The Mark of a Fallen Angel

24: Family History

I smiled at the picture but then I had the sudden urge to scowl and rip it out. Weird. I shook my head and turned to Sheryl.
 
"He helped stop the fires you know," Sheryl said. "But he never thought the kitchen fire started the Fayetteville fire. There was a cult back in the 1800's. They believed that God sent their disciple down to punish them or something. They were very religious in those days, look."
 
I read the first couple of lines, 'On Sunday morning, May 29, 1831, the people of Fayetteville flocked to their churches for worship..."
 
I laughed nervously.
 
She turned over three more pages; there was a whole page of Fayetteville Cults on God and Punishments. "They believed there was this one archangel that went haywire and punished them."
 
I scanned the page and gasped. What if it were true? That there was an angel that went ape-shit and burned everything...? Now that I knew that angels really existed, it may well be.
 
I laughed. 

I doubted it. And even if the archangel did, there must have been a reason.

Demons were the evil ones, not archangels and angels... Right?
 
I read about this one majorly important archangel that was neither good nor bad but I hadn't finished the page yet. I'd only read the first couple of lines.
 
"I highly doubt that." I grabbed the book and shut it.

She shrugged. "That's the legend your granddaddy told me and Theodore. He told us when Theo turned eleven actually."  I lay my head down on her lap. She started running her fingers through my hair. "It's quite funny how you say you doubt it when my father said that they saw the angel. Well they thought they did,"

 
I chuckled even though inside I was screaming.
 
"It's in the book actually," She snatched it away from me again and turned over until she got to the middle of the book. "It was written in a letter to his wife back in burnt old Fayetteville. He was in Raleigh at the time:
 
'My dearest wife,' she started. 'I'm writing to you confirm my belief, Eva. The angel is real. I saw her...'
 
Her?
 
'I was clearing the old dust and burnt rubble last night in one of the document libraries when I saw a dark figure standing and moving not far from me. I froze as I could not see their face or whom it was. It seemed to me like she was looking for something. She was rummaging through old pieces of burnt paper and backtracking every so often.

I hid behind a burnt bookcase and watched her turn left from right and finally, her gaze had settled on me. All I could see in the pitch black darkness were her luminous bright blue or grey eyes. I just knew that she was beyond this world...'
 
Sheryl paused to turn the page and frowned. "That's all it says. It looks like he went nuts after that. People thought he was taking it to an extreme when he started warning people of black hair and bright blue eyed people," Sheryl laughed and shut the book.

"I don't personally believe in it," She continued. "But Theo seemed to of believed it. I think that's why he doesn't like Gabriel, you know."
 
I sat up and my mouth gaped open. "That's why Theo doesn't like him?"
 
She shrugged. "Well, Theo has never liked Gabriel and that started when he met him at eleven. That was when Theo heard the story."
 
I scowled. What a stupid reason for Theo to hate him... Sort of. It's not like Theo knew the truth. Plus, he's 19 and he still believes a stupid old wives tale from our family history.
 
I stood up and smiled at Sheryl. "That was an interesting story. Thanks Aunt Sheryl."
 
She nodded her head and grinned. "I love spending time with you babe. I'd prefer if we were doing something more productive though. Like cliff diving-!"
 
"Bye Sheryl." I giggled, grabbed the book and made my way up to Theo's room. I knocked once but didn't get a reply.
 
I opened the door and walked in to find him sprawled across his bed in his underwear.
 
It was almost one o'clock in the afternoon for crying out loud! I placed the book by the door and did a running jump onto his bed receiving a startled grunt from him. "What the--!!"
 
"Why didn't you say anything Theodore?"
 
He opened his heavy lids and stared up at me. "What now?" He said in a tired voice.
 
"I'm going to ask you once and I want you to tell me the truth. Why don't you like Gabriel?"
 
He rubbed his eyes and turned over. "I told you. I think he's a bad influence on you-"
 
"Wrong answer. You were a young stupid child that believed a bull shit story about an evil angel with blue eyes and black hair."
 
His eyes popped open and he sat up in a flash sending me rolling to the floor. "Who told you that?"
 
I winced and rubbed my head. "Sheryl, duh! You're such a jackass! You didn't like Gabriel because of a stupid little legend you heard when you were a kid."
 
He scowled. "I don't believe it anymore."
 
