Ryder's Angel

Chapter Twelve: Begin: Danny

Chapter Twelve: Begin: Danny

Ang and I had been in that room for a whole week. We had slept longer than was humanly possible, and knocked out for a few more hours. Though we appreciated the accommodations that we’ve never truly experienced, we were tired of that dark room. It smelled awful, so we were given a new room with much more color.

This one was on the floor below the infirmary, where they housed the eldest children. Each floor held a specific age group. Floor one: ages three to five. Floor two: six to eight. In the end, there were seven floors, one of them being the infirmary floor.

At first, Angeline and I enjoyed the peace, the aloneness, and the togetherness, but soon I began to feel claustrophobic. I was used to the wide open spaces, the stars peeking through whatever crude roof we had. This was no open space. The air was stuffy, and I felt like hyperventilating. But most of all, I missed my family.

She complained she didn’t want to leave the room, and forced me into staying with her. In the state she was in, I didn’t question it. But I knew she felt the same way I did.

I saw it in her eyes. She wanted to get out.

It was mid-afternoon one day when I think I snapped. I was pacing the room while she watched me with those abnormally bright green eyes. Her white teeth pierced an apple as she snacked.

“Danny, stop pacing, it’s making me dizzy,” she complained.

I shot her a look. “Aren’t you just as agitated as I am?” I growled at her. “Don’t you want to get out?”

She lowered her apple, but didn’t say anything.

I sat on the bed beside her, gently taking her snack from her. I grasped her hands in mine, looking straight into the depths of her eyes. “Angeline, you have to come out.”

She turned her face away. “I don’t want to go out.” Her voice was barely a whisper.

I took her chin, pulling her to me. Her eyes shone with the beginnings of tears. “You have to come out some time. They miss us, and we miss them. I’m sure Kendall’s waiting for your beautiful face right now.”

Angeline tugged her hands away from mine, resting them on her stomach, which made me pull back inside myself. “I don’t want them to see me this way,” she murmured brokenly.

I rested my hand on her neck, brushing back her silky auburn hair back. I pulled her close to me, pressing my lips to her temple. “Everything’s going to turn out okay, I promise.”

She was silent, and I had a feeling this conversation would have to wait another day. “Miss Sadie offered me a teaching spot,” I told her quietly, hoping to take her mind off things.

Again, she didn’t say anything, but after a minute of pressing her face into my shoulder, she asked, “What would Kendall say?”

My eyes drifted to her growing abdomen. “I don’t know.”

Angeline lifted her head, staring in such a way I felt like I was being x-rayed. Her voice was so sad. “Danny, I only forced you into…you know…because I thought he was dead! He’ll hate himself if he learns he’s the cause of this!” She gestured to her extended stomach almost angrily, and buried her face in her hands. “I can’t put that pressure on him.”

I put my arm around her shoulders. Angeline leaned into me, but I was glad to hear she wasn’t crying.

“Ang, Kendall isn’t a little kid anymore,” I said softly. “He’s fifteen, he can handle tougher things. And you’re his big sister, he’ll understand. If I know him at all, he just might make a joke. He’s the only one who can make you laugh.” I paused. “I love it when you laugh, because then I know everything’s going to be alright.”

We sat in silence for a few minutes, just thinking. Finally, Angeline sat straighter. “He can’t be mad at me,” she said almost like she as talking to herself. She looked up and smiled weakly at me. “Can we go see my brother now?”

As we ventured downstairs, the hallways were empty. The orange light of the sun streamed in through the dusty windows, making patterns on the floor. Dust motes sprinkled through the air, and I felt suddenly at peace. The sun had that effect on me.

Angeline, unsteady and nervous, clung to my arm with one hand. Her other clutched her stomach, fingers twitching in anxiety. I put my hand over hers. Her eyes flashed to mine.

“Relax,” I soothed.

Angeline inhaled shakily and nodded, her trembling decreasing steadily.

We stepped off the stairs, and at that moment, Kendall wheeled himself around a corner, munching absently on a cookie. When she saw him, Ang gasped and pulled me back around the corner. She peered around, watching him where he couldn’t see her.

“Danny, he looks so much better,” she whispered with a smile. He started to hum a happy tune that I’d never heard. “I think it was a great idea to come here.”

“You ready?”

She spun to face me, eyes wild, suddenly losing grip of that fact. She opened her mouth, but no words came out.

I grabbed her shoulders and gently turned her around, guiding her toward Kendall. Both her hands cradled her stomach. “Come on, Ang, he’s your brother. You can’t be afraid to talk to him.”

Angeline jerked out of my grip to face me, biting her lip. “I can’t tell him -”

“Tell who what?”

With a gasp, Angeline whirled around.

In front of her, with half of a cookie in his hand, was Kendall. An overjoyed and curious grin occupied his young face. He definitely was Angeline’s sibling. He had the same features: heart shaped face, full lips, dusty freckles, and big, inhumanly green eyes. The only difference was his sandy hair, lighter than hers and less curly.

All of a sudden, she threw herself on her knees and hugged her brother so tightly that he grunted. She was laughing thickly, on the verge of tears. Kendall hugged her back gratefully, for a moment closing his eyes. It was a heart wrenching scene – siblings reunited.

“I missed you, Kendall,” came her muffled voice.

The younger Parker sibling patted her back. “Missed you, too, Sis. Glad to see you back.”

She stood up, smiling with tears in her eyes, but she wasn’t crying. He held up his snack, grinning coyly. “Cookie?”

Angeline laughed once, kind of like a hiccup, shaking her head.

Her brother grinned, took a bite of his cookie. When he finished chewing, he narrowed his eyes. “You guys suddenly don’t look so happy. What’s up?”

Ang glanced at me behind her, and I nodded. She turned back. “Kendall, we need to talk.”

We went into the main foyer, which served as a kind of meeting room. A long couch sat in front of the wide window, where the human continued their oblivious lives. A big television was on the opposite side of the couch, and a few other electronic things that I never learned the names for.

Angeline and I sat on the couch in the bright room, and Kendall wheeled himself in front of us. My arm automatically wound around her shoulders, and I couldn’t help but glance at her stomach – Kendall didn’t notice.

Ang was nervously playing with her fingers, not looking at her brother, who was staring at her suspiciously, no doubt trying to figure out why. I just sat tight, hoping Ang could do this by herself like the twenty-year-old should. She looked at me, and I nodded and smiled encouragingly.

She began her story.