Fallen Angel

The weather was so different from the first time I stood in front of this house--the air was cool, the wind was kind, the sky was peaceful. I could hear the birds sing their hymn and the occasional car make its way. Absolutely beautiful. It was hard to complain about my situation when the day was so gentle.

When I was about half way done with the yard, I paused and looked around. It was like night and day. My eyes shifted toward Andy, who was trimming the hedges, looking as if he was grumbling under his breath. I thought back to this morning: Andy had said that he went in there to get his laptop, but the longer I thought about it, more it didn't make sense. When I had shot up from.. that dream.. he was sitting on the bed, facing me, clenching his head of course, but it was like he'd made himself comfortable--like he was sitting there for a while. A shiver ran down my spine. It didn't help the fact that the he looked so much like.. that thing, with the black wings. I still didn't know whether or not it was real or a dream. I tried to convince myself that I just didn't have that much sleep--that I was seeing things, but there was just too many memory gaps, too many coincidences, to many things left unexplained.

"What?"

It took me a moment to snap out of my thoughts, and I realized that I had been staring at him for a long time. "W-What..?"

"You've been staring at me." He said, putting the hedge clippers at his side.

"Oh, I've just been thinking.." I paused for a moment, trying to find an alternative to the end of that sentence. I couldn't tell him what I was thinking about. "ah-- This yard looks a lot better!" I laughed uneasily. "Day and night almost."

"Liar," He said laughed arrogantly lifting the hedge clippers to the bushes again.

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing. Nevermind." He started clipping again.

"Fine. You want to know what I was thinking?" I got blinded my annoyance. And cleaned in the wrake all as-a-matter-of-fact-ly "I was just thinking, where you watching me while I was asleep? Because now that I think about it, when i woke up, it looked as though you had made yourself pretty damn comfortable until we bumped heads!"

"What!?" His reaction was more like a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar than someone who was just accused of a preposterous act like I expected.

There was a long silence. "Forget it. I just.. nevermind."

We worked the rest of the time in silence. I Finished raking, did the windows and started trimming some of the trees, and Andy finished the hedges, mowed the lawn, and started the gutters. It was around one that Andy's mom bought us some sandwiches chips, and water. Now it was well past 4 o'clock, and it was about time that I started wrapping up here and head home to get ready for work. I glanced over at Andy from the top of the latter, he was sitting on the edge of the roof, taking a break and drinking a water bottle, fore arms draped over his knees. Turning back around, I dropped the saw I was using to cut some of the smaller wild branches, and by the time I tried to catch it, it was already on the ground, the latter started wobbling, and my footing became unstable. The next thing I knew, my body was flying towards the ground, my vocal chords burned from the sudden scream I let out, and I braced myself for impact. When I opened my eyes, I wasn't on the ground, but bridal style in Andy's arms, who was kneeling down, partly out of breath. He slowly put my legs down to wipe the little bit of sweat that glistened off of his face.

I looked up at the roof, then back at Andy. That was a matter of seconds from when I saw him sitting of the roof to now. "How did you--"

"God damn, you're a klutz, aren't you? Pay attention to what you're doing."
I looked at him for a moment in disbelief before jumping up. "Excuse me? I'm not a clutz. You're just a jerk!"
"And you're a pain just as much as you are annoying." He calmly spat as he stood up as well, dusting off his pants.
"Arrogant Asshole!"
" Defensive Bitch."
The tension had finally sparked flames, and now it was war. Shots were fired until his parents came in to brake it up, asking for an explanation.

When all was said, I apologized to Chris and Amy for the trouble, shot Andy a glare, and after all was said and done, I explained that it was just about time for me to be headed home. Right before leaving, Chris pulled me aside far enough to where Amy and Andy could not hear him, "You know, Andy's not so bad once you get to know him. He just doesn't have very good social skills and hasn't had much experience with some good people."
I stared at him blankly, not sure what his point was. I mean, It's not like I knew Andy at all or that I had expected to see him again.
"So," Chris continued. "I hope we'll see you again sometime. " He said giving me a wink and a pat on the back. "This is the most I've heard him talk in a while." Then, just barely audible he left with the comment: "You two are a good match."

My face shot red as I stared at him, eyes as wide as an owl, speechless.

"So, Andy" Amy said looking at Andy before resting her eyes on me. "why dont you give this young lady a ride home?"

"Absolutely not." Andy and I said in unison right before shooting each other a look.

"I mean..." I said smiling at Amy. "I live a handful of blocks from here. I don't mind walking."

"Oh nonsense." she she said with the wave of her hand before settling them on her hips. "You've helped us with the yard! It's the least you can do, and I'm not taking no for an answer."

Andy looked as though he was about to protest, but he was quickly silenced by his mothers firm stare. "Fine." he said pulling out his keys and dragging his feet to the car. "Get in." he said swinging the passenger door open and walking to the driver side.

