Halos and Wings: Angels

Not What They Seem

Chloe trudges towards the entrance of the narrow alley ahead of us with a type of grim determination in her step that is usually only seen in detectives arriving on the scene of a crime. We are coming from a party at our friend Charlene's house, leaving later than we had originally planned. The moon was just a thin sliver, the pale talon of some giant beast hanging onto the sky until it's strength gives out and it falls from it's place of honor. The stars all around it watch us, blinking with the many eyes of the night. I try to remember the time when I was young enough to understand them and talk back. To be able to hear the stars, you must have total and complete innocence. I am not sure I ever had that, at least not when I was old enough to be able to remember it.

I glance over at Chloe in the orange glow of the streetlamps. Her mind is not on the stars or our deprived childhood. Her mind is only on the task ahead of us, focused as she always is. And after we complete this task, there would be another one ready to replace it. Our lives are a never ending list of chores. We are only maids.

Chloe is walking faster than she normally walks, speeding up as we get closer and closer to the alley, leaving the lights behind. I struggle to keep up with the grueling pace I would have previously thought to be unattainable for her short legs, let alone mine. I slipped in a shallow smelly puddle that was definitely not water right in front of the dark void. I wrinkle my news in disgust and try not to think of what the contents of the puddle might be.

Chloe takes a deep slow breath, not at all concerned with my clumsiness. I stand up and let out a long sigh. Not a sad sigh, but a sigh of resignation. We both wanted to get through this alley as quickly as possible, wanting to avoid the terrors that we both knew made this wretched, smelly, dark and damp place their home. We both peered into the dreaded place trying to make out exactly what was waiting for us. "Let's do this." I say to her finally, giving up seeing into the darkness. It is better to face it head on than stand here wondering what might be in there. Without another word, Chloe leads the way into it.

I thought I hear the sound of bells behind us, but when I turn to look back, searching for the source, there is no one there, and the sound is gone. We are all alone, and in a very dangerous place. No, we are not alone. We have who we have always had. We have each other. I try to keep my focus and stop hearing imaginary warning bells and the whispers of gossiping stars.

Chloe is not quite running, but coming pretty close to it. I am already out of breath as the darkness swallows us up completely. I do not want to go as fast as Chloe is going. In fact, I want to stop and rest, but I do not dare complain or suggest this. We don't purposely tempt fate, though it seems fate purposely finds us very tempting. It seems that the more we try to avoid it, the more it pursues us like a hungry wolf chases little red riding hood. Right at our heels, waiting for us to slip so that it can devour us. And unfortunately tonight is no exception to the rule. Fate does not care if you have on your favorite designer jeans and sparkly red sweater. It throws things at you anyway. Like smelly puddles.

Tonight fate appears in the form of three humans, two boys and one girl. They seem to materialize out of nowhere and stand directly in front of us, arms crossed. The boys stand in front, the girl a step behind them. We cannot pass to continue on our way without a fight and we will not go back. We are too stubborn for that. We cannot see them, the moon's faint light cannot penetrate these shadows, but I know what they look like. The boys are almost identical, big bulky frames, square jawlines,loose jeans and tight black shirts. If they were normal guys, like they pretend to be in the day, they would be fairly attractive.

But Chloe and I know all about pretending to be something in the day that you are not in the night. We know that their eyes are rapidly changing, and their teeth are morphing with them. Their eyes are going from a pure crystal blue to an entire inky blackness that would swallow all of the happiness you have ever felt, or would ever feel if you looked too deep into it. Their teeth are now pearly white fangs, ready to rip throats out as soon as we dared to move.

Most normal teen girls would have been terrified. They would have run away or at least tried, but like the boys, we are not normal, we were only pretenders. Good actresses in the day, but the true us was revealed by night. The true us, did not run away. We planted our feet and waited.

We have reached a silent stalemate, waiting for the other side to make the first move. Part of me, the shy part that hates to be uncomfortable, wants to run out of the alley and never look back. There were other ways to get to my house, we could turn back and run for it. We were both fast, we could make it if we wanted to.

But I denied that side, as I had since the day I took this job. I could not be that girl, I never had that choice. I drew on the calm of this knowledge, knowing that there was only one path I could take helps me to not be so afraid, and put all the other "options" out of my head. I take a deep breath. My real life is so screwed up at the moment that this encounter actually brings me peace. I know why I was here, who the bad guys are, who is on my side and what I need to do if I wanted to see the sun paint the sky in the morning. In other words, what I needed to do is to not become food.