Fugitive Angel

Chapter Four

The soft click of the front door unlocking alarmed me as I sat in the kitchen with Gabriel. I jumped and looked to the door, finding my uncle to walk in looking tired, yet smiling. He was always smiling. Maybe that's where I got it from. My parents never smiled, so it must have been Umberto who taught me the ways of it. But the issue at hand was too great for me to go at length about my parent's lack of smiling or being happy at all for that matter. The fact that there was an angel in the kitchen was a far more pressing matter than my parents.

"Good morning Auralia. I trust you slept well?" He asked as he closed the door behind him. He hadn't yet noticed Gabriel sitting at the breakfast bar with his empty bowl of cereal before him. I told him to remain quiet until I introduced him to Umberto.

"Well enough. Although there were a few interruptions here and there," I replied. I was referring to Gabriel and his arrival, but I didn't expect my uncle to catch on that quickly.

"Was it those blasted neighbours again? All that partying in their backyard, one wonders if they ever sleep, wouldn't you agree?" He asked as he put his coat in the closet. I stood there, blocking some of the view of Gabriel in the kitchen. I didn't know how to tell my uncle that there was an Archangel in our house. How would he even react to that? He would probably think I had gone insane!

"No, no. They were quiet last night. It was...something else." I replied. He stared at me this time, with a confused expression. I didn't look as innocent as I thought I did for a moment. It was when he looked behind me and saw the man in the kitchen. His eyes widened and I knew he had gotten the wrong idea as to why there was an unknown male visitor eating in our kitchen. I didn't know how to tell him any of this. What was there to say? Well, there was plenty to say, it was how to say it that was the problem.

"Who is this? You had a visitor without my permission? And a man at that!" He asked, looking distraught. I shook my head and put my hands up to try and calm him down. He was always quite protective of me when it came to boys, something my real father seemed to overlook in his time raising me.

"It isn't what you think, uncle. Please, let me explain," I said to him. He walked into the kitchen to try and examine the man further but I stopped him in mid-stride.

"What is it then? Go ahead, explain." He said. I looked back at Gabriel who was sitting there, silently, looking more aghast than Umberto and I put together. He clearly didn't know what was going on at the moment. I looked to him to answer Umberto's question. Gabriel cleared his throat and stood from his chair. He walked over to me and my uncle in a relaxed motion. I wondered if all angels were this at ease in stressful situations, or if it was just him.

"I'm Gabriel, sir. I found myself in your home last night and your niece gratefully allowed me to stay the night." Gabriel replied. Umberto looked at him like he had just seen a ghost. Was he that amazed that there was someone in our house? My uncle could take Gabriel as a regular man that found himself here, but he looked more dumbfounded than that. Was I missing something here?

"I know you. Where have I seen you before?" Umberto asked. It would seem that it was my turn to be quiet. I had clearly been taken out of this conversation. Gabriel came slightly closer to Umberto and myself before he spoke again.

"You may have seen me in numerous pictures." He replied. Umberto looked even more puzzled after that particular statement. Gabriel wasn't helping as much as he thought he was. He needed to be more clear with what he was trying to say. He was so cryptic with everything, expecting people to map it out for themselves using what he had provided for them. That was a reason you could tell he was an angel and not a human. He talked like an angel might be depicted as.

"I don't understand. Are you a model of sorts?" Umberto asked. I wanted to punch myself in the face and go unconscious at this point. This was getting really overwhelming really fast. I considered sticking my head in the oven for a while, but that would just serve to make matters worse.