Chapter 8 - In The Beginning...
I woke up Saturday morning to hear someone pounding on my door. I shuffled over to the door, rubbing my left eye and opening the door with my right hand. Kaya was there; her turquoise eyes were filled to the brim with anger, and she looked ready to beat the crap out of someone (namely, me).
"It's 10:30! Why aren't you ready?" She exclaimed angrily, pushing herself into my room.
"Ready for what?" I asked, yawning. I looked at myself in the mirror, noting the nags under my eyes. "Gross."
"We were supposed to meet Daniel and Roland a half an hour ago, Devil!"
"Shit! I completely forgot!"
"Whatever. Now hurry up!"
"Perfection can't be rushed." I smirked and grabbed my clothes.
"Oh fuck you." She smiled.
I quickly took a shower and got ready to leave. After, we locked my door and sprinted outside and onto the commons.
"Nice one!" We heard Roland call as he came into view. A soccer ball was sailing to him.
Nice, they started without us.
I watched as Arriane trotted over to Roland (from where she was sitting on the bleachers) and started to talk to him. Gabbe and Molly were staring at something, their arms crossed in disapproval. I followed their gaze and saw Daniel leading Luce past the grove of half-rotten peach trees. Gabbe started to smile when she saw the way that Daniel helped Luce maneuver through the trees.
Suddenly, I felt the world spin. Wait. I've seen this before.
I felt a memory start to bubble to the surface of my thoughts, but then it backfired, leaving me with an exploding headache. I stumbled and grabbed Kaya, holding onto her for balance.
"Devil, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just a slight migraine." I let go of her and we started to head towards Roland and Arriane, who now looked like they were betting on something (they were shaking hands). I felt a wave of nausea crash through me and I put my hands on the side of my face and cringed a little. What was wrong with me?
Wait. Is someone watching me?
I looked up and saw Cam heading towards me, his cocky trademark grin plastered on his gorgeous face. I looked at him, shocked as black spots danced across my vision. Another wave of nausea crashed over me. I tried to grab onto Kaya as it overtook my senses, but my hand just slipped down her arm. As the ground rushed towards me, I saw the grin disappear from his face as he ran towards me.
My eyes fluttered shut as I gave into unconsciousness.
Angelique?
Hey Angelique, can you hear us?
Angelique, Wake up!
The cries of my friends reached me through the darkness.
It felt like I was gagged and tied down to a chair. I wanted to scream for help, but I didn't have control of my body.
Angel-
Their voices began to fade and soon it was silent.
What the fuck was going on? Was I dead? Was this what death feels like?
If this is what death feels like, I promise to no longer welcome it.
The silence didn't last long though, the voices soon started to grow louder again. What started out as a whisper, quickly grew to yelling.
Angelique—
I felt the urge to cover my ears. I tried to block them out. The silence was better than this.
They screeched in my ears, each one trying to get my attention. Foreign languages were being flung at me in all directions, each getting more and more desperate the more I tried to block them out.
Eventually, I realized that through the madness, many names were being called.
Heather—
Jennifer—
Cynthia—
Alexandria—
Unfortunately for me, as soon as I was able to make out each name, a splitting pain rocked through my body. It felt like my brain was going to be torn in half.
If this is what hell is, I would never wish this upon my worst enemy.
All of a sudden, I started to see visions. What seemed like a thousand names were running through my mind. With each name came a vision of a beautiful teenage girl about my age. Each girl was different and unique, but they all had one thing in common. Their chocolate brown eyes.
My chocolate brown eyes.
Suddenly I was sitting up in a throne; however, I couldn't get up. My hands and feet were being held to the throne with leather straps.
The girls from my visions appeared in front of me, surrounding me. They slowly started to move towards me.
What the hell is this? Some kind of satanic ritual? GET ME OUT OF HERE
"Stay back!" I screamed as they approached me. They didn't heed my words, only getting closer. They reached towards me, and I felt my heart beat quicken as I started to panic.
"D-don't touch me! Please! Don't touch me!"
Again, they did not listen. My heart was pounding in my ears as they laid their cold hands on me, smiling as they did.
As each one touched me, I felt pieces of my memory fall into place. I sat there, for who knows how long, as each girl shared their story with me.
By the seventh girl, four things were clear.
Each girl was me, but in a different time period. As weird as this sounds, I realized this when I was in their bodies throughout most of their stories.
Each girl was related to Luce in some way. I found this out as they took me through their – our memories. Each one was Luce's friend, enemy, neighbor or sometimes just another girl in the community.
Daniel, Cam, Gabbe, Roland, Arriane and Molly are angels. I saw them all gathered on a street in Moscow, with their wings out, in the middle of a military attack. At least now I know why I had that vision in the cemetery.
The last thing that I realized was the weirdest out of the four. I could handle past lives and Luce, but a weird obsession? No way. Each of the girls had always admired Luce, watched her from afar, and loved her like she was their sister, even if they did not show any outward indication of it.
Why? Why was Luce so special, and why is this happening to me?
Did they somehow realize that Luce was about to die and were stalking her as a result?
As I went through life after life, I began to realize another thing, that each girl had a tragic ending. Each girl would watch Lucinda die and then she would die herself. Sometimes it would be a few hours before she died, sometimes it would be only a few minutes!
