by M A Roth
“I wouldn’t worry about it. He will get bored quickly enough and move on, but thanks for letting me know. I appreciate it.” I could hear Zee pat Simon on the back and the bedroom door closed.
I continued to stare at myself in the mirror I had lost weight and my skin was too pale. I turned away from the wreck of a girl who looked back at me and walked into the bedroom. Zee sat on the bed, his elbows propped up on his knees as he looked at his hands, a crease furrowing his brow.
“Are you okay?” I asked, taking him out of his daze.
“Yeah, I’m fine. How are you, more to the point?”
I could see the concern in his eyes, and I smiled at him, watching it erase some of the worry. “I’m okay, thank you for showing me.”
He raised his hands in the air and stood, making me stop. He moved towards me slowly and I could see a tension in his shoulders as he laid one hand on my face. I closed my eyes, allowing myself this moment of contact with him; he made me feel calm, safe, and loved. That thought made me step back. His hand fell away.
“We better finish off our work today.” This made his face harden.
“No, you’ve been through enough today. You need to rest.”
I shook my head. “No way am I sitting around here for the day. I’ll go crazy thinking about all this… I want to keep busy and not think about…” I couldn’t bear to say my family. The pain was too much. It was work or vodka. I was about to say so, but Zee’s resigned look and words made me stop.
“Fine, let’s go.”
Chapter Eighteen
Abigail
We made our way to the next job, an overreacting mother is what Zee said. I hoped so. As much as I didn’t want to hang around doing nothing, I didn’t want a job that was too heavy either. It didn’t take us long to reach the house with Zee’s driving, but I was grateful we took the car and not his bike. We moved to the outskirts of Brixton and entered the countryside.
The house, no mansion I corrected myself, wasn’t what I expected. It was a house from the movies three stories, white with a wraparound balcony and two large pots sat at either side of the door with green trees shaped in a swirling design, reaching the level of the doorframe. The curtains were all pulled back at the same level with a tie holding them in place. It was perfection, down to the manicured lawns and the streaming water feature that sat in the center of the garden. A large garage held four sparkling new cars, all expensive. The garage door was open, indicating that someone was either leaving or had just arrived.
A woman dressed in elegant trousers and a snow white, crisp shirt stepped towards one of the cars. Sunglasses covered her face, and a scarf wrapped around her blonde hair. She looked up, her lips forming a thin line.
“Can I help you?” she asked and not in a friendly way.
“Father Peter sent us,” I said as Zee and I made our way towards her.
She pulled off the glasses, her eyes rimmed in red from crying. Relief and joy changed her features as she reached out her slim hand, grabbing mine in a firm grip. I was shocked at the strength behind her hold.
“Mrs. Forklin,” she introduced herself. “Oh, thank you for coming.” And she really looked grateful.
“You’re welcome, Mrs. Forklin,” I said, as she still grasped my hand. I gave her a smile before giving Zee a look; she was cutting off the blood supply to my fingers.
“So, where is Jason?” Zee asked, making Mrs. Forklin look at him for the first time and an odd look crossed her face, but it was gone when her hand left mine and filled Zee’s.
A smile spread across her face, and I could visibly see her shoulders relax. I shook my fingers, letting some blood flow into them.
“He’s in his room.” She sounded as if her mind was far away.
I cleared my throat. Zee let her hand go and some tension returned to her small frame,.
She led us through a side door that brought us into a modern, top of the range, stainless steel kitchen. Everything shined, down to the snow-white tiles. In the hall, pictures of her and her husband lined the walls, but I didn’t see any of Jason. We followed her up the stairs that were covered in a lush red carpet, a gold bar sat at each step, holding the carpet perfectly in place. Everything screamed money. As we moved through the upstairs hall, loud, heavy metal music reached my ears. The door we were walking towards had a no entry sign on it. I could see Mrs. Forklin stiffen the closer we got.