"Then why are you still horrible to Gabe?"
 
He helped me off the floor and back onto the bed with a frown. "Because I... He's just... He's weird."
 
I shot up off the bed. "Don't you dare--"
 
"I'm sorry! Take a chill pill and unclench those hands of yours, the Incredible Hulk."
 
I looked down at my hands and sighed. I didn't even realize...
 
He suddenly grabbed my left hand and immediate anger coursed through me. I started to panic. I didn't want to hurt Theo but the way he kept looking at it and touching it made me want to slap him.
 
"What's this rash?"
 
"Get off." I tried to pull my hand back but his grip tightened. "Theodore!"
 
"It looks weird." He let go.
 
I squeezed my eyes shut and concentrated on breathing.
 
I heard him sigh. "Look, I'm sorry about Gabriel. I can't bring myself to get to know him. I just get this weird feeling about him. And don't worry; I'm over that stupid legend about one of God's disciple going crazy on Fayetteville and Raleigh."
 
One of my eyes popped open and I sighed. Maybe he was telling the truth. Although I think he could try a little bit harder to talk to Gabriel instead of being an ass to him.
 
"Alright," I said as I walked toward his door. "But I'm asking you to try a little harder. Just for the remainder of your stay anyway. I hate the fact that you two don't get along."
 
I turned around to see him nodding. "Fine."
 
And with that I walked out of his room and into mine.

A small smile curved my lips. Finally, Theo can actually try and get along with Gabe. But then my smile turned into a frown.
 
If Theo can try to get on with Gabriel then I need to try and talk to him. Everything still isn't clear to me yet, and talking to Gabriel will help me finally get everything straight.
 
I sat down at my desk and switched my laptop on. My gaze fell on my empty desk. Whose feather was it?

Was it Gabriel's? Or was it Tristan's?
 
Or what if wasn't either of their feathers'... It could have been the one who stole the feather. Maybe they wanted it back, for what reason I didn't know.
 
But it couldn't be someone else's feather... I remember when I got it, I felt weirdly connected to it. It must be Gabriel's or Tristan's.

They're the only two that I felt close to. Gabriel more so.
 
For the rest of the day, I spent it on the laptop or thinking about how I should approach the Gabriel issue.

By seven, all I'd managed to accomplish was what I was wearing tomorrow night and whose house I'm going to, to get ready.
 
"I'm pissed off at you, Alex," Tracey said over the phone.
 
I sighed and flopped on the bed. "I understand. I missed Gabriel's birthday I'm not even remotely surprised that you're angry."
 
There was a long silence over the other line when I thought she might have hung up on me. "Why did you miss his b-day? He was in school today, Alex. He seemed a bit... Down."
 
I shook my head. "That was the last thing I wanted to do to him. I just... I've got a lot going on with me at the moment, Trace."
 
"Is this the whole, you have a crush on him thing? Have you two been getting it on behind our backs?"
 
I chuckled. "No. But..."
 
She gasped. "Spill. You have thirty seconds to explain everything. Go."
 
I sighed. "Tracey, no it's not that. I mean, Gabe and I... I..." I groaned. "Tracey I think I'm falling for him."
 
She screamed down the phone for a good one minute. I returned the phone to my ear after it went silent. "You done?"
 
She sighed happily. "Yep! But oh, my God Alexis. You're falling in love with him? This is... Whoa. You are best friends, you have everything in common and then some. I mean, sure it took you both long enough-"
 
"What? Long enough? Tracey," I groaned. "I barely know how he feels about me-"
 
A sudden burst of laughter filled my ear. "Alex, baby, you are the most oblivious person I have ever met. That boy is madly in love with you. And has been since I met you in the 9th grade."
 
I shook my head. "No. I know he likes me but..." It's not true. It couldn't be. I tried talking to him about how he felt about me but he only said that I didn't understand how he felt. "I don't believe it." I whispered.
 
"You better believe it, hun. Anyway, you and Megan are coming to mine at five and the car your dad hired will be here around eight-thirty to get to Gabriel's. Alright?"
 
"Yeah..." We said put goodbyes and hung up.
 
Gabriel couldn't love me. And not as long as Tracey said anyway.
 
I brought my hands up to my face and sighed. I needed to talk to him. About what he is, about us, about everything.
 
I just needed a way to approach him.
 
 
 
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(Edited: 2023)