CHAPTER 6
As tired and lifeless as I felt, I could not make myself go to sleep. I tossed and turned, and added more pillows only to throw them back in the floor. I fluffed the pillow I was resting my head on, pulled up the covers to kick them off again, and all of this left me feeling no more comfortable as I stared at the ceiling, wishing nothing more than to fall asleep. The only thing I could think of right now was the angel that was still in the floorboard of my car.
Giving up on the idea that I could convince myself to leave the bag in the car until morning and go to sleep, I swung my legs off of the bed and slipped my feet into my fuzzy, leopard-print house shoes. I flipped on my bedroom light, opened my door, and started down the staircase, flipping on light switches as I came to them. Being all alone in a massive house at night is scary to begin with, but walking through a massive house when you’re all alone in the dark makes it terrifying.
If I let my imagination run a little wild, I would imagine shadows moving outside the windows or feel like someone was watching me, even though I knew it was probably just the trees being blown by the wind, obstructing the light from the lampposts and causing the shadows to dance along the windows.
Reaching the side door, I turned on the floodlight, which bathed the area where I parked with light. Unlocking the door, I slid into the night air that sent shivers right down to my bones. I couldn’t help but wrap my arms around myself as my teeth chattered so hard I feared they might start chipping. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of grabbing my robe on the way out of my bedroom. My flannel pajamas were no match for nighttime weather during the winter months.
As I breathed in and out of my mouth through my chattering teeth I could see my breath like a trail of smoke through the air. I hurried across the pavement to reach out for the door handle of my car when I noticed I had been in such a rush to come get the angel I had forgotten my keys on the dresser in my bedroom.
Knowing myself well enough to know I always locked my car, I am not sure why I went ahead and reached for the door handle anyway. To my surprise, it came right open! I was shocked! I never left my car unlocked. When I carried the sacks of spices in to Lorenzo before dinner, I must not have pressed the button on my keychain that automatically locks the doors and turns on the car alarm. I guess I had been more distracted by today’s events than I admitted to myself.
To leave my car unlocked even when I was at home was completely out of character for me. Growing up as the daughter of a criminal defense lawyer I had heard about my fair share of car thefts, so this made me very wary of locking my car and using the alarm at all times.
Sitting down on the driver’s seat, I leaned over and picked up the bag. I set the sack in my lap as I pushed the button below my window on the door handle. Locking the doors before shutting the car door and heading back across the pavement a movement caught my peripheral vision. I turned, looking out into the bushes, but the floodlight was so bright it obstructed my vision. Then someone darted out of the bushes, but there was no way I could tell which direction they had run. I was petrified and suddenly felt stiff, unable to move if I tried to. Gathering every sliver of courage I had in me, I ran as fast as I possibly could the rest of the way across the pavement into the warmth of the house, locking the door behind me.
Checking all of the doors multiple times, I decided to turn on all the outside lights in hopes of deterring whoever had been in the bushes from attempting to enter the house. Going back the way I had come a few minutes earlier, this time I turned the rest of light switches on the ground level as I came across them before heading up the stairs and opening my bedroom door then kicking it shut behind me with my foot. After the scare, I had barely even noticed the weight from the angel inside the bag I had been tightly grasping.
Sitting in the middle of my bed staring at my door, I was afraid it would fly open at any second and my phantom stalker would be standing in the doorway. I was sweating bullets out of fear and exhaustion. I grabbed my cell phone to see Avan had sent a text asking me what was going on. How could he possibly know anything was wrong? I hadn’t even texted anyone to let them know what just happened; especially not him. I debated texting him back to ask him to come over immediately because I was scared to be alone but refrained. Deciding it would sound too forward, I placed the phone back down onto the bed. Then without being able to stop the thought from creeping into my mind I sat rigid as I considered the frightening possibility that he couldn’t have known anything was wrong unless he was the one lurking in the darkness. No! I would not even consider it! I was letting my emotion take over. I knew Avan and he was one of the good guys. All he had done since I formally met him was prove he had no intention of being like every other slime ball guy out there. My heart knew he would never stoop so low but my fear still had a hold on my wandering imagination.