When we reached the door, she knocked. No one answered. I wasn’t surprised. No way could he hear us over the music... She turned, giving us a reassuring smile. I wanted to laugh; this seemed so silly, hunters checking on a teenager!
She knocked again, harder this time, but no answer.
“I’m sure he will answer soon,” she said, as her high cheekbones tainted with pink.
“I’m sure he will.” I didn’t mean for my words to sound so sarcastic, but we didn’t have all day to stand here and wait for some spoilt brat to open the door.
“Jason, it’s your mother,” she said as she reached for the door handle, only to find it locked.
Surprise, surprise I thought.
I was about to tell Zee we should leave, but he moved to the door and smiled kindly at Mrs. Forklin.
“Allow me,” he said as he took hold of the doorknob. I heard the door strain as he turned the handle and opened it, breaking the lock.
The pounding of music assaulted my eardrums, making me want to find the source of it and switch the goddamn thing off. Jason lay on the bed, he wore tracksuit bottoms and a vest. His blond hair was tousled, his blue eyes staring at the ceiling and he didn’t seem to notice us. Then again, the size of the room was ridiculous; you could have a game of football in his room. People with money, typical.
His mother marched across the room, making a beeline for the stereo, she knocked it off, much to my joy and Jason’s outrage.
“What the fuck?” Jason’s angry voice made his mother freeze.
For a moment, her face grew taut. “Don’t speak to me like that, Jason, I’m your mother!”
“Well, don’t touch my fucking things,"
Zee and I stood in the doorway. I felt sorry for Mrs. Forklin. What a prick of a son.
I stepped into the room, fully getting all of Jason’s attention. When he looked at me, I felt like I knew him from somewhere. He had a look on his face, like he knew me too, but couldn’t place it from where. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise, something was wrong here, something was very wrong.
“Get out!” Zee’s voice startled me. It was the alarm in his words that made me look at him. “Now!” he said, staring at me.
“What?” Mrs. Forklin and I said in unison, utterly confused.
“Abigail, go wait in the car,” Zee said, his voice was strained, but I knew he was trying to stay calm.
“Abigail,” Jason rolled my name around his tongue, the way he said it and the smirk on his face made the hairs on my neck stand up further. I placed my hand on my neck to try to stop the feeling.
“Now!” It was a bark, an order; this wasn’t like Zee. I felt confused but listened to him.
“Okay,” I said, not hiding my confusion as I left. I looked back at Jason and felt my heart skip a beat as his eyes stayed on me and hardened. The coloring seemed to fade out slowly until his eyes were nearly white.
“Go!” Zee shouted, and I moved, power walking through the house.
I raced down the stairs, my breath coming out in puffs of air. Why the hell was it so cold! Goosebumps broke out all over my skin; something was in this house, something that I had never encountered before. I raced for the front door, my own fear and panic was making the situation worse. A cold breath brushed the back of my neck as I stumbled out the door, hitting the gravel hard.
The door slammed, shaking on its hinges.
My body was shivering as I crawled backward, away from the house. My back hit something hard, and a scream leaped from my throat as I turned around. My eyesight was filled with my black car. A laugh erupted
from my mouth with relief more than anything. I jumped up and got in quickly while locking the car doors. My heart wouldn’t slow down as I waited for Zee.
***
Everything was getting too weird. Yeah, ghosts and demons were something we dealt with daily, but the whole incident with Stacey and seeing my father’s face within the demon was becoming too much. The club was coming back to me, something was off about that night too, but I couldn’t remember. Now this thing with Jason… Blake was another mystery, and why was Sam showing himself now?… I was missing something, something huge.
It only took about ten minutes of waiting. I had my nails half-chewed off when Zee stormed out of the house, Mrs. Forklin heavy on his heels sobbing. Zee’s posture was tense, his blue eyes ablaze with anger or regret. I wasn’t sure.
