Chapter One

Years ago, the world lived in peace. Until the Fallen Angels started rioting the streets of the humans’ and destroying the balance. The Demons created chaos, even haunted humans’ dreams and lives; the humans were living in fear. So the Queen of the Angels sent down her precious Angels to calm the Demons and restore peace. Of course, this is a long process considering I am here to calm one certain Demon who’s been causing a lot of mayhem lately. Jack.

……………………..

“Honey, it’s time to get up!” Tabatha says. Tabatha is my mother, but not really. While I’m here, they put me in a fake family, and when I’m done they erase their memories of ever having a daughter.

I get up out of bed; I don’t actually sleep, considering I don’t need it. I stay up and work on learning more about my case. Jack has a rough past life. He was abandoned at age 11 and left to fend for himself. He died when he was 18 because men set his house on fire. Maybe I could help him by letting him accept his past.

Maybe.

I open my door and head downstairs.

“Lilli, what are you going to do today?” Frankie slurs. Frankie is also my fake, alcoholic dad.

“I’m going to head out to work soon and then stop by the cafe with Emily and Shawn.” I say, annoyed with how much he needs to know about what I’m doing, considering he is drunk still.

“Alright, well, be good!” Tabatha says, eyeing her husband, clearly upset with him being drunk. She’s been fighting with him for years to stop drinking but even more so now. She puts her hand on my shoulder.

Suddenly, I’m yanked into a memory of hers when she was screaming at Frankie and crying that he should be better, he should be better. “You’re better than this! You can be better than this if you just try, damn it!” Frankie just sat there watching his soccer, not even flinching. I urge myself out of her mind and focus on the present.

“-and we both love you so much so be careful out there, little lady,” she is saying.

“Okay, I love you both too. I should go now,” I say, still surprised by Tabatha’s memory. I close the door behind me and walk to my car. You see, I have a special power. I can see other’s memories when they touch me or even if I brush hands with someone. I’m jolted into a deep memory of theirs, without their consent; I don’t know why I have this power but I do.

I pull out of the driveway and drive down to the creek and get out. I stumble down the side of the creek and take off my shoes. I sit on a rock by the bridge and set my feet in the water. I close my eyes.

I hear the birds chirping and the water flowing. I feel the hot rays of sunshine hit my eyelids and miss my wings, my beautiful long white wings. I miss the wind playing my hair, and I suddenly realize that the humans are missing out on so much. The fun of playing around in the clouds and the Cloud Kingdom. And the Queen, Queen Priscilla, she’s so beautiful and kind. She loves all her little Angels, and we all love her. She’s like our big mom; she’s my true mother and my best friend.

“You look so peaceful,” a voice behind me says. I jump and look around, not finding where the voice is coming from. “How are you so peaceful, it’s just nature.” Finally she sees the shadow under the bridge.

“Nature is beautiful,” I point out. “Can’t you see?”

“No, you’re more beautiful,” he murmurs so quiet I barely hear him.

“I-I’m not r-really.” I say, baffled from his compliment. He laughs.

“I should go now, pretty lady; it was nice to make your acquaintance.”

“Wait!” I haven’t even seen his face before he turns around and walks behind the bridge. I get up and run under the bridge, but when I get there no one is there; it is like he vanished.

Who was that boy? Why did he leave so suddenly? I hope I see him again soon… he can’t just disappear like that. I look at my watch and sigh. I’m late for work. I get out of the water and carry my shoes up to my car and sit in the seat while drying my feet with a towel. After, the towel is covered in dirt and leaves. I put on my shoes and close my car door. I need to hurry.

Lilli.

Queen Priscilla. Hi.

Hello, dear.

Is everything okay?

Yes, I just saw Jack come to the creek today and noticed you talked to him.

I did?

You did.

Oh. That was him?

That was.

Alright, hopefully I see him again.

Okay, my dear, be careful, he’s dangerous.

One thing Queen Priscilla can do is talk to you telepathically. You feel a click in your head and hear her voice. Sometimes it’s stressful because some thoughts I don’t want shared, so I have to focus only on her and nothing else.

How was that Jack? He sounded so kind and sweet.

I park at the corner store and hurry inside.

“Lilli, you’re late!” Peter scoffs.

“Yes, at least I have a life!” I shoot back. I run to the back to get dressed.  I shove my stuff in my locker and pull on my work clothes. Paul walks in the Employee room whistling a probably made up song and writing in his notebook.

“There’s boxes outside that need to be brought inside, and since you decided to be late, you get to move them!” He sings and twirls around like a ballerina.

“Nice moves,” I laugh. “And I’m on it.”

