Chapter 8

“It…it was an accident, Andrew…” Monica stuttered softly, still not meeting either of her friend’s concerned gazes. Turning her tear-filled, brown eyes to her swollen ankle as she sat on the ground, Monica’s heart broke at not telling her friends the truth. She knew deep in her heart that telling the truth was what she should do, but…she couldn’t…

She just couldn’t do that.

“I—I wasn’t watching where I was going…I—I had so much on my mind, and I tripped and—and fell—“ she faltered, her voice growing more quiet as she spoke. “It…it was really an accident…”

  “’An accident’?” Andrew repeated, stunned at his friend’s revelation. Gently taking her trembling hand in his own soft one, he gave it a loving squeeze and held it close to his heart. “Sweetheart…something tells me that this wasn’t an accident…what really happened, Monica?”

 Her body trembling and her tears threatening to overflow at her best friend’s loving voice, the Irish-tongued angel leaned against Andrew as she struggled to take deep breaths. Feeling her friend’s arm wrap tightly around her trembling shoulders, Monica buried her tear-streaked face deep into the other angel’s strong chest as she let out another choked sob.

  “It was an accident…” she struggled to say as she wrapped her shaking arms around her friend’s waist tightly.

  “I’m…I’m just having trouble believing that I could have been such an idiot.  Again…If you two hadn’t been here…”

“Baby,” Tess interrupted softly, reaching out and stroking her former charge’s mud-caked, brown hair as she met Andrew’s eyes, looking over their friend’s head. “We promised that we would be here for you when you need us; and we’re keeping that promise, Angel Girl. But…Monica, please tell us what really happened there?  Please, Baby?”

  “Nothing happened,” the Irish angel commented in a more controlling voice, causing Andrew to slightly pull back from the embrace. “I already said that it was an accident, Tess…It really was. I swear it…” Turning her eyes away from her best friends again, Monica stared down at the muddy ground underneath her and forced herself not to let out a sigh or another cry. She just couldn’t meet their eyes; she already knew what was written in each pair: Unbelief in her.

  The angel knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that her friends didn’t believe a word of her story, but…she was determined that they would never ever find out. They COULDN’T find out. Not now. Not ever. This was her story and she was sticking to it.

*****

   “That’s right, Monica,” Kathleen whispered quietly into the angel’s ear, unseen to any of the three angels.

    “That’s right. It WAS an accident; it was no one’s fault, but yours. Isn’t that right, honey?” Smirking evilly, the dark angel turned to Denise beside her and gave her new victim a nod of approval,

     “You did well, Denise,” she whispered, laying a firm hand on the angel’s shoulder and squeezing it. “Very well indeed, my dear. This is part of our payback and you did very well on your first case.”

 Returning the demon’s smile, Denise lowered her eyes at her wounded supervisor, who was unaware of even her presence. Letting out a nasty chuckle at Monica’s tears of grief and the pain she was in, the caseworker returned her gaze to Kathleen, letting her own smirk shine,                                     

 “Is there more, Kathleen? Or is this it?”

  Tilting her dark head back at Denise’s question, the dark angel let out a loud laugh as she straightened up and wrapped a firm arm around her new “charge”, putting all of her evil into the grip she had on her. Gazing down at the angel, she opened her mouth and answered the question, her voice dripping with enjoyment.

“Oh, honey…we haven’t even BEGUN to scratch the surface of our revenge yet. There’s still lots and lots of work to be done here…”