I walked through the city again, my flimsy disguise back on. There was one more stop I had to make before I leave the city. It pained me that I know I won’t be back in a long time. It’s just a feeling but I know it’s true. I won’t be back for years. I walked past the park again and it was even busier this time. Walkers and runners were out exercising, children were playing on the playground, and friends were catching up over coffee; the city life. It was beautiful. I longed to join the runners and get exercise but I had to keep a low profile. I needed to burn off my energy. I needed lots of energy for the lifestyle I was living and doing practically nothing but sitting for a few hours was making me hyper.
I started to jog at a slow human pace but as I passed by a couple sharing a coffee, I realized how long it had been since I had one myself as the aroma wafted past me on the lake breeze. I was close to the Lake Michigan shore. I stole a businessman’s wallet as he was entering his office building to get money, and honestly, he could afford it. He hadn’t even noticed who I was when I “accidentally” ran into him or the hand that was slipping into his pocket. He was distracted by my beauty, even though his left hand bore a wedding ring. Typical. Human men were lustful, didn’t they know it’s a sin? I smiled to myself at the joke. I went to a coffee shop and bought myself a caramel latte to go. I sipped it gratefully, enjoying the sweetness, as I walked to my destination.
A store selling televisions had the news on, which proclaimed that India and some Middle Eastern countries fell to the angels during the night. Humans had gathered around and watched it with me. They murmured things to each other like, “oh, that’s terrible.” Humans, especially Americans, felt like they rule the world and that nothing could make their country fall apart. Ethnocentrism at its finest. It annoyed me, but I had gotten over it.
Some of the televisions repeated the same, monotone warning. “Beware of the angels. If you see any, do not engage. Report it to the authorities.”
Then, another news program advertised that I was still on the loose, so I took that as my cue to leave with my steaming cup of coffee. I chuckled, yes, I was dangerous, but no, I do not hurt the innocent.
I finished my coffee as I found the house, which was hard to miss, throwing my disposable cup in a nearby garbage can. I circled around to the back and crouched, springing up and landing on the third story window sill. I peered into the house through a crack in the curtains. He isn’t in the empty room, but I heard footsteps coming from the second story. I tried the window but it was locked.
“When will he ever learn?” I muttered. I yanked swiftly on the window, breaking the lock effortlessly. The window was small and far from the floor. I grabbed the edge of the roof and swung myself feet first through the tight fit and landed softly on the balls of my feet.
I chuckled when I saw myself in the full body mirror. I’m extremely beautiful from a distance and it’s hard to say where I get it from; either my perfect angel father or my gorgeous human mother. I have bronze hair, cut off in many layers just below my shoulder blades. My skin is healthy and radiates the sunlight it collects, although flawed by countless of faded scars. I’m fairly tall for a woman, being five feet and ten inches tall. My arms and legs are long, toned, and graceful. My mouth is wide and shaped like a cupid’s bow, pun intended. My nose is neither large nor small, normal-sized but somehow delicate-looking. My eyes are my best trait and the most unique. My eyes drastically change color depending on my mood. Right now, my eyes are hazel, which meant I must still be in a good mood from my visit with Grandmother. I suppose it’s better to say that I was beautiful years ago. Things have changed, easier to notice when closer to me. My body was studded with a neverending amount of puffy, shiny scars. Circular scars from bullets, straight scars from knives, ragged scars where my skin just split from blunt objects. I’ve seen it all. I’m worn, battered, bruised. I’ve been tested time and time again.
Other than being beautiful in a rogue way, I looked dangerous, and I was. My hands have done unspeakable things I pushed to the back on my mind.
I looked surprisingly sexy in my all black, tight outfit. I didn’t plan it this way, but it was actually useful. I couldn’t wear loose clothes and risk letting them get caught on something when I needed to make a quick getaway and black made it easier for me to sneak away into the shadows and become unnoticed.
I didn’t hear his footsteps anymore, which was bad news. Then I heard his deep breathing and, “Bitch! You broke my window... Again!”
I shrunk away into the corner on reflex, scared of how his reaction would be to seeing me again. It hasn’t always been easy between him and I. I turned around to look at him, seeing his huge smile. So, I asked, “Is that any way to greet your life long best friend?”
He ran up to me and wrapped his arms around me with joy. “Oh. Aimee... I’ve missed you so much.” Xavier Richmond murmured that into my hair.
“Sorry, you know.. I always have to make an entrance. I can’t help it.”
“Yes, you can help it. Just turn yourself in.” He said quietly, his ice blue eyes full of sincerity.
“Xavier, I will not just hand myself over to be killed. Don’t pretend that you believe what the media is saying. The government has other ideas.” I said bluntly as possible and a bit harsh too. I pulled away from him and left the empty room, heading for the stairs.
Xavier followed me but didn’t say anything as we climbed down the spiral staircase, past the second and first floor. I tried to catch glimpses of the rooms we passed, seeing how much had changed since I was here last. Xavier’s home was very large and extravagant. It reeked of old money. His parents weren’t home, naturally. They had been absent for most of his life and hired nannies to raise him. He finally pipes up, “I’m sure they won’t kill you if you cooperate.”
I turned to throw him a very sharp glance and rotated forward again. “They’ve been advertising me as a terrorist! A terrorist, Xavier!”
“Well, you have broken into several government facilities and bombed one of them...”
“That was only after they named me America’s Most Wanted and arrested me. It was a last resort sort of thing anyways. No other options.”
“How many people did that kill?”
“They were all dead already, actually.”
“You found them that way?” He asked suspiciously.
We arrived in Xavier’s basement laboratory, so I changed the subject instead of answering that question. “I need to know which angels are being held captive.”
“Angels are being held captive?” He expressed his shock and tried to hide his amazement because he didn’t want to annoy me.