My angel still remained in her sack, swimming in bubble wrap on the bed in front of me. I knew all the doors to the house were locked, but I still had a very uneasy feeling. Standing up beside the bed, I leaned forward, peeking through the slats on my wooden blinds to see a man in the street staring up at me then turning and running away from the house in the opposite direction. Chills raced down my spine and my breaths became shallow. I was so scared I was physically unable to cry.
It was the kind of scared you see in horror movies when the lead character is about to be killed in some hideous act of pure repulsion and knowing they can do nothing more to prevent it, they just close their eyes and hope it gets over with quickly, with no begging, screaming, or crying.
Crawling back onto the bed and feeling my feet slide across the satin sheets, I considered calling the police to file a report. Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell them much. I knew it was a man from the way he was standing and how his figure had no curves, the way a female would have. The man was wearing all black from the hat to the shoes, but being so far up from the street with shoddy visibility, there was no way to make out a facial description or even an accurate estimated height.
I would sound pretty stupid having them come to the house to tell them I feared being attacked by someone I could not even describe. Technically, this phantom stalker had not broken any laws since he never entered the house, so what did I really have to report? That I felt threatened? That wouldn’t do much good. I doubted they would agree to put a squad car outside your house for extra security if they thought you might have imagined it, so I decided I would forget about making that call.
No sooner had I made the decision than I received a call from Avan asking if everything was okay. I told him everything was fine and that I was going to go to sleep. He wished me sweet dreams and asked me to come by Spirits tomorrow because he wanted to talk about some things. He assured me that he was fine but that he was concerned for me. Before hanging up, he instructed me to call if I needed to for any reason, regardless of how late it was. I told him I would and to have a great time at the concert. As I hung up the phone I still felt a small pinch of uneasy curiosity at how he was so inquisitive and how he seemed to know unexplainably how something had occurred with me. I couldn’t explain it and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer. Could one of his friends have been the darkly clad figure spying on me for him? Maybe I had just seen way too many of the movies Damien had done the special effects for!
Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and concentrated on finding the tranquil and serene feelings I experienced earlier in the store. I opened them back up, deciding it was time to rescue my angel from her bubble-wrapped sarcophagus. I pulled the bag across the comforter on to the sheet and into my lap. Opening the handles wide and looking down into the bag, I noticed something out of place.
Lying inside the bag tucked down beside the angel wrapped in plastic bubble wrap was a little white piece of paper. I had personally watched Natasha package up the angel, yet I never saw her put anything in the bag with her. Then again, with the entire day not making much sense, I supposed anything could be a possibility at this point.
Reaching inside the bag and touching the note gave me a dark feeling, just like the one I got when I had found the pieces of paper in my locker and on my car. Pulling the paper out of the bag, I dreaded what message would be enclosed. As always, the paper was thick and white, with no indication of who it was from. Holding it with a firm grip in my hands, I felt my heart rate increase again with nervousness. Five minutes must have passed before I decided on opening it.
I carefully started unfolding the piece of paper one fold at a time, holding my breath with anticipation. With each second that passed, I could hear the clock echo through my ears, making it sound as if it were bouncing off the walls—like I was a bat using echo location. The paper was still folded in half as I played with the edges with my fingers, trying to buy some extra time before I had to read what was inside.
By running my fingers over the top portion of the piece of paper folded in half, I could already tell the words on the inside had been typed there by a typewriter from the way the letters were raised up on the back, indented as well as inked onto the paper. I finally took the plunge, unfolding the last crease and looking down to read the message that stood there beaming up at me.
They know what you are.
Unlike the others, this note did not seem threatening. It almost made it sound like I was the threat. I had no clue what this note could possibly be referring to. It almost seemed like whoever wrote it was insinuating that I was some kind of alien or something. The weird thing was that it still seemed like a warning.
