Vessel
Prologue
Many years ago, God had entrusted Lucifer, one of his favorite sons, with a jewel. "Take this jewel, Lucifer and give it a name. It will be yours if you give your word that you will help promote the future of the great creatures that will inhabit it. You will treat them as if they were your own brothers and love them. They are the extensions of the Kingdom of Heaven and they are stronger than even you Lucifer."
Lucifer took this oath and he decided to name the jewel Earth. For a while, Lucifer watched over Earth, making sure that the land and the ocean were clean; that the animals and nature surrounding them were well cared for. Then God sent Man to Earth and told Lucifer to praise and welcome him. Lucifer first saw Adam when he was drinking water from a river. He abhorred the savagery—but this is what my father wishes I love, he thought. When half day passed, Adam met Eve almost as if it were love at first sight. Watching the two of them together infuriated Lucifer. Against God's will, Lucifer disguised himself in the form of one of the animals, a serpent, and followed Eve.
God told Adam and Eve, "You may eat any fruit that this garden holds for you," An ethereal glow shined over the forest. "But at the center of this forest lies a tree with evils that will destroy the future."
Adam and Eve promised not to touch the fruit from the Tree Of Knowledge. Only evil ambition can be born when man obtains wisdom beyond his control. One day, Eve was walking through the forest in search of food while Adam went hunting in search of fur for clothing. As Eve moved deeper into the woods alone, Lucifer followed. Like an assailant ninja, Lucifer quickly constricted himself around her naked body. To prevent more struggle, Lucifer poisoned her with sin.
"Do you wish to be more powerful than God?" He hissed in her ear. She had no control of her body but she shook her head like an undead corpse.
"I know how," He crawled around her neck. "Have you ever wondered why God told you that you could eat from any tree except from the Tree Of Knowledge?" Eve stared blankly in shock. "Yes go to it. Take its fruit then you and Adam can summon a jewel... one that will help you be more powerful than God," Lucifer said before he left.
Because of Lucifer, Adam and Eve were cast out of the Purgatory Of Eden. When they ate the fruit though, a new jewel was discovered, one that Lucifer stole from them. In this jewel, he formed a new kingdom where the creatures God created to be more 'powerful' than angels were put under a torment that only angels would survive in, to prove to his father they are weak. This kingdom was known as Hell.
In Hell, all of the creatures God made became either demons, slaves, or were tortured for eternity until they succumbed to Lucifer. Most likely, those who hated Lucifer and loved God more, were tortured and those who were heathens became vessels for Lucifer's demons.
Lucifer gained his power from the sin of man. The more humanity proved that they were a mistake, the larger Lucifer's army became. Eventually, the army could no longer be ignored by Heaven. God had told his Archangels to prepare for war. He had sent his eldest loyal son, Michael, to lead the army to drive Lucifer's army into Hell.
The night of the battle came. There was a shooting star that fell from the sky to the center of three rivers which are now the Youghiogheny River, Monongahela River, and the Ohio River. Out of the fog came four men on horseback and behind them an army of Demons. Watching from the mountains, were the Angels.
The battle between Angels and Demons went on for days. As it seemed, the armies were at a stalemate. The battle was so great that the Earth's population was being reduced to ashes and the world was thrown into turmoil because of the apocalyptic destruction. Michael looked for a quick solution to save humanity from any more sin.
Michael scouted the battlefield for Lucifer. Michael swooped down and tackled Lucifer off of his steed.
"Hold steady," a cry from Uriel, the archangel came, "Push them back with everything!"
Lucifer and Michael were swirling through the air. Just the power of their wings alone cleared the grass off the floor around them. Lucifer tossed Michael into the mountain and slammed Michael's face with the blunt side of his blade. Raising his blade, Lucifer prepared to behead his brother, but Michael returned the blow with a sweep.
The fight between both of them leveled mountains and cities. Finally, Lucifer fell back as Michael threw a powerful swing of his blade. Stomping on Lucifer's chest, Michael raised his sword. Michael decided to show mercy for his brother, only stabbing Lucifer in the chest instead of beheading him. The lunge into Lucifer caused such a shockwave that the Earth started to collapse in, and into the hole fell Lucifer's dangly body. With him followed the army of Demons who were all later sealed back into Hell.
The four horsemen saw the army of Hell diminishing into the ground. In fear, they scattered and crossed the world, bringing about famine, war, disease, and death.
