It's about Time
Chapter 5
Rick had arrived and stepped out of the shadows, looking like any other human on the planet. He didn't see any statues hiding their eyes, however he did see a whole lot of people. He also saw a lot of cars that he didn't recognize. Granted most of them were yellow and said TAXI, but still none of them had the shape he was familiar with.
He also didn't see any of the clothes that he was used to seeing, either. He was definitely not dressed appropriately for the time period. God might think that he knew New York City, but this city was, so far, very different looking. It even smelled different. A little more dirty and definitely smellier unless that was his Angel nose detecting everything.
Rick might not know it since God didn't explain it to him, but he may look human now, but not all of him was still human. That is to say all of his senses were enhanced and his body could resist serious damage like say, during a fight. He could also change to looking like an Angel in a heartbeat.
He'd already learned one more thing: he didn't need to eat food. He could eat but didn't need to. The same was for water. He only needed to learn if that held when he looked like a human.
Since this sounded like it was going to be a long, involved task he needed to find somewhere to stay. He needed a place to live while he helped the humans. Fortunately being an Angel he just kind of knew of a place that would work. The person offering the room was definitely a really good person.
He didn't even need to go all that far to reach it, 536 West 29th Street. It looked a little old and slightly rundown on the outside and it had a massive construction project right next door. In fact the sidewalk was closed off because of it and even the street was one way out in front of that project. It looked to have four floors which meant stairs but that was fine, he was more than fit enough to go up and down stairs.
It was a beige brick building that sported a pair of large double doors on the street level though it was obvious that the front door was up a short set of stairs. At first he knocked until he risked it and pressed a button that resulted in a sound being made. "Interesting." He didn't know it did that. It sounded like a song instead of the ding-dong he was used to hearing.
He waited and waited until someone finally opened the door. She was older, maybe in her late 50s he was thinking, even though he suddenly knew exactly when she was born. She was still lovely if not a little on the thin side.
"Yes?" She immediately liked the look of him. He had broad shoulders, was handsome, and he was smiling widely which put her instantly at ease.
"My name is Richard Castle, ma'am. I'm answering an ad about a room to rent."
"That was fast. I only just placed it." It had taken her months to even come to the realization that if she was going to keep the place she needed help. Not just a roommate but someone to give her real help.
"I only have the one space and it isn't just a room for rent. You'll need to help keep up the entire house." She'd made sure that was clearly stated in the ad.
"I'm more than willing to help clean the entire house. I even have a green thumb. I can get anything to grow," Rick told her truthfully. It was the Angel in him that gave him a green thumb.
"You're aware of the rental terms?" She wanted to be sure before she invited him inside her home so he could see his space and then the entire house.
Rick nodded. "Three thousand a month including all utilities and the room comes furnished. I help clean, share the kitchen and the living room, and must vacate any space when requested for any reason. I understand completely."
"I'll show you the room first." She stepped aside and let him in, then closed and locked the door behind him. "Down the stairs." She went first through a door. "These doors are part of the original building. My late husband and I loved them so we kept them even if they don't serve much purpose."
Rick saw that they weren't just locked but they were heavily barred from the inside. A simple lock pick wasn't going to get anyone through those doors, that was certain. Then he followed her down a set of stairs that led into the house.
"The bathroom is back there. This door leads to a storage room that's full. These double doors lead to what would be your space." She opened them and Rick noticed that they could be locked if he chose to do so.
"OH, MY!" He knew it was a room, but this was a ROOM!
"Technically this is the basement so the only windows are the one ones at the far end." That was a negative for the space.
Rick looked around and found that the ceiling was old with existing wood beams and joists. The beams on either side of the space were large and had some type of metal rods that each had a large turnbuckle that were obviously being used to hold the outside walls in place. The ceiling was easily eighteen feet tall.
The floor was plain polished concrete and the space was maybe twenty-one feet wide by forty feet long. There was a simple seating area and a dining room table that could seat four. He saw short partitions that were lovely and found that they hid the bedroom with an exposed closet.
Beyond that was another seating area that was filled with books. "You like to read." He would look them all over later.
She shrugged. "I needed a place to store some of them. There's a real library on another level. These stairs lead to the only outdoor garden space I have." She went up first and unlocked the door and went outside. "I don't have a green thumb. Even having this space in downtown was amazing even if it is a little difficult to reach. It was one more reason for us to purchase this place."
Rick saw a few dead plants. Most of those were in pots. The plants that weren't in pots were seriously overgrown and there were weeds everywhere. "I can work with this. I'll have it looking amazing in no time."
