The Angel with Papery Wings [prequel]

ch.14

Danny avoided my question and headed to kitchen He piled up veggies onto the counter and began chopping them. I had to close and open my eyes for a second, trying to remind myself that I was in a home and not a grubby old prison cell.

I walked aroud kinda slowly, trying to get used to the place, get familiar with it before I would eventually have to leave.  

Carefully, I watched Danny from the corner of my eye as he worked on the salad. For someone with an incredibly bulky body and even bigger hands, he was good with details. He chopped the veggies quickly and carefully, like they were going to be added to a precious sculpture at an art museum. I almost laughed. Danny? At an art museum? He fit in a hundred times better with those guys back in my cell-- not that Danny seemed any more similar to a criminal than Angie, but he kinda looked the part.

I glanced at my reflection in the small mirror above the sink. Did I naturally look like a criminal? Or did my orange jumpsuit from jail simply lable me as one?

Either way, I wasn't in jail anymore. No one will know...unless I tell them. Or unless my parole officer or Sheperd finds me. Something in my gut tightened; oh they'll find me alright.

"How old are you again?" I asked Danny. 

"I just turned 15," he nodded, stirring the pasta. 

"I turned 15 in Febuary," I told him a bit smugly. I'm a few months older, but he's much bigger. He had a wrestler's build: heavy set, broad shoulders.

"And how old is Angie?" I asked. Danny glanced at the staircase for a second, as if Angie might be there.

"She's gonna be 11," he nodded. That's what I expected. I tried not to laugh as I recalled Becky's pretty bold answer of "13."

Danny smiled at me politely as he added various vegetables and marinara sauces to the pasta. I couldn't help but feel like there was something familiar about him. I didn't wanna seem weird by staring at him until I figured it out, but I had to find out. I just hoped that he was familiar for a good reason, and that he wasn't some psychopathic creeper that used to stalk my sister or something.

"So how do you know my sister?" I asked slowly. Danny tightened his grip around the wooden ladle.

"Sorry?" he mumbled. I walked up closer to him. 

"You look familiar. And you know my sister's name," I told him. "How do you know her?"

Danny laughed nervously. He stirred the pasta much faster than needed. "Oh. I -um I think I saw her at Middleton High School," he explained quickly. His voice shook a bit. My fists tightened. My sister was gone. She left me on my own and I should be really, really pissed, but I would still protect her in a heartbeat. 

"Oh," was all I said. Danny sighed slowly, hoping I had dropped the subject.

There was sharp grunting and murmuring coming from upstairs. I was about to run up to see what was wrong, but Danny rested his hand on my shoulder.

"Angie's probably just changing out of her ballet clothes," he told me. I nodded a bit stiffly. I don't even know why she did ballet if it was so uncomfortable and she hated it so much. Maybe Becky signed them up and Angie was too polite to say "no."

You might say she was repetitively polite, but I've only known her for a day; there's nothing repetitive or negative about having manners. If anything, Becky needed to learn some manners from Angie. I obviously have no say in who Angie hangs out with and Becky seems like a nice girl, but if she tries to corrupt Angie in any way, I'll set her straight.

I walked up the stairs to the room Danny told me to stay in and started to unpack my bag. The room itself was too neat and tidy to have been used in the past decade or so. Danny had said his parents were both dead. It was probably too soon for me to mention it and if I did say something, he'd probably ask me why I was alone and Lord knows I don't wanna explain that story.