CHAPTER 10

I tried to slam the door on George, but he pressed his body up against it and jammed his foot between the door and the doorframe so I couldn't close it. I pushed harder.

"Rachelle, that's not being a good hostess. You're supposed to let you guests come in." George said trying to push his way through the doorway. He squeezed passed me. And since I was pushing on the door, I fell to the floor with a thunk.

"Wow, this is a nice hotel room you live in." He said locking the door that I was laying against in a heap on the floor.

"Please, leave me alone…" I cried. I knew he wouldn't though. I started to cry. I guess I was crying out of fear. And I was scared. How did he find me? Will he hurt me?

"Oh, Rachelle." He chuckled looking at me being a pathetic little girl. I looked around to find an escape. Then the bathroom door opened and out came Richard.

"What the…" Richard looked from me to George. I took this moment when George was preoccupied in staring at Richard to get up and run over to Richard.

"No time. Just run!' I yelled grabbing Richard's hand and running towards a window. I was unlocking the window as fast as I could while George slowly walked towards us with an evil grin.

"Got over me that quickly?" George asked watching me hopelessly trying to open the window.

"Who the hell are you?" Richard yelled standing in front of me.

"You know you aren't going to escape, Rachelle." George ignored Richard, taking another step towards us. He stepped into range of Richard's fist because that's when Richard slugged George. He fell backwards obviously unprepared for the blow.

"Go!" I screamed as I slid the window opened and pushed Richard through the window. Richard climbed out onto the fire escape and held out his hands to help me through. I hadn't even stuck one foot out the window when George grabbed me and pulled me back. I screamed as I was pulled away from my escape.

"Let go!" I screeched. George turned me to face him and picked my up by my shoulders. And started to walk towards the front door. I screamed and started to pound on his chest and then I kicked as hard as I could where it hurts. He dropped me and he fell to his knees holding his crouched. I ran back to the window and opened it. Richard was trying to lower the steel stairs. It was still raining outside and it was getting dark. The storm clouds didn't allow much light so it was pretty dark.

I quickly crawled through the window and shut it. I looked through the glass to see George standing and walking towards me looking pretty pissed off. I turned back to Richard who was looking at me.

"We have to go!" I yelled the obvious. Richard waited for me to take his hand and we flew down the first set of stairs. Richard started to open the second set of stairs. I heard my hotel room window above us open and saw a foot.

"He's coming." I warned Richard. I was still crying, but nobody could tell because the rain mixed with my tears making it hard to tell them apart.

"It's going to be okay." Richard comforted as I hugged myself because I was cold.

"Now I'm pissed!" George said, fully out of the window and coming down the stairs.

"Shit!" I cried trying to speed the process of opening the stairs.

"If I can't bring you home and kill you, then I'll just have to kill you now." George reached out to grab me but I punched him in the gut. The stairs were out and ready for us to descend. Richard grabbed my arm and started to run down the staircase, but George had recovered easily and grabbed my sweatshirt's hood and pulled back. I fell to the ground and I felt something cut my leg. Richard looked back He ran back up to save me. I know it sounds cliché with the whole damsel in distress thing, but screw it. It's what happened.

I got the wind knocked out of me when I hit the ground and I was still in a daze when George picked me up by my neck and held me against the wall to the hotel. I couldn't touch the ground. He squeezed his hand that was around my neck. I coughed. I placed my hands around George's wrist and tried to push it away from my neck. It was futile. I felt the breath leaving me. It's a horrible feeling when you're being choked. It felt as though I was stuck under water and something was pulling me down. I gasped for breath but he was cutting it off. I started to kick and almost got George where I had before but he blocked it and threw me against the wall. Even though the impact caused my head to feel like someone had nailed a thumbtack into my head, it felt good to able to breath. I couldn't move for a second out of shock, so I was just lying there. My eyes were barley open but I saw Richard come up from behind George and wrap his arm around his neck and pull. George coughed and then elbowed Richard in the stomach. He clenched his stomach. George started to bend over him, but I didn't want to see what would happen next, so I got up despite my aching bones and head, and pushed George as hard as I could away from Richard. I got him by surprise because he fell on his side. I clutched Richard hand and pulled down the stairs.