“No, Xavier, I’m completely joking. I thought it would be the most hilarious thing to tell you. Look? See that? That’s me laughing outrageously.” I poured all my sarcasm into that as I said it with a straight face.
“Oh, you’re hilarious... I’m not helping you break them out.” He said matter-of-factly, brushing his curly, sandy blonde hair out of his eyes and crossing his arms. His arms were a lot more muscular than I remembered they were, and he had grown taller. He was at least six feet tall now. His clothes were nice; clean and simple, but I knew they were most likely designer brands and expensive. He had finally grown into his Roman nose and strong jaw. He was very handsome now. I noticed earlier that he still hasn’t lost his dimples from his childhood. For that I was grateful, I love dimples.
“Xavier, dear Lord... Why would I break them out? You know I wouldn’t.”
“You’ve changed.”
I could feel my eyes changing to red. It burned slightly. He thought I would help the angels. It felt like... Betrayal.
He sat down in front of his computer and turned it on. While he was waiting, he glanced up at me. “Aimee, calm down.” He knew what color of my eyes went to which emotions.
“You think I’d help the murderers? You think I’d help them kill billions? Why? Just because my dad is one of them? I don’t even know my dad.”
“Aimee, Aimee. Breathe. I’m sorry. You’re right.” He turned back to his computer and typed in a few things. “What do you want to know?”
“Which angels are being held, not where. I want to know which ones.”
He typed so fast, I didn’t even bother trying to watch. I just watched his eyes dart back and forth as he read something. “I don’t have clearance to this kind of information.”
“Try hacking it.”
Xavier worked for the government somehow, but made most of his money from computer hacking. His clients were at the highest end of society. The celebrities, the billionaires, and the upper class who all didn’t want others to find out their dirty secrets that they buried deep to be able to hide. Xavier could do almost anything on a computer. He was almost a true genius. He had to be able to keep up with they way I think. I think faster than most humans; I make the connections between things faster, I figure out riddles in ways humans wouldn’t be able to, and other things like that.
“Alright.” He let out the word as he exhaled all the air from his lungs, making it sound like a sigh. He did some clicking, typed some words, and bit his lip in concentration. I just watched him from behind the computer screen, leaning against a desk that had massive piles of papers spewed about on top. Xavier certainly wasn’t very clean, and he was smart enough not to let his maids down here.
After a few minutes, he growled, “I can’t get it. This is impossible.”
“Well, just find me something! Find me somebody who knows. Maybe a facility where the information is kept.” I fumed, trying not to raise my voice too much. I didn’t want to yell at him, but this information is critical.
“I can’t. There’s a program that would alert whoever is in charge of this information to whoever saw the file. That would lead it right to me. I’d be a dead man.”
“Can’t you get around it?”
“No, but...” He trailed off as his eyes narrowed to something on the screen. “Here, look at this.” Xavier tried to move the computer screen but I jumped over his desk to see before he could get it. He reared back, startled, and I steadied him before he tipped back in his chair.
“Sorry,” I murmured, I just wasn’t used to having to slow myself down around people anymore. It had been awhile since I’d been around civilized people. “What am I supposed to look at?”
“This.” Xavier pointed to the screen. ACCESS DENIED flashed in red and bold letters. Although, above that, was a crest that rotated on an invisible axis. The crest was what appeared to be a sword and a Celtic cross held together by a snake. It was familiar... My father has seen it before. It was a family crest a long time ago, but now it is a company logo. I knew that because that was one of the last things I saw from him before the information I was getting from him stopped completely. I still don’t know why. I have always gotten his memories, ever since I was born. I can acess his memories, but not recent ones, the ones in my lifetime, and it has been bothering me lately. One of the few still powerful companies in the world claimed this crest as its own.
I slipped my backpack off and dug around in the bag until I found what I wanted. It was something I had stolen; a map I had printed off of the world and marked down where every secret and “safe” facility was hidden away. This was what I had been using for the past few months. It was the second most important thing I owned and it showed; you could see all the creases and tears in it from how many times I’ve opened it. “Looks like I’m going to Ireland.” I declared, with a smile.
Xavier’s eyes widened for a moment, waiting for me to tell him I was kidding. When he realized I was serious, his professional side slid into place. “You’ll need money, a place to stay, plane tickets, and transportation once you get there. The easiest way to get to Ireland is a non-stop flight, but I’m not sure when the next flight to Ireland departs. You’ll also need contacts, non-permanent hair dye, and a fake I.D.”
“Well, I guess I need to get on that then.” I shuffled my few belongings around, getting ready to leave.
“Aimee, it’s a good thing I love you so much.”
“What? Why?”
“I’ll get you all those things. Just stay here.”
“It’s a good thing I don’t need a passport anymore. We’d be screwed.”
Xavier stood up and looked down at me. “You look like Hell. I suggest sleeping.”
“No kidding.” I followed him upstairs to the front door and watched him put on his jacket.
“See you later.” He said, but looked back. “You’ll be here later, right?”
I frowned. He still hadn’t forgot about the last time I was here, which felt like a lifetime ago. I left while he was sleeping without saying goodbye. It pained me to do so, but I had to. “I’ll be here.” I kissed his cheek and waved goodbye, closing the door after he left to hail a taxi.
I wandered around his house, looking at new things in every room. How much had he changed without me knowing? What was going on in his life? I reheated some leftovers from his refrigerator in the microwave and quickly ate them. I wasn’t used to this quality of food. I was constantly stealing bags of potato chips from gas stations and hot dogs from vendors to feed myself. I savored it and on a full stomach, I quickly chose a furnished guest room. I threw my bag off my shoulders, took off my shoes, and slipped in between the covers. I fell asleep instantly, barely even getting a chance to think about what was in store for me.