chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

Tess drove the old car found in the garage of the old country house along the dark desert road, crossing the woods and facing the endless thunderstorm as fast as she could. Adam was sitting right beside her, his eyes wide open and his full attention on the road ahead of them, as the visibility was precarious due to the heavy rain that poured down.

“How long do you think we’ve been driving, Adam?”

“About one hour.”, the Angel of Death responded, after checking his pocket watch, “We’ll be there in 20 minutes. We could arrive faster, but considering this weather...”

“I can’t drive any faster than that. Being here is already too dangerous, we don’t need more incidents than the ones we already had!”, the supervisor said.

“I just hope we can find help soon, Monica really needs a doctor. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen somebody getting ill so fast; she had a light cold, but she was ok, playing with us and having fun. And, all of a sudden, she started to get worse and worse, and now she’s lying on a bed, burning with fever!”

“Don’t even tell me that! I’m so worried about that baby!”

Suddenly, Adam’s face turned into a more worried one and he frowned with deep concern and distress:

“...oh no...”, he whispered, causing the oldest angel to stare at him:

“What is it?”

“We have to be faster, Tess...”

The supervisor was terrified to see great sorrow in his eyes:

“What is it, Adam, for Heaven’s sake?!”

“I’ve... I’ve just been told to stay here... There... There must be some work to do...”

“Oh no, Father, please don’t let anything happen to my baby!”

Seeing her despair, the angel of death tried to comfort her:

“It was just a warning, there’s nothing set yet! If we get to the city fast and find some help, everything will be alright! Let’s keep driving!”

The angels were filled with deep anguish and concern, and, inside their hearts, they were praying to make their way to the city and find help for the Irish angel as fast as possible. Tess continued to drive for some more time, in the dark and windy road. All of a sudden, both angels were surprised by a U shaped bend ahead, and Adam warned the supervisor:

“Tess, be careful...”

“I know, I know...”, she answered. But when she stepped on the brakes, to reduce the car velocity, her blood ran cold:

“Oh, no...”

“What is it, Tess?”

“The brakes don’t work!”

The vehicle slid and left the road, getting into the grass and the dense vegetation that surrounded it, and finally crashed on a nearby tree.

*

Monica and Andrew remained on the couch, in the living room of the old house, and, after lying down, the Irish angel soon fell into a deep sleep; this time, a little calmer one, perhaps due to the fact that she had her dearest friend close together with her, and his loving presence was surely able to put her troubled heart at ease. And even the blond angel, sitting on the couch, had drifted off to a light snooze, being woken up a few times, either by the crashing of the thunders, or because of the sharp pain he was feeling in his hand.

Monique and Gregory came closer to the two angels and that simple attitude caused Monica to stir and moan, her asleep face frowning with fear. That was enough to make Andrew open his eyes with his heart beating faster than before. The two demons exchanged an evil look and stepped back:

“We have to find a way to make them split up, that’ll be easier.”, Gregory said, a thoughtful expression on his face.

“Yes, you’re right. And we can ‘share’ them that way too! I can’t wait to finish with this poor image of myself! It’s like looking at a broken mirror!”, Monique looked around the living room, “But it seems we have a little problem here: he won’t leave her alone again; not after what happened... I mean, what ALMOST happened on the stairs. And she won’t stay away from him either, that’s for sure...”

“Never underestimate me in a night like this!...”, Gregory replied, with a malicious tone in his voice.

Andrew checked on his dearest friend: she continued to sleep using his leg as a pillow, but, by the traces of fear on her meek face, it was possible to notice there was something troubling her besides the illness that spread all over her organism. He could feel it too, and that scared him terribly. The blond angel gently ran his fingers through her hair and sighed with concern when he touched her forehead and felt that her fever was still high:

“Oh Angel Girl... I wish you got better!... I even wish I could change places with you and be the one who’s ill...”, he said, stroking her cheek. Then, Andrew bowed  his head and started to pray:

“Father, please, bless this angel with Your healing. Send away the disease that is taking over her body. And take care of Tess and Adam, allow them to arrive at the city safely and bring help...”

Suddenly, a loud noise interrupted his prayer and drew his attention: the wind had grown much stronger than before and large gusts ended up ripping off an old tree from the ground. It hit the house in full force, causing the front door to open violently, and breaking some window panes.

Monica woke up extremely scared and confused, and, instinctively, Andrew held her tightly, trying to protect her from the cold rain and wind, the pieces of wood, ripped from the door, and the window glasses, which flew away through the interior of the living room; in short, he was trying to protect her from everything that surrounded them:

“Andrew what is that?!”

