“You had absolutely no right whatsoever to do that!” Jariel yelled, throwing his arms up in protest. He had recently come to discover that he was employed. The only issue was, he hadn’t applied anywhere. Dawn had decided to take it in to her hands and talk to her boss about getting him a job. A job that Jariel didn’t even want. “If I am going to get a job, it’s a job I am going to pick out, not somebody else.”
“Well you had that chance, now didn’t you?” Dawn asked, surprisingly calm. “I gave you flier after flier of job opportunities, and each and every single one you turned down. Now guess what, you lost being able to choose a job. You’re now stuck with what you have.” Dawn said with a smug look on her face. Jariel let out an angry sigh and rolled his eyes. She had no right to tell him what to do. What was she, his mother? He turned around to leave, but Dawn spoke before he could do so. “By the way, Joe wants you there at eight tomorrow. Bright and early. It’s the same schedule as mine, so I’m going to make sure that you get there and on time as well.”
“Whatever.” He muttered under his breath as he left to go sit in the living room, turning on the television and, again, not caring that the news was on. He was already sick and tired of it. He was tired of Dawn telling him what he should do. He was tired of being in this terrible, retched, realm. He was just sick and tired of everything. He wanted to go back home, where he was surrounded by friends and angels who understood what it felt like to be pampered twenty-four seven. He then remembered that over half the angels in heaven now despised him, no thanks to Elise. Jariel balled his fists and anger, and it took all the willpower in him not to punch a hole in the wall. Instead, he buried his face in his hands and let out another aggravated sigh. Why was this happening to him? It wasn’t even his fault! Why couldn’t the other angels see that? Why couldn’t they see through Elise’s disguise? So many of the other angels trusted Elise, and he understood why. It was easy to. She put on a show, acting as though she was the nicest angel in heaven, but then as soon as she got you where she wanted you, she pulled the trigger and you ended up where Jariel was right now. A hopeless mess. He wished that he could have seen through Elise’s disguise. Then maybe he could have avoided all this. He knew that he couldn’t dwell in the past though, and had to move on and focus on the next step: getting his revenge. The revenge that would lead to Elise’s downfall.
Jariel removed his head from his hands and focused on the news. The news reporter was going on about some downtown store being robbed. They were asking for help from the community so that they could catch the villain that had caused this, which made Jariel scoff. He doubted anyone was going to help them catch the robber. They were too involved in their own lives to even bother being concerned about something as small as a robbery.
Jariel eventually turned the television off, deciding that he had enough stupidity and selfishness for one night. He didn’t know what he was going to do, but he supposed that he should get a move on at least on planning his revenge. Where was he supposed to start though? He had no way on getting back in to heaven, at least, none that he knew. He wondered if he went to the local library, if they would have an answer in one of their many books. He made a mental note to go to the library when he had the time, and once he figured out where it was for that matter.
He could hear Dawn running around the kitchen, making dinner, he presumed. That other girl who lived here, Annette, he thought her name was, still had yet to come back and he was beginning to think that she wouldn’t be around anytime soon. Good, he thought. That meant less stress, as well as less people. If he had the choice, he would seclude himself from the rest of humanity, but he guessed that he couldn’t survive long if he did that. He guessed he would just have to suffer through it.
The smell of Enchiladas filled the living room, and Jariel’s stomach began to grumble, letting him know that he was hungry. He didn’t feel like eating right now, he was still upset because of earlier events. He couldn’t believe that Dawn had the audacity to go out and get him a job without consulting with him first. He didn’t even know how to be a waiter! It seemed like he was going to be some type of servant, and just the thought of it made him cringe in protest. He refused to be degraded to a servant. Absolutely not. He was an angel for crying out loud and felt that he should be treated as such, till he remembered that he couldn’t, because Dawn had no idea of what he was and he could never tell her.
If only he could though! It would make so many things a whole lot easier. Dawn would understand his situations and maybe even the arguing would go down some, or disappear all together. He knew that was never going to happen though, and so he gave up on that before he became too invested in it. It could never happen. He would just have to find a different way to get along with Dawn and survive in this realm for, hopefully, only a little while more.
* * * *
Dawn was through with it. She wasn’t about to be someone’s doormat. Not now, not ever. She wasn’t going to let Jariel boss her in to doing what he wanted to do. She just wasn’t going to have it. So she did what she knew she had to, she stood her ground and fought back. Sure, she felt a bit bad about what she had done, but it was what had to be done at the time and so she sucked up the guilt and told Jariel what was going to happen. His response was only expected, she knew he was going to throw a fit when she told him about his newly acquired job, but he was just going to have to grow up and deal with it.
Dawn gave Jariel his space when he stormed out of the kitchen, knowing that he would calm down eventually come around and, hopefully, be thankful. For all she knew though, Jariel could hate her for the rest of her life. Or just be extremely upset.
Annette was still not home yet, and she still refused to call back. She wished what Sam had said about Annette was true, and that she would come around eventually, but she was beginning to doubt that. She missed her best friend though, really and truly missed her. She hoped that Derek was treating her right, but she highly doubted it. She had thought about taking the bus, or walking, past his apartment to make sure, but she didn’t want Annette to accuse her of spying, or checking up, on her and make her angrier than she already was. So, she did what she thought was best and gave Annette her space. She would just have to trust that she would, eventually, come around. She hoped that it was sooner rather than later though. Although Sam had helped her to a point, she still needed her best friend to tell her that she was doing the right thing. If only Annette would answer the phone though! She let out a groan. Ever since Jariel had stepped in to her life, her life had been nothing but chaos. She shook her head. It would be so easy to blame thing whole thing on Jariel, when in truth, it was also partially her fault. She was the one who invited Jariel to live with her, without consulting Annette first. She was the one who didn’t tell Annette about Jariel until the last, waking, moment. She should have known better, really, but it was too late for that now and there was no use dwelling on the past and what could have been. She had to deal with the choices that she made and hope that things would turn out better.
“Dinner is ready.” She told Jariel, who was lying on the couch, just staring at the ceiling. He just shrugged his shoulders and closed his eyes. Dawn let out a sigh and went back in to the kitchen, making herself a plate and putting the rest in the oven to keep warm just incase Jariel changed his mind, or became hungry later.
Almost as if on cue, and most likely because of the smell of food, Michelangelo came stumbling in and immediately started begging for food. Dawn laughed and did her best to make him go away; telling him that there was no food for him today. Instead she got up and opened a can of cat food and placed it on the ground. She laughed as she watched Michelangelo scarf down his food like there was no tomorrow. She went back to eating her food, a lot slower than Michelangelo was eating his.
She wished that life was easy. She wished that, with a snap of her fingers, she could be stress free. However, life wasn’t easy and stress was a part of it. She knew that she was just going to have to cope with it.
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...