“Please, help me. You can’t just leave!” Mrs. Forklin pleaded, but Zee pulled open the door.
“We can’t help.” Just before he climbed in, he turned back to her as she stood there looking frantic. “Sorry,” he said and closed the door.
The engine roared to life as he reversed out of the drive, tearing up the gravel in his wake. I looked back at the house. Mrs. Forklin stood still, her shoulders shaking with sobs. When I looked up, Jason stood at the window watching us. The hairs rose on the back of my neck and didn’t settle until we were on the road, driving away from the house. I was too startled to speak. I looked at the speed gauge; Zee was driving at 140 miles per hour. I looked behind to see who was chasing us, but I couldn’t see anyone following.
“What is going on?” I asked.
This seemed to snap him out of his moment, his foot lifted off the accelerator, and he rubbed his face with one hand.
“There was nothing we could do,” he lied.
“Tell me now, Zee. I know you’re lying.” I could see his knuckles turn white on the steering wheel.
“He was just a rebellious teenager, like I said earlier, so nothing we can do.”
“Bullshit, Zee. I saw his fucking eyes turn white. That’s not normal!” I couldn’t understand why he was lying to me. “Something is happening, and it’s not only Jason. My brother shows up, and then the demon at Stacey’s house. And what about Blake? Something is going on. So tell me right now what you know!” I practically roared the last part.
Zee turned to me, a look of devastation on his face. “Okay,” he whispered, but continued to drive, his foot getting heavy on the accelerator again.
“I’m an angel, Abigail, but not the kind you think. I don’t only protect one person. I am a watcher over three and when I saved you, the other two people were left with none.”
My mouth opened and closed. “Okay, Okay,” I mumbled. This couldn’t get any worse. “So God is mad at you?” I asked.
He never told me anything about heaven or what his life was like. He always said he couldn’t, so maybe, he couldn’t answer this question. He laughed, but it was bitter. “Yeah, you could say that.”
He was silent for a moment.
“Is that why all this stuff is happening, because you left two people with no one to guard them?”
His fist tightened around the steering wheel, his knuckles looking white. I could see he was fighting for control.
I looked out the window, staring down at the raging river as we crossed the bridge. That’s what it felt like inside me like my body was raging and my nerves were frayed. I turned back to Zee.
“Talk to me!” I begged. I couldn’t deal with his silence.
The truck gave a single blare of warning before it barreled out of nowhere, straight into us, sending us into the bridge railing and over into the churning water below.
Chapter Nineteen
Abigail
We hit the water with such force that it felt like every bone in my body shattered as I hit the dash at full impact. White searing pain tore through me. I screamed only to have my lungs fill with water. I was dying, and I wished it would come quickly. My lungs burned for air and my body screamed for release from the agony. I couldn’t see anything as blackness surrounded me. I needed to see Zee one last time, but my body shook as if electricity were racing through it, then all my pain was gone and a feeling of nothingness consumed me.
Light shone in the distance, like a torch hovering over a well, bouncing off rocks, only blinking mildly. I finally understood what people meant when they claimed to have seen the light before passing. I felt the sensation of floating and yet nothingness. My body moved closer to the light. It was getting brighter and more intense. I wanted to shield my eyes, but the movement wasn’t allowed. I wasn’t whole, yet I felt the same.
The light made my body feel warm, not warm as in fuzzy and nice, but warm as in I needed shade. The signs of a day starting out mild, but the warning that it would be hot. Hot is what I started to feel. Nothing seemed right. I wasn’t floating up or down I just seemed to be still. As the light sent out burning rays and the agony of it pierced me, balls of flames started to lick my feet and I started to scream. I watched my feet and legs appear as the fire burned them. The higher the flames went, the more of myself I could see and the long hands that stretched towards me, pulling me down. My throat let out a scream as I fought to move, but I had nothing around me to grab onto. My skin was burning, melting off my body. The bony fingers of the dead dug into my burning flesh.