I go out the back door and walk to the truck drop off. I pick up two boxes and carry them to the hand cart. I pull the cart back and push it to the storage room. I do this process maybe 15 times before I’m finally finished. I go to the break room and flop down on the couch, worn out.

Jen waltzes in the room.  “Hey, Peter says to unpack those now.” I groan.

“No. You go tell Peter to do it himself!” I complain, pulling a pillow over my face. Jen pushes my leg and starts to say something, but I’m not listening.

“Honey, did you take your meds?” Jen said. Her daughter shook her head. “Baby, you’ve got to take them.” Her daughter shook her head again. Jen left the room to call the doctor.

“What, Jen, I’m not on today, this is my only day off; this better be good.”

“Dr. Smith, she won’t take her medicine!” Jen said, scared for her baby girl.

“Tell her she has cancer and can’t just not take them,” he lousily suggested.

“No! Are you insane?! That’s too blunt for a little girl!”

“Tell her she’s got to fight for Mommy and for her brother. Then she’ll be more than happy to.” He hung up.

I pull myself out of Jen’s memory.

“- and Paul said to, too,” Jen says.

“Okay, fine.” I sigh. I get up and go to the storage room to create piles of all the things inside.

“Hey, here you are again,” the same voice from earlier says. I turn around, and I see Jack leaning against the wall.

“Hi,” I say, nervous. He looks me up and down, which makes me self conscious of the outfit I’m wearing, until I realize he’s wearing the same work clothes as me. “You work here now?”

“Yep, I’m a newbie.” I look at his name tag: Jack.

“Jack, huh?”

“And you’re Lilli. Almost as pretty as you yourself,” he compliments.

“Har har, not really. My name is the prettiest part of my existence,” I scoff.

“Ah, so you’re Lilli with a Low Self-Esteem. Duly noted.”  I nod as I finish stacking the products and etcetera. I start to stand up, but he offers his hand; I think for a second and then grab his hand.

He was sleeping. Six men circled his house and spilt the strong smelling oil all over his home. They made a trail leaving. Two of the men opened their lighters and dropped them on the trail, sending a furious fire up the grass to his home, engulfing it with the orange fury. As the men ran, Jack awoke and screamed in pain as the fire licked his legs. He got up in pain and ran to the window, the fire still trying to burn him. The fire blocked the window. He turned to go to the door, but the fire already claimed it. He had no escape, he screamed and cried, hoping someone would hear his desperate calls, but no one did. As he lay on the floor he soon became numb, letting the fire hold him; he imagined the fire was furious because he was abandoned and hurt; he imagined the fire only wanted to hold him, so he let it. He never woke up.

“Your hands are really warm,” I say, still thinking about his memory.

“Yeah, I don’t know why, they’re just really hot all the time, just like the rest of me,” he replied cockily. I scoff.

“And you’re Jack with an Ego,” I say, forgetting why I even needed to be cautious around him. Then I remember, he could be the destruction of the peace we’re trying to rebuild; our Queen has seen visions of hellfire under this boy as he destroys this world hand in hand with the Devil. I snap out of the trance he put me in. I let go of his hand and walk back inside, leaving him, but he follows.

“How long have you worked here?” He asks, sitting on the arm of the couch.

“Three years,” I say, walking out to go to the cashier. Still, he follows. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

“Dunno,” he shrugs, watching me. I laugh.

“Go ask Paul, then.”

“Who’s he?”

“Are you joking? He’s the manager, and the guy you had to talk to to work here, and this store is named after him!”

“Oh, okay, I’ll go ask him what I’m supposed to do,” he says, but he doesn’t move. A customer comes to my register, so I turn and choose to ignore Jack’s eyes on the back of my head.

“Hi, welcome to Paul’s Corner Store, how are you? How’s your day so far?” I ask.

“Hi, yeah, well, I’m feeling pretty malaise, and my day was long, so let’s leave it at that,” they say, putting their items on the counter. I start scanning them.

“Well I hope there was some good in your day,” I say, meaning it.

“Ah, we’ll see,” they say as I notice Jack still hasn’t moved. I finish scanning everything and wish them a good rest of the day. When I turn around Jack isn’t there anymore. Huh, I think. I look at my watch; my shift is over. I walk to the back to ask Paul where Jack is.

“Where’s Jack?” I ask.

“I don’t know; it’s like he disappeared. Why, do you two know each other?” Paul asks, raising his eyebrows.

“Oh, no, I just met him, and he, like, teleported away.”

“Oh well, have a nice day, Lilli, your shift is over.”

“Thanks, Paul,” I say, walking to the changing room for employees. I change back into my normal clothes and head out the side door.

I think I see Jack leaning on the wall in the alley, but when I look back I see no one. I start to head home. My thoughts churn; what was that?

-Bridget Sill