Heavenly Host High: Dawn of Chaos

Chapter 5 My New Family By Eriya

I had a lot of trouble going to sleep that night, partially due to the storm and partially due to the day's events. Rubi never explained what we were supposed to do, and I was left with a thousand more questions about the House of Angels and what we had to do. I stared up at the ceiling and tried to go back to sleep but that wasn't happening. After what felt like hours, I sat up in bed and looked around my dark room that Rubi had been in earlier that night. I wanted to try and materialize my wings like I had seen Rubi's, but my efforts only produced sparks of sad light.

I sighed at the craziness that was going on and gave up on trying to sleep. I threw on a T-shirt, and snuck my way up front to try to get some ice-cream which, until now, always put me to sleep. My dog, Goldie, was barking outside and I decided to bring her in. After I'd dried off my lab's golden pelt, I put on my headphones and started listening to music. Goldie was shaking in fear from the thunder so I put my hand on her neck and scratched behind her ears just the way she liked it. I started to replay what happened and I kept seeing that girl in the cloak. Her brown hair flashing in and out of my mind. Rubi was on my mind too, her red hair encasing my dreams until I-.

"Hey, wake up."

My step father was standing over me, his arms folded at his chest. He was 6' 3", 240 pounds of seasoned army veteran. His dark skin couldn't cover up the wrinkles he had covering his face from previous strain. His fight in Iraq had left him pretty much the most unforgiving and unrelenting person in our family, but he still loved us and would probably do anything for me and my two younger brothers.

"What are you doing on the floor?" his deep voice inquired.

Looking around, I noticed I was on the floor next to Goldie with a bowl of melted ice cream spilled on me.

"Wait what...huh?"

I was still trying to wake up

"Don't 'huh' me, get your butt up and take out the trash. Clean up that mess you made, too. I know she didn't do that."

I looked at Goldie's ecstatic face, her tongue drooping out and her ears perked up, telling me she wanted to play.

"Hurry up, they didn't cancel school after that craziness that happened yesterday, so you gotta catch the bus." He dropped the trash bag right next to me to take out. Staggering to get up and put on a jacket, I stumbled through the rain and dumped the bag in the dumpster. Once back inside, I glanced over to the right. The microwave clock showed 5:30.

What a way to start the last day of school.

♠

I was beyond anxious on the last day of finals, but it had nothing to do with the test itself. When I stepped into my first of three tests, I bumped into a chestnut-haired girl who looked at me in disgust as I scrambled for my glasses. I didn't realize it at first since my vision didn't change at all, but when I looked through my glasses again, my vision blurred a bit from the heavy prescription. I added that to the already-growing list of questions I had for Rubi.

At first I was expecting school to either be cancelled or at least on edge. When the intercom blared for a simple moment of silence for the grown-ups killed in the "generator malfunction," I just somehow knew Rubi had something to do with it. I finished my school lunch and got up from the table where Ari was annoying this girl with curly hair for her rolls and spaghetti. I told Ari I'd see him later and slipped out the door into the hot May afternoon. Some kids were taking in the bright sunlight, while others were goofing off with their plates of food as usual. Multiple people had died only yesterday and no one seemed to be taking this into consideration, not even Ari. I was used to kids my age making jokes about death to avoid having to think about it, but this was surely supernatural.