I really want to get in. I've been really nervous about it." 

She smiled. "Don't be. You're a great football player, and they'd be stupid not to let you in." 

"Thanks," I said, feeling my cheeks flare. 

"Anyway, I'd better go and order dinner." she got up. "If you ever need to talk about anything, Cody, I'm here for you." 

"Thanks." I said again. 

"Anytime." she went downstairs, and I sat up in bed, glancing at the wet top on my wardrobe. A shudder ran through me, but I ignored it, getting up out of bed. Because, for whatever reason, for better or worse, I could heal myself. 

And it wasn't a privelage I was going to waste.

***

The next day, I wasn't eager to get up for school, but Aunt Suzie told me that I couldn't have another day off. I sighed out an annoyed 'okay', and got myself up out of bed. I got dressed into my uniform, ate breakfast quickly (I was running late) and headed towards the door. However, with my hand on the latch, I paused.