Again, why the fuck is this happening? None of these girls did nothing wrong. Granted, some were jerks, but they didn't deserve any of this.
Nezerra—
Mary—
Elizabeth—
Indra—
Luci—
Roza—
Chiara—
Antionette—
Alanna—
Helen.
I was finally at the last girl. It's about time. It took me forever to listen to all of those other girls. After a while, it started to get boring, to be honest.
I stared up at the last girl.
Helen. Unlike my other selves, she was a little bit older than the rest and had the same look that Daniel wore the other day. She gave me a sad smile as she reached out to touch me.
I'm going to get to the bottom of this.
I'm sorry. She mouthed before she laid her hand on my shoulder, forcing me into her past.
Helen was the oldest of five children and lived on a medieval manor sometime during the Middle Ages. She grew up to be strong and beautiful. When I jumped into to Helen's life and I found myself in a room with three other girls. One was staring out of a window.
"What does she stare at for so long? What could possibly be so interesting?" A voice whispered besides me.
"The good Lord only knows," I felt myself reply, sighing afterwards. "My sister is laden with dreams." The girl at the window turned around slowly.
Luce! Wait, so they're sisters in this life? That's new...
Helen's life suddenly sped up. For Helen and the medieval Luce it didn't, but to me it flew.
Helen must want me to see something.
Helen's life suddenly came to a standstill and I felt myself crying. I felt the grief rack through Helen's body as she cried over Lucinda's death. I leafed through Helen's memory.
That's odd, she didn't see Luce's death take place like the others. She also didn't die after her death like the others did, considering that Luce has been dead for a while.
I felt someone wrap their arms around me and kiss my forehead. I knew that it was Helen's husband. He comforted her, even in his sleep.
When Helen's husband fell back to sleep, Helen got to work.
I felt myself leave Helen's body and walked to a small window and observed her. Helen herself didn't seem to be able to see me. She paced around the small room, muttering what sounded like a chant under her breath. After a few minutes of this, she took out a small leather pouch from a pocket in her nightgown. She emptied the bag's contents in her hands (which looked like a black and white powder) and blew it into the dying fire in the center of the room.
Upon the powder touching the dying fire, the fire suddenly flared up, causing Helen to jump. The fire died out with a hiss and in front of the hearth was a horrible gray creature with thick, jet-black wings. He smiled at Helen and she gasped, scrambling to the farthest corner of the small room.
"Do not be shy," the monstrous, deep, phlegm-filled voice teased. "I will not hurt you, after all, I assume you called me here for a reason."
Wait, Helen called that!
I had to bite my palm to keep myself screaming. After all, I didn't know whether or not the new arrival could see me. The creature was hideous and smelled like rotting flesh. It was absolutely disgusting.
Meanwhile, Helen was straightening herself out. The fear was obvious in her eyes, but her posture made her look defiant.
"I want you to bring my sister back." Helen said softly, gaining courage as she spoke on. "I want us to always be together, even if it means defining everything I believe in and turning to you."
"And if I give you your sister, the price will be..." The creature pondered a minute "your soul."
Okay, this does not look good at all...
"Deal."
Wait. What?
"You will follow your sister through her punishment and watch her end every time. Your ending will be just as tragic as hers every time. You'll never grow over 17. And in the end, when you remember your sin I will come to collect your soul."
"Wait! That was not the-" Helen was cut short when Lucifer stabbed her with some sword with a red hilt and then she burst into white flames.
I watched in horror as the flames consumed Helen's body until there was nothing left.
Then the creature looked straight at me.
Time seemed to freeze as we stared at each other. His upper lip curled into a ferocious smile as he took me in.
"I'll see you later, my dear."
I opened my eyes to white lights. Cringing, I lifted my arm to cover my eyes, and felt a tug. I groaned involuntarily as I saw the I.V. in my arm. Wait. I.V.? I looked down, I was back in my body. I felt my heartbeat start to quicken as I recalled the scene between Helen and Lucifer.
He's going to come after me... He's going...
I ripped the I.V. from my arm and searched the small room for my clothes. I quickly found them in an old dresser and put them on. I grabbed my iPhone from the top of the dresser and ran out of the hospital. No one tried to stop me. It was three o'clock (in the morning), way too early to call a cab. I scanned the darkness around me, feeling Lucifer's words echo in my mind. I grabbed my phone and started dialing. I dialed and dialed again, my shaky fingers betraying me. On the fourth try, I got the number right and pressed the call symbol.
On the third ring he answered. "Hello." Daniel said groggily.
"Daniel, can you come get me?"
"Angelique?" A pause. "Angelique!" He said, sounding surprised. "You're supposed to be in the hospital! Where are you? Are you okay?"
"Relax Danny, it's okay. I'm right outside of the hospital. I still need you to pick me up though, I really don't care if you use wings or whatever, but-" He cut me off.
"Wings? What drugs do they have you on?"
"I know Daniel. I remembered, and judging the look on your face from the day of social, you know who I am too."There was a long pause on his end of the line and he sighed softly.
"Okay, I'm coming to get you, but you have a lot of explaining to do."
I beamed. "Thanks Danny. You're the best." I said sweetly.
"See you in a few." He hung up on me, and I started laughing. I can just imagine the scowl on his face...
My smile faded as I remembered Lucifer's threat again.
It was going to be a long few minutes...
Edited 1/5/16