“It seems to be a hurricane, Monica. It’s coming this way...”

“Tess and Adam are outside...”, her voice was trembling with fear.

“They must be away from here now, I’m sure of this...”, he replied, but, inside, he was equally worried about his two other angelic friends.

“What are we going to do now?”, a loud thunder crashed at that moment, and another gust of wind invaded the room, now ripping away a branch of a another nearby tree, which came flying right into the angels’ direction:

“Oh no!”

Andrew quickly grabbed Monica and they threw themselves into the floor, the large piece of wood passing a few inches from their heads:

“Oh, my goodness, Andrew, the storm is destroying the whole house!”

“I have to get you out of here, quickly!”, he said, helping her to stand on her feet. But the Irish angel was too weak to walk and, even if she were able to, she was barefoot, and the pieces of glass spread all over the wet living room floor would surely hurt her feet.

Trying to overcome the pain in his wounded hand, the blond angel lifted his dearest friend in his arms and carried her upstairs, back to the bedroom she previously stayed in, and placed her in her bed:

“Let’s stay here, Monica. There’s no other place we can go...”

“I’m so scared!...”, she held him tightly, tears of fear rolling down her cheeks.

“I’m here, Monica. I won’t let anything happen to you...”

With the thunderstorm getting worse every minute, the lights of the house went out again, increasing the sombre atmosphere which surrounded that place.

Extremely frightened, Monica closed her eyes and started to pray in silence, asking for that nightmare to be over soon, while Andrew soothed her hair, trying to calm her down and chase away some of the tension and fear inside her heart.

The angels remained holding onto each other in the dark bedroom for about 20 minutes. But, when the wind speed finally seemed to decrease a little, Andrew heard another noise, almost inaudible to his ears, but which caused him to be twice scared: steps. Somebody was walking outside the house. The blond angel soon remembered that the front door and the front windows were open. He pulled away just enough to look at his dearest friend’s face and gently stroked her cheek:

“Monica, I want you to pay attention to me... I’ll have to go downstairs, but just for a few minutes...”

The look in her eyes was so frightened that he almost regretted what he had just told her:

“Why?...”, she asked, fear was evident in her hoarse voice. After some seconds of hesitation, he kept on talking:

“Well... The door and the windows are open and...  I’ll just go and close them...”, he didn’t want to let her know what was troubling his heart, as that would make her more nervous than never. But Monica knew him better than anyone else, they had been best friends for a long time, and the little Irish angel had the ability to read what was on his mind, in his thoughts, in every beat of his heart:

“Is there something wrong, Andrew?”, she questioned, looking straight into his green eyes.

“Well... apart from the bowling match, I guess things are a little messed up this night...”, he joked, though with sadness in his voice and trying to escape from her inquisitive look. But she insisted:

“You don’t want to tell me, do you?”

He sighed heavily:

“Well... I don’t want any door or window to be left open, Monica. At least inside this... house... we’re protected from the storm and from anyone else who shows up.”

“I don’t think there are other people nearby...”

“Yes... But let’s be cautious anyway, alright?”

Realising that he was right, she nodded her head miserably:

“Ok...”

“Please stay right here, I won’t take too long downstairs.”

“I won’t go anywhere, I promise.”

He cupped her chin and placed a loving kiss on her forehead. Then, he stood up from the bed and walked over to the door. But, before he could walk through it, Monica stopped him:

“Andrew...”

“Yes?”

“I love you.”, she said.

“I love you too, Angel Girl.”, he replied, with a small smile on his lips, and then left the bedroom.

The living room was dirtier than before, full of branches and leaves brought by the wind. Andrew walked carefully on the wet floor, stepping on the thousands of pieces of glass spread along it. The only source of light continued to be the constant lightening, followed by loud thunders: the storm was still going full force, hitting the area without mercy. He walked over to the door and saw that the lock had been broken.

Thoughtfully, Andrew looked around and an idea crossed his mind: the furniture could be used to block the entrance. Quickly, but with some difficulty, as one of his hands was immobilised, he placed a huge bookshelf behind the broken door. After that, he checked on the windows and locked them up.

But little did the angel know about how dangerous the thunderstorm could be: all of a sudden, a noise, coming from the kitchen, was heard and, a second later, the water started to flood the house.

