Chapter 4: Ch.4 Problems
It's been a few hours since the incident, but it feels like it just happened a minute ago. The person I could call my grandmother is dead and on her way to a funeral home. I forgot about the food and it's probably cold by now. I had gotten us a box of the best chicken strips you could get at the market. I could probably heat them up, but I lost my appetite.
Will Luna eat them? I looked at the clock on my wall and it read 2:17. It's Sunday, right? Damn, I have to go to work tomorrow. What is Luna going to do when I leave? She's like a puppy you can't trust in the house when you're gone. Except the puppy is an angel with a wing and doesn't know what to do in this world. Should I take her out of the house and show her around? Maybe teach her a thing or two about human society?
I don't know, I'll have to think about it. Could I bring her to work? I might have to. I can't treat her like an animal so I'll just tell my family one of my friends want to help. They always said to bring friends if they wanted to volunteer to help out. If I leave her alone for too long she will think I left her because she is different. I didn't think angels had those types of feelings. I have to talk to her and find out what I'm going to do. God, this so annoying! It's like a new kid I don't want but can't get rid of.
"Hey, Luna I need to talk to you," Her head poked up off my bed when I walked in the room. "What's wrong?" her voice sounded like she was worried. "Don't worry, I'm not going to tell you to get out. I just need to ask you a few questions. Is that okay?" she nodded her head as I continued.
"First I want to know if you could hide your wing?"
"I think so but it may take a minute."
"Okay, you don't have to do it know. Another thing is, do you get hungry?"
"Angels never had a reason to eat or sleep but we do for fun to taste wonderful things."
"When I found you, you were knocked out. What happened?"
"I don't know. I can't remember anything for the last few months."
"Okay, well that's all I need to know. In an hour we'll be heading out so I can teach you about human culture."
"Why?"
"Because I won't leave you alone tomorrow when I go to work. So I'm going to bring you with me."
Her eyes lit up like the sun. seeing her happy made me feel, weird. The clothes she's wearing aren't weird, are they? Man all this thinking is frustrating me! I left the room to think about what I was going to do. Okay, so she can make her wing disappear and she's probably good with manners and stuff since she is an angel, right? I have some of my sibling's old stuff in my closet, she could use some of my sister's clothes. Luna looks about 5'5 so she should fit them. I'm glad my family gave me their old stuff. I opened the sliding closet door in the living room and went through the boxes. I found my sister's old gothic clothes. God, she's weird. Even in her gothic stage in high school, she would still treat me like I didn't exist. Now that I think about it, the only family member that knew I was alive was my grandfather. My grandmother dies before I was born so it was just him, and when I needed someone to help me out he'd be there for me. Man, I miss him. When he died my parents nearly threw away his ashes. Whenever I found out they hated him and just wanted what was on his will, I snapped. I broke my dad's nose and gave my rotten mother a few bruises. They threw me in counseling after that.
I thought I could truth the counselor, but she had told everything to my parents and they just laughed at me. They thought I was a waste of space in their family and soon my siblings thought that too. They never kicked me out though, they didn't abuse me either. There were times I didn't get food but that's all. Whenever I dropped out of school and moved out they gave me a chance at the family job, I needed cash so I accepted their offer. Now I'm their little slave. If I want to get paid I have to do extra labor around the airsoft fields and around the warehouse.
I felt tears building up in my eyes. Why am I thinking about those worthless people I have to call family. I grabbed the clothes and stood in front of my bedroom door. I could feel the tears roll down my cheeks. I wiped them away and tried to calm down. They say a man doesn't cry over stupid things, that they are tough and can take anything. I guess I'm not a man.
I opened the door and saw Luna shining in the light from the sun's rays coming through the window. Her beauty was radiating and her skin was glistening like a diamond. I couldn't say anything. All I could do was sit there and stare at her. What's weird is that now that's she's here I don't feel alone anymore, but I've learned from my past mistakes. I know not to trust her yet. That's what I want to believe but she emits a warmth that reminds me of the ones I could trust.
