CHAPTER 4

The heavy storm continued to hit the region incessantly and the sky was covered with dark and threatening thunderclouds, which indicated that the rain wouldn’t stop anytime soon. The lights at the old country house eventually came back and, although they were still feeble, it certainly was much easier to walk in its many rooms and corridors.

In the bedroom temporally occupied by Monica and Tess, there was a knock on the door and, a second later, the supervisor came in, carrying a cup of hot tea and followed by Adam:

“Here it is, Miss Wings! I found no trace of food in the kitchen. This house seems to be abandoned for a long time.”, the supervisor said, “But I’m glad I had that can of soup left; I’ll prepare it for you while you drink this tea.”

As Monica grabbed the cup of hot tea and took a sip, Adam came closer to the bed:

“Hey Monica, I was so worried about you, how are you doing?”

“I’m already feeling better, thank you, Adam.”

“I guess you spent too much energy playing bowling!”, he joked, causing the other angels to smile.

“Probably... Otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to help Andrew that much!”, she replied.

“Well, did you think that beating Tess and I would be that easy?”

The light mood produced a sensation of relief in the 4 angels, something that they hadn’t felt since they had left the bowling alley.

“Well, be sure that it wasn’t easy at all, Adam. But I have to confess a little secret that helped me: I had a very good teacher!”, Monica said, shooting Andrew a loving gaze. Slightly blushed, he smiled back at her:

“Well, I can tell you were a very good learner, Angel Girl!”

“Yes, but now our talented ‘bowling Angel Girl’ will lie down and rest, ‘cause by morning I don’t wanna see any trace of fever around here!”, Tess stated, in a determinate way, “Adam found a car in the garage, and, by the morning, if this thunderstorm is over, we’ll take you back to the city, I remember there’s a big hospital there.”

“A car? There’s a car here?!”, Andrew was surprised to hear that.

“Yes, it’s old, but there’s gas in the tank and I think it still works.”, the other angel of death replied. But Andrew wasn’t all too pleased with that piece of news; an expression of concern and apprehension appeared on his handsome face:

“Who in the world would leave a car in a house that’s falling to pieces?”

“Well, maybe someone who uses the house as a temporary shelter...”

“And left the car here?”, the blond angel sceptically insisted.

A week smile appeared on Monica’s face and she took his hand:

“I’m sure there’s an explanation for this, Andrew, and we’ll find it out later. But the most important is that we could find some help, more than we expected, and everything will be alright now.”

Andrew squeezed her hand and tried to let go of his worry:

“Yes, that’s good news. But, for a while, we’re not going anywhere and you’ll do exactly what Tess told you to do: try to get some rest and get better soon!”

Adam soothed her hair:

“I know Andrew and Tess are taking a good care of you, but if you need more angelic help, just call!”

“I’m sure about it, Adam. Thank you.”

“Angel Boy could you stay here and watch over her? I’ll go back to the kitchen and make her some soup.”

“You can take your time, Tess. I don’t plan on going anywhere tonight...”, Andrew replied, smiling at his dearest friend. The angels left the bedroom and he rearranged the blanket around Monica:

“Well, it seems that I’m in command around here, so I have 3 orders for you, Miss Wings! The first one is: take some sleep for a while; the second one is: eat the meal Tess will prepare you; and finally, the third one rule is: get better soon!”

A sheepish smile appeared on her face:

“Well, I believe I can try, as long as you stay here to supervise me...”

The blond angel helped her to lie down and gently placed his hand on her forehead: the fever was still there, and it seemed higher than before. Seeing him frowning with concern, the Irish angel took his hand into hers:

“Hey, it is only a bad flu! Human beings deal with this all the time, remember? It’s nothing so serious and...”

A loud sneeze didn’t allow her to finish the sentence:

“Whoa! I’ll keep a close eye on you, Monica! A flu can be pretty serious too!”

He sat down on the right side of the bed and held her hand:

“You shouldn’t stay so close to me, you know. You can catch a flu too.”

