CHAPTER 5

Tess felt terrible about the tone she had taken with Andrew. She watched Monica sleep as she berated herself for being so defensive when he had been so vulnerable. She knew, deep in her heart, that she simply couldn’t bear the thought of Monica not recovering and to hear Andrew voice what she herself had been trying so hard to deny had devastated her. The truth was that neither one of them knew what they were up against in trying to bring the Irish-tongued angel back to them. That truth terrified them both.

Tess moved her hand to lay it across Monica’s forehead and she realized that the fever was finally breaking as beads of sweat shone on the wounded angel’s face. Her skin now felt cool to the touch and Tess breathed a sigh of relief. As she gently stroked Monica’s hair, she softly began to sing, hoping to somehow soothe her charge through the song,
“When you walk through a storm, hold your chin up high and don’t be afraid of the dark. At the end of the road is a golden sky and the sweet, silver sound of a lark. Walk on through the wind, walk on through the rain, though your dreams be tossed and blown. Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart and you’ll never walk alone. You’ll never walk alone…”

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Monica heard the sound of a voice singing and she floated along peacefully on the notes for a moment. Singing. Something told her she loved singing. She struggled to remember when she had last heard someone sing as she continued to listen to the song.

Suddenly, her mind began to fill with images. Violent images, painful images and all the while someone was singing. She shook her head desperately, trying to clear from her mind what she was seeing. She began to feel pain, like knives being driven into her and the song would not end.

“Make it stop!” Her heart cried out silently but it was of no use.

She bolted upright in bed and clasped her hands over her ears as she cried out in agony,
“Stop! Make it stop! Make it Stop! Make it stop!”

“Monica!” Tess grasped her friend’s hand tightly, trying to bring her back from the dark place she was in at that moment. She watched as Monica’s eyes opened and locked with hers for a brief moment before Monica jerked her hand away. Tess drew in a sharp breath as watched Monica shrink away from her, her brown eyes wild with fear. She was shaking so violently and her face was deathly white as her lips moved silently with words Tess could not hear nor understand.

“Baby, it’s Tess. I won’t hurt you. You know I won’t hurt you.” Tess’ eyes were filled with tears of hurt as she realized she was causing her beloved Angel Girl pain that she couldn’t begin to understand.

That voice! Monica’s mind raced as she remembered the singing and she knew it had been coming from that voice. She opened her mouth to speak but there were no words.

“You have no voice here!” Her mind cried out and she clasped her hands over her ears once more to try and block out the voices that were laughing in her mind. She drew her knees up to her chin as she rocked back and forth, her heart pleading with the voices to leave her.

“Monica,” Tess’ voice trembled as she reached out for the frightened angel once more. But once more, Monica shrank away from her,
“Please, baby, don’t do this. No one can hurt you now, Angel Girl.”

The sound of the voice, the singing voice, caused tears of fear to well up in Monica’s eyes and she began to weep as she rocked and shook uncontrollably.

“Tess?” Andrew looked at her questionably as he entered the room. Two pairs of eyes moved to him, Tess’ filled with anguish and Monica’s with frightened tears,
“What happened?”

“I don’t know, Angel Boy,” She uttered, turning her head again to look at Monica, whose gaze seemed transfixed on Andrew,
“She doesn’t know me. She’s seems afraid of me.” Her voice broke then as she began to cry.

Monica starred at the blond haired man who had just come into the room. She remembered him. He had wanted to help her, but for some reason could not. Her terrified eyes darted wildly back to the woman, watching in desperation as she once again tried to reach out for her hand.

Before Andrew could even realize what happened, Monica had leapt off the bed and was in his arms as she began to sob in silence. He looked at Tess helplessly as he wrapped his arms around his friend, unable to believe how violently she was trembling.

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” He whispered gently, watching as Tess got up from the chair beside of the bed. He could clearly see the grief in her eyes and he longed to erase it.

Tess hesitated as she walked nearer to where her two Angel babies were standing,
“Monica? Baby?” She watched in horror as Monica buried her head further in Andrew’s chest as if trying to block out the sound of her voice. Tess turned her tear-filled eyes back to Andrew as she clasped her hand over to mouth to keep from crying out in grief. Wordlessly, she turned and walked out of the room.