ridiculous tale about a pirate captain, an evil stepmother, a beautiful maiden, and an awesome knight. Now it was up to us to act it out.
I still couldn’t believe the fast, unexpected twist in my plot to kill Abigail. How had I let four days go by without killing her? Was I going soft? Why couldn’t I just get rid of her? Had I even been trying hard enough to get rid of her? Of course I had.
So why the heck was I sitting beside her with my hand in hers, playing with a bunch of useless children?
“I’ll be the pirate!” Vincent exclaimed when we asked for volunteers.
Once the roles were assigned, we started acting out the scenes of our story. Finally, we reached the ending, and I, playing the awesome knight, rescued the beautiful maiden, Abigail.
“O wonderful knight, thank you so much for rescuing me.” Abigail curtseyed.
“My pleasure, beautiful maiden.” I bowed. “Marry me,” I said and stepped closer, taking her hands in mine. “Please, marry me,” I said earnestly, and then Abigail’s heartbeat quickened, and I realized it was because I was standing so close.
“Where’s the pastor?” I heard someone ask. I stared into Abigail’s beautiful eyes.
What the hell was I doing? Was I sick?
“I’m here,” someone said. “Dearly beloved—”
“I object!” Vincent shouted, and both Abigail and I turned to him. “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.” We all laughed, except for Tristan, who for some reason didn’t seem to understand what I was doing. He stood invisibly behind the children.
“We are…blah blah…” the young pastor said. “You are married. You may now kiss the bride.”
My eyes met Abigail’s, and for a split second, I wanted my lie to be true. I wanted Abigail to be my girlfriend. I wanted it to be true so I could kiss her. Yeah, now I knew for sure that I was sick!
Abigail’s heart pounded faster when I leaned toward her. What was wrong with me?
“We don’t...” Whatever Abigail started to say trailed off.
I could feel Abigail’s breath on my lips because of how close we were. It took every bit of willpower I had to not kiss her fully on the lips. When my lips finally touched her, they pressed against the corner of her mouth.
The children cheered, and at the sound of their voices, I pulled away.
My eyes met Tristan’s, and the look on his face was indecipherable. Could he tell something was wrong with me, or was he as surprised as I was?
After that rather awful displacement of my sanity, I said a quick goodbye and left, coming up with a ridiculous excuse that I needed to go home and help my mother move furniture. Abigail offered to drive me, but I said I’d take the bus.
But, of course, I didn’t go to the bus stop or home to help my mother with her furniture. I went straight to the Underworld to visit D. I wanted to see her because she was the only friend I had. I wanted to ask her if she knew of an angel disease I didn’t know of, because I was certain I was sick.
“D, open this stupid gate or I’m breaking it down!” I shouted as I retracted my wings.
Every time I wanted to visit D, I had to wait behind the monstrous gate for her to open it. The Underworld was the darkest place I knew. Its huge, iron black gate extended high into the dark sky. Behind the gate lay an envelope of darkness out of which voices of unfortunate souls could be heard.
The Underworld wasn’t my favorite place, but I didn’t dislike it. The sad cries and screaming were like sweet melodies to my ears. I liked listening to the cries of lost souls asking for help in a place where help never came.
“D, I swear if you—”
“Relax, Gideon. I could hear you all the way from Earth!” D appeared beside me. “What’s the problem?”
“Remember the human girl that I wanted to kill?” I asked. I didn’t know why I said wanted to kill, because I still wanted to kill her. Didn’t I?
“Tristan’s human? Is she dead? Did you come here so we could celebrate?”
“No, she’s not dead!” I shouted angrily. “She’s still alive and—”
“Alive?” she asked, sounding surprised. “Don’t you have a three-day policy or something?”
Worst friend ever, pointing out my failures when all I wanted was help.
I glared. “Don’t you think I know this already?”
“Why are you so worked up? Can’t you just kill her now or later? What’s