Echo in Her Mind

Eleven.

Bethany was tipsy by the end of the night. Ruben had refused to let her stay at her own apartment again. Shocker. But it didn't all turn out that bad, as he picked up a few bottles of wine on the way, figuring they could both make use of them.

It was now eleven o'clock and they were three bottles deep. They were surprisingly having a good time, regardless of their circumstances. Bethany didn't think she had ever actually heard Ruben laugh before, and she wished she remembered what it was like to do so.

"You know, Bethany, you're not as dangerous as he made you out to be," Ruben slurred, and she suddenly found herself very alert, but stayed quiet. "Granted, you're not able to kill me with your mind right now. Of course, I'd be dead if you could."

He appeared to be talking more to himself now, than he was to her. She wasn't sure if it was the wine that was getting to her, but the words that he was saying sounded crazy.

"I don't get why he felt the need to protect you like he did. We all made our own mistakes, and you should've had to work to stay alive like the rest of us." Did that mean what she thought it meant?

Was she the same as whatever Ruben was?

"I had to work very hard to get back in The Watcher's good graces; he trusts me with you, but I'm not sure why that doesn't seem to matter to me anymore."

Ruben was staring at Bethany now, and as much as she wanted to knock him out of his drunken daze, she wanted answers more.

He chugged the rest of the wine in his cup, breaking eye contact. She took that as her queue to ask her question.

"What are you, Ruben?" He didn't meet her eyes, and was quite for a long time, to the point where she didn't think he was going to answer the question.

"Come with me." Suddenly, Ruben jumped out of his chair and grabbed her hand, pulling her up to follow him.

"Where are we going?" She asked him, as he opened a door to what appeared to be his basement, and dragged Bethany down the stairs.

Bethany would've blown up on him, and was rurally prepared to before she took in what was in front of her.

"Do I even want to know what that is?" She looked over at him, incredulously. The only thing she knew at this point in time, was that she was on the verge of reality as she stared at the purple hole in Ruben's wall. "What is that?!" Bethany yelled to him this time, only for him to turn to her.

"That is the only place where The Watcher can't see or control what I do," he said. "It's my safe haven, so if you really want answers, you're going to have to step through that with me."

"You've officially lost your mind!" She bellowed, backing away from him slightly. "There's no way this is real; what did you put in that wine?" She glared at him, completely ready to slit his throat if need be.

"Trust me Bethany, this doesn't even being to scrape the surface of our reality."

The next thing Bethany knew, she was being pulled through the purple hole, spiraling into the unknown.

*****

Bethany awoke in a fuzz, completely unaware of her surroundings, or of how long she was out.

"It'll get easier each time around," Ruben advised, sitting next to her on the couch.

"Where are we?" On the surface, it looked as if they were in Ruben's living room, but she knew for a fact that wasn't the case.

"My safe haven, Bethany; which is technically whatever I want it to be in my kind's dimension." Her head was spinning in confusion. "The Watcher can't access what happens here, since he is not of my kind."

He stared at her now, his eyes suddenly black and his form suddenly began to change. Bethany took notice to the proceedings of feathers that came into view being Ruben, as his shirt tore apart, and it all began to fall into place.

For the first time since she met Ruben, Bethany was speechless. He wasn't human, or anything close to what she was thinking.

Her eyes remained focused on the set of black wings that were now protruding from Ruben's back, and she was brought back to the first time she stayed at his apartment.

Those scars.

They were from his wings.

He was an angel.

But the dark aurora around him told her that wasn't exactly the case.

"Yes, Bethany, I am what a human would consider to be an angel; But if you're as smart as you consider yourself to be, you would have gathered by now that I am not a good one at that. I am wicked and deceitful.

"The Watcher saved me from the demise of the underworld, turned me into his puppet, and used it against me. This is the only place I get to escape, but there is actually no real way out. I am forever under his control, and eventually you will suffer the same fate, Bethany, once he gets what he needs from you. You're more tied to him than you think."

It was as if Bethany was trapped in one of the Sci-Fi movies that she used to watch as a kid. Ruben's feet lifted off the ground, and he flew in the air around her. Instead of being in awe like a normal person should be, she got angry, which wasn't much of a shocker.

"What do I have to do with any of this?" She spat, standing up to face him. She never thought she would hate something more than his smile, but the wicked grin he held, made that possible. 

"You're just like me, Bethany, only it wasn't your decision that brought you to that. You are a mut, darling. I have no idea what the other part of you is, but what I do know, is that you're part angel; fallen angel."

The next thing Bethany knew, her head met the ground, and she was out cold.