God's Gone AWOL

[3] Hangover

[EPISODE 3: LUCY'S FUNHOUSE]

Atticus refused to leave Bentley's side for the whole night.

Even when the bar finally closed and she was kicked out, he stayed right beside her. By the time the two finally wandered back out into the soggy streets, Bentley was too drunk to walk on her own, let alone fly anywhere. And so Atticus had no choice but to half-drag-half-carry her back to R & F's Cupboard, despite her incessant protests.

Back at the Cupboard, everything had been fairly quiet. Frances was deep in the endless sea of bookshelves, reorganizing and taking inventory. Hazel had just woken up from a very bizarre set of dreams induced by Atticus' sleep enchantment. Drifting between reality and the hazy embrace of dreamland was hard enough. It just so happened that the dreams she had been having contained all sorts of secrets of the universe, displayed out like it was nothing significant, only fun-facts.

To Hazel, it was mind bending and surreal. An experience of vast galaxies and an understanding of a deeper reality than the one humans have ever been able to detect. But to Atticus, it was the same logic as putting on an educational video for a child and walking away, leaving it to the screen to teach the important stuff. Basically he he dismissed her with some omnipresent theological version of Bill Nye the Science Guy. And the best part was, Hazel wasn't even awake to ask any questions.

So the Cupboard was quiet and peaceful for a while. Now the only sound was the occasional scratching of pen on paper from the notebook in Frances' hands. The lanes and lanes of books acted like a natural muffler, so not even the casual noises of the street above could make it inside. The silence on top of the dim orange light of the candles flickering harmoniously on the old stone walls painted quite a tranquil picture.

Until the door on top of the stairs burst open and the room was filled with a pair of bickering voices.

"I'm fine! I can get down the stairs on my own!"

"You're still injured," said Atticus, "On top of the alcohol, I'm afraid you wouldn't even be able to make it down two steps without me,"

Bentley grumbled but did not resist the help in the end. Eventually, the two made it to the bottom of the stairs. As soon as they were on solid ground again, Atticus plopped her onto the couch.

Hazel blinked blearily, trying to adjust her eyes to the light after having them closed for so long.

"Wait, is she drunk?" she asked, still half asleep.

"Whaddayou think?" said the equally confuddled Bentley.

"Is that even possible for demons?"

"Only if I want it to be,"

Atticus moved his body to block the two from interacting any further. Neither of them had decent temperaments, and with one of them being half-asleep and the other totally intoxicated, it was best if they didn't talk too much.

"Stay here until you calm down, okay?" Atticus told Bentley.

She stuck her tongue out at him, but said nothing. The gesture was so stupid and childish. Atticus couldn't suppress his smile.

"I have a question," Bentley said suddenly.

"What is your question?" His voice was sweeter than he meant it to be.

"Since when are there screens everywhere? Like, everywhere. You all have them in your pockets, on walls, inside of signs. Literally, where did they all come from??"

"What are you talking about?" Hazel asked.

Bentley snatched the phone out of Atticus' pocket and waved it in the air.