Hey everyone..
You guys probably hate me lols.
But I typed up this extra long chapter in a period of two days, and I hope you all enjoy. In this chapter you get a peek at Troy's relationship with his mother :) And i have a surprise for you in this one too.
Leave me pretty reviews.
Troy approached her slowly, fell to his knees, and slowly brought his hands up to her sides. With shaky breaths, he opened his mouth and spoke, "We did it, Azrael."
He leaned forward and pressed his forehead into her stomach digging his fingers into her flesh, as if he was trying to crawl inside her womb.
Gabriella sat frozen watching Troy as he trembled with delight. When his words finally sunk in, she shot up from the pillow-top mattress and walked over to the mirror where she examined her stomach. Gabriella turned to the side and nearly fainted when she saw the small bump there, where her flat soccer induced pack used to be. She wrapped her arms around her middle, at the thought of not one but two children growing inside her, and the fact that they could crawl out anytime they wanted terrified her. She looked back at Troy and forced a smile then looked back at her reflection. Her rosy cheeks were gone, the rich olive texture of her soft supple skin was replaced with a pasty cream complexion and dry skin. She looked like death. She finally looked the part of the grim reaper.
That made her smile a bit. She closed her eyes and rocked a little, side to side, and imagined which child the violet eyes she saw in her dreams belonged to. Troy came up to her and rested his chin on her head caressing the underside of her tummy. He tried to connect with her thoughts, trying to read her mind like he had been able to before but she had successfully learned how to block him out over the past few months and tonight it only seemed as if the blockage had gotten stronger.
He laid a soft lingering kiss on her head and stood there with her, basking in the new strange feeling of parenthood. His heart softened a bit and he knew telling her was the right thing to do. He just hadn't realized that she had grown so much in the past few days. He knew that she'd probably be waddling in another two weeks and the smell of her motherhood had been driving him mad since the moment they conceived. He thought he was wrong, but the intimate scent of a mother was hard to miss.
Troy leaned his cheek on the top of her head and inhaled then placed three brief kisses on her head as they began to rock again. He pulled away and took her hand, leading her to the bed so they could continue where they left off. She let him lead her, not once looking away from her motherly reflection, until he lightly pushed her to the bed and climbed on top of her. He kissed her passionately then carressed her face. They looked up at the lights dancing above their heads, their souls intiwinging beore their very eyes. And instead of two there was four, two new yellow lights joined in the soul dance at the ceiling of the bedroom. Gabriella nearly cried, instead she took Troy's face in her hands and kissed him before uttering, "Make love to me, Abbadon. Tonight's a good night."
"Shit."
Troy grumbled as he slammed down on the loud alarm clock. That meant it was eleven o'clock. He'd definitely slept in. He turned over, his limbs tangled in the sheets and opened his eyes searching for his lover who had seemingly abandoned him for something to eat.
He threw the covers off of him, pulled on his underwear, and followed the smell of raw meat. He stopped at the doorway of the kitchen and watched Gabriella as she quickly moved around the kitchen making her herself some breakfast. He lifted a perfect brow at the sight of the raw meat on the counter. She picked up the container of ground beef and held her hand down on the plastic, licking her lips as the blood ran out the package and into a cup she had washed for herself.
Troy chuckled and Gabriella looked up, blushing, and embarrassed at her animalistic behavior.
"I broke the blender last night." she said softly, looking over at her destruction in the sink. Troy nodded and smiled, "Sheesh."
He pushed her aside and opened the package of meat before cutting it up and placing it on a plate. He put it in the microwave and turned to her. Watching her as she drank the blood from the cup she had.
He grabbed it and put it on the counter. "How 'bout you slow down on that stuff, and have some food, Gabriella."
"I tried, I can't swallow anything cooked." Nodding to the microwave with a frown, "That stuff, it's going to make me throw up if it's too cooked."
Troy looked down into the cup and watched the bubbles pop and disappear, the fat separating from the blood, and the oils from the package float on top of the liquid. Grimacing, he pushed the cup back toward her and retrieved the food from the microwave. He dug a fork into one bite and held it out for her.
"Eat."
She leaned forward and took a bite, chewing slowly then smiling as she swallowed it. "Not bad."
He pushed the plate and the fork toward her and turned to the fridge. "Do you want to try something else?"
"Anything." she said as she stuffed her face with the meat. She watched him as he ducked into the refrigerator and came back with vegetables. He laid out celery, tomatoes, and carrots. He began chopping them up and dropping them into her tall glass of blood.
"It'll make it less gross, trust me. " he looked up at her inquisitive face and smiled. "I'd been wondering where all those packages of meat were going if you and I hadn't cooked dinner in a while. I figured you were giving them to the cat, not eating them yourself."