Michael ascended back into Heaven with the army, but he had doubts in his mind. He went to God and said, "Father, Lucifer's army has been put into their place, but please do not be upset with humanity. It was Lucifer's poison that caused this."
God heard Michael's plea, but knew humanity could not go unpunished. He called forth but a simple man Noah, to help God give Earth a second chance. Noah built God a great ark, where two of every living thing was aboard.
Before God unleashed his wrath onto Earth, Michael went and visited Noah's wife, Naamah, and gave her the sword that he used to slay Lucifer to protect the ship from the remaining demons. Then the Earth was flooded, and humanity started all over again. But when the waves subsided back to the oceans, Michael's sword was lost in a river.
In secret, Michael watched over humanity. He acted as the Justicar of Earth, though he had little influence in major affairs of humanity. He walked the Earth searching for his sword inside of his Vessel. A Vessel is a human body that carries the reincarnation of Angel or Demon, allowing an angel to have a physical form on Earth. Unfortunately, Michael became more human the longer he stayed in his vessel. He was involved in a car accident that gave him amnesia, giving the four horsemen the opportunity they have been waiting for. As God had feared, a second holy war is coming, one that may destroy the Earth for good.
Chapter 1
It is 7:30 in the morning/ I can smell the stench of alcohol running through my breath and my stomach feels all funny. I think I drank too much. What had happened last night? I look around my bedroom to see if I can find anything that would help me remember. The rooms a mess; clothes everywhere, chair toppled, soda cans and beer bottles everywhere. Everything is the way I left it last week but there was something strange. I went to bed in my bathing suit and there is still sand on my feet. How does this happen?
My name is Michael Turner and I'm an eighteen year old attending the University of Pennsylvania. I am in love with a girl named Vanessa. I dream of saving many lives with my talents one day; the question I'm facing, though, is how?
I jump off my bed with fear as I hear loud music playing. It's my cell phone; but why is the ring volume so loud? Something must be wrong with the phone; or maybe it's just me. With fear still in me, I answer the phone. It is Jeremy, my best friend.
"Hey Michael! What happened man? Where'd you go?" He asked. He sounds worried.
"What do you mean 'where did I go?'" I answer curiously. I turn and notice the open beer bottles. Did I really drink that much?
"Well, there was a bunch of people here last night at the beach and you disappeared…."
I doze off, trying to remember what had happened as much as I could. Disappeared? The beach? All questions people would usually ask during a really bad hangover, or maybe amnesia. Now that he mentioned it, I did have a strange dream last night. I was napping on the beach when all of a sudden I felt a burning sensation running through my forearms. It started itching and no matter what I did the itching and the burning wouldn't stop. I felt the skin darken and if you were able to examine it closely you'd be able to see flames tattooed on my arm. The flames were drawing a picture of some sort. The next thing I knew I was starting to move towards the moon light, or it was moving towards me, I can't remember I had too much to drink. My body started to feel light. I had discovered I was floating. Floating towards what though, my vision darkened so I don't know what exactly. All I can remember hearing was someone repeating my name, "Michael, Michael, Michael," louder and louder the higher I went, "Michael, Michael…"
"Michael! Dude are you listening?" Jeremy yelled, snapping me back to reality. "Vanessa's worrying about you, I told her you had to go study," he whispered as if he was hiding the fact he was on the phone with me.
"Thanks for covering for me," I replied sincerely.
"Is that Michael?" I could hear the voice of a young girl in the background. I spoke to soon; I recognized the voice to be Vanessa's. Her voice is always so sweet you can almost never tell if she's mad just by the way she sounded. "Give me the phone I want to talk to him. I got to see if he is okay."
"Mike, you alright baby?" She asked. I knew she was worrying, but I didn't know how to explain what happen. That dream I had was really strange.
"Yeah, sorry Vanessa I have a big test Monday and I had to come home to study. You know how Mr. Rudolph can be with his tests sometimes. But I promise I'll come see you right after work today."
"You're going to work? You're going to work with a hangover seriously? And after all that energy you put with me last night, you are brave grasshopper, very brave," she said giving off a loud giggle. Its true "no one does it like Vanessa does" my friends use to say to me when we were going out. I don't mean to sound conceited or anything but I must say I must be pretty amazing to take her on.
"Yo," Jeremy was on the phone now. "You need me to pick you up to go to work?" he asked.
"Yeah that would be nice."
"Alright, I'll be there in like thirty minutes Kiki needs a ride home and I'll leave Vanessa at ya'lls place. Peace." he hung up. I thought he and Kiki were on a break. Something must have happened last night.
