『Guardian Angel』»〈skephalo〉

XIII

•zak•

Clay drove Vincent, Darryl, and I to the party that Friday night. Vincent sat in the passenger seat, so Darryl and I sat in the back seats together. Clay and Vincent were talking about the party, but honestly I didn't feel like talking about that at that moment. I just wanted a break from the situation. Every moment I'm paranoid about a demon emerging from the shadows and snatching me away, taking me to who knows where.

I started to chew on my fingernails nervously, drowning out Clay and Vincent's conversation. No matter how hard I concentrated, my thoughts came back to Zelk. He must be so scared, I thought to myself, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. It's okay, we can save him.

"Hey, Zak?" I opened my eyes instantly, turning away from the window and towards where Darryl was sitting.

"Yeah?" I asked the guardian, wondering what he wanted to talk about. I prayed that he'd say something interesting, anything to distract me from the stress that filled my body.

Darryl ran his fingers through his hair, biting his lip as if he was hesitating to say something. I raised an eyebrow at him. He finally opened his mouth. "Is it... normal? For boys to think of other boys romantically?"

Immediately my eyes glanced towards Clay and Vincent. Thankfully they were deep into their own conversation, so they didn't hear Darryl's question. I turned back towards the angel. "Well, it's not that weird. I'm guessing it was weird the last time you were on earth?" I asked him.

Darryl smiled sheepishly. "Yeah. It wasn't very accepted at that time. Homosexuals were called very rude things."

I nodded. "The world can be cruel. Thankfully times have changed. In most places, if two boys kiss in public, nobody would bat an eye." I swallowed nervously after saying that. "But, of course, there's the occasional asshole. The ones who still shout the slurs at them from time to time. But most of the time, the assholes are the ones who are called names, not the homosexuals," I explained.

Darryl nodded. "I understand," He replied. "So, Clay and Vincent must be homosexuals?"

I shook my head. "Maybe Clay is, but I remember in middle school Vincent had the biggest crush on a girl for the longest time. He just couldn't get over her," I informed Darryl. "So he's most likely bisexual or pansexual or something." I smiled. "I guess we haven't really had the time to ask."

Darryl furrowed his eyebrows. "I don't know what those words mean."

I laughed. "Well, There's lots of sexualities. I'll go over some for you. Homosexuals, or gays, are people who like the same sex. Heterosexuals, or straights, are those who like the opposite sex. Bisexuals like both sexes, pansexuals like all sexes, asexuals don't have sexual attraction and stuff. There's lots of sexualities. Hell, I don't even know all of them," I told him.

Darryl nodded. "What are you?" He asked suddenly.

I shrugged. "So far I've only experience sexual attraction to males and females, so I guess I'm bisexual," I said to Darryl. "What about you?"

Darryl also shrugged. "I'm not sure, I've never had the chance to fall in love."

I felt sad for him, but after he said that we arrived at Zelk's house. My stress slowly formed once more in my stomach, causing my palms to sweat. It was time to go through with our plan.

Darryl and I walked into the house with Vincent and Clay by our side. Within a few minutes of entering, I spotted Zelk and Finn talking together. Darryl and I split off from Clay and Vincent, making our way over to the two suspects, trying to make it seem like Clay and Vincent weren't in on it.

"Hey!" I greeted immediately, arriving at Zelk's side. My friend beamed at my arrival, flashing me a big smile. It made my heart ache.

"Yo! I'm glad you made it," He replied, giving me a fist bump. I laughed at the awkward hand gesture, enjoying the moment of pure friendship.

In the meantime, George and Jack entered the party, heading towards Clay and Vincent to act as if they were still prime suspects. It enforced the idea that we didn't know the couple weren't demons, which gave us a greater chance of catching the demon off guard.

Zelk, Finn, Darryl, and I maintained a solid conversation for a big part of the party. The talk made me so happy that I almost forgot about our original mission. I didn't mind that, it was a big weight on my shoulders anyway.

In the middle of it, Finn accidentally spilled his drink all over my pants. "Shit!" He exclaimed, seeming genuinely frustrated. "Were those pants expensive?" He questioned. "If they were... actually we might still be able to get it out."

I smiled. "Might as well try," I replied. I gave Darryl a look like 'you stay with zelk'. Darryl simply nodded, which made my smile grow. "Let's get to the bathroom," I told Finn.

"Wait, the main bathroom is probably full. Head to the one in my room, it's under construction right now but the sink still works," Zelk suggested.

I nodded at him, then went with Finn up to Zelk's room. We walked in silence, listening to the music from the party as we made our way to our destination. Eventually we reached his room, where we walked through and opened the door that led to the restroom.

Inside the bathroom, there were wooden boards, paint, nails and other things scattered across the floor. But besides that, the sink was still in place and connected to the water system just as Zelk had said. I sighed, grabbing a towel that was sitting on the side of the sink, filling it with water and rubbing it into the spot on my pants.

Finn stood next to me and watched. "You okay?" He asked, concerned. "You look worried, were they actually expensive?"

I shook my head. "No, you're good. I've just got a lot on my mind," I replied, slightly regretting leaving Darryl alone with Zelk.

"I bet." I continued to rub the towel into my pants, but suddenly froze. Did I hear Finn correctly? What does he mean by "I bet"? I furrowed my eyebrows, standing up straight and turning towards Finn.

Finn was holding one of the wooden boards in his palms. "Demons can be quite deceiving," He added with a smirk. He then raised the board up into the air and brought it down onto my head, making everything go black.

A/N: dun dun DUNNN