"I haven't eaten in days, Troy." she said slowly, "I've been drinking the blood out of the packages when I realized I couldn't stop puking everything back up. She sipped her drink and crunched down on the bits of veggies in her mouth then took another bite of the meat.
"I'm in heaven." she moaned. Troy snickered and came around the kitchen island to wrap his arms around her, stroking the available skin where her shirt had ridden up.
"How are you feeling?"
"Fine." she said softly. She turned around and licked the blood off her lips, her eyes turned from the soft violet to a deep brown he hadn't seen in weeks. He leaned down and kissed her tasting a bit of the blood in her mouth and licking his own lips. He kissed her again and bit down on her lip, drawing a bit of blood then sucking some out before he licked closed her wound. He reached behind her and took a forkful of meat then raising it to her mouth, feeding her. She took it gratefully then looked around him and out the kitchen window. Pushing him away, she giggled and opened the back door, "Raphael!"
"Whoa there! You're the size of a watermelon already." He joked. He watched her bashfully giggle and pull down her shirt. "I'm joking, Gabriella. You look beautiful."
She looked down at her stomach and wondered what she'd look like that big. "Thank you."
She took his hand and brought him inside the house. Troy looked up and grinned, "Hey, man."
"Abaddon!" he chuckled. "Gabriella saw me checking the place out for the morning and pulled me in. I hope I'm not intruding." he nodded at the bloody counter.
Troy shook his head and laughed, "I woke up to the kitchen this way, Raph, she destroyed the blender and half the kithen already." He pulled Gabriella into his side and laid a kiss on her forehead.
"So I take it you found out last night?" Raphael asked as he pulled out a stool and sat. He prodded at the meat with the fork then looked up.
Gabriella nodded and Troy shrugged, "She found out last night."
"Ahh, you smelt it, huh?" Raphael laughed. "Gabriel and Michael told me you must have known. Gabriel said he talked to you about it subliminally while Gabriella was unconscious."
"Yeah, she'd been acting strange, smelt kind of funny too." Troy bumped her with his shoulder and she smiled and picked up her glass.
"She seems ecstatic. Can I tell her the names?" Raphael smiled at Gabriella and her motherly glow.
"Go ahead, it's the only thing she needs to know now."
"Wait, we can't name our children?" she looked up at Troy worriedly, emphasizing the word our.
"It's names we already had in mind, Gabriella…" he said, letting her know that God chose them.
Raphael interrupted, "Your daughter's angelic name will be Kalypso, her earthly name Violet."
"What does Kalypso mean?" Gabriella asked curiously, not wanting to admit that the name Violet had been in her mind for a while.
"She that conceals." Troy answered her proudly. Raphael smiled and nodded with agreement.
"Your son's angelic name will be Ariel, that means Lion of God. Tristan is the earthly name the council chose."
Gabriella grinned widely, "I love it. Twins..."
Troy and Raphael chuckled at her expression and Troy pointed at her plate, "Eat, we got a lot to do today. You'll see Raphael later." Troy nodded at Raphael, letting him know it was time to go.
"Walk me to the door?" Raphael said with a mischievous look in his eyes. Troy patted Gabriella on the lower back before exiting the kitchen with Raphael.
"Where are you taking her first?" Raphael asked.
"To the doctor, Raph, then I'm taking her shopping and probably somewhere relaxing. Why?" Troy looked at his friend quizzically.
"Job hunting. We need to go job hunting, Abaddon. The men in blue have been circling the area since we took the protective barrier from around the area. I say we do construction, something honest and with enough pay that seems liable to pay a mortgage. People are wondering how you are getting electricity and connection with no telephone wires." Raphael chuckled.
"Tell them I have Verizon or something, Raph." Troy frowned, "And why are you talking to people?"
"Why shouldn't I, they can see me now that I have a full time job here." Raphael announced.
Troy smiled. "Leave."
Raphael held his hands up then walked out the door. "I'll be here for you by 6 so we can start looking at newspaper ads, be home."
Troy watched Raphael jog down the steps then take off in flight before closing the door.
Sharpay's insides were burning, she hadn't received word back from Xander that Troy had received her letter. It was getting close to the deadline she had written and she was worried that when Troy got it he wouldn't have enough time to get what she needed and her plan would be foiled.
Picking up a piece of coal she scratched on the wall of her cell the number 108. She'd seen her picture in the newspaper this morning, she was in the missing section, missing since January 8th, that was exactly 333 days from the today (in Hell days). It was summer on the surface, Hell stopped producing as much coal as usual and the heat had now officially stopped affecting her. Her plead to Satan had been returned yet again with a big red stamp on it that read the word she has seen a total of 8 times.
REJECTED
She had grown tired of being in this small cell, and as another one of Hell's demons came and brought her the nasty lunch she has been eating for the past 108 days she'd been in Hell, she reached out, grabbed him, and pulled him into the bars forcefully, knocking him unconscious.