I got up and went to the bathroom and gave a big yawn in front of the mirror. I examined myself in the mirror. I had to make sure I looked good and healthy because Vanessa's coming. I brushed my teeth and started up water for a hot shower. Nothing like a hot shower to start a day, I got out and cleared up the fog mirror like guys usually do after a hot shower. I was shocked. In my dream I felt a symbol being burned into my forearms. In the mirror what I saw was that exact image imprinted on my forearms. How could this be? What does it mean? I-I I…
I felt myself revert back to primal instinct because it was too good to be true. I entered the shower again and started scrubbing my arms as hard as I possibly could. I scrubbed so hard some of the skin on my arms turned white momentarily. They didn't want to come off. The image was a flame inscribed in a triangle, which was then inscribed in a circle with three arrows pointing out forward in four directions.
Steam started to form as I poured the icy cold water over the markings. As the steam diffused into the air all I could do was stare at it as it was rising to the air. Midway it stopped and I watch carefully as an image appeared. The face of the image was demonic, which many dents, lumps, and sharp horns and fangs. I thought it was my eyes fooling with me but when it started to speak, it was nothing my eyes seen before.
I was scared. The voice of the demon grew louder and the image grew more real, so real with color being added to it. If that wasn't supernatural enough, the language was completely incomprehensible. I was so trapped in fear I couldn't move at all.
The water in the shower stopped running, no sound of water dropping at all. The fly that I would hear in the background didn't move at all, time itself has stopped completely.
The floating vapor head started to grow, forming a demonic figure. It started to gape its mouth revealing a fire that seemed to burn as if it would bring the end of the world. I felt that cold breath and I was still paralyzed in fear. It only took it one blow to the head to strike me to the ground out of my tub. I curled my bare self up into the fetal position. The pain I felt was real and there was no doubt about it that this was real. I'm going to die!
The creature raised it paw as it got ready to hack my body into pieces. I flinched in terror. In the lids of my eyes brighten as if there was some luminance outside penetrating my bathroom window. I heard the beast go angry. I opened my eyes to find a strange light figure standing before me.
"What the hell's going on here?" I yelled. The light turned towards me. It was in the form of a woman with eyes so dark I was lost in her sight.
I lay on the wet tile floor motionless but somehow my body went sliding out of the bathroom with a wave of her arm. The door slammed, and all I heard was the beast screaming in pain. They started banging at the door as they quarreled in the small-confided space in the bathroom.
I got up and ran through the living room. Turning around I can see the door breaking open but the woman was gone. I could hear the animal growling from the inside the bathroom, it was tilting its head left and right as if it was searching for something. In fear I got up and made a break for the door. This was my only chance of escape.
The hellhound saw me running and started to charge at me ferociously. Seeing that I was trying to escape, it pounced off the couch and ricocheted off the ceiling with such a force that the ground beneath my feet shook. I fall in terror of its strength.
Seeing that there was no escape I ran into the kitchen. "Grow some fucking balls and think Michael," I thought to myself looking around the kitchen for something to use. I threw all the pots I could find at the dog, thinking I could slow it down. In the process, I felt faint and tripped. It seems that when it pounced off the ceiling it scratched my leg. The creature had to be poisonous. Lying against the corner wall helpless, helpless like I've always been in my life, I saw my life flashing before me. I could remember the times I was with my family back upstate, I still remember the last thing I told them. I promised them I would come home successful, I guess not everyone can keep their promises.
As the beast approached I just gave up, there was nothing more that could have been done. I looked down at the floor at the trail of blood my leg was leaving; I never seen myself bleed this much since the car accident 8 years ago. It got up on hind legs as if it was preparing me for my execution. I could try begging for mercy but I don't think this creature would understand me. Instead I closed my eyes, ready for death. In the darkness of my eyelids, I could see light penetrating.
I opened my eyes and the beast collapsed into a black smoke that suddenly disappeared. The beast was gone. The kitchen was fixed and the blood was gone. "What happened?" (Knock knock knock!)
"Yo Michael open up, Vanessa don't look to happy," Jeremy, or at least I think it was his voice, and Vanessa is with him, Shit.
"In a minute!" I replied. Getting up and putting on my towel I realized that the floor still had my wet footprints from where I was running. This was no dream. Fuck, I could just be losing my mind. I unlocked the front door and reached for the knob. "What the hell happened?"
