Chapter 3
A double strike of hurt

I had spent the day sleeping on the floor; I got up and out the window before Abby could come and nag me for needing sleep. I had decided the day before that I was going to force myself to ask Angela on a date, TONIGHT. I heard Abby shriek out her window that she was staying at her best friend Chelsea's house. When she saw Angela, she stopped screaming and pulled her head in. I pulled back to be next to her and her arm flinched, I thought she was going to punch me. After a few minutes, she spoke to me.
“Thank you for the chocolates and flowers you gave me yesterday. How did you know that they were my favorites?”
“Umm… uh… lucky guess?” lame, lame, lame, lame, LAME.
“A really lucky guess.”
“Yeah.”
I was going to ask her NOW. However, before I could she asked me another question.
“Have any good dreams lately?”
“Huh?”
Saved! I no longer had to ask her right now! I responded while not sounding thrilled that she interrupted me before I finished thinking.
“A few.”
“Like what?” she looked surprised that I wanted to talk.
“They had you in them for one thing.”
“What were they about?” disbelief was almost written across her face.
“I don’t know if you want to hear about them…”
“TELL ME!” I put my arms up in defense, and then put them down again to speak.
“Well, the first one was the day before I started the night classes.” I felt so stupid saying this; she probably hates me like the rest of the fallen.
“I was standing on a cloud and I was holding you in my arms. It was quiet for a long time. We were looking deep into each other’s eyes, yours were intense and energetic, your hair was soft like silk and black like jet, you were perfect in that dream, just like in life.” I saw a tiny smile flash across her face.
“But when you saw, my wings, you screamed and started running away from me. I began to run after you but I felt like time was slowing down. So I started to call your name, Angela.”
“I never told you my name.”
“How do you know?”
“I had that same dream, but from my view and yesterday I had a dream that we were standing on a cloud and I began to call your name so I could talk to you. My mom thought I was having a seizure so she panicked and started yelling my name. You flew away and my mom woke me up.” Wow, are all moms like this?
“This is just weird, I had that same dream!”
“This IS weird. Why do you think we have our dreams at the same time?”
“I really don’t know Angela; I’ll try to find out.”
“Me too.”
“By the way, if I never told you my name, how did you know what it was?”
“I just sort of, knew.”
“If you know my name, what is it?”
“Gabriel.”
“I guess we should fly separate, some people have a mouth…”
“Like a torn pocket. I know that feeling.”
“Oh, then you’ve met my brother.” I almost turned away when I fully heard her.
“Who?” I was trying with every fiber in my being to not panic.
“My brother, Jake. You’ve met him?”
“Uhhh… yeah.” I was trying not to get too excited about it. She started turning, no! I had to ask her out but I couldn’t do it tomorrow. I grabbed her wrist. I told her,
“Meet me behind the gym.” She nodded and then we flew separately. Right before anyone could see us.
I landed behind the gym a few seconds before Angela appeared, I had always thought that she was beautiful; but somehow every time I saw her she was even more perfect than the last time. Before I knew what was happening I blurted out,
“Will you go out with me?” I could hardly believe I had done it. I had barely gotten it out of my mouth when she said yes.
“But my parents are going to kill me if they find out that a Risen is my date! I mean no offense but- wait…” she turned her head to the corner.
“What?” almost before I finished speaking, she leaped around the corner of the building and attacked Jake; she was kneeling on his chest with his arms under his back and pinning his wings to the ground. I stood there in disbelief for a minute and then I kneeled down next to Jake’s face and said angrily,
“You were my only friend in the night classes, and then you do this! Now, what did you hear?” Jake was squirming with pain but said nothing. Angela turned her hands, grinding his wings to the ground when he blurted,
“I heard everything!” Angela bent over into his face and told him in a dark voice,
“I ought to punch you in the face and beat you black and blue, but I’m not going to. If you keep this a secret, I’ll keep it a continued secret that you were the one who lit the principal’s office on fire.” He knew that there was no way out of this, so Jake finally agreed. Angela punched Jake in the arm so hard he stumbled away.
“Remember, we have an agreement.” I stood up and looked at the ground for a while. She came up next to me and I lifted my head up.
“You okay?” I looked at her and lied,
“I guess so.”
