"someone's jumpy this morning." noelle's mother, marilyn price, chuckles while bringing her coffee mug to her lips, taking a sip of the black coffee she made this morning. noelle eyes dart around the kitchen, her ears open, confused as to where ethan could be.
did he go back to sleep?
if not, what is he doing down there?
"any particular reason for that, sweetheart?" her dad chimes in, looking at his reflection in the mirror of the entryway right outside the kitchen. noelle loves her parents to death, but she cannot tell them about ethan.
"nope. just preparing for work is all. you know, those dogs can be a handful." she tries to make light of the situation. her mother puts her lips into a straight line before kissing her daughter and husband goodbye for the day.
"drive safe, okay, honey." noelle's father, steven price, warns before leaving for work himself. noelle knew they wouldn't be home until the evening, and she got out of work at two pm. now, standing in the living room by herself, noelle makes the decision to head to the basement to check up on her 'guest'.
noelle takes a breath of relief when she sees ethan sitting on the air mattress, staring at the wall. why is he just staring at the wall?
"hey." she breaks the silence. ethan's eyes meet hers as if she startled him.
"oh, hi."
"i'll be heading off to work soon. is there anything you need?"
"can i come with you?" ethan asks, and noelle's eyes widen.
"well...um, it's kind of where i work, so i can't necessarily bring a plus one." she chuckles a little.
"you're worried about someone seeing me," he says and the girl nods.
"noelle, i suppose it's time i told you why i'm here." ethan pats the mattress next to him, gesturing for her to sit down. she does, and he takes a deep breath, but she has no idea what to expect.
"you may not believe me, but i hope you do...i'm an...angel. an angel sent here to help someone very special to me."
"you....i didn't think i would be right." noelle whispers.
"my wings are gone because...well because i have to complete this 'mission' before i can get them back. you see, i died at the age of sixteen, and i...." he gets a little choked up for a moment.
"i had a twin brother. grayson. we did everything together. i don't think we went even twenty four hours without one another. one night, i went to the gas station to fill up our truck on my way home from school. i went inside to pay, and there were at least five people in line behind me. suddenly, this guy came in out of nowhere with a gun, yelling that he was ready to shoot anyone that moved. i had stepped in front of the people who had been cowering at this point, and before i knew it, i had a bullet in my chest. it was all over for me."
♡♡♡