Chapter 2
Stepping out of the kitchen, I made my way to the front door and being paranoid I looked through the peephole just to be sure it was them. I have every right to be paranoid, after what just happened, nothing seems impossible now. I was sure it was them, I opened the door only to be welcomed by a large slap to the face and a big hug.
"You big idiot, why did you leave yesterday?" Vanessa said, "You had us all worried and what not."
"Go easy on him Vanessa, or he may just like it," Jeremy said laughing at Vanessa's first reaction to me opening the door. "You got to stop walking around without drying yourself first. The whole floor is wet."
I always liked Jeremy, he was kind of that laid back guy when you met him at first but after that he becomes such a comedian. I knew him since we were in 7th grade and even though we didn't go to the same high school, we still kept in touch. Like me, everyone knew Jeremy when we were younger-they just never really spoke to him. He was better looking than me. Back then he was tall, thin, and athletic with dark chocolate skin. He may not look it on first sight but Jeremy was strong. Somehow it was faith that brought us back together in college and I'm glad we're together in the same college otherwise it'd get quite lonely on campus. I really didn't have many friends when I was growing up so it's nice to have someone from the past in my life now.
Vanessa was a whole 'nother story, I met her in high school sophomore year. We didn't exactly go to the same high school. I attend St. Michael's Academy for extraordinary and gifted boys. Like its set up in every other city, where ever there is an all boy school, an all girl school isn't too far away. One day in the summer I was taking the bus home after an after school program I attended called DDC and I was just sitting there minding my own business when she got on with a bunch of other kids with instruments. I assume they were band geeks since they were all talking about music, but when the bus started moving the topics started changing. Damn they were loud, so loud it was almost annoying, but as much as I tried to, I couldn't help but notice how she stood out from the group. She had black wavy hair that was tied up, a slender figure, small red lips that was followed by an amazing smile. Who wouldn't want to look at her, if it wasn't for the French horn she was carrying you wouldn't expect her to be a band geek at all, she would probably be one of those girls you see at clubs that every guy is dying to dance with. I didn't talk to her at first because it seemed kind of weird to me. I wasn't sure if it was all right for a guy like me to talk to such a pretty girl and it seemed awkward for me to randomly go up to her on the bus. Eventually she got off the bus and everything went back to the way it was before they got on.
A month later school started again and I had to take the bus home. The bus was about to leave when all of a sudden the bus drive saw some girl running to catch the bus. She got on and there she was again still as stunning as she was before. I was lucky this time because she sat right next to me and she smiled.
"Do you go to St. Michael's? I just couldn't help but notice your uniform." It almost seemed like irony, my school uniform helped me get a girls attention. Actually, it's kind of pathetic that I didn't seem to be fashionable enough to get a girl to notice me out of school but all of a sudden my school uniform made me look handsome. Even today I still need fashion advice from Vanessa. I guess I'm not fit to be a model.
"Yeah, I do attend St. Michael's Academy. I noticed myself that you're in a school uniform. Do you attend the All Girls Academy down the road?" I don't know why I do that to myself. Every time I get nervous I get serious and start talking really nerdy. It's a habit that's been with me even since elementary school. Vanessa always tells me that it's really cute when I talk like a nerd but I can't see it. I think it's really scary when a guy like me is trying to flirt or be romantic and all they can do is talk like they're one of Albert Einstein's assistants.
"I'll clean the place up later. You don't have to worry, Vanessa,"
"Oh, no. It's okay. It doesn't bother me, my schedule for today is clear anyways. I need to kill some time," she said, looking at me with a huge smile.
"Alright. Thank you, baby. I'm really sorry for wetting the floor," I went to my room and got dressed as quick as I could. It was almost 9:30 and Jeremy and I had to be at the library by 10.
"Come on man, Mr. Rudolph is going to kill us." Jeremy was already walking outside the door when he yelled.
Mr. Rudolph was one of the university's English professors. He taught both me and Jeremy last semester. He also runs the university's library; supposedly his great grandfather owned the school back in the 1830s and ever since his father died he had the right to the library, which is the oldest part of the university. Even though Jeremy and I weren't big fans of English, Mr. Rudolph was all right for a shady, old man. Not many students agreed with hanging out with Mr. Rudolph though. "He smells of death." one girl as me and Jeremy were walking one day. Mr. Rudolph was sort of creepy in a way. He was always acting so mysterious and reading a lot of crime and murder stories in his spare time, but that's just the Mr. Rudolph that everyone saw walking around on campus. Jeremy and I both know that Mr. Rudolph reads even darker books when he's inside alone. We believe he's into that sort of black magic stuff. One day we were cleaning his office in the library and we stumbled upon a book title "Lucifer and The War against Angels". We already knew he was a religious man, but when one reads a book and the first word in the title is Lucifer you come to a conclusion that the reader may be a Luciferian. That is doubtful though seeing that he has a collection of crosses in his office that would make the Vatican look less catholic.
