Dark Angel (A 001 prequel story)

5 - Sinner

He said her name.
Her heart couldn't stop jumping foolishly around that little detail.
Not just Rose had dared to touch him, she had hugged him and won a hug back.
He kinda flirted with her for a moment.
For a moment she even thought that it didn't actual happen, that it was just in her mind.
Because she had been so lucky, after being luckless for most of her life.

Rose went through her usual routine with new motivation, confident that her reckless mission had produced some little good changing.

At night she hoped to fall asleep and travel back to him. But she had no control over her dreams.

Nightmares visited her again, until once she woke up remembering something different.
It was a weird dream.
It wasn't the massacre.
She had her limbs tied to a chair with belts.
Leaning on her was a priest, who was reciting some ritual prayer in Latin.
Then he sprinkled water at her and she couldn't do anything to avoid it.
No, not water.
It was some acid that burned her skin.
She screamed but the priest just spoke louder.

Rose woke up trying to shove away the sweat from her skin.
It was just her own sweat.
Not that infernal liquid.

Rose took her time to get ready.
On that day she would work with Brenner and she felt awfully nervous.
The bad sleep affected her mood until she stopped by the cafeteria to get something for breakfast.
The woman at the counter gave her a cup of coffee and she just took it.
She wished she hadn't.
The smell reminded her of her parents and how they loved coffee.
She couldn't love it.
She sat down at a solitary table and stared at the warm liquid.
She wished to make explode that cup.
For a moment she held her breath, fearing that it could actually happen.
The special children who lived in that building with her were surely capable of such a small, powerful thing.
But she wasn't them.

"You don't like coffee?".
Rose jumped on her seat, finding Peter standing behind her holding his own cup.
How could she explain it to him?
Before she could speak, he sat in front of her and exchanged his cup with hers.
"I hope you prefer tea".
"Yes" she admitted and watched him take a sip from her former cup. Her jaw dropped "You didn't have to do that".
He shrugged "I don't mind it".
He took sip with an elegance that made her feel even more dumb.
He looked healthy again, just a bandaid covered where he had stabbed himself.
"How are you feeling?" she asked to be sure that what she saw actually reflected how he was.
"Good. Almost forgot about it" he slightly moved his head to the side of his wound.
Feeling thirsty, she tasted the tea and felt grateful that he had appeared and saved her breakfast.

"What do you take? Fruit or biscuits?" he nodded at the choices on the table.
He grabbed an apple and took a bite, glancing at her.
As reply she grabbed a biscuit and chewed shyly at it, feeling her face hot.
He was the image of an angel biting a forbidden fruit.
Her damned mind recalled her nightmare and suggested that maybe she deserved to be exorcised by a priest for how she was simping over him.

"Are you here to tell me that I don't need to replace you anymore and kick me out of the children's section?" she asked before her mind could fly far away in her daydream.
"No" he said with a faint grin "Actually I hope you can keep working there. Surely you are a better company".
Rose struggled to stop gawking at him, but her eyes were hypnotized by how his Adam's apple moved each time he swallowed.
He held his chin up enough for her to get that wonderful view.
She wished she could cut the distance and kiss that neck, maybe biting at it with the passion he used at biting that lucky apple.
And then again, Adam's apple. Adam. The original sin.
She felt a sinner.

Suddenly he moved and changed his chair, taking a seat by the nearby table.
She could just blink with deep confusion, wondering what mistake she did or if her childish behaviour had irritated him.
Then a shadow hovered over her and she crossed Brenner's warm eyes.
She threw the last bit of biscuit in her mind to finish it, then smiled sheepishly at him.