Fallen

Chapter Nine: Billy In Trouble Again

Billy lifted his solemn head to gaze sadly at Angella and the strange man. "Where am I?" He asked them.

"Look babe... you scared him." Angella chuckled.

"No Angel, /you/ scared him." The man replied.

"True..." Angella flinched. "Oh no..."

"Angel?"

"Get ready to explain, hun... She's coming..."

Although everything was still pitch black and silent, the numbness was clearing. Angella could feel a hand on her waist, but she thought noting of it. Thought it safe. She was standing. /but.../ Angella thought /I passed out.../ She could feel her feet blistering on the cold concrete floor. Then all of a sudden, she heard a low, rusty voice in her ear. It burned. She'd heard that voice before, but she wasn't too sure where. Or when. A hard as she tried, Angella couldn't make out the words that were being said, and she wasn't sure whether or not they were good words... or bad. But then she heard another. This second voice was higher, softer, nicer. It was her own. She wondered what she was saying, but couldn't find the words. Then she heard it. The small voice. So innocent. So gentle. So scared. It was a different voice altogether. It was Billy's voice.

Angella took a moment to think, given that she still couldn't see. So she thought about detail. And when she thought, she saw this thoughts. She saw red, and she saw black. She saw a road, and a village park. She knew she'd been going somewhere when she passed out, but where? What was so important? She saw a door. A red door with two black panes. She also saw passers by of this door. The passers by who didn't stop and inquire at the door. The passers by who didn't seem to admire the door's uniqueness. The passers by who didn't see her standing at the door. And then she saw her. Amelia. Amelia, Satan's companion. Amelia, the girl staring back at Angella in the...

Mirror?

An eerie red glow was cast over the black concrete room, as if a fire was alight, but she saw no mantle. Although the stone walls were ice cold, they burnt her fingers when she reached out to support herself.Her bare feet blistered from the agonosing heat of the cold concrete floor. It was like a hellish torture for her, and she realised it was Hell. He reached out towards her, and his fingers left scolds on her arm. He pulled her close. Held her tight. And when she struggled, refuse to let go. She looked to the ceiling in defeat, and saw the chains. Her gaze followed them down the wall, to the wrists of the small boy whom they held captive. /what's going on?/ she thought. "Where am I?" She asked the man.

"You know where you are, Angel." He replied. "The question you should be asking... is why you are here."

"I suppose you can tell me?" She asked.

"It was you all along." He told her, simply.

"What do you mean?" The devil smirked.

"You are fallen, Angel." She failed to believe him. "The evil has always been inside you, and I have won the battle."

"What battle?" She asked. "The was no battle. I don't understand."

"The battle of your conscience, Angel. In your conscious state, you thought yourself to be a good person. A good Angel. But all the while you were sleeping, your subconscience overruled. You have done some evil deeds, Angel. Kidnapping this boy is one them."

"No." Still, she failed to believe him. "No it's not possible... God..."

"Has failed you. Ever since that time you thought you'd failed Him, you never really loved God. You love me instead. I have won."

"Not again." She was determined. "Not this time. You can't take me too."

"I already have."

"Where am I?" Asked the boy sitting solemnly in front of them, once again.

"You are in a place of worship, boy." Satan told him. The child looked at Angella, not seeing through her disguise. He still saw her as his Angel in White.

"Are you here to save me?" He asked her, but just as she opened her mouth to respond, the Devil scoffed.

"No boy!" He exploded with laughter. "She's not here to /save/ you! She's here to /keep/ you."

"Keep?"

"You are a prisoner here, and we are your captors." The devil gestured to the tiny window in the top of the wall. "Say goodbye to the last speck of daylight you will ever see." And he snapped his fingers, and the window was gone. The only way they could now see in the dark room was by the dim red fiery glow. Angela still couldn't figure how it could possibly exist without a mantle or electricity, but then she remembered that this w as s Hell, and her greatest fears could come to life.

Angella could no longer feel the burning hand in her waist, so she looked around to find that Satan, like the window, had disappeared.

She turned to the small boy, curled up at one end of the room. She could see that he was shaking like a leaf with fear. She walked forward a few paces, then crouched down in front of the boy.

"Billy..."

"How do you know my name, Miss?" Billy asked her.

"My name is Angella Flen. I used to be an angel, and now I need your help."