It was written in the third person, leading me to believe the person leaving the notes was not the person I needed to guard myself from. One thing was very clear tonight after getting this note: these notes were definitely intended for me and not Lena.
I was two weeks away from being a seventeen-year-old senior in high school who had lived through a very tragic event, leaving me as a very fortunate orphan; I dealt with it the best I knew how. Aside from that, there was nothing different about me than there was about any other girl my age, so what did this person mean when they warned me that someone or some people knew what I was? I had gone repeatedly over the notes in my head before I realized they hardly seemed like threats when they were together. Instead, it was like someone was leaving me a jigsaw puzzle piece by piece and I was supposed to put it all together.
It was clear that this person felt I was in significant danger, but why? Who was watching me, and what was I? Was I actually a descendant of someone important, like a royal family somewhere? What did they mean when they stated I was something other than human in not so many words? Did they think I was an illegal alien? Maybe they mistakenly thought my parents and I had moved here from another country and they were trying to warn me that someone was checking up on me to try and have me deported.
My mind came up with every bogus thought under the sun as to what they thought I could be, including the spawn of an actual alien left behind by the mother ship after visiting our planet years ago only to be taken in and raised by humans. By the time I’d finished my outlandish thought processes, I had made my life out to be a sci-fi movie in my head before bringing myself back to reality.
The reality of the situation was that a stranger who I had caught tonight, all because I wanted to get something out of my car, had been leaving me another puzzle piece that I had to figure out. This stranger also believed I was in immediate danger and being watched. That being said, I needed to find out what all this meant in order to understand what would give anyone the idea that I was in danger. Not knowing the answers would not only annoy me, but if something was actually going on, I could be putting myself in more danger by not knowing the details of this situation.
I needed to talk to someone about all this, but how would I explain it? My gut was telling me with every fiber of my being that Lena was the last person that needed to find out about any of this. Since I lived in her house and she was supposed to be my best friend, it was an abnormal feeling for me to want to hide things from her. Lena had known all my secrets up until the last two weeks. Even more strange was that since she had been gone, I felt like my eyes had been opened to the type of person she really was.
Not that I had not been aware, but I had always thought she had the ability to change. It was as if we had grown apart, but that would take both parties pulling away from the friendship. It was I over the past two weeks who had made the conscious decision to pull back from the friendship with Lena. I had no desire of having the reputation of being the bad girl’s sidekick anymore. I could not accept the rest of the world presuming I was just like her, labeling me as her little protégé.
More important than the rest of the world was what I needed to stop settling on. I needed to stop believing I needed Lena to be important. I needed to find myself and make my own life. Lena’s life was great, and aside from her immoral decisions, I had been trying to live her life of fortune and fame for the last three years, and I had never been truly happy.
I needed to be Mattie, and Mattie was a good person who did what was right and stayed away from trouble. Who could care less if she lived in a mansion, had five cars, a platinum credit card, and was the most popular girl in school? I might have to live here in this house, but I was not required to assume her role.
I was not required to feel pressured into going out with guys who pressured me to make wrong decisions, and I did not have to feel like I had to keep up with her. In short, I was going to start making myself happy rather than worrying about what Lena liked or disliked, what made her mad or satisfied, and I was not going to let her pressure me to put myself in situations that made me feel uncomfortable or that contributed to me making bad decisions anymore.
Upon my new epiphany, I took the note I was still holding in my hands and put it into my bag, where I would keep it until I could place it with the others I was keeping secretively locked away in my glove compartment. Turning my attention back toward the sack that still held my angel, I hurried over to unwrap my beautiful token of love from my mom.
I lifted the bundle of bubble wrap out of the sack, placed it softly down onto the comforter, and began to unwind the bubble wrap that protected the angel. As she finally came into view, emerging from all the protective wrapping, she looked even more beautiful now than she had been when Natasha first gave her to me at the store. She stood about a foot tall and had delicate features cut out of the crystal to form a tender looking little face, arms, hair, and even folds of her dress.