It was surrounded by tall walls, one of which had windows on three levels. And it was open above. There were pavers mostly with a small green patch that was a mess. Though even the pavers were heaving up, weren't level, and were filled with weeds.
"If you can fix this you'd be a miracle worker." She thought it was a write-off.
"A little paint on the walls would help this space a lot," Rick remarked. The walls were a dark brown which only made the place more gloomy. "I'll take it. What else is there?"
"One year's rent up front and then renew the following year if you wish."
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She had shown him everything else. They'd had to go back upstairs to the front door and up another set of stairs to the main level. Then through a set of double doors leading out into an atrium that had thirty foot ceilings that were made up of old wood beams and exposed ceiling joists.
There was a huge and intricate skylight in the middle. Her bedroom had the only washer and dryer just outside of it on this level. Going up a level, another set of stairs opened out onto a small sitting area and an open kitchen that had very little storage, save for a tall cabinet up against one wall that was the pantry. Over the kitchen and dining room was yet another skylight just like the other one. Off of the dining room out a wall of windows was a small terrace that had a table and seating for four. Under it was the outdoor patio area Rick had already seen.
The side walls of the atrium level and this area were exposed brick. Up another set of stairs led to a small library with one wall of windows that looked out onto the street. Its two side walls were filled with books from floor to roof.
She was a little taken aback by him paying her in cold hard cash.
Rick knew what had happened but it was just good form to ask her. "Just you? You mentioned your late husband."
"I'm a doctor and I was on call that day. My husband took our daughter out to the Hamptons. On their way home they were involved in an accident. The police told me that their car was hit from behind; they were forced off the road and straight into a tree. It collapsed the entire side of the car, killing my husband instantly. My daughter died on the table after being airlifted to the hospital." She had shed all the tears that she had. Now it was just history though it still hurt.
"I am sincerely sorry for your loss. I'm sure they're in the hands of God. He has a plan even if we mere mortals don't understand it. We are all a part of his plan. God forgives everyone." Even the person who had caused the crash.
She smiled at him. "Thank you, Mr. Castle. Here are the keys. I'll leave any mail you receive on the table by the front door. I use the washer and dryer only during the weekend unless I absolutely need to during a weekday. Please purchase your own food and use whatever space you need in the refrigerator and pantry. Be sure and clean up after yourself. Most of the cleaning supplies are downstairs in one of the storage closets. I don't have a car and use taxis or other services for everything, including getting to the hospital. You're free to read any of the books you wish. I don't believe in watching TV so I don't even have one."
"I'm sure I'll survive. Let me know if there's anything you need. An escort to the hospital, help with grocery shopping, help with anything around the house. A roof leak, water heater, A/C unit, anything. I'm your man," Rick said.
"I didn't know you were so handy. What is it you do?" He had yet to sign anything so she could still reject him if she wanted.
Rick was ready for this question since he was going to be a human for much of the time and needed a job. Or at least to look like he had a job. "I'm a law enforcement consultant. Typically the FBI, however, I do things for the police as well from time to time. I'm technically a contractor so I'm not actually employed by them. I don't carry a weapon nor can I actually arrest anyone. Mostly I just sit in an office or closet more often than not." Rick chuckled at his white lie, since before being assigned to his last undercover job he had done just that. "I analyze any case they need help with. It's not overly exciting and the pay is good if not a little iffy from time to time." He wasn't lying about being stuck in a closet.
"So there may be times when I never actually need to leave the house unless they have a case for me." Rick had every intention of going out each and every day since that was where he would be needed most. Plus he had to create a mental map of where they all were. He was hoping that finding them would be easy since they would all have their hands over their eyes most of the time.
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Rick really wanted to get to work straight away since the longer he took to get started the more potential there was for a human to be touched. But he needed things. Clothes mostly since as a human he was going to be needing them. He also needed to go grocery shopping.
Even after clothes shopping his exposed clothes rack looked a little bare. Even his little chest of drawers that came with the room was half empty. If he needed more he would simply go purchase more. That was one thing about being an Angel. He could if he wanted talk any of the humans into almost anything. Including letting him walk out with an armful of clothes and not pay for them. It was just that that would be stealing which was a sin. Though he could just produce his own money. He wasn't stealing from anywhere; he created it and handed it over.
Unloading his groceries showed him just how different this kitchen really was. The exhaust for the hood over the range was exposed for over twenty feet until it reached the roof and was strapped to the brick wall. There were no upper cabinets of any kind. It was in the shape of an "L" and had an island where the sink was located. Nearly everything was in the sizable pantry cabinet up against the brick wall.