The blond angel looked outside: all the area around the house was flooded too, as it was located in a swampy plain. Shaking his head, Andrew decided to go upstairs; that was the safest place to stay now, and he and Monica would surely have to wait until the next morning to get out of that house, if the water level lowered.

Quickly, he climbed up the stairs and, as he opened the bedroom door, the blond angel found his dearest friend standing on her feet, beside the bed, leaning on the dirty wall:

“Monica, where do you think you’re going?”, he said, immediately taking hold of her arm and making her sit down:

“You were taking too long, I just wanted to make sure you were alright...”, she nervously answered, seeming to be embarrassed by her attitude:

“I told you I would come back in some minutes! You shouldn’t try to walk around the house anymore!”, he gently scolded her. Monica lowered her eyes:

“I’m sorry...”

Andrew sighed deeply and sat down on the bed, beside her, and passed his arm over her shoulder:

“I won’t leave your side again, I promise.”

“Ok... Did you lock the door and the windows?”

“Yes, I put the bookshelf behind the door.”

“How will Tess and Adam enter?”, she worriedly asked.

“I’m afraid they’re not coming back right now, Monica. The area around the house is flooded.”

“You mean we’re isolated here?”

“Yes... But it won’t take long. When the storm moves on, the water level will low. We just have to wait. And now, the best place for us to stay is here, upstairs.”

She nodded her head:

“Alright, then. I guess we don’t have any option left...”

At that moment, a sudden thought crossed Andrew’s mind and the expression on his face turned into a more serious one:

“Andrew... What is it?”

“I... I just felt something...”

“Felt what?”

He stared at her for some seconds and shook his head:

“It’s nothing, really...”, he tried to light the mood: “And you, Miss Wings, will stay right here with me this time! Like I’ve said before, you’re quite stubborn!”

A tiny smile appeared on her face and she looked at his eyes:

“Well, if it weren’t that way... it wouldn’t be me...”

“Yes, it really wouldn’t!”, he replied, smiling. “I just wish we were out of here, in some other place, and then, I’d like to see you walking around, barefoot and chatting about everything, on a sunny day, in a beautiful place. And, most importantly, with little Joy trotting around us!”

She nodded her head:

“Yes... I do miss my wee Joy... How I wish she were here!”

Again, he stared at her:

“You do?”

“Yes. Her company would really make me feel better...”

Hearing that, a serious expression appeared on Andrew’s face and, with his heart pounding loudly in his chest, he stood up:

“You’re not Monica!”

“What?!”, she replied, with a scared look.

“Don’t you dare acting as if you didn’t know what I’m talking about!”, he replied.

“Andrew... I think you’re too nervous...”

“What did you do to her?! Where’s Monica?!”

“I’m right here...”

“Answer to me!!!”, he shouted, as nothing in that horrible night would make him feel more nervous and scared than the possibility to have his dearest friend ripped away from him.

At that moment, the woman in front of him stood up from the bed and gave a few steps back. Then, an evil, diabolic smile appeared on her face:

“You were quick, I admit it! Your friend would be proud of you!”

“Where is she?! Answer to me and leave us alone in the name of God!”, he didn’t shout this time, but his voice was trembling with the anger that rose from his heart.

“Leave now? I don’t think so... Not after waiting for this for such a long time...”, calmly, she walked over to the window, thunders crashing louder than before:

“Your friend is with my co-worker, Gregory. I bet you remember him from a dark, Halloween night; a night very similar to this one. And, I’m sorry to say that, but he wasn’t too pleased to meet you then; he had work to do and your little group spoiled it... In fact, you two ruined our plans so many times in the past! But do you know which one hurt the most? Stopping that man from killing his wife’s murderer!”

She was talking about the assignment they had worked on a week before; in which Monica, with Andrew’s help, had managed to dissuade Steven Harris from accomplishing a terrible revenge plan, by shooting and killing a young man, who had, by accident, killed his wife years ago.

“Revenge is one of the most efficient ways to carry out and fulfil our assignments and you two spoiled what would’ve been a complete success!”

“God will always send His messengers wherever it is to face everything you represent and to light the way to the souls you want to destroy!”

“In my view, it’s just a question of perspective.”, she replied, with some disregard, “It all depends on how things are arranged on the spot. You see, since from the moment you stepped into this house, your friend got seriously ill, you, seriously injured and the rest of the group you hang around with is not in a good situation either! There’s no place here for you to shine this light of yours! It’s all darkness! In this territory, we win!”

Her ironic smile disappeared and she faced him sterner than before:

“And this time, the souls to be destroyed will be yours!”