I had never seen anything like it, even in the home décor stores that had everything you could imagine carved into crystal trinkets to show off in your curio cabinets. The way my angel was so intricately cut reflecting even the tiniest of details it didn’t seem possible to make a creation that was so flawless, but here she was and now she was mine.
I placed her on top of the chest of drawers in the corner. to where it appeared as though she was watching over the room, making sure she was protected from any harm. Though it was not as prevalent as it had been inside the store, a feeling of peace seemed to settle over the room. Even though I knew I had many things to think about and decide how to handle them, I did not feel the slightest bit of stress or worry.
I couldn’t help but think it was because of the beautiful angel watching over me with my mother’s love. For the first time in three years, I did not feel scared to be in the house alone. Even though I now knew the man I had caught in the bushes earlier had been there for the sole purpose of delivering another clue for me to use in piecing together the jigsaw puzzle that had become my life, I had no anxiety about the things that were out of my control. In fact, everything felt so peaceful that after cleaning up the mess I made unwrapping the angel, I turned off the light, settled myself comfortably into bed, and immediately fell into the most restful sleep I had had in years.
As I woke up to a sunny Sunday morning, it almost escaped my attention that I had slept through the night for the first time since my parents’ death. Without torment in my sleep from the nightmare that haunted me every night, I was rested and more energetic than I had been in years. Making my way into the bathroom to brush my teeth, I noticed my reflection in the mirror even looked different.
The girl who stared back at me in the mirror looked as though she was older. As I touched my face to make sure it was really my reflection that looked back at me from the mirror and not just a dream, for the first time in my life I saw that I had transformed from a pretty little girl into a beautiful young woman.
I chose black pants and a blue shirt that complemented my hair and eyes for my attire for the day and opted not to use makeup with the exception of a light coat of lipgloss. Looking up at my angel, I felt that once again she was responsible for all the wonderful things that were happening. It felt so good not having to hide myself under layers of cosmetics, even though I always kept it looking as natural as possible.
Makeup made me feel like I was in disguise trying to be someone else. I liked this new makeup-free me so much better. Looking in the mirror this morning and seeing the girl who looked back at me, she needed nothing to accentuate her already strikingly gorgeous features.
I slipped on my shoes and started down the stairs, smelling the amazing gourmet breakfast Lorenzo was making in the kitchen. As I inhaled, it hit me that I had never smelled anything as I smelled this morning. I was certain I could tell each ingredient as I walked down the stairs without even seeing what was on the stove. I popped in the kitchen and leaned against the doorway, announcing my arrival with a bubbly good morning to Lorenzo.
As he turned toward me, the spatula he was holding fell from his hand, splattering grease all over the floor. He smiled at me with an expression on his face as if he couldn’t believe his eyes as the word angel fell from his lips with a whisper. We stood there in an awkward silence for a moment that seemed like it lasted forever when he realized he was still staring; he bent down to pick up the spatula and clean up the mess it made on the tile floor. I pretended not to notice and acted normal instead. I asked him what was for breakfast, and he stammered out a response. I kissed him on the cheek and made a plate and slid into a spot at the table.
After breakfast, I decided I would run by Spirits to see how Avan’s weekend was going and find out what it was he wanted to discuss. On my way out the door, I was topping off my outfit with Avan’s black leather jacket as Lorenzo had come flying out of the kitchen to tell me that he had forgotten to relay a message. Lena’s flight was delayed, and she would be on the next one that offered an open seat in first class. After all, she would not be caught dead flying coach.
Apologizing for his earlier reaction in the kitchen, he explained that I looked just like someone he had once known. Giving me a tight hug, he told me to drive safely and that he would see me in a little while. I told him I would probably see him at dinner since I would be out most of the day, and he flashed a warm smile, nodding in approval.