Despite the worried look in Monica’s eyes, Andrew smiled at her with all the love in his heart evident on his face:

“I’d love to catch a flu from you if that meant to be close to you for a long time!”

Blushing deeply, she let out a small giggle. Andrew leaned to place a tender kiss on her cheek, and stroke her hair afterwards:

“Try to sleep now, ok?”

“Ok...”, she half whispered, feeling her eyelids growing heavy, and, seconds later, she drifted off to sleep.

Andrew, for himself, never moved away from her, and started to say a silent prayer for her recovery.

*

The hours ticked slowly in that dark and cold night, causing it to be part of an appalling and endless nightmare.

Andrew remained sitting on Monica’s bed, gently rubbing his thumb on the back of her hand and praying. A light knock on the door interrupted his prayer: it was Tess, bringing a bowl of hot soup:

“Wake her up, Angel Boy; this baby needs to eat, she is already too weak and we have no idea how long this storm will last and how long we’ll stay here.”

“I hope not too long, Tess. There’s something wrong here; something I can’t explain but which makes me pray to get out of here soon.”

Hearing that, the older angel frowned:

“Yes, I had the same impression downstairs...”

“You did?”, he exclaimed, a little surprised.

“Yes. This old house has a suffocating atmosphere!”

“Isn’t it weird, Tess?”

“Well, I believe we are all nervous with this thunderstorm and worried about Monica. Besides, the only shelter we found is in the middle of nowhere and isn’t exactly a five star hotel. One could easily be feeling a little claustrophobic tonight. We are no different as all of us are in human form now.”

Andrew sighed heavily, still with some apprehension:

“Yes... Maybe you’re right...”

He bent down and gently stroked Monica’s cheek, not missing the hotness in her pale skin:

“Hey, sweetie, wake up...”

Slowly, she opened her tired brown eyes:

“It’s time for dinner, baby. I made you some soup.”

“Oh Tess... Thank you, but... I’m not hungry, you know...”

The look on the supervisor’s face was a stern one:

“Let me get this straight: the little ill angel, who has a high fever and needs to eat something, is saying that she doesn’t want the soup I prepared her?! Is that what I heard?!”, she spoke, in a mock threatening tone, which caused Andrew to suppress a smile and stare at the Irish angel equally serious, completely agreeing with Tess. Seeing both severe faces, Monica lowered her eyes, slightly embarrassed, and felt that she had lost the battle:

“I guess I don’t have much option...”

“Yes, you don’t! So sit up straight on this bed and start drinking it right now!”, the oldest angel commanded. Seeing that the Irish angel now had Tess’ company, Andrew stood up from the bed:

“I’ll go check around the house, and see what else I can find here; maybe some tools to fix Tess’ car would help!”, and turned to his dearest friend: “And you be a good Angel Girl!”

“I’ll try... Hard, I mean...”

The blond angel kissed the side of Monica’s head and left the bedroom.

Adam was in the living room, by the window, looking outside, when Andrew came downstairs and joined him:

“How is Monica?”, the other angel of death worriedly asked.

“The fever won’t break. As a matter of fact, she needs to see a doctor and to take some medicine, ‘cause she has a terrible flu; and I’m afraid only tea and soup won’t do in this case.”

“I agree with you; I guess we both have seen this many times before. Her health condition is serious and she needs to be treated properly.”

Thoughtfully, Andrew looked through the window:

“If we could take her away from here... If we could take her to the city hospital...”

“I think it would be risky to do that in such weather, though. It’s far from here, we would take over 2 hours.”

“Yes, you’re right, Adam. Let’s wait and see if the storm starts to move away, then we’ll see what we can do.”

The 2 angels remained there, watching with anguished hearts as the heavy rain poured down outside. But, in the shadows that spread along the house, unbeknownst to them, someone, hidden in the darkness, was attentively observing the angels talk, and, some seconds later, the mysterious figure silently walked away, disappearing through one of the corridors of the building.