Fate's Demand (Twisted Fate, Book 3)

Chapter Eight

"I wish your mother was well enough to come today."

I looked up to meet my father's gaze, pausing with my spoon hovering an inch from my bowl. It was Friday—graduation day—and we were sitting at the kitchen table. Mike, Gabe, and Raffy hadn't stopped watching me throughout the week, but they had at least quit demanding that I go to Heaven in the kind of way that sounded like a request.

The only real question was whether I could delay the inevitable, and for how long. The week passed more quickly than I could have imagined with everything that was taking up my thoughts. Even Gabe, Mike, and Raffy had managed to send our neighbours from across the street on a trip the elderly couple couldn't afford on their own in order to visit their grandchildren. Of course, it was only so they could act out the charade of house-sitting, a.k.a. Alyssa Watch, and remain close when I refused to allow them to do it from inside my bedroom.

While that might have been interesting, the fact that they were easy to look at didn't trump keeping my privacy.

Besides, if they were always there to talk to, I wouldn't be able to keep from asking which of them David was in his true form. If I questioned the wrong one, I didn't know if the real one would get in trouble. Can angels smite each other? Force another to fall? Forbidden. Next time I saw David in a dream, I would get over the warm and fuzzies that he made me feel and remember to ask what kind of punishments were served in Heaven.

"I wish she was too," I said, shaking the thoughts from my head, and looked back down to my breakfast, a bowl of Fruit Loops mixed with Cocoa Puffs and slathered with milk. Stirring, I gathered a spoonful and paused as I brought it to my mouth to ask, "Is she any better?"

"Not really," he said over the rim of his coffee mug.

After the non-wake-up call, my father had started to set his alarm, but I unplugged it last night on the way back to my room so at least the shadows under his eyes had faded from black to blue. He was pissed that I did it, but at least he looked like he wasn't about to collapse, so I didn't care.

I swallowed and looked down to scoop another spoonful. "You're still coming, right?" I glanced up and waited.

He nodded but looked away. Being able to graduate was one of my conditions in the terms I'd set out and that was only because I knew that my parents had both wanted to be there. Another set of over-eager parents with their camera's in hand, ready to take a gazillion snapshots. There's Aly's first step up the stairs... her second and her third. Oh! Look, now she's walking across the stage! One step, two....

Kill me now.

In thirty years, I'd be thanking them when I prepared to go to my child's graduation. You know, if I had children, and if they graduated. Maybe by then, the school systems would be a myth to make me seem dated as the world plunged into the virtual reality it aimed for. Whatever. The way things were going, I'd be dead in thirty years and laughing at the foolish things people did from a lofty perch on a cloud with a bag of buttery popcorn in hand.

"Well, I better go," I said and scooped one last bite into my mouth before dumping the milk into the sink and placing my bowl in the dishwasher. With my hands on the counter, I faced him, waiting for a response.

"I'll see you later." He didn't look up

"Of course." I swallowed. I was going to be graduating today and as far as I could tell, neither of my parents would be around to enjoy it. Ugh. I'd rather skip it than have to share Suzie's parents with her, which they'd totally try to do if it made them appear Stepford-ish.

I wanted to push my father, but I couldn't. Not with my mother still so unwell. He was torn and who was I to dictate which love he chose? His daughter? Sure, but I was healthy and self-sufficient. My mother was in an institution, no thanks to Gabe, Mike, and Raffy.

They had failed to meet my terms.

I left the kitchen for my bedroom, watching my feet the whole way. My efforts to get ready focused on the neck up. I could wear pajamas under the ceremonial gown for all anyone would see. Without my mom and her camera, my make-up and hair didn't mean a whole lot, but I did them anyway. Just in case I'd be forced into photos by Suzie's parents and friends I'd lose contact with after summer began.

Heaven or college.

Either way, high school was over.

*****

The school was crowded when I arrived. The reserved parking for seniors had been ignored as parents and friends of seniors arrived early, overflowing the space. After circling the block twice, I was forced to park on the street a block away from school. Alone. I trudged back, cursing Suzie for deciding to come with her parents. Always ready to put on a good show for appearances, they had probably arrived early to obtain the best parking spot and congratulations from all their friends who didn't have to pretend to celebrate for their child instead of themselves.

Maybe they'd drive me back to my car later. Doubtful. At least I had worn sneakers. Who knew, maybe after the whole shebang was over and done with, I could get in a good run. Would I be able to run in Heaven? Like I did in my dreams?

"Hey, Aly," Raffy called, almost sounding like the boy I'd known over the last year.

He threw an arm over my shoulder, appearing from the right, and Gabe appeared on my left. If the scuffling behind us was any indication, Mike brought up the rear, but I didn't want to give them the satisfaction of seeing me check over my shoulder. Speeding up, they matched my pace.

I pulled Raffy's arm off my shoulders and kept my gaze forward. "Would you guys stop sneaking up on me? I have enough to worry about trying to avoid the shadows to have to avoid angels, too."

"We would never hurt you," Mike said, his voice so close his breath tickled my ear.

"Yeah, well, just think about all the damage your constant vigilance over my welfare is doing. I think I'm developing a psychosis or something," I said and tilted my head back for a moment before straightening again and tried to walk faster.

You can't out-walk an angel, though, no matter how annoying their existence might be.

"Why are you mad?" Gabe asked.

I stopped to look at them one by one and then said through clenched teeth, "Did you know I've started changing in the bathroom now? Every time I think of getting changed, I must worry about who is watching. Shadows, I can deal with. It's not like they have faces. But you?" I rolled my eyes and leaned in. "Tell me what I do to make you go away and maybe we can talk without the snip."

They looked to the ground and I knew my answer. Exhaling a deep breath so I didn't lose it, I turned and resumed my pace, lifting my head to call up to the sky, "You know, for angels, you guys really aren't all that good or noble. I figured, at the least, no sane person would be rude enough to follow me into the bathroom, and then... I thought about dressing in the dark but" –I shrugged and lifted my hands— "well, we all know the problem with that."

"We don't watch you dress—"

"I don't care, Gabe. How about you don't watch me at all from now on?" Now that was a great idea. "Stop talking, stop following just... Stop."

I ran away, once again grateful for sneakers. Getting dressed wasn't the issue. No, I had used it to blow up over what I was really mad about. It was my high school graduation and my mother wasn't here. Thanks to that, I didn't even know if my dad was going to come, and the only reason I showed up? Was for them. Otherwise, I would've left the night of my party and no one would've had the chance to mention making me leave.

Heaven might be paradise, but its occupants were complete asses.

A/N: Sorry for the delay in updates :) 

Would you be able to talk back to angels if they were as annoying as Aly's boys? What do you think she should do--stay to be with her mum or go to Heaven?