"We don't have enough time to open these next stairs!" Richard yelled through the rain. I knew he was right but how were we supposed to escape.

"Jump!" I yelled running for the railing. Richard followed me. I jumped up onto the railing and off it. Most people would have wondered why I didn't use my powers or my wings to escape, but then again, I pretty sure they haven't been in a situation where if you revealed our true identity as an angel, then you would so not be accepted in their world or culture.

The fall wasn't too great. I made sure that when I landed, I rolled so it reduced the amount of impact. Richard wasn't far behind me. I got to my feet and waited for Richard to do the same. We were both panting as we ran through the rain. I didn't look back to see if George was there or not, I was just blindly running. We ran across the street to the city park. I slipped on the wet grass and got mud all over my sweatshirt. Richard helped me up. We ran until our feet couldn't hold our weight and we collapsed at a bus stop.

"We…should call the…police." Richard gasped. He was bent over and had his hands on his knees. I, on the other hand, was clinging to the pole that bared the bus stop sign, crying my eyes out. But I couldn't help it; the tears just kept coming out.

"No…w-we c-can't do that." I said between sobs.

"Why?" He asked still trying to catch his breath.

"Just trust m-me." I cried. Richard looked up at me. He walked over to where I clung to the pole, balling. He gently took me in his arms. I cried into his chest. My hands were grabbing his sleeves. I was shaking…partly because I was crying, partly because I was scared, and partly because I was just plain cold.

"It's okay. He's gone." Richard tenderly rocked back and forth.

I didn't answer I just allowed Richard to comfort me. I felt protected in his arms. It was like my haven.

"Let's go get dry." He let one arm fall to his side, but kept his other arm around me and we started to walk.

"W-where?"

"We can't go back to your apartment, and My step father's house is farther than my house, so let's go to my place…is that ok?" Richard asked.

"Y-yes." Was my weak reply.

I just lost all sense of time. My lungs hurt, my head was spinning from confusion and pain, my leg was cut, and I was drenched and muddy. After some time, we reached a house that looked pretty nice. We walked through a gate and up a path and onto a porch. Richard opened the front door and held it open for me. It was warmer in the house. Richard lead me to the kitchen, which was facing the dinning room that was connected to the family room, which had a fireplace and flat screen TV. 'No doubt this his Step Father's money' I sat down on the couch and watched as Richard lit the fireplace.

"I'm not sure if I have any tea, but do you want anything to drink?" Richard asked going to the kitchen to heat up some water.

"Hot coca?" I asked in a small voice. If I can't have my tea, then I'd have to settle for hot chocolate.

"Sure, I can do that." He smiled.

I watched the flames in the fireplace grow higher and higher. I always found it strange, fire, that is. Fire is an extremely hot substance. I didn't know the scientific term, but it was beautiful the way the red-orange flames had that little bit of blue at the base. And the way the flames licked at the air. The heat flooded the family room, and surrounded my body. I was pretty sure I had gotten Richard's couch drenched with water.

"You should change into something dry, or you might catch a cold…" Richard came over to where I was lying.

"I'm not sure you if you haven't noticed, but I'm not in my hotel room where all my clothes are." I teased.

"I know, you can borrow one of my t-shirts and a of sweat pants that are to small for me." He offered.

"Only if they're clean." I joked wiping the left over tears off my face. I sat up. Richard left the room to go get something for me to wear. I waited there listening to the crackling fire, a few seconds later Richard came back out with some clothes. He showed me the bathroom and handed me the clothes. The shirt was way to big and I pulled the drawstring on the sweat pants until they fit.

When I came out, my drink was waiting for me on the dinning room table. I looked around for Richard. He wasn't in the room. I sat at the chair in front of my cup of hot chocolate. I wrapped my hands around the cup letting its warmth soothe me. That's when the silence got to me. Richard wasn't there, there was no sound, and I was by myself.

"Richard? Are you there?" I asked kind of scared. No answer. I nervously looked around. 'Is George here? Did he find me again? Did he follow us home?' I started to panic. I got up from the table and walked into the kitchen and dropped into a corner.

"Richard?" I asked again. Then I heard a door open and close…