An Angel's Love
Chapter 2: A Familiar Face
The next morning, I was fully dressed and ready to go for the day; I was wearing my favourite light blue t-shirt with the number one on the front printed in bright yellow with a red outline around it along with a dark blue jacket on top, matching tracksuit pants and white sneakers. I made my way downstairs to see Annie and Clarabel already there, sitting at the kitchen table. "Good morning, girls." I said as I made my way into the kitchen. The two turned their heads to see me and they both showed a bright smile.
"Good morning, Thomas!" The two happily replied; the three of us had already had breakfast, so there wasn't much of an issue concerning that. I headed over to the table and pulled my chair back, making myself comfortable. "So, did you two have a nice sleep last night?" I asked. Annie and Clarabel both cheerfully nodded in agreement, which was good news to me. I turned my head to look out the window and noticed that the sun was out and there were very little clouds in the sky. "It looks like it's going to be a nice day today. Who's up for going for a little walk into the city?" I asked, turning my glance back to Annie and Clarabel to hear what they had to say. They certainly seemed to agree with that idea, because they both smiled and immediately nodded.
"That sounds good to me." Clarabel commented. "There's nothing I'd enjoy more than spending a day in the city. And hopefully we'll get to see the others while we're there." Annie added. I immediately smiled hearing the two's responses; that meant that they accepted. We just needed to get what we wanted to bring and we'd be all set to go.
A little later, the three of us were stepping out of the house and I closed the door behind us, locking it to be on the safe side. Annie and Clarabel both had their handbags around their shoulders and they had their purses inside them; they were going to see if there was anything they wanted to buy. As for me, I was just going to relax and have a look around; we usually split up to take care of our own agendas. "All right, now that that's taken care of, let's get moving, shall we?" I asked, turning to Annie and Clarabel once I made sure that the door was locked. The two nodded in agreement and with that, the three of us made our way down the street towards the city. I thought that this was going to be just like any other day for me and my sisters. However, I didn't realise that I was soon going to be proven wrong...
It didn't take the three of us very long to get there. Once we arrived down at the street where the shopping district was, I turned to Annie and Clarabel to make sure we had our plans for the day sorted out. "Okay, so let's see if we remember how we're going to do this. We'll split up from here and head off to do our own things." I explained.
"We'll keep in touch with you in case we need anything." Annie said. "And then once we're done with whatever we needed to do, we'll meet back here in the afternoon." Clarabel added. I showed a big smile and nodded, knowing that the two girls had everything figured out. We went through this quite a few times, so they had it completely memorised. With that sorted, I started to make my way down the street while Annie and Clarabel headed off to find where the shops were.
As I was walking, I looked around to see the streets were filled with people walking up and down. This wasn't an unusual sight; almost every day that we came here, the streets were crowded. But one particular face caught my attention as I was walking: it was a girl that looked like she was the exact same age as me, sixteen years old. She was wearing a dark purple t-shirt with a matching skirt that had golden stripes along the sides and matching small boots, and she also had bright blue eyes and long bright yellow hair that was tied up in a ponytail behind her head. The second I saw her, I stopped dead in my tracks and watched as she was walking; something about her seemed familiar, though I couldn't put my finger on what it was. She then walked past me as though she didn't see me, but as she went past, that was when I felt like I had seen her somewhere before. Her appearance looked very familiar, that much was certain, and her attire was very similar to what I had seen on that night five months ago. Was it possible that girl was...? I quickly turned around to ask her, but I noticed that she had already turned the corner. As I was about to follow after her, that was when another voice stopped me from going off ahead.
"Hey, Thomas!" I turned around to see who it was and a bright smile crossed my face. It was Percy, my best friend and little brother at heart. He was wearing his favourite light green t-shirt with the number six on the front along with light brown shorts and matching runners. He was running over to see me and when he got close and stopped to catch his breath for a few seconds, after which he looked up at me with a big smile. "Thomas, it's great to see you!" Percy happily exclaimed.
"Hey, Percy. I didn't expect to see you out here." I replied, before Percy gave a tight hug much to my initial surprise. But then I simply smiled; this was just something Percy loved to do when we saw each other and I wasn't bothered by it at all. In fact, I loved seeing Percy so happy to see me. After a few seconds, Percy let go of me and the two of us started to walk down the street together. But as we were walking, I turned my glance back to look in the direction that girl was walking in and she just went past me without noticing I was there. I started to wonder: how come that girl looked so familiar, and why did I feel like I recognized her? Was it possible that she was...Lady?
