The Angel Prophecies: Opal Sky

12. The Photograph

Sunday morning I woke early to go to church with Grams. She had had a strong Catholic upbringing and her faith was unwavering. I hadn't been for some time, so she was pleased I was going with her. I thought maybe being in a house of God would give me an epiphany of some sort, but it was just like any other uneventful mass. What was I expecting anyway? Some kind of miraculous display? Grams and I spent the rest of the morning making brown bread to go with the baked beans she was cooking for supper. Kneading the bread proved to be a great stress reliever, but it still didn't clear my mind.

Sunday night, I decided to spend a quiet night in my room. I wanted to try and get back some semblance of what my life was like before ghosts, prophecies, and Seth. I didn't like the whiney, needy girl he brought out in me. I curled up on my bed with the first book in the Nancy Drew series, which I found in Tante Elizabeth's book shelf. My room was cozy. It had a mahogany door, and unpainted casings and baseboards. The window had a ledge large enough to sit on, with a thin dark purple pillow. The walls were painted light purple, Shaylah's favourite colour, and the shelves and closet still contained some of her belongings. I heard a light knocking, and turned to find Shaylah.

"Hey, I just wanted to get a sweater on the top shelf of the closet." She motioned toward the closet.

"Of course. " I watched her stretch for the top shelf. " You know, this IS still your room, you can come in here whenever you want. "

She turned to me and smiled. "I know, but as long as you're using it, I'll respect your privacy. I'm sorry it didn't work out with Seth. He was pretty handsome. I would have snuck him back in here too."

I felt my face flush. "You knew about that?"

"Duh. I'm not as naive as Mom and Grams."

"Thanks for not telling. " I mumbled. "and nothing happened."

She closed the closet door, and flung the sweater over her shoulder. "Listen, you don't owe me an explanation, and I didn't tell, because you've been through enough." She said understandingly. " Marie and I are watching the movie Avatar. You want to watch it with us?"

"I'd really love to, but I'm kind of tired. Maybe we can hang out soon though."

"I'd like that. You know, I really don't mind you being here. None of us do... I thought you should know that." She turned to leave.

"Thank you, you have no idea what that means to me."

Monday morning, Travis was in my math class. He made a point of sitting right next to me.

"Good morning Cinderella." He smiled as he slid into his desk.

I gave him a puzzled look. "Cinderella?"

"Yeah, you ran away from our first dance, leaving me alone."

"Well, Prince Charming, maybe we can do something on Friday night."

"It's a date." His smile was enough to make any girl swoon.

Travis sat with me and the girls at lunch, which seemed to make us the envy of the entire female population.

Seth sat between Ruby and her twin, Lilly, glaring at Travis with such anger, you'd swear he was trying to bore holes through his head. I didn't understand why he thought it was okay to leave me for Ruby, but my chance to move on caused him such
frustration. His jealousy was a little flattering, but also confusing. Why did he care if I was moving on? My heart still skiped a beat when I saw him, but he made his choice, so why not let me go?

Friday came quickly , and at work I found myself on the last floor to be packed up. I wasn't looking forward to doing Walter's room, but he didn't scare me as much, after everything I'd
been through. I reluctantly made my way to his room. He was sleeping, peacefully and he didn't stir as I
wrapped his breakable belongings with crinkly paper. Reaching for a small cork board of photos, I knocked
a plastic cup which tumbled to the floor and bounced under his bed.