Crouching down, she reached under the gate and dragged him. Sharpay listened as his bones broke and crushed so he could fold appropriately under the iron bars. She bit into his neck and fed her desires for the past few days, the taste of cooked rotten flesh and spoilt blood almost drove her into orgasmic bliss and she dined on the little morsel.
Death never tasted so sweet.
Mrs. Bolton walked slowly down the hallway of her apartment building, she'd walked this way countless numbers before, her mind and heart heavy with sorrow. Carrying her groceries she sighed and continued her path sluggishly.
East High had burnt down and there were 666 unrecovered bodies, there had been no word from her son and when they did the roll call of the student body, he had been marked as absent. She had never regretted how she lived her life until that fateful call she'd gotten yesterday.
"Hello?"
"Is this Ms. Majorie Bolton?"
"This is she, who's calling?"
"This is the Vice Principal of East High Prepatory, Mr. Matsui. I hope you have heard that unfortunately the campus was burnt down by a wildfire and 666 students have been reported missing, Ms. Bolton, unfortunately there has been no word from your son Troy. He was not marked as present in the roll call this morning and has not been seen. I pray that you have heard from him?"
She wasn't even sure what to say when she heard the number 666, the devil's number. She'd known then that he'd tell her that her baby boy was dead.
She shook her had and remembered that he couldn't see her. "No…no, I haven't…" she inhaled sharply, "Is this some kind of sick joke?" she chocked, "Did Troy put you up to this? Tell him I'm going to beat his ass, I'm on my way to that god damn school now and I'm going to beat the dog shit out of him!" she screamed.
"Ms. Bolton… Ms. Bolton…" Mr Matsui tried to interject but he couldn't seem to get a word in as Mrs. Bolton screamed and testified to the beating she was going to lay on Troy.
"You know I haven't spoke to that boy in weeks, I don't know why but I haven't seen him in even longer. He always tells me to stay in New York. Stay in New York, Mom. That's what he'd say to me, alright. When you suspended him for that fight, he tried to get me to leave right after I signed those damned papers but I told him I was going to take him out of East High. I should have." The tears came to her eyes, "My bad ass little boy, I didn't give him enough love. He was so smart it was scary and he'd been using that intelligence, that creepy intelligence on his mommy. Got himself a scholarship and was so sure he wanted to go to that fucking school. Something was so fucking special about that school."
"Ms. Bolton, I understand that you are grieving but I need you to file a report here in Albuquerque. Now if you need me to, I can book you a flight and you can pay me back when you get here. I'm working this out with several other parents and it's quite alright, just give me an add-"
"That boy did crazy shit, with those big old wise eyes of his. My boy set fire to all three of the cats I grew up with, he has the creepiest laugh, when he was fifteen he bought these crazy looking black contacts that he'd put in when I wasn't looking and scare the shit out of me with. Yes, my boy was stupid crazy but those moments that he told me shit about the afterlife, that he ruled his own world, that the key he dug up in my backyard has been waiting and will be waiting for him every turn of the century, I believed him sometimes. He is too good to be true. He was so cold, threw my elderly papa out the window, pushed my even older aunty down three flights of stairs, broke his little cousin's arm in three separate places with one movement. I would say he killed my mother, but that's stretching it. He did one of his stupid little stares, icy little stares they are, and a magic trick of his, I guess, and the poor woman dropped at the dinner table. My sister says he's the devil's incarnate. She believes he does shit to torment her, that she is always the only one around to see the stupid little stunts that he pulls. We put her in the loony bin after she said that he flew across the room."
Ms. Bolton sighed after relaying Troy's history to Mr. Matsui, "I love him and he's so special. He's my beautiful innocent little boy, just one of those rough and tough ones. The one's that believe it's them against the world. The one's that don't see shit for what it really is , the type that don't use their talents because they don't think they'd ever need them. He's precious… So can you please tell Troy that I'm not coming down there again, and can you tell him that'd I'd feel it when he died? My maternal instinct will kick in and I'd know, would you tell him that please?" Ms. Bolton rubbed at her eyes. "And tell Troy that I'm sorry, that I love him even more than the distance between us." Picking up the baby pictures from her dresser she dragged her thumb across Troy's chubby cherubic face. "Thank you."
Hanging up, Majorie straightened her clothing and placed the picture of baby Troy in her back pocket before walking out the front door of her apartment. Leaving the newsreporter on the television screen calling the names of the children who did survive the fire. The list that her child's name wasn't on.
Ms. Bolton paused at her door, digging for the keys when she looked up and realized the door was already open. She pushed the door slowly and peeked her head around before stepping in. Biting her lip as tears of joy cascaded her cheeks, she shook her head and snickered.
"Hey ma, I'm home." Troy said, lounging on the couch comfortably. "What's for dinner?"