My thoughts were interrupted when I heard Percy talk to me. "So, Thomas, how come you came out here today?" he asked. I quickly turned my glance back to Percy; I didn't want him to think that I was being rude to him and not listening to what he had to say.
"Oh, me and the girls just thought we'd come out here and relax today. Annie and Clarabel both went to do some shopping of their own and I'm just looking around seeing what there is for me to do." I explained. Percy showed a big smile before he nodded in understanding.
"Well, that's okay. I thought I'd come out and see if I could see you, and wouldn't you know it, you're out here too! Isn't that great?" Percy cheerfully replied. I simply nodded showing a smile, and then I turned my head back in the direction I saw the girl walk in; I couldn't help thinking about whether or not she looked familiar to me. I did notice a similarity in her clothes from Lady's, so that started to make me wonder if that girl really was her. As I was busy thinking about that to myself, I didn't notice that Percy had started to walk off ahead before he turned back to see me staring blankly in the opposite direction. "Hey, Thomas! Are you coming?" Percy asked. I quickly shook my head hearing Percy calling from behind me and then turned my glance to him and nodded while showing a nervous smile.
"Y-yeah, I'm coming." I nervously replied before running over to where Percy was before the two of us started to walk down the street together towards the local mall.
After about a few minutes of walking, the two of us arrived at the mall and we were both looking around to see the various shops there were in the building; Percy was having a look to see if there would be anything that would catch his eye while I had my eyes darting around for a different reason. I wanted to see if I would be able to find the girl I saw earlier; I wasn't sure why, but I felt the need to find out who she really was and if I could find out if she was who I thought she was. But while I was focused on that, I didn't notice that Percy had run off in a different direction and as soon as I took notice of that, I looked around wondering where he could have gone off to. "Percy? Where'd you go?" I asked, showing an expression of concern; I was hoping that he hadn't gone far, since I didn't want him to get lost in the building and have no idea of where I was.
"Hey, Thomas! I'm over here!" My eyes darted back and forth for a few moments the moment I heard Percy's voice, as I was wondering where he was, before I turned my head to see him waving to me from where he was looking through the window of a shop he had found. I showed a smile of relief seeing that he was okay before running over to find out what he was looking at. "Look at that, Thomas. Doesn't it look great?" Percy asked, pointing at the window display of the shop. I turned my glance to see what had caught Percy's attention and noticed that the item he had his eyes on was a twin screen game system with 3D setting; it was currently the new handheld system that had come out and Percy had been keeping his eyes on it since the day he saw it on advertisement. It was just a shame that the thing only cost a hundred dollars just by itself.
"Let me guess: you're still waiting for the day you save up enough to buy yourself one of those, aren't you?" I asked, turning my head to Percy with a cheeky smile crossing my face. Percy turned to me before he cheerfully nodded with a big smile.
"I sure am. As soon as that day comes, the first thing I'm going to do is buy two of them: one for me and one for you. True, it will take a while for me to get the amount I need, but good things always come to those who wait, you know." Percy replied, before turning his attention back to the handheld system. I simply rolled my eyes with a smile of amusement, but at the same time, I didn't hold it against Percy because I could tell how much he was looking forward to buying it as soon as he had enough to afford it.
While Percy was occupied, I had a look out to see what else I could find for us to see and that was when I received an unexpected surprise: just up ahead looking through the window of a clothing shop...was the same girl I saw earlier! I immediately shook my head in disbelief, since I honestly couldn't believe what I was seeing. After taking a few seconds to recover from the initial shock, I slowly showed a big smile and started to walk over to where she was, standing there and looking through the shop window with a small smile. But before I could get a chance to try to get her attention, I felt someone pulling me by the arm and turned my head to find that it was Percy; he was dragging me along with him. "Come on, Thomas! Let's see if we can find where the food court is." Percy cheerfully said. I then turned my glance to see the girl stare at the shop for a few seconds before turning and walking off; I nearly had a chance to talk to her and find out who she was, and then Percy had to come over and drag me along with him. But I decided not to raise any complaints and simply followed after him, turning my head back to see if the girl was still there, only to be met with a surprise when I saw that she was nowhere to be seen; I was left staring in bewilderment and wondering where she could have gone. Sufficed to say, I decided to keep my eyes open to see if I could spot her a little later down the line.
