Jariel woke up, pleased to find himself on a soft bed, as well as warm, instead of on a hard floor, freezing to death. He pushed the bed sheets off and sat up, smelling the lilac febreeze that Dawn must have sprayed in the room. He saw her cat, whatever his name was, wandering around and then eventually disappearing in to the kitchen. He let out a yawn and looked over at a clock, which read seven thirty in the morning. He didn’t know why he was up so early, he guessed it was just a habit from being homeless. He smiled when he remembered that he had been able to shower last night. He didn’t smell like trash from the back alley anymore. Instead he smelled, well clean, naturally.
He stood up from the couch and decided to look at the many different paintings and drawings that hung on the lilac colored walls of the living room. They looked as if she had put so much time and effort in. So much emotion. Most of the paintings contained a little girl with brown hair in them. He wondered who she was. Maybe a family member? Or perhaps a friend? Dawn looked too young to have a daughter, but then again you never knew.
Jariel was too busy studying the videos to realize Dawn, who had just walked in to the room with her purple slippers and red, plaid, robe on.
“What are you doing?” Dawn asked, making Jariel jump.
“Just admiring your paintings.” He answered, pointing to the painting of a girl on a swing behind him. “Though I wonder, who is the little girl in the paintings?”
A pained look overwhelmed Dawn’s face, and she looked away. “My sister.” She answered the pained expression still on her face.
“Is everything okay?” Jariel asked, wondering why she looked hurt.
“No, not really.” She said, letting out a sigh. Jariel was going to say something, but she interrupted him. “And before you ask me if I want to talk about it, if you were even going to ask me that, I might as well tell you because it was bound to come up anyways.” She closed her eyes, and Jariel waited for her to continue. “My sister’s name was Jenny. She was an ordinary twelve year old girl. She liked boy bands, make up, gossip and so on. She wanted to become a doctor. She wanted to help the sick in Africa. Unlike most twelve year old girls, she always thought about others rather than herself.” She paused and took a deep breath. “It was December. It was cold outside as well as dark. She was walking home from her friend, Brianna’s, home. She was too busy texting and not paying attention to where she was going. She never saw the drunk driver speeding towards her.” Her eyes were starting to well up with tears. “I had yelled at her that night, over the phone. I was eighteen then. A senior in high school. You see, it was my phone she was using to text that night. She had a bad habit of stealing my phone. I had used my home phone to call her and yell at her for taking it.” The tears started to fall from her eyes. Jariel wanted to do something, but he just stayed still and let her continue. “Well, I was home that night, doing homework and still annoyed about my missing phone. I was in the middle of doing Algebra, my least favorite subject, when my mom burst in through the door and told me that Jenny had been in an accident and that we needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible.” She was starting to sob now. “The next thing I remember is holding my crying mother after the doctor came in and told us what had happened. That Jenny had died.” The tears were falling now, and Jariel couldn’t help himself, he blamed it on this realm for making him soft, he pulled her in to a hug.
“It’s all my fault.” She managed to say through her sobs. “It was my phone she was using. I was the one who yelled at her!”
“Shh.” Jariel said, trying to sooth her. “It’s not your fault. You weren’t the one drunk behind the wheel of a car. If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s that drunk drivers.” Dawn just continued to cry. Jariel began to feel sorrow for this mortal, despite his hatred for people. She had, after all, helped him by giving him a place to sleep. He began to feel sad about what had happened. She didn’t deserve it. Jariel would have never had guessed that Dawn was grieving though. She was always smiling, always so happy. Who would have known a person that seemed so happy, could be hurting on the inside. He just continued to hold on to her, trying his best to make that smile appear on her face once again.
* * * *
Telling Jenny’s story had to be one of the hardest things that Dawn had had to do in a while. She didn’t like to go back and remember that horrible night. She didn’t want to remember what had happened. Oh, but she did. Every single day and every single night she relived the nightmare of her sister’s death. She continued to cling on to Jariel as she cried. She knew that she had to tell Jariel eventually, but she kind of wished now that she had been able to wait until later. That she wouldn’t have to tell him so soon. She wanted to keep the pain to herself and hold it up inside her. She clung to Jariel tighter, and continued to let the tears flow out. She missed her sister terribly. She missed her smile, her brown hair, the way she laughed, even how she got on her nerves. She would never experience any of that ever again. She would never see her smile, her violet eyes, or her bad taste in clothing. She let a few tears slip out before stopping and stepping away from Jariel. She walked over and grabbed a tissue from the coffee table and tried her eyes with it.
“You okay?” Jariel asked, looking concerned.
“I will be.” She tried to laugh, but it sounded more like she was trying to clear her throat. “I just don’t like to remember that night. It’s too painful.”
“I understand. Losing someone you love must be difficult.” He whispered. Dawn just nodded and excused herself to the bathroom, where she took a shower and let a few more tears out. She knew that she had to face the memory eventually, and move on. It had been ten years ago since that had happened, but Dawn just couldn’t let it go for some reason. Jariel had told her that it wasn’t her fault, but it sure felt like it. Jenny had probably been texting her friend about how horrible of a sister she was that night. She should have never yelled at her. Maybe then she would still be alive.
She stepped out of the shower and changed in to a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt Seconds to Mars t-shirt. She put her wet hair back in a pony tail and looked in the mirror one more time before stepping out of the bathroom. She found Jariel sitting on the couch watching cartoons. For some reason, the scene made her laugh, causing Jariel to look up at her.
“What’s so funny?” he asked, smirking.
“I never pictured you liking cartoons.” She smiled.
“To tell you the truth, this is the first time I’ve ever watched these.” He laughed.
“Seriously?” Dawn asked, surprised. “You were one deprived child.” Jariel laughed and just shook his head.
“You have no idea.” He said, smiling.
They spent the rest of the day out shopping for food and clothes. Jariel definitely needed more clothes. There was no way he could continue borrowing Derek’s clothing. They only visited a couple of stores in the mall, including Hot Topic, Forever Twenty-One and American Eagle. They had managed to find Jariel a couple pairs of pants, as well as two sweaters, a few T-Shirts, new shoes, nice dress shirts and some accessories that Jariel for some reason just “had to have.”
Dawn had to admit, Jariel was a lot nicer than she had thought. That first day, he had been so cold to her that she thought he was the devil himself. However, now he was sweet. It was as if something inside of him had opened, if only a little bit. He still fussed over some food that she prepared for him, but she just took it as he was a picky eater.
Nightfall came quicker than expected and Dawn kind of wished it had stayed away. She had been having so much fun with Jariel that she wished that this day would never end. However, all good things must come to an end at some point, she realized. She let out a sigh as she went in to her bedroom and lied down on her bed, covering herself with her comforter. She looked up at her ceiling, which was covered in her sketches, and she smiled again. She was happy now that she had vented to Jariel about that night. Now she had someone to go to, and they would understand what she was going to and be there for her. Michelangelo came and joined her on her bed and she fell asleep staring up at the ceiling without a care in the world.
YOU ARE READING
Change of Heart (NaNoWriMo 2011)
Random**In The Editing Process!!** Jariel, a once favored angel in Heaven, has been thrown out. Not by his own accord, however. He was tricked, made a fool of, by an angel named Elise, bent on being the center of attention no matter what. Jariel is now s...
