Fallen Redemption

Chapter 7: Aria

The woman led them down aisles of books into a back room. She fumbled through her key rings to find the correct one.

"Ah, here it is,” she said a little too joyful as she held it up. She opened the door with a click and after pushing it forward, stepped inside the room.  

Karina gave Alex a worried look. She didn't know if she could trust this woman. Who exactly was she? How were they so sure that she wasn’t out to get them?

Alex noticed her nerves and placed a hand on her shoulder.

She winced from his touch so he retracted back his hand. She didn't mean to but she was surprised by his touch, he usually didn't do that. So it was, strange if it was Alex who decided to act reassuring. For a second, she regretted flinching like that, but it was necessary, in a way.

 

She did not want Alex to get the wrong idea and make her feel weak. Why? Because Karina wasn’t. At all.

 

Noticing that she had flinched, Alex moved away his hand awkwardly.

 

“Let’s just go inside”, he suggested not looking at her. Karina felt embarrassed but Alex pushed his feelings aside.

The door was open wide, inviting Karina and Alex to join where their blonde librarian had gone, and so, Karina sauntered toward the door. Breath, exhale, and Karina was beginning to walk through the door. But, she stopped and hesitantly looked at Alex.

 

"How do we know that she's on our side?"

 

He answered quietly and instant, "Call it a very risky but strong feeling."

 

Karina walked in slowly while Alex followed from behind.

When they were inside, the woman immediately ordered, "Close the door.”

Alex reluctantly closed the door while she turned on the light. Now that Karina could see, she saw what looked like a conference room. A large rectangular red painted over oak table lay in the center with chairs aligning its sides. There were a couple of notepads lying on the table, words scrawled in.

 

The woman sat down at the head of the table and slowly folded her arms.

 

“I don’t mean to sound rude.” Alex said, “but who are you exactly?” He needed further clarification on who she really was. Back there, in the middle of the library, this woman had sounded so sure about Karina, talking like he knew her well enough not to be a Fallen.

 

“My apologizes,” she said, “I’m Marge, Aria’s mother’s best friend, if you will.”

 

“Aria?” They both stated while turning to face each other. A wild look ran rampant in Karina’s eyes. Alex knew that look...she was thinking and panicking at the same time. Just as much as Karina, he didn’t quite fully understand it either.

 

“Yes, your name is Aria.”

 

“Aria?” Karina said slowly but it didn’t ring a bell. Karina took care to repeat it again, louder, hitting the one syllable in the name. Her name...was like a song? She didn’t remember ever being called Aria. Just Karina, and she liked the name Karina way more.