Fateful Encounter

Drained

I looked up at the sky and took notice of the setting sun. It had to be at least 4 P.M. because of the way the sun sat in the sky and how most of the animals that came through the park disappeared. I took that as my cue to leave and quickly stuck the feather back underneath my shirt. The last couple hours that I spent in the park, I was still on high alert waiting for Khamael...or Zane. At the thought of Zane, I hoped that he was able to escape, but deep down I knew he probably had to fight his way out. I just didn't want to return home to find a body in my room...

I got up and wiped the dirt off the back of my jeans and began to take the long way home avoiding the main road. I didn't want to go the same way I came in due to the fear of Khamael waiting for me. If he didn't already know that I tricked him by taking the feather out of the container, then he wasn't as smart as I thought he was. As I walked through various portions of the neighborhood, I mentally took note on how heightened my senses were. I began to think about what I would come home to, not to mention what I would have to say to my parents if they got home before I did.

After a fifteen-minute walk through a couple streets in the neighborhood, I finally made it home. 'What if they were both still inside...waiting for me,' I thought. I quickly looked around the front yard for anything that I could take inside with me as a weapon. As I looked through the flowers lining the walkway up to the front door, I saw a small statue of a cherub. 'Ha...the irony,' I thought to myself as I picked it up.

Making my way to the front door, I slowly pressed down on the latch and pushed it open. I knew my parents weren't home because of how eerily quiet it was, but I didn't know if the two angels were inside waiting for me. As I quietly stalked across the entry way, I scanned everything around me, starting with upstairs and moving my eyes in a sweeping pattern downstairs. Walking into the area that split our kitchen and living room in half, I took note of our mail strewn across the ground and the how the pillows for the couch were tossed everywhere haphazardly.

After doing a thorough sweep of the downstairs, I quietly made my way upstairs. I started with my parents' bedroom and then moved to check both of the guest rooms and the bathroom. Nothing. There was nothing out of the ordinary and no one was there. Then, I slowly approached my room. Since the door was already open, I could see that no one was there, but I wanted to double check so I drew the closet door open and looked inside. No one. It was empty, and that meant both of them were gone. I walked over to my desk, thankful to see my phone still laying there.

4:53 P.M.

I made note of the time and then proceeded to check my phone for any missed notifications. There was a text from my dad saying that he left work. I looked at the time he sent it and saw that it was sent at 4:35 P.M. I had about fifteen minutes before my dad came home and I needed to straighten up the house and make sure it looked like I didn't have two angels fighting in here. Before I made my way downstairs, I stopped by my parent's room to use the alarm panel. After alarming the house, I went downstairs to put away the cherub and clean up the mess.

Cleaning up didn't take that long so I decided to go back upstairs into my room and clean up whatever mess was there. It was then that I decided to take the feather out from underneath my shirt. I gently placed the feather on my bed and as I did, my eyes landed on the container now sitting below the window. As I bent over to pick it up, I saw blood on the carpet. Being a nursing student, blood didn't bother me, but what bothered me about finding it in my room, was the fact that I didn't know whose blood it was. If it was Khamael's, I didn't want a part of him left in my room and that's what disturbed me the most.

It took me a good ten minutes to scrub the blood out of the carpet with a watered-down bleach solution and after doing so, I walked out of the room to let it dry. But before I did, I placed the feather back into the poster container and brought it downstairs with me, vowing to never let it out of my sight.

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Later that evening, my parents and I sat at the table and ate dinner. The last couple hours have been a blur because my mind kept replaying what happened earlier in the day. My parents didn't know what happened and I wasn't planning to tell them anytime soon. Even if I did, there really wasn't much they could do except for call the police and give them a report. I, would also end up causing my parents to unnecessarily panic and I didn't want to put that stress on them.

Taking note of how quiet I was being, my mom asked if I was alright. I responded by saying that I was fine and that there was just a lot going on with school. Apparently, that answer was good enough because she already knew how much I was studying for my major and having extra work wasn't anything new.

My dad then looked at me and made a comment about the shallow crater that I told him about last night. "Yeah, I really don't know what could have caused it."

"Could be some sort of sink hole or something," I said, trying my best to not let the tone of my voice show that I knew more than what I was letting on.

"Jessica could be right. This town was built on mining tunnels and I wouldn't be surprised if they extended all the way out here," my mom remarked.

"Hun, you know there aren't any tunnels around our house because this entire neighborhood was all dirt when we bought our house. You saw the construction equipment coming and going. If there were tunnels around here, the city wouldn't allow the construction due to liability issues," said my dad matter-of-factly.

"Dad has a point mom. But if it's not a tunnel caving in, then what caused that shallow crater in the middle of our street?" I asked.

"Jess, like I said, I don't know...," said my dad and with that, the crater discussion ended and we finished the rest our dinner.

After dinner, I helped my mom load up the dishwasher and made my way upstairs. It was 8:24 P.M. and I already decided that I wasn't going to study. I was so mentally and physically exhausted that I was willing to head to bed without brushing, but ultimately decided against it. 'Angel-boys should not take precedent over your health,' I thought to myself.

After brushing, I changed into a loose-fitting t-shirt and my high-school P.E. shorts. I then proceeded to get stuff ready for tomorrow and that meant shoving the container into my backpack. I couldn't leave the feather at home anymore for the fear of one of them breaking in and getting a hold of it. Wherever I went, so did the feather and that was how I was going to keep it safe.

It was five minutes until 9:00 P.M. when I finally laid my head on the pillow. It felt so good to just relax, but I knew I couldn't. There was still the issue of keeping the feather safe, figuring out where Zane and Khamael went, and establishing a plan to protect my family because both guys now knew where I lived.

Right now, I had to push all that aside so I could sleep. I sent a silent prayer up to God in hopes that He would help protect my family. I also prayed for a better rest of the week because after today's events, I was in need of a little pick-me-up.