Jeremy and I were running through the campus trying our hardest to make it on time. We used to run together all the time. When we were in high school we wanted to stay in shape for the Parkour expeditions so we always went on foot rather than car.
We got into the library just in time-it was 9:59. It's a good advantage living thirty minutes away from the university. When we got inside the old-cathedral-like library, there were already several students walking around searching for books. Mr. Rudolph was in his office upstairs. I knew Mr. Rudolph was in his office because I could see that his desk lamp was on and the light coming out of the large stain glass window.
Jeremy and I got straight to work, we punched in and immediately started to roam the aisles looking for students who need help searching for books and reorganizing books that were out of place. Amazing how even in college, students could be so unorganized. One day, Erica, Jeremy, and I spent a whole night putting books back in the right place. This library is huge and if you leave to many books out of place until last minute, the work can be pretty hectic. Erica worked the front desk and is one of Mr. Rudolph's favorite students this semester. She likes to read and listen to music a lot. We usually find her at the front desk sitting down reading with her huge earphones, listening to music while playing around with her long dark red hair.
"Hey Erica, good morning! Are we interrupting your reading?" I yelled into her ear. It's almost as if she's deaf from listening to music all day. She has her headphones blasting all day listening to screamo music.
She wouldn't miss a second of her boyfriend walking through the door though. Jeremy never really liked her boyfriend. John was a douche bag, he only cared about himself, he's rude, and he's a bad influence. The guy is so ignorant he calls himself "el jefe" hoping that the nickname would catch on and everyone would call him that.
The library's back door opened and through the door a tall, well built man walked in wearing camo jeans, a black wife beater, and a camo cap.
"Well if it isn't El Jefe!" Jeremy and I sarcastically yelled. Irony is, we're in a library.
"Good morning darky and nerd," He saluted us with a jeer, "and good morning to my baby," he said walking up to Erica to give her a kiss. Erica lit up in joy at the sight of John as if she hadn't seen him in days, even though they saw each other yesterday at the party.
Taking off her headphones and putting her book down, Erica leaped into his arms and began to lustfully kiss him as if her cravings for male cock were acting up again.
"Lust is one of the seven deadly sins, you know?" I said, trying to ruin the moment.
"Shut up church boy, don't you have something to do?"
"Alright just saying, but just to let you know Mr. Rudolph is looking at you two right know from his window," Looking up you can see Mr. Rudolph staring down in disappointment at the horny couple. Mr. Rudolph also didn't like John because Erica was one of his favorite students, so he also looked at John as a bad influence on Erica. He called him "the taint of lust" because Erica wasn't always so sexually active.
Erica pushed herself away from John and looked down in shame. After a few seconds she returned to her desk. Jeremy and I started to reorganize the books according to the Dewy Decimal System while John stormed the library talking to his alpha male friends.
"Say John," one of the boys said, "I heard your younger sister was coming here to Pennsylvania to visit, what was her name again? Oh yeah Jasmine, is it true?"
"Yeah, she's going to be a starting freshman in this college starting next semester. Try to be nice to her though I don't want her to be getting scared," He stated proudly, "but nobody get any big ideas, she's my little sister after all."
We never knew John had a sister before, probably because he was so much of an ass to everyone to ever let us know. I'm sure Erica knew because I saw her smiling at the thought of John's pretty younger sister coming to the university.
It was near closing hour so I went up stairs to go say good-bye to Mr. Rudolph. Oddly, he wasn't in his office but the light was on. On his desk there was a bunch of papers scattered all over and a chalice filled to the top with red wine.
Walking up to the desk, I could see that the papers were written in Latin, a dead language which not many people spoke. I could remember learning some Latin when I was younger and living in Italy. My father use to take up to the Vatican so I could learn how to be a priest starting at a younger age. That was before he died though and my mom decided to move to New York.
I walked over to the desk and sat in his chair. I took notice of the chalice, it was a dark gray chalice covered with red gemstones all over. The wine's color was strange too. It seemed to be very thick as if the grapes juice wasn't really diluted when it was poured into the bottle. I leaned in closely to get a better look. I was about to dip my finger into the wine when I was startled by a hand that was placed onto my shoulder. I jumped.