"Gabriella?"
Gabriella turned sharply from the meat she had been eyeing in the Poultry Section of Shop Rite. Bringing her scarf close around her body to hide her stomach, she quizzically looked for who called her name.
"Taylor?"
"Oh my God, it's really you!" Taylor ran and hugged her, squeezing the petite brunette and sandwhiching her arms between them. Gabriella struggled to hug back and smiled.
"How have you been?" Gabriella pulled away and began browsing the meat selection.
"East High burnt down, Gabs." Taylor said softly.
Gabriella frowned and rubbed Taylor's arm after picking up a few packages. "Is everyone okay, did you get out safely? When did this happen?"
"A day ago." Taylor said with a frown. "I had already sent all my stuff home because I was getting ready to leave campus, I lost a few items of clothes, my toothbrush, nothing I can't replace. But some people lost so much more. 666 People are gone, Gabriella. You've missed so much."
She grimaced and looked away from her, "You've missed a lot too, Taylor."
Taylor examined her friend and sighed, "You shopping for Abuela?"
"Yeah…" Gabriella said hesitantly, "You know how she is on big meals for the two of us." She nodded to the packages of meat and vegetables in her cart.
"How's Troy?" Taylor smiled.
Gabriella's face lit up at the mention of his name. "He's great. Busy and he's been traveling between New York and home for a while. He's been around a lot less. He goes to this public school uptown for summer school. I finished my senior year with home schooling, a lot has been happening." She lied smoothly. Taylor nodded and picked up another package of meat. "There's a sale, 5 for $20 and you have nineteen. Why not make it even?"
Gabriella grinned, "You were always so smart, I wasn't even counting."
"Well, my mom is on the line and I just wanted to say hi. We'll talk later?" Taylor said as she walked away.
Gabriella nodded and continued to push her cart, "Definitely."
Ms. Bolton stared across at Troy as he devoured the dinner his mother made him. Tapping her fingers impatiently, she eyed him suspiciously, then pushed her own plate away.
"Where have you been, Troy?"
Troy looked up darkly and dropped his fork, "No where I shouldn't be, why?"
"East High Prepatory School burnt down, the entire campus to the ground, Troy. 666 Students dead and missing, your name is on that list. I haven't heard from you in months, do you know how worried I've been?"
Troy leaned back and shrugged, "Not a clue."
"Do you know how hard it was to tell our family that you may have burnt down with a school that none of us wanted you to go to?"
"A school you didn't want me to go to, everyone else was happy to see me leave." Troy chuckled and cocked his head to the side.
"Since when did you start growing gray hair? Grandpa's cancer is back isn't it? Did you hear dad got in an accident? Broke his leg."
Troy sighed, "And Mama you really need to take better care of yourself. This is the dirtiest I've ever seen the apartment. Let me run you a bath, and I'll rub your feet for you." Troy took up their plates then laid a sweet kiss on his mother's forehead.
"How did you get here, Troy?" she said in a whisper.
"I started tidying up the living room while I waited for you, you came in while I was lounging." he said as he began to wash the dishes. He looked back at her and winked.
"How did you get here?" she said a bit louder.
He turned off the sink and grinned, "I flew."
Mrs. Bolton's eyebrows furrowed. She watched Troy lean down in front of her and stare intently and inquisitively. Her mouth began to salivate, preparing herself for the nausea that comes with staring deeply into her son's eyes, she looked away.
"Are you feeling alright?" he asked with mock concern. "Let's get you to bed." He picked her up slowly and swung her legs over his arms, bridal style.
"Hush, oh my darling with terrors in the night. Only Troy's singing can banish out the light. Death will surround you, softly like a sigh, in this monster's lullaby. Think of the horsemen bowling with their heads. Think of the zombies tucked beneath your bed. Think of the turtles clicking nails like knives. In this monster's lullaby."
Troy sang softly as he walked through the apartment to his mother's bedroom. "A tangle of string caught tight against your throat. Boiled in hot soup: will you sink or float? Monkeys smashing cribs, oh, hear the babies cry! In this monster's lullaby. Close your eyes. One- two- three. Sleep my monster baby."
Troy pushed open the door forcefully and laid his mother down in the bed. Ms. Bolton stayed stock still, almost trance like as her son pulled the sheets up around her small frame, "Echoing footsteps, but no one's ever there. A disembodied arm that drags you down the stairs. Falling where no one can hear your last good-bye in this monster's lullaby..."
Troy turned out the light and left her in the dark.
I hope the ending was creepy enough for you all :)
Pretty reviews please?
Song credits : Monster's Lullaby by Rebecca Angel.
I was thinking of doing Q & A's again before the story ends. I'm still stuck on whether I should end the story next Chapter or at Chapter 32 "/
Thanks,
Rachelle.
