Empower

by Ashley Stambaugh

  “Tessa, wait! Please.”

  Tessa didn't stop or turn around. She just kept walking forward as if she hadn’t heard her. Melina continued to follow her, and as she did, she noticed her strange behavior. Her movements were quick and jerky as she constantly glanced around in an almost frantic manner. She looked as if she was lost.

  “Tessa,” Melina said again as she walked up a little closer behind her. “Do you need help with something?”

  “Why are you still following me?” Tessa asked, still not bothering to look at Melina.

  “Because I’m your friend, and I want to help you.”

  Tessa finally stopped and spun around to face Melina. “You’re not my friend,” she said in an angry tone. “I don’t even know who you are.” She turned back around and took off down the sidewalk again.

  Melina just stared after her, the shock finally setting in. Tessa really didn’t know who she was. Did that mean that Lee and Gwen wouldn’t know her either? As much as she wanted to go after Tessa, she knew there wasn’t much she could do for her now. With one last look at her friend, she turned around and hurried back to the alley she had just walked by. She hurried down the passageway until she found a shadowy spot and then teleported to Lee’s apartment. She had to know if she had lost him, too.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  When Melina teleported to the Skyrise Apartments, she made sure to appear over on the side of the building so that when Leroy, the weekend doorman, saw her coming from that direction, he would just think that she parked over there. She walked around to the front door and gave him her best smile.

  “Hi, Leroy.”

  Leroy was an older man with short salt and pepper colored hair. He usually always greeted her with a warm smile and a hearty hello, but this time was different.

  “Good afternoon,” he said in a melancholy tone. His expression was slack, and his eyes appeared dull and lifeless.

  Melina’s eyes narrowed. He was acting an awful lot like Gwen had. Had a demon gotten to him, too? “Is everything okay? You seem a little down.”

  Leroy shrugged his shoulders then looked down at his hands. After several seconds passed, he spoke again. “I’ve worked as a doorman for most of my working years. Sometimes I wonder if maybe I should’ve tried to get into something different. You know, a different line of work. Something that was maybe a little more impressive or dignified.”

  “Leroy, don’t say that. Your job is a very admirable one, and you—”

  He waved his hand in the air to stop her. “Don’t. Just… don’t.”

  “But Leroy…” Her voice trailed off as Leroy’s eyes turned black for a split second and then changed back to normal. Melina’s shoulders slumped. Her suspicion was right.

  “I’m sorry to have to disappoint you,” he said. “But Mr. Atwood isn’t home right now.”

  Melina didn’t respond at first as she was still a bit shocked. A few seconds later she finally found her voice. “Thank you, Leroy. I’ll see you later.” She gave him a small wave and then slowly walked away.

  When she had reached the corner of the building, she walked around to the side and leaned up against the wall. Leroy had been overcome by sadness, just like Gwen. She wondered when the demons had gotten to him. Was it sometime recent? Maybe that was why he still recognized her and Tessa didn’t. Maybe Tessa’s soul had been affected a lot longer ago than she realized.

  She let out a long breath and pushed herself off of the wall. If Lee wasn’t home then she hoped that she would be able to find him at work. After doing a quick scan of the area to make sure no one was around, she closed her eyes and teleported to his store.

  A few seconds later, she reappeared in the alley that was back behind his jewelry store. She glanced around to make sure nobody had seen her come in. She usually tried to avoid teleporting during the day, but sometimes it was necessary. And now was one of those times.

  She hurried along the side of the building and made her way over to the front door. When she stepped inside, she saw that the store was empty except for one lone employee standing behind one of the back display cases. It was a petite young woman whose curly, blond hair was pulled back into a low ponytail. She briefly glanced up at Melina then went back to her work rearranging the jewelry.

  Melina frowned. That was odd. Lee’s employees were usually all so polite and professional.

  “Hello,” Melina said as she approached the young woman.

  “What can I do for you?” the blonde asked without looking up.

  “Um, is Lee here today?”

  The woman shook her head.

  “Oh, okay,” Melina said, a bit confused. “I just went by his apartment, but he wasn’t there, so I thought he might be at work.”

  The woman stopped messing with the jewelry displays and finally looked up. “Are you Melina?” she asked.

  “Yes, I am.” Melina gave her a small grin, but the woman’s bleak expression didn’t change.

  “Tell your boyfriend that just because he’s the boss doesn’t mean that he’s better than everyone else.”

  Melina’s brow creased in confusion. She was about to ask her what she meant by that when the woman’s eyes briefly flashed black. Melina sucked in a sharp breath as she took a step back. The Noxins had gotten to her, too.

  Suddenly, another female voice yelled out from the room in the back. “Becky, are you still out there? I need your help.”

  “Excuse me.” The young woman turned around and disappeared into the back room.

  Melina stood there, dumfounded. Becky? Wasn’t that the name of the cheery young woman I talked to on the phone the other day? What day was that? Thursday? That was only two days ago.

  She shook her head. The amount of affected people she had seen seemed to keep growing and growing. Were there that many troubled people in her town? Then again, she shouldn’t be that surprised. She hadn’t even realized that her own friends were troubled.