On my way to Spirits, everything about the day seemed brighter than it usually did. The colors I saw seemed more vivid as I passed through my neighborhood, noticing all of the winter flowers blooming that the wealthy families of Oceanview had planted in their gardens. Everything was so clear. As I sat at a stop sign, I looked toward the walkway of the house that sat on the corner that had yards of beautiful red tulips blooming on both sides and all the way up and across the front of the flowerbed in front of the house.
Adoring the petals that were such a brilliant shade of red, I began to focus on one in particular. Before I knew it, the flower had magnified before my eyes to where I could see a small ant making its way up the green stem of the flower and onto one of the petals, walking to the tip on the underside and crawling on to the top of the petal, crawling along its curve toward the pollen in the center. I could not believe I was seeing this. Blinking my eyes, everything went back to regular vision; I imagined I must have been daydreaming.
Looking both directions, I pulled out on to the street heading to Spirits. Coming into downtown Oceanview was always a site to see no matter how long you had lived here.
All of the buildings were made of the same red brick built back in the early 1900s, and the streets downtown were still made of brick as well. It was a little bumpy, but it added a nostalgic feel to our town. Most of the second stories of the businesses that lined the downtown area had been turned into storage areas, which held inventory to be used. A few had been converted to living spaces where the business owners resided.
In the center of the town square, the city kept a huge water fountain year round. The concrete dolphins and mermaids looked brilliant as the water danced around them, making light foam on top of the water as it hit and broke into hundreds of little bubbles as they hit the surface of the water that was probably freezing during this time of the year. During the summertime people would stop by to toss coins in, making wishes as they visited the storefronts that surrounded it.
On the eastside of the fountain was Spirits. As I drove around the fountain, it looked empty in the front, which was usual for a Sunday since most people came in for coffee before they joined the church congregations. I slid my Volkswagen into a spot in front and killed the engine. Unzipping my bag, I took out the note that had been left in the sack that held my angel last night. I unlocked the glove compartment, retrieving the other two notes as well to add to the most recent one received.
I was unsure of what Avan would think once I showed him the notes, but I felt I needed to tell someone, and right now he was the most trustworthy person I knew besides Lorenzo, who would only worry himself sick. Sliding the notes into my wallet, I got out of the car, locked the doors and headed for the entrance to Spirits.
I stepped inside to the welcoming aroma of fresh espresso and coffee beans. I had no idea how they managed to do it, but it was always the perfect temperature inside. I was looking over the menu when I knew Avan was near.
I had not looked up to see him yet, but his cologne gave him away. I laid the menu back on the coffee table, looking up to see him leaning forward in the chair across from mine with a serious look on his face that told me he was in a state of excellent shock and surprise.
“Wow!” Avan said as he rubbed his chin with his left hand.
“Wow meaning what?”
“You, I’ve never seen you look the way you do today.”
“Is that a good thing?” I was a little confused. First, Lorenzo had acted strange, and now Avan too. I was starting to feel a little self-conscious.
“It’s an amazing thing. You look like an angel.”
“An angel?” I couldn’t help but notice he’d said almost the same thing Lorenzo had.
“Yeah, angels are beautiful, and you make most of them look mediocre at best.”
“Well, thank you. Believe it or not, you are actually the second person who has paid me the compliment of looking like an angel today,” I said, flashing him a smile.
“Who was the first?” The way he asked was as though it concerned him. Maybe he was scared I had run into Ian somewhere this morning before getting to Spirits.
“The chef that works for Lena and her dad, and I guess me, even though I consider him more as a friend.”
“Well, he couldn’t have been more honest.” His voice had lost the edge it had a few seconds ago.
“So can the angel get a drink?” I could not resist referring to myself in the third person using the description that sounded so amazing coming from his mouth describing me, of all people.
“Anything she wants. Just name it.”
“How about a large peppermint mocha topped with whipped cream and sprinkles,” I said, admiring the way he looked as he tilted his head a little when he wrote my order.