I was nearly consumed in the flames before I realized my name was being called behind me. I turned to see Zee with his arms outstretched. His mouth was moving, but I couldn’t hear as the roars still ripped from my throat. Then his arms were around me, pulling me out of the flames. My body was screaming and then all was gone.
***
I opened my eyes. My body shook with the cold. My vision filled with Zee’s chest as he held me firmly against him, rocking me gently, like a mother would a distressed child. I couldn’t speak as my teeth chattered. My body didn’t burn anymore. I was so cold, so numb. I didn’t look around me, too afraid of what I would see.
“Flames… hands… my flesh… it burned.” I knew I was rambling, words of utter disbelief falling from my blue lips. “Light… then flames,” my words choked on a sob. I was going to hell. I was going to hell. I was a bad person. No heaven. No Sam. Hell. The arms that were wrapped around me, I tried to push away, but he hung on to me, pulling me closer. He didn’t understand; he was good, an angel. I shouldn’t touch him, I was bad.
“Let. Meeee. Go!” My voice shook. “Please…”
Zee’s arms loosened and I could feel his body shift as his eyes fell on my face. I didn’t meet his eyes, but crawled out of his lap. He didn’t stop me. He didn’t look away from me either. I sat on all fours, my hair wet, hanging in front of my face as my body shook uncontrollably. Then I started to laugh I met Zee’s confused stare and my laughter turned hysterical.
“Abigail?” He moved towards me, worry etched on his face, but I let out a roar, making him stop.
“Don’t come near me. You should have let me die.”
He was beside me before I could blink, holding my numb face, his anger making his eyes darken. “Don’t ever say that. Ever!” he said.
I shook my head in his hands as tears fell from my eyes. “I was going to hell. To hell!”
I was waiting for him to drop his hands, run from me, and understand his mistake of giving up everything to stay with someone like me, but he didn’t. Instead, he moved towards me, his breath visible in front of my face. I could hear sirens in the distance, but my mind was occupied with Zee. I closed my eyes as his face was only an inch from mine. His lips kissed my left eyelid and then slowly, moved over to my right one. The motion was gentle, the kiss so filled with despair and love that the tears rolled from my closed eyes and warmed my cheeks.
“I’m so sorry, Abigail. I truly am.” His words were so sad, so heartfelt.
My eyes opened and I could see tears in his eyes. One fell, and I watched it make a path down his perfect, clear skin. My hand reached out and caught the tear before tracing his jawline.
I wanted to tell him that I loved him so badly and tell him how I didn’t deserve his tears, but my own eyes blurred over again with sorrow.
“Are you okay?” The shouts of a man making his way down the bank pulled us apart as I took in the scene up on the bridge.
People had gathered, watching us, some with their phones out taking photos. A fire engine sat on the bridge, its lights flashing. The man reached us, taking in our unmarked bodies, not as much as a scratch. Paramedics arrived. Two of them fell to their knees in front of me, shining a light in my eyes, but everything felt surreal, as they examined me, shaking their heads in disbelief. The tears continued to roll down my face. My body never moved as they searched me for something broken or something torn, but I knew they would find nothing. I felt so empty, so devoid of emotion, even as I cried.
Father Peter filled my vision as he raced down the bank. Two policemen tried to stop him, but he pushed them away.
“She is my daughter,” he said, causing some serious confusion amongst the men. He was a priest; they couldn’t marry and most certainly, couldn’t have children.
He reached me and my body was crushed against his. He pulled back, his mouth moving, but I couldn’t focus on his words. My mind was filled with images of hands pulling me, flames burning me and Zee saving me, yet again.
I was pulled along until we reached the car. My head was ducked down as I sat in the back of Father Peter’s Car. Zee slid in beside me, pulling me into his side. I didn’t stop him. I didn’t do anything.
Father Peter, started to drive, “Abigail, please!” he said. I could hear the fear in his voice.