  As she turned around to leave, she wondered where Lee could be. He wasn’t at home, and he wasn’t at his store. Maybe he was at a friend’s? She walked through the front door, out onto the sidewalk and then pulled out her phone to try to call him. Hopefully he would pick up.

  It rang several times then went straight to his voice mail. She thought about leaving him a message, but his mailbox was full. If he had that many voice mails, then a lot of people must’ve been trying to get a hold of him, and he apparently wasn’t answering. Well, if he wasn’t going to answer his phone, and she couldn’t leave him a voice mail, then she would send him a text.

  She typed him a quick message asking him where he was and to please call her back. Then she put her phone away and walked back down to the alley behind the building. If she couldn’t check in on Lee then she might as well go see how Gwen was doing. She closed her eyes and teleported over to Gwen’s house.

  A few seconds later she reappeared behind a row of bushes in Gwen’s back yard. Gwen lived on the outskirts of town, sort of out in the country, so she didn’t have any real close neighbors, but Melina still didn’t want to take any chances. She pushed her way through the shrubs, made her way up to the front door, and knocked.

  Melina waited for about a minute or two, but no one came to the door. Either Gwen wasn’t home, or she hadn’t heard her knock. Gwen and her husband, Archie, lived in a two-story Victorian style house, so they could be up on the second floor. She glanced over at the garage, but it was closed, so she couldn’t see if their vehicles were parked in there or not. She knocked on the door again, this time a little louder.

  Several seconds passed then finally she heard footsteps. The door opened and there stood Archie. He was an average-height man with short black hair and a thin black beard.

  Melina smiled at him. “Hi, Archie. How are you?”

  “Well hello, Melina,” he said. “What brings you here this afternoon?”

  “I came to see Gwen. Is she here?”

  “Yes,” he said. “But I’m afraid she’s not feeling v
ery well.”

  “Oh no,” Melina said. “Has she come down with a cold or something?”

  Archie’s brow creased as he shook his head. “I’m not really sure what’s wrong with her. She doesn’t seem to want to get out of bed.”

  “Poor Gwen. Do you think she would mind if I went in to talk to her?”

  Archie smiled. “You’re like the daughter we never had. I don’t think she would mind at all to see you. She’s upstairs,” he said. “First room on your right.”

  “Thank you,” Melina said. She stepped over the threshold then made her way up the stairs to the second floor. When she approached the first bedroom on her right, she stopped at the doorway and peeked inside. Gwen was lying on her side, the covers pulled all the way up to her chin.

  Melina knocked lightly on the door. “Gwen,” she said in a soft voice.

  Gwen lifted her head and looked at her. The room was only lit by a small amount of sunlight coming through the window, but it was enough for Melina to see that Gwen’s eyes had turned completely black. Her heart sank. Would she be a stranger to Gwen, too?

  “Oh, hello, Melina,” Gwen said in a dull voice and then lowered her head back down to her pillow.

  Melina’s eyes widened. Gwen still recognized her. So having the eyes turn all black didn’t mean the person was completely lost.

  She stepped a little closer to the bed. “I stopped by to see how you were feeling.”

  “Tired right now,” Gwen said. “But staying in bed suits me. I just don’t feel like doing anything, and I don’t really see the point.”

  Melina frowned. Even though it was good that Gwen still knew who she was, her condition was worsening.

  Just then her phone vibrated. She pulled it out of her pocket and saw that it was a text back from Lee.

  I’m at the park.

  Hmm. She had been hoping for more of a response from him, but at least it was a response. And at least he seemed to know who she was.

  She looked back over at Gwen. There wasn’t anything she could do for her. She needed to go check on Lee and then get back to figuring out what the demons were doing to the people in her town.

  “Just get some rest and take care of yourself,” Melina said. “And don’t worry about coming in to the store. There was a slight incident, and I had to shut it down until further notice.”

  Gwen gave a simple nod.

  “Okay, well, I’ll see you later.” Melina slowly backed out of the room then shut the door behind her.

  When she went downstairs, she saw that Archie was busy doing some work at his computer desk. She said a quick good-bye to him and then hurried out the front door. She didn’t want him to see that her Jeep wasn’t outside and then question her as to how she got there.

  She ran back around to the bushes in the back yard and stopped to think about how she was going to teleport to Lee at the park. The lone bench she liked to sit on was pretty secluded, and it had several big spruce trees around it. If she appeared in those trees then she shouldn’t be seen by anyone. She closed her eyes and thought of the patch of spruce trees next to the park bench, and in a burst of white light she was gone.

  Just a few seconds later, Melina appeared behind the patch of spruce trees in the park. She pushed her way through the branches and, when she looked over at the bench, saw that Lee was sitting there. He was bent over with his forearms resting on his knees, his head hung low.

  “Lee,” she said as she approached him.

  He raised his head, and she instantly saw that his eyes were black. Her breath caught in her throat. He had responded to her text, so hopefully he still knew who she was.

  “Melina, hi.”

