Heartbreakers

Bless our Souls

The muscles in my throat contracted, squeezing together. All I could do is gape, like a fish, before falling to my knees and lifting up the toilet seat. I leaned forward, and the bile spilled, the remains of my chicken roll tumbling down into the toilet.

"Come on Angel, " Rose knocked on the bathroom " what's taking you so long. We'll be late for church, "

Right. Church. Another ridiculous detail of this stupid scenario that they had planned and ran over with us during all the prep meetings. Here, in Westermoor, everybody went to church. Everybody, from toddlers to one hundred year old grannies. And Jane Sayers was not an exception.

Heartbreakers, as a whole were not particularly religious, nor loyal to any religion in general. Our churches were archives, and our bibles were law books and school encyclopedias on how to kill stuff. And by stuff I meant Lowersints and Demons.

Pulling myself off the ground, I flushed the water, making sure that the piece of chicken, afloat on toilet water and bile, swirled down the drain.

"I'll be out in a second, " I called, and turned on the tap, letting the water run down my fingers, before grabbing a cloth and soaking it.

It was odd, I thought as I dabbed the wet towel against the corner of my lips to get rid of any traces of sickness. Heartbreakers rarely got sick, and when they did, we were usually over it in a few days. But this, this whole sense of dizziness had been lingering for well over a week.

I fixed myself hastily, checking in the mirror right before I escaped the bathroom into the dull world of sermons and prayers. Goodness knows, those prayers may come in use if I needed to ask of a favor from God. I wasn't entirely sure how God worked, but I was certain that he loved it when people went to church. And if I was going to have to suffer through the insufferable, I deserved a couple of favors.

Maybe my mother, the angel would put in a good word for me or something. I smiled wryly at the memory, the story Damien had spun to get me distracted, and my hand went to the necklace that hung on my neck, fingers curling around the marble sized sphere.

"Angel come on!" I heard Rose call from the first floor, and I heard her ballet flats scrap across the wooden planks.I was surprised by how quickly my fake name registered in my mind. Usually it took longer to get used to all of this. I was getting better. And I wasn't sure I liked it.

I let the bathroom door slam behind me, and ran down the stairs, out the front door and into the car where Jane and Lena were already waiting.

Leyla looked extremely humble, with a subtle cut of a dress, that fell short just below her knees. The blue matched her eyes, and even though Leyla was an actress as good as the rest of us, she could never rid herself of the glaciers in them completely.

Rose too, she looked like a girl from a proper church going family, her hair brushed back of her face, her skirt a lot more classic than what she usually went for, her blouse with a collar. And I matched my little family of three completely, the cream of my own dress as muted as the colors of their's.

"In the car, come on we'll be late, " Jane urged us, and we hopped in obediently, dashing to see who won the battle for the front seat. Rose ended up in the back, sulking, while I pulled the seatbelt across my chest.

The church in Westermoor was a lot larger than most of the buildings that resided in the town. It was a tall wooden thing, painted white, with spires that protruded out from it's walls, as if battling with the sky. The bell tower, a couple of meters away, now clanged noisily as we streamed inside, the men hanging back to allow the women in first.

I always thought that the rule - ladies first- was made up by men who wanted the opportunity to stare at our assess while they feinged politeness. Still, it was nice to take priority somewhere, and not having to jostle my way inside really made the whole experience a lot less bleak.