I sighed, thanked Andy's parents again, and plopped myself into the car.
The first portion of the ride was silence except for the occasional directions that I gave him, but even those were short and to the point.

Andy sighed. "I just can't seem to get you out of my hair, huh?

I laughed sarcastically, crossing my arms and looked out the window. "Ditto."

There was another period of silence.

"Thanks, by the way." I mumbled.

He glanced at me confused before returning his eyes back to the road. "For what?"

"catching me."

"Oh. um.. you're welcome..." he paused. "Just... be careful next time.. things could have ended up pretty bad."

I couldn't believe it. I stopped and stared. Was he actually concerned? Finally, my initial shock fell into a smile, not one of those force girns, but a genuine smile. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Caring." We held eachothers gaze. I guess you're not so bad after all. Not to bad looking now that I think of it.

"What was that?"

I broke the stare. Did I say that out-- Suddenly, I saw a kid running into the street just up ahead.
"ANDY!" I yelled, grabbing his sleeve in one hand and pointed in front of me with the other.
Looking at the road, he reached across my chest and slammed on his breaks. Everything suddenly shifted into slow motion and my heart beat was the loudest thing ringing in my head--the tires screeched, the car horn echoed, the kid slowly realizing what was happening--I shut my eyes as tight as I could. Then everything was still.

"Are you okay?" I heard Andy ask, under a deep breath.

Slowly opening my eyes, I looked around before I could answer. The kid was in his mom's arms at the side of the street, confusion on his face and relief on hers. There was some smoke clearing on both sides of Andy's old car, and streak marks stretching behind is. "Yea. I'm fine." I stopped. Andy's arm was still stretched across my chest. Realizing this, I felt my face grow warm.. "Just.. fine..um.."

He looked down then quickly retreated his hand, "wow.. um.. sorry."

"It's fine." I said a little shaky. I wasn't so much concerned that his hand was on my boob--I knew he didn't mean to. My mom used to the same thing when ever she had to slam on her breaks. It was that very association that made me uneasy, not the situation that I knew was just an accident. Rolling down the window, I called out to the mother. "Is he alright?" She nodded and apologized. I waved at her, returned the gesture, and rolled the window back up.

Slowly letting off the breaks, Andy started driving, the heavy silence made its way and hung over our heads, nothing but the directions again, making the car ride seem much longer than it really was. Finally, we pulled into my driveway. "This is it."

"Hm. It's kind of small."

I suddenly felt embarrassed and a little annoyed. "Well that's rude." I started. " I know it's not very big, but you're house isn't that much bigger! Besides, It's just me and my mom here, and most of the time its just me so theres no need to have a big house and.." I continued rambling. I didn't know why. It wasn't like I had to explain myself to him, but the more I said, the more nervous I got and the more I tried to explain my way out if it.

Finally he laughed.

"And just what's so god damn funny?" I asked firmly.

"You talk too much."

Suddenly, I stopped. That sentence, that voice, that stuck up laugh behind it, I've heard it before. I squinted at him for a moment, before panic and fear began came in like a wave over my entire body. That demon, from.. "T-thanks for the ride." I started trying to feel for the door. "I-um.. got to hurry and get ready for work.. I uh.." I couldn't fathom my thoughts into words, and finally I opened the door. "Bye."

Andy suddenly reached for my shoulder. "Wait, I was just k--"

"Thanks for the ride." I stood up and slammed the door, running up to the door, fumbled for the keys and tried to unlock it. I didn't know why I was this scared; that demon, it was just a figment of my imagination, wasn't it? I couldn't manage to get the key into the lock, I was shaking so much.

Unexpectedly, Andy jumped out the car and approached me. "Wait, Hannah." I looked over my shoulder before resuming my attention to the lock. "Hannah... Are you.. okay?"

"I'm fine." I raised my voice a lot louder than I intended, shoving the key in the lock.

"Are you sure?"

I couldn't explain it to him. Hell, I could barely explain it to myself. I breathed and turned around. "I just realized that I was really late. er--I'm going to be late--for work I mean." I forced a smile.

"It seemed like a little more than that."

He stepped closer. It was only then that I realized just how tall he was. My eyes slowly worked their way up to his face, and when they met his, the face was undeniably similar.

"Okay.. you just... reminded me of someone. That's all." I laughed uneasily.

"Who?" He got even closer, now only inches away from me.

"No one really," I started panicking I had to get away from him. "just someone I know."

He took one more small step toward me. An inch, he was maybe one inch away now. His eyes were dark now, serious, unmoving, calm. He whispered my name.
"Hannah."

Notes

I love cliffHangers X3
anyway, an explanation. The line "You talk too much." was from the spin-off i did with little red riding hood. I decided to incorporate it into the series as one of the dreams Hannah had while she was knocked out. These series of events do have some reflection on reality, but she desn't quite understand how yet. Further explaination will be revealed later on.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this epdate!

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