The Definition of Evil

Chapter 4

4. Lenora

With no second job to worry about I could finally take some time to relax. Except not really. I could never relax, not while Bastian is still in the clutches of the angels.

I decide to try and find the portal my self first. If there's one thing I know, it's that the portals would be near holy places. Angels gain their strength from the souls of those who follow them. The churches provide that following. Any church will do, no matter the religion. They all worship a God, and that is good enough to give them strength. In question if there really is a God or a devil, I don't know. I have never learn the truth of who rules everything.

Any church, temple, monastery, mosque, or synagogue would hold a portal. I just have to find one. Being in the large city of Toronto that shouldn't be too hard. There are different places of worship on every street corner. I go into the first on I come across, opening the door widely and checking my surroundings as I walk in. Unfortunately, the people inside are having a sort of mass, one which I know nothing about. Everyone turns to look at me, making my embarrassment shine in my cheeks. I slowly back out before moving on, hoping I didn't disrupt anything too much. From then on, every place of worship I enter I make sure to go in quietly.

    I finally find a catholic church that has no one in it other than the priest. Using the excuse of a school project allows me to look around and inspect the different aspects of the building. I look in the confessional, behind the altar, behind many large paintings, and through the stain glass windows, but I find nothing. How could I have found nothing. The portal has to be here. I scan the room and see the priest sitting in the chancel watching me with curious eyes, but doing nothing to stop me.

It's at that moment that I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. I pull it out and check the message to find an address. Another one so soon? I place the address into my search engine and find out that it's in Bronx, NYC. Being the poorest district of the city makes it easy to deduce that this child will probably be poor, hungry, and/or sick. It hurts to think about another child in that much pain.

    I text Adalius to let him know that I'll be gone for the next day or so, to  which he complains profusely. I ignore all his attempts to get me to respond again, instead turning off my phone. I go to the nearest back alley and find a portal along the bricks. I go through it to the demon realm and the back out to an alley in the Bronx.  I look around to make sure no one saw me and to ensure that I don't have to do damage control. There was no living thing around me but the sewer rats. When I walk out of the alley, all I see is a mess. I can't tell where one shack of a house begins and another ends. Walking down the street I see discarded needles and pill bottles. There are so many homeless people that I see along the sidewalk that it's hard to keep track of how many I'm passing. I conceal the phone in my hands that I'm using for directions. 

    I reach the address listed on my phone, and put it away. Just like last time I decide to stake out the area first, not knowing what I'm getting into. I pose as just another homeless person on the side of the street.

    At about dinner time, two adults walk out of the house and slam the door behind them, a woman leaning heavily on the man. The man is smoking what I assume to be a joint, and the woman appears to be wasted with a half full bottle of vodka in her hands. I shake my head in disgust. Why would you willingly choose to do that to your body? I wait until they stumble down the road and around the corner before I walk up to the house. I go to knock on the door, but when I put just the slightest pressure on it, it swings away me and falls off the hinges.The door must not have been latched.

    I peer through the open doorway and into the house. A little girl no more than ten is peaking around the next corner at me. I crouch down to her level so that maybe she would feel more safe around me.

    "Hello, I'm Lenora. What's your name?" I ask in a very gentle voice. When she responds I can see her lips move but I can't make out what she is saying. "Could you come a little closer, love, so that I can hear you?" She stays still for a long moment, before slowly inching forward. It takes about a minute to cover the few feet of distance, but she does which make me so proud of her.

"June," she whispers in the quietest voice possible.

"Your name is June?" I ask, just to be sure I heard right. When she nods rapidly, I smile at her. For the first time, I take a good look at her. Her big blue eyes are surrounded by what would be an adorable round face, if her cheeks weren't sunken in so deep. Her golden locks of curls would be massive and lively, if she had the knowledge to bath once in awhile, something her parents probably never taught her. Now it was just a mass of stringy knots. It was then that I noticed the bruise under her eye, then the red mark from being roughly grabed on her arm, and the way that she put all her weight onto one foot.

    "Who hurt you June?" I ask as I reach out and cup her one cheek.

    "Daddy got mad at me for not fixing the door. He had to do it himself. It's all my fault. Now it's broken again. Please tell him I'm sorry." June cries in a rapid whisper.

    "Oh love it's not your fault. None of this is your fault. Let me take you away to somewhere you'll never get hurt again. I promise you."

    "No!" she screams in a whisper, "I can't leave mommy and daddy. They love me, they need me. I won't leave."

    "Please June. I will take care of you. I can fix what's hurting you. Won't you let me?" At that June turned around and limped quickly up the stairs, I could hear a door shut from somewhere upstairs. I sigh while clutching my head to rub my temples. Dealing with this sort of thing always cuts me inside.

    I make quick work of reattaching the door to the hinges, so June won't get in trouble again. She rejected me. The only thing left to do now is go home and give my report.