“I’ll be right back with that, milady,” he said as he tore the top slip he’d written my order on off of the order pad.
I could not help but acknowledge the thought in my head that noticed how it never mattered if he was coming or going, he looked good regardless. I think if I had it my way, I could just have him stand and model in the corner of the room as I sat and drooled all day long. The way he moved was just so smooth—everything about him was smooth. From the way his skin looked to the way he walked, there was just something completely irresistible about him that made me putty in his hands. Since I had gotten so close to him over the past two weeks, being with him every day, getting to know him so much better, my simple crush on a cute guy who worked at the coffee shop had transitioned into a not-so-simple case of infatuation with a hot guy who was now basically my only true friend.
I was still unsure how he felt about me to this point, though. Granted, today he told me I make most angels look less beautiful than they should, but that was no indication that he wanted more than a friendship. All that meant was that I looked great today—and Lorenzo had even pointed it out, so I was not so sure that Avan’s compliment had a personal meaning. Then again, he had told me that he liked the way I looked in his jacket and told me I could continue to wear it after the first day we had spoken.
There was also the way he had taken me to school every day, driving all the way to my house to pick me up rather than having me meet him at his work. He sure made it seem like he just wanted me to be more than his best girl buddy for the rest of his life, but considering I never actually had a boyfriend, how could I interpret the signs I thought he was making obvious and full of intent?
“Here’s that peppermint mocha you ordered,” Avan said as he knelt beside my chair with a cup in one hand and napkins in the other, catching me completely off guard, as I had been overanalyzing everything he had said in the past two weeks, trying to find any clue of what he really felt about me.
“That looks and smells amazing!”
“What can I say? I aim to please!”
Smiling and nodding, I took the cup and napkins from his hands as I looked down into his eyes. For a split second, I tried to imagine how he would react if I took the opportunity to lean in and kiss him on those perfect, full lips. He showed no signs of rushing to move from where he was next to my chair, but I was terrified of not knowing how he would take it if I went for it.
Instead I just scooted back a little in the chair and took a sip of chocolate and peppermint delightfulness. He slowly rose from the floor, moving into the chair beside me. I could feel his eyes on me and had no idea what to say or if I should pretend like I did not notice.
“Do I have a booger in my nose or something?” I could not take his silent stare any longer.
“Um no, if you did I would be looking anywhere but at your face, and with every word I said I would be calling attention to my own nose to try and make you get the hint. Then, if that didn’t work, I’d just invite Bradley over to join the conversation, and he wouldn’t hesitate to tell you out loud that you had a big ole boogey about to drop into your coffee!”
“So kind of you! So if I don’t have a booger, why are you looking at me like this is the first time you’ve ever seen me?” I asked as I made eye contact with him.
“This is the first time I’ve ever seen you for what you really are.” He said it almost the same way the note from the mystery writer had stated it. Suddenly my breath caught in my throat as fear flooded my mind again. Could he really be the one leaving the notes? Uncertainty and worry crept around into the shadows of my imagination whispering darkness into my thoughts. How could he have used almost the exact words written on the paper I’d found?
My train of thought drifted to what had happened last night with the man hiding in the bushes and leaving the note. Looking back up into his eyes I felt ashamed as I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt he could never in any way be the same person sneaking around making me feel threatened with pieces of a puzzle. I wanted to know what it meant, but Avan might think I had way too much baggage if I told him about all the drama I had going on right now.
“So what kind of drama is it that you think is gonna run me off?” He asked as though he’d just read my mind.
“Sorry, it’s just that—” I cut myself off snapping my head up to look at him quizzically. As the thought went through my mind how I was confused when it came to deciding the best way to tell him some unknown individual had been lurking outside my house in the bushes, and left a weird note in my car suddenly it no longer seemed important as I acknowledged the fact that he had just heard my thoughts. Then there was the issue with Lena wanting me to continue to date Ian. I wanted to prevent him from hating her worse than he did now, but I was still mad at her for taking Ian’s side especially if Avan had really just been able to read my mind. Moreover, there was the way Ian had gone crazy with harassing me lately. Suddenly fear was the farthest thing from my mind as complete confusion and disability to make sense of what had just occurred took its place.
