Jariel walked back from his job interview in silence. Dawn walked silently beside him, but he didn’t feel like talking to her right now. He was still upset that Dawn had made him go through the whole ordeal. So, she didn’t understand him. Well, not enough to let him pass on the job. He thought that Dawn finding out his secret would solve things, make things easier, at least for him. His plan backfired, not that it surprised him though. Most of his plans were backfiring these days.
They got home and he went and changed in to his blue, plaid, pajamas and went to lie down on the couch while Dawn took a shower and changed in to her pajamas. He was tempted to turn on the news, but he didn’t. Quite frankly, he was too tired to deal with horrible stories about people and their miserable lives. He leaned back on the couch and started to drift to sleep, before he was interrupted by Dawn.
“You okay?” she asked quietly from the doorway, as if Jariel was going to snap her head off for talking to him.
“I’ll live.” He said simply, his eyes still shut. “You okay?” he opened his eyes to look at her.
“I’m just wondering something.” She said, still whispering.
“What?” he asked, sitting up straighter.
“What do you think is going to happen after you get back to Heaven?” she asked, leaning against the doorway. A stream of light coming from outside came in and lit up half of her face.
“I don’t know.” Jariel shrugged. “I’m guessing Elise isn’t going to be happy. She may even fight back, but I’ll fight her and win. I’ll expose her for the fraud she really is and then maybe, hopefully, things will go back to the way they use to be.”
“Sounds like a challenge.” She laughed. “Have you thought about going to the local library to start looking for those fallen angel friends of yours?”
Jariel laughed. “I have. I don’t know where it is though, or if really would be any help because if the angels had fallen and landed here, they probably aren’t here anymore. Fallen angels don’t always last too long in this realm. We don’t know how to survive homeless. If it wasn’t for Isaac, I probably wouldn’t be here right now.” He smiled to himself.
“I thought you hated humans though, yet you’re giving one credit?” she joked.
“Well, Isaac taught me that there are some people in this world that will lend an open hand and help you.” Jariel sighed.
“People aren’t all that bad. Sure, there are some that are downright horrible, like Justin Bieber for example,” she laughed, “but there are some people that will help. That care for others.”
“Who in the world is Justin Bieber?” He asked, laughing as well.
“Some pop star that has yet to reach puberty. Mostly pre-teen girls like him, which doesn’t prove he has talent.” She answered, smirking.
“He sounds horrible.” Jariel smiled. “Remind me not to listen to his music.”
“Oh trust me, you won’t find any of his trash in this apartment!” she laughed. With that she told him goodnight and retired to her room. Jariel smiled and admitted that Dawn was starting to grow on him too. She also proved him wrong, something he didn’t like but admitted that he needed every now and then, when it came to humans. She also reached out a hand and helped him in a time of need. Granted, it was his idea, but she’s the one that actually followed through with it. She showed him that there were good people in this world. Not to mention, she had been kind to him. She was willing to help him get the revenge that he lusted for. Not many people, if any, would do such a thing. Especially after just discovering how he was a fallen angel. Most people, he presumed, would run away from him, afraid of the unknown. People these days and their fears. He remembered a quote from a Criminal Minds episode where Spencer Reid said, “Horror films are so successful because they prey on our need to survive.” Jariel couldn’t agree more. He wondered why people found horror films to be so great though. Why would people prey on other peoples’ fear? That was just human society these days, he guessed. People liked to scare others, for some unorthodox reason that he couldn’t comprehend.
Jariel found himself yawning and decided it was time for him to, at least try to, go to sleep. He lied down and threw the covers over him. Part of him was afraid, though, of closing his eyes. Would he have another nightmare? Would Elise be sneaking around? Most of all he wondered why he was having these recurring nightmares. Did they mean something? Were they some kind of vision in to the future? Or was it just events from the past? Either way, he was sick and tired of them. For once he would like to sleep in this realm without being woken up by a silly dream.
* * * *
Dawn was still a bit cautious around Jariel. She didn’t really know the full extent of what fallen angels could do. Sure, Jariel had told her some, but who knew, he could be lying, or even hiding, some of the things. He was talking about returning to Heaven, which must take a lot of power to do, especially since he was immortal and couldn’t die. Part of her was terrified of what he could do, and the other part was just curious. She felt bad for him, that he was separated from his home and his friends. She wondered what Elise did, how she tricked him, which was so bad it had gotten Jariel kicked out. Whatever it was, it must have been pretty bad. She thought about asking him about it, but she thought it would be rude and that he would tell her when he was ready.
Dawn sat on her bed and covered herself in her purple comforter. Her room was freezing, which wasn’t abnormal. They kept the heating down so it wouldn’t cost that much and the heaters in her room didn’t work. She was use to it by now though. Sure, the landlord had promised to fix the heaters, but that had been when she first moved in and now four years had passed with no such luck. She had just given up and come up with the conclusion that her landlord sucked at his job. Annette had called him the “cranky old landlord” Dawn laughed to herself. Annette had still not called her back, written a letter, or made any contact for that matter. Dawn had basically given up and accepted the fact that Annette was still furious at her. She prayed to God though that she would come around. Right about now, she was just being childish, and Dawn was just going to be the adult and ignore her.
Dawn, not tired enough to sleep quite yet, took out her sketch book and continued working on the drawing she had started days ago. She was drawing Jariel, to be honest. He was, after all, the only other person in this apartment that she could draw. She thought about painting Jariel, but she then realized how embarrassing it would be if he saw the painting and quickly bushed the thought from her head. Her cell phone started to buzz on her night stand and she stood up to go check who was calling, and her eyes opened in shock when she realized who it was.
“Annette?” she asked, her voice cracking a little bit.
“Yeah, it’s me.” She whispered.
“Why haven’t you returned any of my calls?” she asked, a little bit upset.
“My phone died.” She sighed. “Look can you do me a favor and come get me? Derek slashed my car tires.”
“I don’t have a car. And wait, Derek did what?” she asked, gripping the phone tighter.
“He slashed my tires because I threatened to leave. And I know, but could you take the bus or something?” she asked, the distress clear in her voice. “I want to leave but I’m afraid he’ll come back. I don’t want to face him alone.”
Dawn sighed. She wanted to tell Annette “I told you so” but now wasn’t the time. She had to go save her friend. Dawn told her that she would be there as soon as she could and to stay put and call the police if he returned before she got there. She closed her phone, changed in to a pair of jeans, slipped her cell in to her pocket and stormed out of the house, telling Jariel that she would be back as soon as possible and to call the police if she wasn’t home in two hours, at most. Jariel gave her a questioning look, but she really didn’t have time to explain. Her mind was focused on one thing: getting Annette out of there.
She cussed under her breath as she left the apartment and made her way out to the bus stop to wait for the bus. She should have followed her gut that one day and passed by Derek’s house to at least check and see if everything was alright. But no, she didn’t do that and now look at what was happening. She quickly got on the bus and sat down. Fearsome thoughts ran through her head, and she did her best to keep them at bay. She didn’t need to panic right now, panicking would get her nowhere. She just hoped and prayed that she would get there in time, before Derek showed his big, ugly, face. If he showed up, who knew what would happen. She honestly didn’t want to think about it at the moment, really. It was honestly just making her more nervous than she already was.
YOU ARE READING
Change of Heart (NaNoWriMo 2011)
Acak**In The Editing Process!!** Jariel, a once favored angel in Heaven, has been thrown out. Not by his own accord, however. He was tricked, made a fool of, by an angel named Elise, bent on being the center of attention no matter what. Jariel is now s...
