Demi-Angel

chapter thirteen

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Two forks. Flying through the air. Spinning, flying in circles. Levitating from the kitchen to where we're sitting.

One slowly lands on Quinn's head and the other on mine. I chuckle but dad looks stunned.

"I don't want to know more than that" he says.

We've already told him about everything but he hasn't been more pale than he is right now. I take the fork of my head and smile. "I get that."

He looks down at the food but doesn't eat more. Instead he stands up. "I'm going to bed."

I know he's trying to escape right now and I want to try too but I already know it's a dead-end. I don't say anything to that. It's fine, it takes time to absorb the situation. I'm not stupid.

We watch him leave and I sit the for a second staring at the chair where dad sat just a few seconds ago and then I lean my head against Quinn's shoulder. "He's afraid of us."

"It'll change."

I really hope so. Quinn said his father always was freaked out by all of it. My dad is in the same position. He will slowly grow older while I'm still my seventeen year old self, haven't aged a second since I put on the bracelet.

I'm just scared that dad won't see me the same. I'll grow as a person even though it doesn't look like it. It feels weird though, I don't see Quinn as six hundred, he should be.. I don't know how but different. Not like an eighteen year old.

Is he just pretending? He has to know so much, why is he holding that back being here with me instead? I'm nothing special, to him I'm just another human being out of all these he has met. I'm worse than that, I force him to fight.

I should be happy that he is fighting for his freedom but who am I kidding? He doesn't want to, he has to because I'm there.

I take my head off his shoulder and stand up, grabbing our plates and put them in the dishwasher. "How come you're so-"

I bite my lip and stop. I don't know how to explain and now I regret even opening my mouth. Quinn comes with other things from the table and puts them where he guesses they should be. "I'm so what?"

I slam the dishwasher shut and lean against the counter. "You don't seem to be six hundred years old. You're not even acting like you're mid-forty, like my dad. It's like you're actually eighteen."

He stands in front of me and puts his hands on the counter beside me. "You think I'm lying about it?"

"No I'm just asking as a.. concerned citizen."

"Okay, concerned citizen" he smirks. "I just learned to adapt. Forget about the past and live today. I might know a whole lot than you do, experienced more, seen more but after six hundred years, I'm not really that much older. It's like it fades away after a while. I've just been.. me and I still am. I'm guessing that you in some way end up the age you actually are in when you stop aging after taking on the bracelet."

I can't take in his explanation, I still see him as an eighteen year old and I close my eyes and picture him as eighteen, open them, still eighteen. I place my hands on his hips. "I'm glad you're eighteen."