“Gabriel, my brother does this to everyone. Including my parents.”
She wrapped her arms around my waist; I felt how soft her skin was for the first time. I felt at home with her, peaceful. On an impulse, I embraced her, and then I kissed her. That heat from before, on my first night in the night classes, returned. I blocked us off from disapproving eyes with my wings. The eternal moment ended when the bell broke the silence. Before she left, Angela told me to meet her in the park at seven. I gave a small nod of confirmation. Then we started the day apart. I almost thought about ditching school to end the day but I didn’t. I almost crashed into the doors to outside. I got on my nicest pants and then brushed my hair for the second time that day. I remembered why I fell asleep on the floor. I was up all night researching natural phenomenon in the cosmos, and the best place to view it. I grabbed the moonflower I had bought yesterday and then I hurried to the park and waited below the weeping willow across the path from the fountain.
When she showed up, I had been there for five minutes. She landed and walked up to me. Angela had no idea what she was going to witness, and I knew that nobody had seen it happen for fifty years. She finally asked,
“So where are we going?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Why?”
“It’ll ruin the surprise.”
“I hate surprises, especially when I know there’s going to be a surprise.”
“You’re going to have to wait anyway.” Angela pouted for a second and then I remembered the moonflower; I held it out to her. She took it and put it behind her ear, I took her hand, and we took off. I waited until we were at the edge of the park to land. I tied a blindfold on her and led her by the hand up to the peak of the neighborhood. I took the blindfold off her and she watched in amazement at the scenery. I had stayed up all day finding this.
“Gabriel, I really don’t know what to say.” I invited her to sit on the ledge with me. Angela sat right next to me and leaned her head on my shoulder. I leaned my head to hers and a powerful sensation ran through me, I could see what she saw as she saw it, feel what she felt and hear what she heard as she heard it. I saw her memories and we both winced as an invisible harpoon blasted into our minds. We ripped away from each other and I lay flat on my back. Angela got up slowly and crawled to be next to me. Before I could do anything else, I thought,
‘What happened?’
‘I don’t know. I’ve never heard of anything like this happening to anyone else.’
‘I haven’t either. How did it happen to us?’
‘This is WEIRD.’
‘Try saying something out loud.’
“Why?” I jumped at least ten feet off the ground. I sat up to face her, Angela and I exchanged a terrified look. Then I heard something, I listened hard.
“What is it?” I put a silent finger to my lips and pointed over my shoulder, lowering my left wing slowly. Angela looked long and hard at the spot behind me. Then she leaped over me and attacked another Risen. The Risen was thrashing around too much for me to see her face. The other Risen tried taking off but in an instant, Angela still holding a full nelson latched onto the neatest tree with her legs and hooked her wings to a pair of sturdy branches. Her incredible fighting skills must have come with living in the same house Jake. Angela was able to shout over the other Risen’s shrieking,
“Next time you play spy, practice a little more!”
Then I saw who the Risen was. I grabbed her ankles and looked her in the face and said, infuriated,
“Abby! What are you doing here? You told everyone you were staying at Chelsea’s house tonight! You weren’t lying, were you?”
“I DON’T LIE!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, her words echoed. “I AM staying at Chelsea's house tonight! I never said I wasn’t going to go on a walk alone though!” this was it, I was beyond infuriated now, if she wasn’t my sister I would have broken her wings right there. I screamed in her face,
“That’s just like you! Setting up loopholes so you can spy on me! Go get a life and a boyfriend while you’re at it! You’re not the boss and you don’t steer me around like some wimpy little boy! So stay out of my life and get one of your own!” Angela got close to Abby’s ear and said,
“If you ever try this again I’ll have you know that I have a very nasty grip, and we wouldn’t want your pretty little wings getting in that grip now would we?” then she released her grip and collapsed to the ground. Abby jumped over the side of the cliff and I rushed to Angela’s side. She was bleeding, a LOT. I saw blood on the tree where Angela had grabbed it; the bark must have cut her skin. There was a four-inch gash in her right calf. It was nasty looking but I didn’t care, I had to get help but where would I turn? I couldn’t leave her there. I couldn’t make her walk. All I could do was sit there until I thought of something. She fainted from loss of blood.