“Let’s start with the note you found. You saw the person who put it there?” When he spoke, I knew he had heard every word that I had been thinking, even though I never said it aloud. This should have scared me and made me get as far away as I could, but instead, it felt intriguing.
“Yeah, he was hiding in the bushes. I must have walked outside right after he’d planted the note.”
“You have no idea who it could be or what they want?”
“Not the slightest clue,” I answered as I tried to think of anyone who could possibly be upset with me while at the same time failing attempts at making sense of how Avan could detect the thoughts in my mind.
“What did the note say?”
“It said, ‘They know what you are,’” I said with a shudder.
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Avan said. A serious look came across his face. “What’s all this about Lena and Ian? I mean, I know he’s giving you trouble. I can tell it’s on your mind, but tell me about the specifics.”
I went into a rant about all the things Ian had done in the past two weeks, being as detailed as possible. I told Avan about how I felt Lena was taking away my choice in the matter and pressuring me to put myself in a harmful situation. I broke down about how I never felt like I had any say when it came to making decisions for my life. I also expressed her expectation of me to be another version of her.
I admitted to him that I was sick of living like this, wishing there was another option, and how I did not understand how everything had completely turned to crap three years ago, leading up to all this. I had just admitted to feeling as though I was just a target waiting for the second I would be erased from existence just like my parents when he took my hands in his, looking me in the eyes as I stopped talking.
“Mattie, I will never let anything happen to you. You are too important. I couldn’t exist if anything were to happen to you,” Avan said calmly as he was still looking into my eyes.
There was something about the way he said it that caught my attention. It was as if it had almost hurt him to imagine something ever happening to me. He said it in a way that let me know it made him nearly break down. It was clear he was being nothing less than completely honest with the words he used.
“So I guess you kinda like me, huh?” Where I found the courage to say it I would never know, but he looked up, making eye contact with me, and I could have sworn he was going to jump out of his chair and hug me but found the willpower to contain himself.
“Like is the understatement of the year.”
“Then how would you describe it?” I could tell my voice was not as confident as I meant for it to be.
“Mattie, the truth is that I’ve been in love with you from the moment I saw you six months ago.”
As he said it, I felt a heavy wind whip up around us, and I grabbed onto the chair. Suddenly, Avan’s arms were around me as he pulled mine up, positioning them around his neck. His arms slid around my waist, supporting me, and in the next second, I could no longer feel the chair or floor beneath my feet. All around me things had turned into what looked like night.
The wind died down, and I noticed I was still in Avan’s arms on the roof of a building so high in the sky it felt if I lifted my arm, it might poke a hole into the floor of heaven. The stars were bright and beautiful, and even though I knew I should be scared, I was secure. Something about being so high up, feeling I was close to Heaven itself felt warm and comforting deep inside my soul.
“How did you do that?” Avan’s voice was slow and steady.
“I did that?”
“Yes, how long have you been able to do it?”
“This was a first,” I answered now wondering how I could have caused a small tornado to occur, landing us on top of a building at night.
“Okay, well this is a cool spot, but what made you decide you didn’t want to be at Spirits anymore? If you wanted to go somewhere and talk alone we could’ve gone for a drive.”
Whatever Avan was talking about, I had no idea what I had done much, less anything else that had to do with this situation. Besides, we had been the only two people in Spirits, so why would he ask if I had wanted to talk to him alone? Everything in my life seemed to be getting more complicated by the second and it seemed as though I was the secret to it all! What was it that I didn’t know? With that I came to the logical conclusion that every part of this day was a dream and in actuality I had not woken up yet.
“Where are we?” I looked around afraid to let go of him.