Sometime later, the two of us arrived at the food court and needless to say, we were in for an unexpected surprise. As we both looked around, we could see a large variety of foods being sold at different places and while I was simply staring with an expression of disbelief and my mouth dropped open, Percy was silent for a few seconds before a big smile of awe slowly crossed his face. "Wow, this place is huge! How about we go see what they have?" he asked, turning his head to me.
I simply nodded in agreement, so Percy ran off ahead and as I went to follow him, I decided to keep my eyes on the move to see if I could stop the girl I was looking for. As I started scanning the surroundings of the food court, I stopped when I noticed someone nearby ordering lunch for herself: it was her! A bright smile immediately crossed my face upon seeing her and I started to walk over to her, but then I stopped when I heard Percy's footsteps coming from behind me. I turned my head to see him walking over with two lunch trays in his hands, one of which was for me. "Hey, glad to see you waited for me! You ready to have some lunch?" Percy asked, showing a big smile. I grabbed one of the trays from him and looked to see that on it, there was a large plate that had a serve of chips with calamari rings on the side. I then turned my glance up to Percy who was walking over to an empty table in front of us and then I turned my head to see the girl walking over to another table that was beside her. As I watched her, Percy seemed to notice because he placed his tray down on the place he would be sitting at and walked over to me.
"Thomas?" he asked. Upon hearing his voice from beside me, I blinked my eyes rapidly to get my focus back and turned my glance to see Percy looking at me with an expression of concern. "Are you okay? You look like you've been blanking out a few times today. Is everything alright?" Percy concernedly asked.
I remained silent seeing Percy's expression of concern and then I turned my glance down at the floor, my eyes shifting back and forth as I was trying to decide whether or not I should tell Percy the reason for my behaviour today. I wasn't sure of what he would say if I told him the truth, but at the same time, I wanted to tell him more than anything, but I couldn't figure out what I should do. Luckily, I had an idea of what I should do when placed in situations like this and turned my glance up to the blue sky visible through the windows on the ceiling. 'Father, please help me. I'm uncertain of what to do; I want to tell Percy about the way I've been behaving today, but I'm worried of what he will say when he hears it. Please, help me make the right decision.' I silently prayed. As soon as I said that, I felt my worries fade away and be replaced with peace, along with a smile crossing my face; I still found it to be amazing that the tricky choices could be made really easy with the right person to help me make them. So, with the decision firm in my mind, I turned my glance to Percy as he was still looking at me in concern, wondering I was okay.
"Percy, do you remember when I told you about Lady?" I asked. Percy immediately showed a bright smile and nodded in agreement. "Of course I do! I still remember what happened the day you told me about it." Percy cheerfully replied. I slowly showed a bright smile, knowing that Percy still remembered that day just as clearly as I did. I could recount what happened like it was only yesterday...
It had been about a few weeks since Lady came to see me and I was heading over to Percy's house to tell him about the experience I had. I still couldn't stop thinking about what happened; it was just that amazing to me. I soon found myself at the doorstep of Percy's house and opened the door to see that there was practically no one inside. "Hello? Percy, where are you?" I asked as I stepped inside while closing the door behind me. As I made my way into the living room and started to have a look to see if there was anyone there, I was caught by surprise when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I darted my head to the left to find no one standing behind me, and then to the right to see that there was still no one there. "All right, is someone playing a trick on me?" I asked, showing an expression of annoyance. I then turned right around... to see Percy standing there with a big smile on his face.
"Hey there, Thomas!" Percy cheerfully greeted, waving to me. I jumped back letting out a yell of surprise while Percy covered his mouth trying to restrain his giggling at his little bit of mischief. After I got a few seconds to recover and catch my breath, I showed an expression of irritation as Percy started laughing like silly.
"Percy! Don't do that!" I snapped; one of these days, I was sure that Percy was going to give me a heart attack if he kept that up. After laughing for a few seconds, Percy started to calm down as he looked up at me with that big smile written all over his face.
"Sorry about that. I just thought I'd have a little bit of fun with you before properly saying hello. What's up?" Percy asked. I quickly showed a bright smile replacing my expression of irritation, as I was looking forward to telling Percy about this.
"There's something I need to tell you about, Percy." I explained. Percy's interest seemed to perk up as soon as he heard this, because an expression of interest crossed his face before he nodded, looking eager to hear the rest of what I had to say. "You saw the news report about the car accident down on our street, right?" I then asked.
