Originally: 'Honey, I'm Home!'
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This is a sequel to "Angels Appearance"...I advise you to read that before this to understand the plot and character dynamics...
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Angel faces a difficult decision...Will she decide to spend the rest of her...
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I pushed on the backdoor to 'Gloria's Bar', brow crumpling into a frown with how quiet everything was. I risked popping my head into the main room, confusion expanding when I saw it was empty. No rowdy customers, no secret witch spells, the place just seemed abandoned. "Gloria?" The word bounced off the walls, the deafening silence forcing my gut to twist. "Gloria?!" I grew more frantic, hesitant steps increasing to pounding thumps as I searched her office, her bedroom--my bedroom-- "GLORIA!" The building was empty, my heart sinking when my common sense kicked in...
My eyes stung when I returned to her office, body falling against the desk chair when memories from our first meeting slashed at my brain. The struggle of not crying burned my throat when I thought over the progress we'd made, the relationship we'd formed, the parental figure I felt I'd gained...A connection I never thought myself lucky enough to experience again. All of it lost because I was stupid enough to forget what day it was.
She was dead because of me.
I reached out for one of her favorite bottles of liquor, snapping off the lid and forcing it to numb my mind. It hurt like hell to swallow raw, though it momentarily succeeded in slowing the clanging rhythm of my heartbeat. Another sip had me coughing, an item being caught in the liquid almost forcing me to choke. I pulled out the small cylinder, setting aside the bottle to frown. The cylinder had a cap, slim enough to be shoved down the bottle's neck and spanning about three inches in width. I unscrewed the top, shaking the small cage until a rolled-up slip of paper fell into my lap:
'Hey, darlin',
Now, I don't want you wallowing over an old girl finally meeting her maker. We both knew this day was comin', so I don't want you feeling guilty about it. It's not your responsibility to save everybody, to fix everything, to make the world a better place just because of how you came to be here. I know me saying it won't mean much, but you're one of the few people I've met in this world that deserves nothing but good. Yet, you're too worried about everyone else to let yourself be happy. There's always gonna be something else to worry about, something else to stop you from focusing on yourself. I just hope you realize that and change some things for your good before you lose everything trying to make other people happy...
You've become like a daughter to me, Angel. Pulled me out of my rut, forced me to face fears from centuries ago. You helped me reconnect with the purest form of my magic while also expanding my abilities to lengths I forgot they could reach and for that, I can do nothing but thank you. Although, I suppose I'm most grateful for our relationship instilling me with past protective and loving instincts that I thought were long dead.
I should thank you for actually making me view a goodbye as a good thing, view death as a good thing--as something that can have meaning, rather than an event I should fear. Just because I ain't around anymore doesn't mean I'm gone, and for as long as you need to cry your frustrations out into the night sky, or whisper and smile about all the good in your life, I'll be listenin'. I'll always watch over you, Angel. That's a promise.