"Good evening Mr. Turner, I believe you know it's very rude and filthy to be dipping dirty fingers into good wine," he said in a sinister voice. I slowly got up and faced him.
"Good evening Mr. Rudolph, I was just walking in to say goodnight and I noticed the huge mess on your desk," I paused for a second to think of a good lie, "and I wanted to be a nice assistant and help out the elderly."
"That is very thoughtful of you Mr. Turner, but I am not senile yet."
"That is very true sir, how silly of me to think that you were incapable of dealing with the minor dilemma of cleaning your desk, I'll be sure to remember that for future references," there goes me talking sophisticated again. That was the first time Mr. Rudolph has ever touched my shoulder. It was a very scary incident.
"Well goodnight Mr. Rudolph," giving him a decent handshake saying good-bye. I left the office without looking back. When I closed his office door there was a strange but strong odor. It almost smelt like a large amount of bleach was wiped all over the 2nd floor, I didn't think that the janitors used bleach to clean the school libraries.
I was outside when I got a text from Vanessa telling me to come home she had a surprise for me. I walked slowly, feeling the cool breeze of the summer night. The sound of buses and cars traveling up and down the streets, the sound of the honking cars; even the church bell that sounds hourly, ringing from the school, soothe me as I walked home. I couldn't help but smile at the thought of what that surprise could be.
Chapter 3
In front of the pent house building, you could see the lights of all the university students who were still up studying as if they were insomniacs. You could even smell the alcohol produced off freshly baked breads in the bakery across the street. My room, well, Vanessa's and my room was all the way up in the 6th floor. At the door, I could see the sign me and Vanessa put up on the door. "Two people who immensely love each other live here." It sounds sappy but it's a nice reminder for me to stay happy even though I had a hard day at class or a long day at the library.
I open the door and I could smell lit candles. I wonder what erotic game Vanessa could be playing with me but I'll go along with it. I snaked inside and slowly closed the door, leaving my bag on the ground. I slowly tip-toed my way pass the kitchen, into the living room.
On the ground there was a trail of heart shape candy, which led into the bedroom. I think I got a good idea what the surprise is.
I walked back into the kitchen to get a bottle of wine, as it may be needed. It was dark so I ran my fingers over the wall looking for a light switch. Found it. When I turned the light on someone jumped from behind me and covered my upper body with a pillow case. I couldn't see where I was being dragged to but I could hear the sound of feet moving all over the place. The light that I just turned on was turned off again.
Next thing I knew I was sitting on a chair. There was a strange light illuminating through the pillow case in front of my eyes. It reminded me of the light I saw this morning when I was attacked in the shower. Is it that woman? Is she also, like the beast that attacked me, after me?
The mystery was revealed as they removed the pillow case that they use to cover me. The strange light I saw was 18 birthday candles burning bright around an iced frosting cake that had heart shaped candy all over it.
"Happy Birthday baby," I turned to see Vanessa standing next to me, "I hope you like your surprise." She had a big smile on her face. She felt so accomplished that her surprise went just as planned.
"Thank you guys," I replied noticing that Jeremy was the one who put the pillow case over me. No way Vanessa would've been strong enough to drag me to a chair and keep me in the pillow case all on her own, she would've needed help and who's better than my best friend.
"Sorry Mike, I had to be a little rough," finally Jeremy spoke, "you were fighting to much."
"Hey, you always got to go down fighting right," I smirked at my own joke.
"Come on babe make a wish."
"Yeah hurry up Michael I'm starving already," Jeremy was slowly pacing behind me and rubbing his stomach imagining what the cake could taste like. He went to the couch, jumped onto it, got back up and walked to the kitchen to turn on the lights.
I don't believe in making birthday wishes like these two losers but I couldn't disappoint them. Making wishes is something your parents say you can do when you're little, but that was only to get your hopes up. When you grow up, you realize the naivety of your youth is your way of turning a blind eye to reality.
I pretended that I was making a wish and blew the candles out anyway.
"We're very sorry you couldn't get your cake yesterday Michael, we were going to bring it to you on the exact time you were born but you were already gone from the party when we went looking to give you it," Vanessa said.
"It's okay babe," I paused, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to walk out on my own party like that (even though I don't remember me walking out). I just had a lot of work."
Jeremy came back with a knife and some plates. I got up to help set up for the three of us and cut the cake.