Percy then showed an expression of dismay as he slowly nodded. "Yeah, I did. I'm sorry about what happened to your mum, Thomas. I'll bet Annie and Clarabel must have been devastated when they learnt about it." Percy replied. I then looked down with an expression of sadness crossing my face as I remembered Annie and Clarabel's reactions upon hearing the news; the two of them had burst into tears, and I felt the same way as them despite the fact that I didn't let them see it. I could feel tears start to fill my eyes just thinking about it. But I blinked rapidly to get them away before Percy saw, and then I showed a bright smile as I felt ready to continue.
"Well, after I saw the report, I went up to my room to be by myself; I wasn't able to make sense of it and I was wondering why something like this had to happen to Mum. But as I was trying to make sense of it, that was when... she came." I explained. I could see Percy's eyes start to grow large in awe as he was wondering who I was talking about, and I showed a bright smile seeing that I had his attention. "She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen, and she was unlike anything I had seen; her name was Lady. She had actually just learnt about what had happened and came to see me to try and help me feel better." I continued. Percy slowly showed a smile of awe as he listened to this, but then an expression of puzzlement crossed his face.
"Wait, there's something about that I don't understand. How did Lady know about what happened if she had just arrived to see you?" Percy asked, scratching his head in confusion. I simply showed a smile of puzzlement seeing that Percy was unable to make sense of what I was saying.
"That's where the best part of this comes in, Percy. You know the reason that Lady knew about the accident so quickly? It's because... Lady's an angel!" I replied, a bright smile crossing my face as I said the last part. I simply remained for a few seconds to hear what Percy's reaction would be, and he stared in silence before a big smile of awe slowly crossed his face.
"Really? Wow... that is amazing!" Percy happily exclaimed. I showed a bright smile upon hearing this; I knew that Percy was as big of a fan of things like this as I was, so I had a feeling he would be thrilled to learn about this. "I mean, just... wow! You were actually visited by an angel! I had no idea that was actually possible!" Percy exclaimed, looking like he was ready to start bouncing off the walls from awe. I couldn't help giggling to myself seeing how awestruck Percy was. After taking a few seconds to calm himself down, Percy showed a big smile and rushed over to me. "Oh, you are so fortunate, Thomas! Getting an opportunity like this is the kind of thing I could only dream of. Do you think you'll get to see Lady again soon?" he asked.
I looked down to think about it; it had been a few weeks since Lady came to see me, and she did promise that she would come to see me again someday. "I'm not entirely sure yet, Percy. Lady did say that she hoped she would get to see me again, and I know that as an angel, she'll probably be very busy. But don't you worry; when she does come to see me again, I'll make sure you get the chance to meet her." I replied. Percy showed a bright smile at this and promptly nodded; he would be looking forward to that as much as I was.
I had a bright smile on my face having remembered all of that, and then I turned my attention back to Percy to see that he had an expression of puzzlement on his face. "Why do you ask?" he then asked. I turned my glance back and forth to make sure that no one else was listening in to this, and then I leaned over to Percy so I could whisper this to him.
"Well, I've spotted a girl who looks just like Lady, and her clothes look exactly like what Lady wore when she visited me. I have a feeling that it might actually be her." I quietly explained. The second I said that, I could see Percy already start to show a big smile; he felt that this would be his chance to meet Lady after nearly five months of waiting. "But I don't really know for sure if it's Lady, so I want to find out if this girl and Lady are the same person, and I'll need some help with doing that. Do you think you'll be able to help me out?" I asked.
Percy showed a bright smile and promptly nodded. "Of course I'll help you out, Thomas! What do you need me to do?" he asked. I showed a bright smile hearing that Percy would help me out with figuring out if the girl I was seeing was really Lady, and I already had an idea on how to get this started.
"Well, what I need you to do is..." I started before whispered the rest of my plan to Percy. He seemed to pay close attention to what I had to say, because he nodded in understanding with a big smile. What I had in mind was that Percy would talk to the girl and ask her about what she knew, and then he would send the information back to me and I would take over from there and work out if this girl and Lady was the same person.
"You got it, Thomas! I'll get right to it!" Percy cheerfully replied. I showed a big smile and nodded, knowing I could count on Percy for help. This was going to be a plan I knew wouldn't fail.