All Angel, No Wings

All Angel, No Wings (Ch. 3)

Chapter Three

            “You can close your eyes to the things you do not want to see, but you cannot close your heart to the things you do not want to feel.” – Source Unknown

“Sam, eat something!” Katrina whined the next day at lunch. Sammy shied away from the sandwich she had bought him. He couldn’t get the image of him throwing up the day previous out of his head. It was like a never ending movie. A bad, disgusting, movie, with blood and guts, and no love. Sammy shuddered at the analogy. Okay, enough blood and guts at lunchtime.

            “Ooh, look.” Katrina’s arm was suddenly blocking Sammy’s view of his homework he hadn’t done the night before. He threw his hands up in silent exasperation, which Katrina laughed at for a moment, before pushing his head to the side to look where she was pointing. And Sammy saw…Nathan surrounded by cheerleaders? Huh, so that’s what the world had come to. “Isn’t that the jerk that said you were faking being a mute?” Katrina asked him, lowering her stick – thin arm. He nodded slightly, watching as Nathan pushed through them like they were ragdolls. What a rude person; at least have the courteously to say “Excuse me,” to a human. Sheesh.

            Sammy felt a blush crawl up his cheeks as Nathan sat down next to him on the bench. Not in the open space beside Katrina, not on the almost near empty bench across from him, but right next to him. What was going on with him?

            “Hello Sammy, hello…” Nathan forgot the human girl’s name. Not that he cared in particular; he only liked Sammy.

            “Katrina.” She helped him, anger boiling in her bones.

            Nathan waved it off, “Right. What’s up, Sammy?”

            Sammy shrugged, and bit his tongue, feeling the metallic taste of blood fill up his mouth. Fantastic. Nathan glanced him over once, “What? You have nothing to say?”

            “For the fifth time, he’s mute.” Katrina mumbled. Nathan scowled at her mercilessly. Why was the ignorant human even thinking she could make conversation with him? That was downright disgusting.

            “I know that, stupid.” He smirked at the nickname he had given her.

            Her eyes widened. “Did you just call me stupid?”

            Nathan burped, then shrugged. “I think I did. Would you prefer ignorant? Retarded? Dumb? Stop me when you hear one you like.”

            “You’re so rude.” She swallowed the bite she was taking. “Do you ever think about people and their feelings?”

            “I do what I want, when I want to do it.”

            “Oh, thank gosh for that.”

            “You’re about two seconds away from having my foot up your ass.” Nathan warned. Sammy plugged his fragile ears with his long fingers, and his eyelids found themselves clamped together, as if he were trying to block out all sight and sound, which he was. He hated cuss words. They didn’t belong in his life, and they wouldn’t; if he could steer clear of people that used them, that was.

            Nathan was puzzled. He had never seen any boy, in particular a boy of Sammy’s age, seventeen, ever plug their ears when he cussed. And he had lived a very long time. “What’s the matter with barf boy?” He hooked a thumb in Sammy’s direction.

            Katrina sighed, “He doesn’t like curse words. He finds them unneeded in the human language and he wants to make them nonexistent in his world.”

            “Wow.” He commented on Sammy’s erotic behavior. “Tell me: Does batshit craziness run in your circle of friends?” Sammy plunged his ears deeper, trying to block out the other swear word.

            Katrina gave Nathan a non – too – friendly look, “Stop that. I told you, he doesn’t like it when people swear.”

            “He can’t hear me.”

            “Look at his eyes. Yes he can.” Sure enough, when Nathan glanced at Sammy’s face, he realized he could still hear them; very clearly in fact.

            Nathan bit his cheek, “Shi – I mean, shoot! My bad, Sammy.” He pulled his fingers out of his ears and gave a feeble nod, signaling that it was okay. Nathan beamed at him, and Sammy beamed back. They seemed to be…having a moment? No, absurd. Demons and humans didn’t have “moments,” and especially not together. Alas, there they sat, wrapped up in each other’s reality.

            Until a shrill scream rose up in the air.

            Sammy, Nathan, Katrina, all of everyone jumped out of their seats at the sound. It was piercing; it hurt like a knife cutting at a person’s skin. It was a blood curdling scream. As if…as if someone were being murdered. At the thought, Sammy sunk to his knees.

            Katrina was by his side in an instant, “Sam? Are you okay? Sam?”

            Nathan joined shortly after, “Barf boy, what the fuck is wrong? What the hell is going on?” Sammy seethed. Nathan was cursing again. After his little progression not moments earlier, and he was cussing like a trucker. Sammy felt a stirring in his throat as he opened his mouth at Nathan’s fowl language.

            “Stop…swearing. I…hate…cuss…words.” He saw black dots swarm in front of his vision, and before he knew it, he passed out on the floor, blood spilling from his nose and mouth. Katrina and Nathan cringed back at the sight.

            “I thought you said he was mute?” Nathan raised an eyebrow.

            Katrina shook her head, not believing what just happened as the cafeteria erupted in chaos, “He was.”

            “So, what then? I got him to talk?”

            “No.” She smiled. “You’re the first person to ever get him to talk.”

            Nathan felt proud as the human admitted that. And suddenly, all of the attention was back on Sammy. “He needs to get to the nurse.” Nathan commented. Katrina just nodded, paling more with each second, her light brown hair hanging limply in her face. “I’ll bring him.” He decided aloud. She was in no condition to carry anyone; even if they were as small as Sammy was. And besides; he wanted to be alone with Sammy. Katrina just nodded slowly again, and before she could even process it, Nathan was running out the door, Sammy hanging limply over his shoulder.

            As Nathaniel neared the nurse, he knew that Sammy and him couldn’t be friends, or anything more, no matter how much he wanted it.

            It dawned on him, the truth finally revealed.

            The angel baby was meant to be a mute regained voice.