The Angel Within

Chapter Two- May 23, 2022 (11 years old)

May 23, 2022   (11 years old)

 I walked slowly into my closest. My eyes were still half closed and I still felt as if I was asleep in my bed and not walking aimlessly around my room. Even the tiniest bit of light would burn my eyes at that moment.

I stepped into my barren and mostly unused closest. Reuben bought most of the clothes for me as gifts for my birthday and Christmas in here. He didn’t mind that I didn’t wear them much; he knew I didn’t really care for getting dressed up. I kept all of normal, everyday clothes in my dresser; I kept my ‘fancy’ clothes in the closet. Sadly, today wasn’t a normal day.  

Despite the many racks, shelves and hangers crowding my closest, I really only had around a few articles of clothing in there. I bet a least three of them don’t even fit me anymore. My eyes landed on a pale white dress stashed way in the back.

            I didn’t even have to touch the silky, white fabric before a jolt of electricity flashed through my body. The shock made me step back and bump against the pale blue wall behind me and black spots clouded my vision. I stepped away from the wall and rubbed the back of my head. I blinked away the black smudges in the vision in annoyance.

            “Ouch,” I mumbled, “that hurt, Keon.”

            I took another step forward and once again reached for the white dress. I was able to grab hold of the sleeve and yank it off the rack before the electrical pain passing through me was too much for me to take. I released the dress and watched it fall into a clump on the ground.

            “Keon,” I growled angrily, “look, I know you aren’t exactly fond of the color white, but—wait, why am I even explaining myself to you? This is nonnegotiable, alright?”

            “No white…”

            “Nonnegotiable,” I stated simply. I reached down for the dress once again, but this time the dress suddenly flew over my head and hit the top of the wall behind me. I turned around just in time to watch it crumple to the ground.

            My heart was racing at the sudden, unexpected movement. I knew it was Keon being difficult, but still….it scared me sometimes to see what he was capable of.

            “Keon, I know Reuben likes it when you move things around and stuff, but,” I said quietly, “please. Do this for me, okay? Just this one day, okay? I promised Reuben I would wear the white dress he got me for my birthday, remember? I’m on your side here, I hate dresses.”

            “No white….” Keon’s raspy voice echoed through my head.

            “Well too bad,” I insisted with a huff, “today is my fifth grade graduation and I made a promise to Reuben. I don’t care if you don’t like white, Keon. I’m wearing it.”

            An hour later, Reuben and I were at the ceremony at Bridemore Elementary school. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t excited. I hated all the way the teachers treated me here, they all looked at me like I was some kind of trouble maker. I couldn’t blame them though. All the pencil holders and shelves Keon knocked off would make any fifth grader look like a troublemaker. The teachers weren’t the worst of it though, the kids treated me even worse—they thought I was a freak. Middle school would be better; I would make new friends with new students there.

            I wasn’t thrilled about the ceremony. In fact, I thought it was stupid and useless. It was the random jolts of electricity that were throwing me off though. For once it wasn’t the other students constant snickering or the teacher’s disapproving stares that were bothering me; it was the random jolts of painful electricity raging through me.