“I’m not sure how to explain this, but I’ll try. Basically, when we leave here you’ll wake up at home in your bed and it will be Sunday morning again. I can’t tell you why or how I know this right now, so you’re going to have to just go with it. Right now we are inside your dreams. This won’t be possible all the time and you can’t use it to get out of things—so you’re going to have to get used to actually talking to me.” He laughed as he continued, “The cool thing is that anything you say to me here I will remember tomorrow and so will you. Your day will go just like you remembered it going already, up to the point where you show up at Spirits.”
“You said you are in love with me.” The words came falling off my tongue even though they were completely off subject.
“Yes, I am.” He looked in my eyes as he told me again.
“How do you know?” I had never had anyone say those words to me. We were still in high school. How could he know he was in love with me?
“I was designed to do nothing more than protect you and to love you forever. I can’t tell you any more than that. That is, until you figure out some things on your own about what you are.” His answer was so matter of fact it left me knowing two things. One, that he was telling the truth and two, that I was not going to get any further explanation.
“What am I supposed to do? What am I? How am I supposed to find these answers?”
“All I can do is point you in the right direction and help you put the pieces together.” I could tell it was killing him not being able to say anything else.
“Okay, what direction is that?” I asked, frustrated at the situation.
“I can give you a name, but I have to warn you that she isn’t always available.”
“Okay, what’s the name?”
“Natasha.”
“Natasha? As in the lady with the long, red, curly hair who works at the mall?”
“She was working at the mall?” Avan had a confused look on his face that told me he also found this information very entertaining.
“Yes, at the mall, in the store that sells angels cut from crystal.”
“Wow, she gets more creative all the time!” He chuckled.
“Is there something funny about this, Avan?”
“No, and yes, that would be Natasha, and the crystal angel explains how you were able to get us here. Did you tell her you knew me or something?”
“No, she said she was friends with my parents and that my mom wanted me to have the angel. Obviously she has not been informed that my parents are dead!” I could not help but yell.
“Okay, okay, calm down. Look, give this a few days to let all this settle into your mind, and Natasha will show up again when she needs to. She obviously wanted you to talk to the person who was sent for you but didn’t know who you belonged to. No, I’m not saying you’re my property. It isn’t like that, so take a deep breath. If she had known it was me you would be talking to, I could have saved her a lot of time and energy with the whole dream angel thing, though.”
Avan reached up to remove a hair that was lying across my cheek as his voice brought me closer to feeling normal again.
“So that’s why I’d slept better than usual. A dream angel protects your dreams, I’m guessing?”
“Yes, dream angels are designed to protect you from darkness that can enter your dreams and harass you. However, they can also let you create a dream if your emotions are heightened and the circumstances are right, but like I said before, it isn’t something you should become accustomed to relying on.”
“Okay, well I guess I’ll start trying to find out what I am then.” I guessed that was my only option.
“The good thing is I can help you find the answers. I just can’t tell you myself,” Avan said, trying to make me feel better. Unfortunately, I was still as lost as I had been all along.
“So I guess I’ll be seeing you shortly after I wake up then, huh?”
“It looks like it,” he added with a smile.
“Well then, I guess since I’m a wuss, I will do what I should have done for the first time in my dream, that way when it comes around again in a little while it won’t seem so awkward.”
Reaching up, I pulled his face to mine until our lips met; it felt as though fireworks were exploding!
Leaning forward, I whispered into his ear, “I am so in love with you!” His skin felt like velvet against my fingertips, smooth and so soft I never wanted to let go. I had never been able to feel anything as I felt Avan at this very moment. It was as if every nerve ending had been awakened at once as my sense of touch heightened beyond imagination.
My emotions exploded inside of me as I could have sworn he had a pair of beautiful white wings that spanned at least ten to twelve feet across stretching out from behind him when I opened my eyes. He smiled at me with his perfect smile showing his dimple and touching my cheek as he looked down into my eyes before everything went dark.