Of Angels and Demons

Chapter One: Reevaluated

                                                            Chapter One; Reevaluated

“Alfred, I don’t think you should…”

“Oh, don’t listen to Birdie, Alfred! This is so totally awesome! Almost as awesome as you getting me as your Shoulder Demon!”

“Alfred…”

“Shut up, both of you.” Alfred says, as he crouches behind the sunflowers in his neighbor’s yard, trying to ignore the two small, winged people sitting on each of his shoulders.

He had to, didn’t he? If he was going to survive on his own. He needed food, and money, and those snob neighbors of his wouldn’t miss a couple hundred dollars. Hell, he’d seen the mother blow a couple thousand like nothing. And he couldn’t go home. Not now.

He wasn’t aware of speaking aloud, but he must have, because suddenly, Matthew bursts out, “What are you thinking, Alfred! Of course you can go home! Your Mom probably doesn’t even know you’re gone.”

“And if she does?” Alfred’s lips barely move as he says this, his eyes still focusing on the mansion in front of him, looking for a weakness in the “security;” locked doors. Gilbert had taught him how to pick locks, but he wasn’t very good, and he wasn’t very fast. If he had to take the time to sit by the front door and fiddle with it’s lock, the likelihood of him getting caught increased exponentially. No, what he needed was…

An open window. Perfect.

“She doesn’t.” Matthew snorts, making his large, feathery white wings rustle as he adjusts the halo floating an inch above his chin-length blond hair. “Not after the sleeping pills Gilbert had you put in her supper, though why, I don’t know. She sleeps like a rock as it is.”

Gilbert is lying back on Alfred’s shoulder, arms folded behind his head, bat-like wings tucked flat beneath his back, tail moving lazily as he lays there. His dark hood is covering his snow-white hair, his ruby eyes closed as he grins, smug as a Chesire cat. “Simple, Mattie. It was awesome. Like in a movie. Slip drugs into the jailer’s food, then make your escape.”

Matthew rolls his violet eyes, before refocusing on the boy whose shoulder he was currently riding. “Please, Alfred. Don’t do this. There’s no reason to. You’re not in trouble yet, and your Mom never really punishes you anyways. If you turn back now, we can all just pretend this never happened.”

Matthew doesn’t understand. Part of the reason Alfred is doing this is because his mother never notices him, or hardly ever. She’s always in her room, worrying about his father, who’d joined the army for the sake of a family tradition. One his father expected Alfred to carry on, as evident by the bomber jacket his father had sent him for his last birthday. And, when not worrying, his mother’s maintaining his father’s business, which made parts or something. Alfred wasn’t really sure. But apparently it was good money, because they could afford to live in this neighborhood.

“I’m telling you, Alfred, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. No one ever has adventures from home. Besides, it’s not like you’ve just decided to live on the streets forever. After we get to Emily’s, you can live with her.”

“She’s Amelia now, she hates that nickname, Gil, and she’s barely keeping her apartment as it is; it would be wrong to push another mouth unto her. And even then, she lives in New York City, and Alfred can’t drive. It’ll take forever to get there.”

Amelia is Alfred’s sister. When he was little, though, he called her ‘Meli, since he couldn’t pronounce Amelia, and later he called her Emily, just to annoy her. She’s in college now, studying to be an actress, while also getting a general degree, but her dream is, and  has always been, to be the first woman to play seriously in Major League Baseball. She’s his only sibling, and they’re very close, but he knows that what Matthew says is true. On top of school, Amelia has to work in order to earn money for food and rent. Their parents paid half of her tuition, and the other was paid by her partial scholarship, but their mother insists she pay for lodging and basic needs herself, supposedly in order to learn responsibility, something their father approves of, but mostly because their mother doesn’t approve of Amelia’s career choice. But regardless, he’s already decided that he won’t go to her for help. Not that Mattie or Gil need to know that.