  He still remembered her. She exhaled in relief but continued to keep her guard up. Gwen’s negative emotions had only grown worse, so she wasn’t sure what to expect from Lee.

  “How are you?” She gave him a tentative look as she sat down next to him.

  He sat up straight and folded his arms over his chest. “I’d be better if I had more competent staff members.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  He reached over to his right and picked up the newspaper that had been lying on the bench and pointed at the front page. There was a picture of a young man who looked to be in his early thirties. The title under the picture said, “Local business owner makes the top ten list for most successful businesses in the state.”

  “My jewelry store could be so much more if my staff would just listen to me and respect me.”

  Melina continued to stare at him. His staff members were always so polite and professional, and she knew just from talking to them that they respected Lee. She wanted to throw back a retort, but she abruptly stopped herself. She couldn’t be mad at him. Yes, these superior and jealous feelings may be real feelings of his that he had been suppressing, but it still wasn’t his fault. The Noxin demons had done something to darken his soul, and it was his darkened soul that was bringing forth these negative feelings and letting them control him.

  She reached out and placed her hand on top of his. “Lee, please. Don’t let this man get to you,” she said as she gestured toward the newspaper. “You’ve done an amazing job with bringing your family’s jewelry store back up to the top.”

  “Yeah, but not into the top ten.” He tossed the newspaper aside. “I’m going to go home.” Without looking at her or saying good-bye he stood up from the bench and walked off.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Melina remained seated on the old, rickety bench, staring off in the direction where Lee had just left the park. She didn’t know why it had taken her so long, but right then she realized just how right Walter had been. Her friends were being consumed by their negative emotions, and she couldn’t allow the same to happen to her. Her friends needed her. The people of her town needed her. And if she truly wanted to help them, she had to accept the good and the bad within her.

  As a light snow began to fall, she thought back to her run-in with Maura. She had been able to pry the demon’s hand off her neck with ease and without being harmed, and then her light shield had blasted Maura away from her.

  And then there was the attack on her store just that morning. Her light shield had been amplified with so much intensity that she had knocked all five demons to the floor, and then she had been able to release the human souls from all of them at the same time. No, she still didn’t like how angry she had become in those instances, but she couldn’t deny how powerful she was now. And what she had been confusing all this time was that even though her sudden surge in power was caused by a negative emotion, it had come from a place of good, not evil. She had reversed her demon powers to do good, and she had been trying to do good by fighting off evil.

  And I’m going to continue to use my powers, all of my powers, for doing good by fighting off evil, she thought.

  Just then someone spoke up from behind her.

  “Why are you so determined to help them?” a low female voice asked.

  Melina slowly turned around and came face to face with Adelia. The fallen angel was several feet away from her, but it was close enough to make her uncomfortable. She swallowed hard. “Help who?”

  “Your friends. The people of this town.” Adelia cocked her head to the side as if she was studying Melina.

  Melina gave her a curious look. Had Adelia been listening to her thoughts?

  Adelia tilted her head back up. “Did you forget that I still have some of my guiding angel powers?”

  Melina shook her head. “No, I just… I didn’t think they were that strong in you anymore.”

  “They grow weaker as each day passes,” Adelia said as she took a step closer. “Does that still make you think that there’s hope for me?”

  Melina stood up from the bench and backed away a few steps. “Yes,” she replied.

  Adelia’s eyes narrowed. “Why? Why are you holding out hope that there’s still some good in me?”

  “Because there is still some good in you,”
Melina said. “And if you were completely lost then I would think that your guiding angel powers wouldn’t just be slowly growing weaker. They would be gone altogether.”

  “You’re wrong,” Adelia said with a sneer.

  “Am I?” Melina asked. “You know, I’m not the only one who still has hope for you. Helene feels the same way.”

  “Helene.” Adelia smirked. “Yes, she and I were close… once.” She paused for a moment and shook her head. “I tried to get her on my side, but she couldn’t be persuaded into thinking that it was wrong for humans to have angel powers. She probably thinks that she can change me back somehow, doesn’t she?”

  “I… I don’t know,” Melina said. “I mean, I know she would like to help you in some way. I think we all would.”

  “But why?” Adelia screamed as she flung her arms out to the side. “Why would you bother helping someone like me?”

  Melina just stared at Adelia. She really had fallen away from the light. She had spent hundreds, maybe even thousands, of years as a guiding angel, yet she couldn’t remember why she had helped those who were lost and troubled?

  “The reason I would want to help you is the same reason I want to help my friends and all the people in my town,” Melina said. “We all have good and bad in us, we just have to choose which one is going to win. And I want to help them choose good.”

  “And how are you planning to do that?” Adelia asked.

  “Walter told me once that the key to truly helping troubled people is to change their attitudes and outlooks.”

  Adelia let out a hearty chuckle. “I’m sorry to tell you, but that won’t work on your friends. Not if you can’t reverse what the demons have already done to them.”

  Melina’s eyes widened. “So it can be reversed.”

  Adelia let out another laugh. “It’s too late now. Too many people have already been affected, and it’s only going to get worse.”