Innocence

Chapter 3 The Family from Hell

Gaia woke panting and sweating. She had been experiencing these dreams for weeks, as time went on she was learning more and more about Lucifer and his son. The images she saw were so horrific sometimes she woke ran to the toilette and threw up for hours at a time. She could constantly smell the stench of Hell just behind her nostrils.
Over the last two weeks she had got to know John and Chas telling them her life story, her beliefs, her fears, everything. She had been keeping a diary of all her visions and the contents terrified her. This just didn't happen to normal people.

Gaia's foster parents were becoming increasingly suspicious of her late night wanders and her early mornings. She had always got on well with Thomas and Julie Watson but now it was a constant battle to hide her secret.
"Gaia tell us what's going on!" Julie begged the 16 year old.
"There is nothing going on! Will you please just leave me alone"
"Now listen here young lady we have welcomed you into our home taken care of you this is your last chance. Where have you been?" Thomas screamed.
"OUT!" Gaia shouted back storming up the stairs.
"Fine! We'll contact the social worker first thing tomorrow morning I think you should move out"
Gaia stopped dead in her tracks. Being moved from home to home feeling totally isolated it had been difficult to deal with but she always had her religion to rely on, now she had nothing.
Tears gently fell down her face. She didn't dare turn around, instead she just nodded her head,
"I understand" She whispered softly.
The Watson's had been the closest thing she had to parents.
She packed the small number of possessions she had into a douffle bag and wrote a short note for Julie and Thomas.

'I'm grateful for everything you've both done for me. You made me feel loved. I'll always think of you as my real parents and respect that you needed to say what you did. I hope you will understand the decision I've made. I can't go back there. Being moved from one home to the next until I'm 18 with nothing but myself to rely on. I'll be fine don't worry. Thank you. Gaia.'

She placed the letter gently on her bed, grabbed her bag and departed via her bedroom window. Taking one last look at the place she would no longer call home she disappeared into the night towards downtown LA.

Chas woke to a loud knocking at the door. He fell with a start from the couch looking at the clock. 3am. Groggily he opened the heavy symbol ridden door to find Gaia, douffle over her shoulder and tear stained cheeks.
"Hi" She smiled cheerfully.
"Hey, what you doing here?" He asked opening the door a little wider to let her in.
He saw her cheeks flush crimson at the sight of him standing only in him boxers at the front door.
Gaia gently brushed passed him making her way into the darkness within.
"I had a fight with my foster parents. They want to send me back I can't go back there Chas I just can't"
He nodded trying to understand what she must be feeling. This poor girl had been through so much in the 16 years she had lived now everything had got a whole lot worse.
"You can sleep on the couch tonight John won't mind"
"What about you"
"Don't worry I can deal with one night on the floor!" He laughed.
She nodded giving in to defeat. Her face was lined with worry, fear and tiredness. The dreams she had described to John and himself were just so deep and vivid she literally went to Hell every night.

"No, oh God no!" Gaia screamed.
Her eyes twitched in her sleep, another vision. Chas didn't know how much more of this she could take. Gaia sat bolt upright her eyes snapping open, breathing in gasps.
"Oh God Chas, oh God!" She cried leaning on him for support.
"I, I saw my mother"
Chas raised an eyebrow motioning for her to go on.
"She's in Hell…"