Angel Girl

Chapter 10: Secrets Revealed

Meanwhile, across the city, an apartment building was on fire, and the residents were being evacuated. Some firefighters bravely fought the flames, while others escorted the people outside to safety. Just then, a woman, who had been rescued from the burning building and was recovering from the trauma of the escape, realized that someone was missing and got hysterical. “My daughter, my daughter! My daughter’s in there!” she cried, as she tried to push her way back towards the building, but the firemen restrained her. “She’s in there! She’s in there! Jamie!” The responders managed to pull her back to the safe zone as she screamed and cried for her missing daughter. The firefighters tried to re-enter the building, but the heat and flames were too intense and blocked the entrance. Inside, 6-year-old Jamie was stuck inside her bedroom screaming for help. Jamie was too scared by the flames to move. The ceiling began to crumble all around her but, luckily, the girl managed to avoid being hit by the debris, though she was still trapped. She began to lose all hope as she cried, but, suddenly, her prayers were answered. Jamie looked up and was startled by the sight of a hooded figure, and recoiled in fear, thinking he might harm her. 

Instead of hurting the petrified, sobbing child, the figure picked her up and teleported out of the room. After what seemed like hours, the fire was finally extinguished, and all that was left was a shell of the apartment building. The firemen entered the charred apartment to search for survivors. One firefighter approached the woman whose child was missing with a sad, sympathetic look. “I’m sorry, ma’am. We didn’t find a body,” he said reluctantly. The woman broke down crying in deep sorrow while screaming her daughter’s name. She stopped when she and the fireman heard a little girl’s voice. “Mommy! Mommy!” the voice called, as the adults looked in all directions. Jamie barged through the crowd and ran towards her mother, as the woman gasped in disbelief and ran to her daughter to hug her, while the apartment residents applauded. “Oh, Jamie! Thank God, thank God!”- she looked at her with a smile and teary eyes- “What happened? How did you get out here?” the woman asked. “The Shadow Ghost saved me,” Jamie answered. “Shadow Ghost?” the fireman parroted, as the little girl nodded her head. He and the mother were both confused by the response, but the woman didn’t care. She was just relieved that her daughter was safe from harm. Meanwhile, the cloaked figure watched them from the alley behind the crowd and firefighters. Then he vanished into the darkness. 

Elsewhere, at a museum, Violet walked around the empty establishment, looking for something valuable and worth stealing. She came across a crystal exhibit in a room and marveled at the beauty of the gemstones it contained. But the one that really caught her attention was at the end of the room; a purplish-red heart-shaped taaffeite crystal in a glass display case. As she walked towards it, the crystal seemed as though it were calling to her. Cutting a circle in the protective glass, she took the hand-sized crystal and put it in her bag. The alluring thief made her way downstairs to the main hall, and towards the exit. But she was stopped in her tracks when Angel Girl appeared in her path. “Well, well, the topic of everyone’s conversation. The girl in white, the so-called angel from above. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Violet asked in a sophisticated tone. “I saw you sneak in through the skylight. Now, put it back,” Angel Girl demanded. 

The thief was amused. “Put what back?” she said, playing dumb.

“You know what I’m talking about,” Angel Girl replied in a perturbed voice. “Put it back.”

“Or what?” Violet mocked.

“Or I’ll break your pretty face,” the heroine threatened. 

“You think I’m pretty?” the thief tauntingly asked.

Irritated, Angel flew towards her, only for Violet to step aside and dodge the attack. Violet put her bag down and her knuckles, while Angel Girl tauntingly scoffed. “You think you can beat me? Newsflash, I’m a superhuman, and you’re not,” the heroine pointed out. Violet laughed mockingly and said, “Naive girl. You have no idea what I am.” “Meaning?” Angel Girl dryly asked in confusion. Instead of telling her, Violet smiled sinisterly, took a deep breath, and unleashed a sonic scream of sparkly, purple rings, throwing the heroine through a wall. Angel Girl sat up, disoriented from the blast and bleeding from her ears. “What the freak?” she whispered, looking up at the thief. “Aww, poor child. Want me to kiss your wound to make it better?” Violet teased.