“I am sick and tired of these stinking books!” Jariel groaned, slamming shut the fifth book he had browsed through. They really hadn’t gotten anywhere. Not a single shred of knowledge of where the others could be. All it talked about were how and why some of the angels were thrown out, which Jariel already knew about. He despised the fiction books that told complete and utter lies about his kind. Where did they get that crap? He shook his head and muttered under his breath as he grabbed another book off the top of the stack, opened it, and began to browse through that one too. Dawn didn’t seem to be having much luck either, by the sighs coming from her side of the table, as well as the annoyed mutters. What was even the point of coming here if there wasn’t going to be any vital information? There just had to be a way to find the other angels, or find a way back in to Heaven. Maybe there just wasn’t a way to get back in to heaven. Maybe he was just stuck here. No, he refused to believe that. He refused to give up. He was going to find a way back in to Heaven and get the revenge that he so desperately longed for.
“Jariel, I honestly don’t think we’re going to find anything in these books.” Dawn said, snapping Jariel out of his deep thoughts. He looked at her and let out a sigh. He knew that she was probably right, but he didn’t want to take the chance of there actually being something in one of these books.
“Just keep looking. We may find something in the other books. We can discard the fiction books though, because those are just dead wrong.” Jariel said, closing the book he was reading and opening another one, which had a brown and green cover with an angel on it.
“Okay.” She said, a bit skeptical. Nonetheless she closed the book that she had just finished and opened another one with a blue cover. They flipped through book after book until there were no books left to browse through and they were left with what they had in the beginning, absolutely nothing. They left the library with disappointment all over their face.
“I can’t believe we couldn’t find anything.” Dawn muttered. “I was so sure that there was something there that could help us.”
“Well, the books were written by humans, and not fallen angels, so I guess that’s why.” Jariel suggested. “Because they really don’t know the complete truth. Their thoughts are just theories.”
“I guess that’s true.” She shrugged. “How about we go get some ice cream. I think we deserve something after enduring that torture for nothing back there.” She laughed.
“Sure.” Jariel said, not really in the mood for ice cream, but not wanting to make Dawn feel bad. He was just a bit upset that he was back at the beginning. He wanted this to be over and done with, but he guessed that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. They made their way to the ice cream parlor, which Dawn told him was called Jenny’s Sweets. It looked like an oversized candy cane, for it was a building that was painted red and white, like a candy cane. Jariel smiled as they stepped in to the store and smelled candy canes. Dawn explained to him that the owner of the store had a thing for candy canes, as if he couldn’t come to that conclusion himself.
Dawn ordered two sundae’s, which she paid for herself, and then told Jariel that he owed her, followed by she was only kidding. They laughed. Jariel remembered that he had to start work on Monday, the thought itself just made him groan, which made Dawn laugh. They sat down at a booth in the corner of the parlor and ate their ice cream mostly in silence. Jariel looked around, and found mostly families, teenagers on a date, and a lot of kids running around the store. He didn’t really know if he liked the ice cream, for he never ate it before. They didn’t really have ice cream in Heaven.
Dawn ate hers quickly and got up to throw hers out, returning whistling the song that was currently playing in the store. She laughed when Jariel looked at her oddly and went back to slowly eating his ice cream. Dawn persisted to tease him about how slowly he was eating it, but he did his best to ignore her, but ended up laughing with her. In the end, he ended up throwing it out in the end without even finishing, deciding that he didn’t like ice cream very much.
They walked back to Dawn’s apartment, to find garbage bags all over the kitchen table. Wondering what was up; Dawn rushed to Annette’s room. Jariel went to the living room and sat on the couch, taking his shoes off and just sitting back and relaxing. He didn’t bother to turn the television on; he wasn’t really in the mood to watch the horror that flashed across the screen. He was already annoyed and angry as it was, he didn’t need any help. He ended up falling asleep sitting up on the couch.
* * * *
Dawn was a little bit disappointed that they couldn’t find any good information at the library. She had been so sure that they would find something helpful there, but she had guessed wrong. She felt bad for Jariel. Now they were back at the beginning and he was probably a little bit more than frustrated. He wanted to get back to his home, yet he still had no idea how to. Dawn couldn’t even imagine how he was feeling right now.
They had came home and Dawn wondered why there were a stack of garbage bags on the kitchen table, when she remembered that Annette was tossing Derek’s stuff. She had no idea that Derek had left as much junk here as he did. She walked down to Annette’s room to see how she was doing and why there were as many garbage bags as there were.
“Hey, what’s up?” Annette asked when Dawn walked in to the room, to find clothes thrown everywhere. Some were even hanging from the ceiling fan. “Find what you were looking for at the library?”
“No,” she said, still a little bit shocked at the state of her room. “Annette, what is all this?”
“You’d be surprised how much crap Derek left here, and how much stuff he bought me. I’m throwing it all away. I don’t want any memories.” She answered.
“Uhm, okay.” She said, still not too sure why she was throwing her clothes around the room.
“That and I’m cleaning out my closet of clothes that either don’t fit me anymore or that I never will wear again.” She said, a smile plastered on her face. “I really need to clean this room.” She laughed.
“No kidding.” Dawn said, laughing as well. “Need any help?”
“Could you take the bags on the kitchen table and throw them in the dumpster for me? It would be much appreciated.” She said, digging through her messy closet once again. Dawn laughed and obeyed, walking out to the kitchen, grabbing the four or five bags that were there, and bringing them out to the dumpster in the back of the apartment complex. She returned to find Jariel passed out on the couch. She couldn’t blame him though; he was probably tired and stressed out from the day, which was completely understandable.
Dawn went in to her painting studio and brought out the white canvas that she had bought a couple of weeks ago, as well as her sketch of Jariel. She knew what she was going to paint now. She got her paints and her brushes together and got to work, painting his face and head first, before the rest of his body. She only managed to finish the head today, before having to leave and cook dinner. Annette wasn’t the greatest cook in the world, so the cooking was usually left up to Dawn. In return, Annette did the laundry and the dishes some nights.
Dawn had decided to make something simple tonight, because she was far too tired to cook anything more complex. She decided to cook French toast, as she got the frying pan out as well as the ingredients. French toast didn’t take long to cook, so she quickly finished them and then called Annette and Jariel in, laughing when Jariel shot up, startled and wondered what was going on.
For once they all sat together and ate. It had been a while since Dawn could remember eating at the same table with Annette. She had always been either at work or at Derek’s. Words couldn’t describe how happy she was that Derek was now officially out of the picture. She knew that there was someone out there for Annette who would treat her ten times better than Derek ever could. She deserved it.
Dinner passed by quickly and Annette cleaned the dishes while Jariel went back and fell asleep on the couch. Dawn returned to her studio and continued to work on Jariel’s painting. It was going to take her a while to finish it, but she hoped by getting a head start she could finish it earlier. She wanted to give it to Jariel before he left for Heaven, that is, if he ever found a way to get back. Part of her wanted him to be happy, and so she wished that he would find a way, but the other part, the more selfish part of her, wished that he would stay here. She knew that he couldn’t though. She had to admit, she had gotten a bit attached to him. She just hoped that, when the time came, she could let him go loose.