"Like the people in Japón would say, Itadakimasu!" Vanessa said.
Midway through my cake, Vanessa had an epiphany. "Oh Mike! You should open your presents."
The average person would usually receive money as a gift. Why is this? Because people were either too lazy to actually go get you a gift or they don't know you well enough to know exactly what you want, to not screw up the gift they give you money so you can go buy what you want.
Jeremy and Vanessa are two exceptions. They know everything about me. Every year, instead of giving me money they give me gifts with meaning. When I first met Vanessa, the first gift I received was my very own chemistry experiment set. It sounds nerdy and childish but I had a lot of fun making things blow up in the backyard. Last year Vanessa got us tickets to fly to Italy and visit the Vatican. She said she wanted me to see where I came from and learn a little history. Jeremy took me to see a religious arts expo near the Vatican in "Old Italy" as they called it. I could go on and on reminiscing about different gifts I got.
"First, a gift from your mother, Michael," said Jeremy. He went into the closet and got out a long, but small black box. When he handed me the box I could already tell it was jewelry. My mother is predictable. It was a solid gold rosary with gemstones and solid gold beads. The gold made it slightly heavier than usual rosaries so I knew it was real gold. It looked great and must've cost a fortune. Next was Jeremy's.
"I remember when we were little you had this thing with setting things on fire. I also know you don't like smokers, so I thought this present would be kind of ironic but," from his back pocket Jeremy pulled out another box. This one was more squared than the last one. The outside was a metallic gold. "Here you go, open it."
A solid gold lighter with an engraving on the sides, it was Latin. "Sub filiolus lux lucis, vadum vos exsisto tutis."'Under God's Light, Shall You be Protected'," it read.
When I ignited the lighter, the flame was large and it smelt like sodium and sulfur was mixed into the butane lighter fluid. It gave away that it used to be a used lighter before it was recycled.
"How old is this?" I asked Jeremy.
"I don't know I got it at an antique shop that was near Penn Station. When I bought it, it was all rusted and it was really working, the only thing that really caught my attention was the engraving on the side," he paused for a second staring at the lighter, "I got it renewed though and you have to admit it looks better than new."
This is true, I like the gift though, with it in my hands I could feel the uncontrollable urge to light up some fireworks or tissue to throw around. I put the lighter back in the box and placed it on the table. Now it was Vanessa's turn, I saw her run into the room not too long ago. It upsets me that my present was in our room the whole time and I didn't notice it at all.
She came out carrying a huge rectangle box. It didn't look like it had a lot of depth so it had to be something like a plasma screen TV or some sort of a frame. Opening the box, I discovered it was a painting. It was a painting of the archangel Michael standing on the back of Lucifer, the fallen angel from heaven. The painting sort of gave off a dominating feeling as you watch Michael drive his sword towards Lucifer, even if it was just a painting, if you stared into it long enough you can depict how the actual battle went.
"I remember how last year when we took you to the art gallery you were mesmerized by this painting. I guessed you really liked it since you just stood there staring," Vanessa said. She put the painting down on the ground against the wall in front of me. She walked behind me and gave me a kiss on the cheek and stared into the painting with me.
I don't remember if I was or wasn't staring into this picture last year. As a matter of fact, I don't remember staring at all, I thought I walked straight by it. Regardless it was a very generous gift as I am a connoisseur of Catholic and Christian art.
Later that night, after all the celebrating and drinking we received a call last night from Erica's house number. It was almost midnight, so knowing Erica this is something that she forgot to mention and is bringing up last minute.
"Hello, this is Michael," I said, holding the phone away I let out a loud yawn and put the phone back to my ear.
"Morning church boy," the voice on the other line wasn't Erica, it was a man. I could tell by the nickname "church boy" that it could only be one person.
"Oh, hello John, why are you calling this late?"
"I was actually hoping Vanessa would pick up, my little sister needs a place to stay and I'm still helping Erica move in so I don't have room for Jasmine at the moment. Vanessa said that she had a solution to the problem if I was ever open-minded to it."
"Oh okay, I'll go get her," I put the phone down and walked over to the living room. Vanessa was on the couch half asleep and half-buzzed. I tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. I got no response. I tapped her shoulder again. Still no response. I walked around the couch to the point where I was standing above her. I dragged her from the couch in the living room to the bedroom. While she was still on the floor I handed her the phone.