"Are you finding enough space?" Janelle asked him after seeing him in the kitchen, putting stuff away.
"More than enough, thank you. I tend to eat out a lot so cooking is likely one of the things I'll be doing little of. Of course it would help if I knew how to cook. Mostly I just get by with simple things. Do you have a grill I could use?" That was something he knew how to do.
"I'm afraid not, but if you really want to you can add a small one on the patio." She still didn't see how he was going to clean up that disaster. Even if he could it would take months.
"Thank you. I promise not to make a mess." Then he noticed she was dressed in what he believed were clothes for hospital work. "You're going out."
"I have a shift today. I'll be back very late. I'll be nice and quiet." Her bedroom was right over his even if his was over twenty feet below hers.
"It's your house, make all the noise you wish. Do you need an escort to the hospital? New York City can occasionally be a dangerous place to live and get around in." He would take her anywhere she wanted to go.
"I'm fine. A taxi right out front will take me to the entrance, but thank you. Good luck with whatever you do today." His work sounded more dangerous than hers did.
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Rick sat in the living room trying to think up a plan. New York City was really big and yes, he could turn into an Angel and fly to search it. It was just that he didn't need people seeing him and telling the press, friends, police, Air Force, whoever.
She didn't have a TV but she did have a paper delivered daily and she had a few magazine subscriptions. Through them Rick got an idea and was soon using her phone to make a local phone call.
His new plan didn't take him everywhere, but it was a start.
It took him a little time but he was now leaving the site with a three day hop-on-hop-off sightseeing tour of New York City. He would start his search using this system tomorrow. After he had used up a few of these passes he would change his search parameters to a new system that he hadn't yet thought of.
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The tour started early in the day and Rick had gotten on and off a number of times so far. Now it was past lunch and he was actually starting to get hungry. Yet he hadn't yet seen any statues with their hands over their eyes. It was only the first day and he didn't want to doubt God, but where were all these aliens?
Rick was off the bus and decided to start looking for a place to eat when he saw a statue. Sure he had seen several already on this tour. It was just that all of them, like this one, didn't have their hands over their eyes. Most in fact were dedicated to something or someone and clearly not out of place.
Then just past one statue he saw several others so he made his way to the entrance. "Battery Park. …A park?" Had he been looking in all the wrong places? A park suddenly made sense. The park was usually only inhabited during the day unless you had ulterior motives like a murder, or a drug deal, or some other thing just as evil.
He had only been in the park for a few minutes when he spotted one. It was standing there just off of the sidewalk. It was easily a little over six feet tall. It had wings that it had in close to its body and most importantly it had its hands over its eyes.
This one looked to be a female. It had breasts and it was wearing a Grecian-style gown that was drawn at the waist with a belt that he couldn't see. It fell all the way to its feet that he couldn't see. Its wings were not as large as his. Its hair was up in a way that he couldn't see. It was also intricately carved. Every line of hair on its head was shown. The feathers of its wings were carved out perfectly. Thanks to its hands being over its face he couldn't see its face.
He walked all around it and looked it over while remembering to not blink. Not blinking was going to be a challenge that he was going to need to solve. Thankfully the park was busy so even if they didn't actively look at it, people could see it.
"One down." Now he needed a plan on how to deal with it. Provided it was still there when he came back when he had one.
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It was five o'clock and he was starving since he hadn't stopped to eat anything. After finding his first one in the park he'd kept looking and had found four more. The funny thing was that as far as he could tell, they all looked the same. He thought the were all female, all wore the same thing, all had their hair up with their hands over their face, hiding their eyes.
All of them were standing on grass just an inch off of the concrete of the walkway.
"They can't be seen and they can't ever look each other in the eye. Hm, mirrors maybe?" But how did he put a mirror in their hands when their hands were covering their eyes. Maybe… He had another idea. It meant he had to either find them and buy them or have them made.
If there were five of them in this park alone, he was going to need a lot of them. He also needed to find a way to keep living eyes on them since he was going to need the time to use them. And he needed a very special gun and the bolts that they shot.
God had said they were fast but He hadn't said anything about how strong they were.
Then Rick smiled. He had thought up a plan for them to be watched while he did his work. His job was to help keep the humans from being touched. That didn't mean he had to kill them. Though could you really kill a statue?
It had him shaking his head. It was alive and only stone when it was being observed. Killing was a sin and he knew that when it wasn't stone, it was alive. "Nothing like a challenge, Lord. A real challenge."
A short video showing the Weeping Angels
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