Fear

Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

     I drove around the town for almost an hour and a half before I realised I was just wasting gas. I parked the chevelle in an open parking lot and decide to walk around aimlessly instead of drive. The streets were clean. There was hardly a soul on the sidewalks or by the looks of it in any of the stores either. I figured just the thought of leaving the house with a murderer on the loose had scared the town into hiding. It was eleven o’clock before I found the pretty honey blond girl sitting alone in a huge Greek theatre. It was extremely out of place beside all the modern and Victorian buildings. But so was she. Everyone else I had seen was always in a mass hurry to get under a roof. She sat so vulnerably in the shade of an open umbrella almost as if she was awaiting a storm.

 She wore blood red T-shirt that was cover in pearl white skulls. Her black jeans were torn and ripped as if she had an extremely wild dog. The worst part of her whole outfit was her boots. They were lace up black leather that looked almost identical to Shasta’s.

 I tried to stay extremely quiet so she wouldn’t see me passing by. My instincts screamed out that she was a wild crazy person that could care less that people of her town were dropping like flies. “Who’s there?” She voice quietly called out. I hardly heard her and she didn’t even give any motion to say that she had heard me. I didn’t even know how she could have I had hardly heard myself.

“You wouldn’t know me.” I called back felling like a three year old that had just been caught in a game of hide and seek tag. I walked over so I could see the right side of her face. Her eyes made no indication that she had seen me come closer but I had the sense that she knew.

“It wouldn’t matter I hardly know anyone in this town any ways.” Her confident voice answered. I could see the corners of her mouth carve into a twisted smile. “I guess it’s time I ask questions first and shot later.” Her head turned to face me and glowing aqua eyes price into mine. Her last sentence made me wonder what I had gotten myself into. “Natalia Hollows.” She said with a louder more confident voice. “And who exactly am I in the presence of?” She asked and gestured for me to come sit beside her.

“Jenna Peters.” I answered. I wouldn’t Natalia my full name when I wasn’t even sure she had told me hers? Her smile became even more evil. She inched forward and her fingertips left the shade of the umbrella. She blinked and her eccentric blue eyes faded into a golden hazel. I lost my breathe and Natalia quickly whipped her hand back into the shade.

“I have a skin condition my doctor says not sun.” She said trying to save herself. But I had already seen her eyes. They were blue again and if I wouldn’t have known better I would have said I was just seeing things.

“Your eyes wouldn’t say that’s a skin condition?” I said and backed up a few steps and she looked generally confused. I searched her face for even a hit that she was lying but her expression was undeniable. I was just seeing things. The whole job of hunting monsters that should have been fairy-tales wasn’t just driving me insane but leading the rest of the world to agree with me.

“Wait, what about my eyes?” She asked and lifted her hands to her face.

“Nothing.” I said feeling rather stupid. Natalia dropped her hands to her sides and picked up the handle of the umbrella making sure not to let any of herself leave the shade.

“I have to go I’m late for an appointment.” She pushed herself of the bench and walked up to me so my toes were right of the edge of the umbrella’s shadow. “But here’s my phone number I’d like to get to know why you think there’s something wrong with my eyes. She held out a small piece of crumpled up paper. After I snatched it out of her cold hands she took off across the field. I couldn’t help but notice how she was extra careful not to let her steps leave the shadow of the umbrella as if it would burn her to even step in the sunlight.

  When she was out of sight I went and sat in the third row to the top of the huge and empty Greek theatre. The wind began to pick up and my hair was licking at my face when the grey sky started to cover up the warmth of the sun. I shivered and gripped the selves of my coat as tight as possible. When I looked to the right to see which way the storm was coming from I almost jumped out of my skin.

  Kelly the angel sat right beside only inches away. “Such a shame.” He said causally. “It started out such a lovely day don’t you think.” He turned he head toward me and smiled.

“Where did you come from?” My shaken voice spat back at him. “Am I dreaming again?” I recoiled even before he had time to respond to the first question.

“Unlike your little friend Aiden you’re real so I can actually come and see you whenever I want.” My heart felt like it dropped out of my chest. Aiden wasn’t real. The worst part of a the few seconds of realisation I went through wasn’t the feeling of insanity but the feeling of losing a best friend or something near that.

“Aiden’s is only a dream.” I whispered and felt tears run softly down my checks. Kelly looked to be stifling a laugh and I couldn’t believe the lack of sympathy for an angel.

“Oh goodness no, he’s real just not flesh and blood at the moment.” Relief washed over me and I let the corners of my mouth curve into a smile. Then my checks turned red and Kelly burst out laughing. “You were worried about a boy you barely know, that’s only a tad pathetic.” Kelly’s voice boomed and echoed across the stone benches of the theatre.

“And I never expected an angel to be so well.” I got myself together. Kelly snarled and snapped his fingers. Right after the sound of his skin quickly rubbing on each other the note that was only just snuggled firmly in my pocket was in his outstretched hand. “How did you?” I pointed out bewildered.

“I’m an angel sweetheart, now let’s get down it business I don’t have all day.” His expression change and now he looked to be putting up with no bull. “This is an extremely valuable item, they can only be found in dreams but it like to attach itself it random people like you so lots of them are lost.”

“What does it do?” I said putting on my game face.

“It’s a talisman that can hold thoughts and dreams.” Kelly said. “But in this case pain whipped his whole memory locked it into this note.” Kelly sighed paused and refusing to continue.

“What’s the catch?” I asked thinking in this world nothing went unpaid for.

“Only Aiden can read it, to the rest of us it’s just scribbles and it will only show you what you’re seeking when you show it some kind of emotion it longs for.” Kelly folded the page back up and placed it in my hand. “But you have to find out what is on this, we depend on it.” He then got up and attempted to leave the benches before I had any say in it.

“Why do you care if Aiden gets out of there or not?” I yelled to him when he was ten feet away.

“Because his not the only one trapped with this as the only way out.” He called back and then disappeared into thin air. I stood up and picked up a smashed pop can that was on the ground I front of me. Out of anger I chucked it down the endless rows and listened to its echo bounce off the stone walls. Kelly hadn’t given me anything but more questions. It made me wonder if he was really trying to help. I crammed the note back in my pocket and started away from the theatre. Checking my phone the time read eleven forty seven. There was no way I make it back in time to pick up Hayden.

  On my way back to the empty parking lot where the chevelle sat I thought about Aiden. It was the first time I just let his whole being just sink into my brain so that if he turned out to be just a distant thought someday at least I would have the memory. There was nothing extremely special about him. But he was special to me even if nothing had really happened to us apart from meeting in awkward circumstances. I longed to see him every time I was away from the room, but the longing always ended with my breath cutting short for no reason. He was like a stress reliever from the world that killed me at the end of the day. He’s green eyes were always kind and willing. Things I wished people would see when they looked at my eyes.

 I believed that was the biggest reason the minor thought of Aiden being just an image was so unbearable for me. But I had that feeling the said this was all more complicated than it was planning out to be. I felt like Natalia, afraid to step put into the sun to face the suffering on the other side. Only when she had to face reality I would have to face the truth.