"Hello, who is this," she said rolling around, rubbing her eyes so they can adjust to the light, "Oh John, it's a surprise to hear from you," she immediately got up and started walking to the kitchen. The conversation was faint and I could hardly hear what she was talking about. It was tempting to pick up on the other line and listen in to the conversation but I would respect her privacy.
"…doesn't know yet but I'm sure everything will be fine," she was coming back to the room, "Alright, you're welcome John. Goodnight." She hung up the phone and placed it on the table near the entrance of the room. She stood there leaning against the wall studying me. The look in her eye was filled with both curiosity and suggestion, as if she was craving for something.
"It's not nice to drag a girl around when she's been drinking, people might get the wrong idea," she finally spoke.
"That's fine it's not like anyone's here to see it."
"Jeremy left? I guess that's okay. He probably has something to do in the morning, right?" she asked.
"Yeah, he probably has something to do with Kiki."
She walked up to me slowly and kissed me. She pulled back and stared at me. I love her eyes, rather more the look she gives me. It's comforting and loyal, at the same time it screams "I'm here for you."
I kissed her back, tenderly, holding her close to me. My lips traveled down her neck, my tongue gliding on her skin, moving up and down her neck. I press her body closer to mine. Lightly sucking on her skin, she moans as she claws into my back. My arms move from her lower back to the back of her thighs. I lift her against the walls and continue to kiss her neck. Her legs start to open more as she runs her hands through the back of my head pulling and gripping my hair violently. I lift her high against the wall, pressing my body even harder against hers. She removes her hands from the back of my head and moves her hands slowly in between our chest and begins to take off her shirt. In response, I put her down and start to take off mine, still kissing her sloppy-like. Our shirts are off and she jumps at me, pushing me to the bed. I fall back and accept her warm lips against mine. I switched positions with her, caressing her sides, allowing my hands to slowly make their way up to her breast. Undoing her bra, I massaged her breast. Between the caressing of her breast and the sucking on her neck she moaned slightly and tilted her head back. I slide my tongue back down her stomach line. My hands my down to her sides and quickly I glide her jeans right off her lower body. Using her legs she pulls me closer to her and I resist pushing back. I jump out of my pants quick and return to the bed with her quickly. I start kissing her neck again, this time with her on top of me. She arches her back, pushing her bare chest against my skin and sticking her ass out on her knees. She begins to slide down my chest, passed my abs, and down towards my boxers. She had that sexy sinister look in her eye as she rubbed her hand against my penis. She was always sexier when she craved for it. She continued to rub her hand against it, using her tongue to lick up the side of it. She started to remove my boxers. It was at that moment that I stopped her and shook my head. She remembered my rule. We switched positions and I wrapped my left arm around her inner thigh to pull her in closer. My right hand crawled its way up her other thigh, it felt warmer the closer I got. I set myself in an upright position and slowly pressed myself into her. As I moved deep enough, I slowly began to push in further and further, pulling out little by little. She held me closely and her hands were climbing up my back, so her body's sweat could feel mine. As she grew hotter, she kissed me more pressing her face harder against mine. Adrenaline was rushing through our veins. She started to press onto me harder and faster. All feelings of holding back were gone, she held me tighter as she had an orgasm. The tightening of her clit around my cock made me let lose into her.
Later that night I felt someone pressing against my shoulder. It was Vanessa.
"Baby, thank you for tonight, I had a lot of fun," she said to me.
"Thank you to baby, you were great as always," I responded. She looked deeply into my eyes. Watching her eyes glisten while she had a cute smile on made me smile too.
"Baby I need a favor."
"Yes," I paused with curiosity.
"Remember how Johnny called asking for me," I knew this wasn't good, "his sister, Jasmine, is going to attend the University in the fall. Jasmine was supposed to have Erica's old apartment, but Johnny isn't finished renovating the apartment so it's to his sister's liking. He was wondering if I could look after her for a couple of days," she paused, "and I said ye-es."
I rolled away and sat on the side of the bed. Just great, I thought to myself. I got up and walked to the bathroom. I fished the cabinet for my pills and took two. When I looked in the mirror though, I noticed that the marks on my forearms were gone. It was strange because they were there that whole morning, even at work. I should've looked what it meant today at work. Now I feel like an idiot. Maybe I was just seeing things or maybe I really just drank too much.
Yeah that's what it could be, I got so drunk yesterday that I drove home and didn't remember. When I got home I drank even more and passed out. The damage to my brain probably caused all of those hallucinations this morning to. I'll just convince myself that's what it was. But why do I still feel doubt.