I was so caught up in the moment I didn't realize that her wing was gone and that she was staring at me. Shit, she probably thinks I'm a creep now. "Here," I handed her the clothes in my hand. "Their my sister's old clothes but they should fit you," she stared at the clothes like they were an alien object that just fell from space. "You do know how to put those on right?" My voice was annoyed. There is no way I'm helping her with that. She looked up at me and nodded her head. "Okay, I'll be outside the door. If you need me, holler!" I started to walk out of the room.
"Wait, you aren't going to stay in here?"
"What? No, oh god no!"
"Why?"
"B-because you're changing into clothes!"
"So?"
"Look, humans don't usually watch each other change into other clothes."
"But I thought it was okay to see another person change into clothes."
"It is if they are the same gender!"
"Ooh, okay"
"Yeah, I'm just gonna go and wait for you."
I was blushing, I could feel my face grow red during that conversation. After about 10 minutes I heard a light knock on the bedroom door. I opened it to see Luna in a new outfit. She had on a belly shirt with a leather jacket covering it. She had skinny jeans with random designs all over it. The outfit looks like it fits her perfectly. The belly shirt is a bit big for her though. Oh, I forgot to give her socks and shoes. I went to the closet and grabbed a pair of random socks and some shoes that look to be here size.
I handed them to her and she looked confused again. "What are these for?"
"Well, you put them on your feet."
"Why would I do that?"
"Because you could step on glass outside or hurt your feet."
"How do I use these then?"
Great, I have to teach her how to put on shoes. I lead her to my small brown couch and started to slip on the pink socks. She laughed and nearly kicked me in the face. "Hey!" She instantly stopped laughing and stared at me with big beady eyes. She's just like a child. I grabbed the white slip-on shoes from my side and put them on Luna. when I stepped back I realized her outfit didn't match. Ugh, who cares. She looks like a beautiful punk, who'd give a damn about how she looks.
So much is happening in one day it feels like a messed up dream. Something doesn't feel right though. I know it's probably my imagination but I can't shake the feeling off. Okay, now that she's dressed and ready to go I have to figure out where to go. I need to show her how humans act and what we do, so maybe take her out to a small restaurant and downtown to where most of the stores and strip malls are at.
Those nightmares I have been having are starting to get to me. Every time I hear Luna's voice, that scream replays in my head. It was just a nightmare I had, that's all. Right? No, I need to get it out of my head. Right now I need to focus on teaching Luna human costumes. "Okay, are you ready to go?" I asked Luna as she was looking at her new outfit. She looked up and smiled. "Yep! I just need to get used to walking around in these shoes." I couldn't help but snicker. She was just like a little kid in the heart, but she was grown women on the outside." alright then, let's go. First, we'll go to a restaurant, then downtown to show you how we act and what we do."
"Yay! Let's go!" She seemed so excited that I couldn't help but smile. She was so innocent. We walked out the door and walked down the sidewalk. I don't want to spend a whole lot of cash, but if I have to then I will. It was about 3 o'clock now, and traffic was starting to build up. I'm glad I don't own a car if I did we'd be stuck in a giant line of vehicles. It took about 48 minutes to get to the restaurant that I love to eat. Emu is a cultural restaurant that serves Japanese, Asian, and American food. The service here is the best and the employees make you feel welcomed. We walk in and sit down in both that's in a corner. The restaurant itself is small, when you walk in you see all the booths and tables and on the right is a grill/bar. The walls are all gray and the lights are shaped like spiral balls and hang down from the ceiling.
We sat down at a booth in the back corner. She stared at every detail in the restaurant. The waitress came up to our booth the moment we sat down. She said the usual, "Hi, may I take your order?" or " Hi, what would you like to drink?". I asked for a Pepsi, but she just sat there and stared blankly at her. I rushed in and said she wanted a sweet tea. The waitress left and there was just silence. We were the only ones in the place. It was so quiet, you could hear the small tv over the bar/grill. There was a bit of static here and there but you could make out what was going on. A man's voice filled the room.
"Last night, the police found another body in an alley, it was the same as the other 26. It was mangled, and unrecognizable. There are 8 missing persons that have been reported, the body is being tested to see if there are many matches. Every murder has been linked to one thing. The fact that every victim has committed some type of crime. From murder to rape, and even small robberies. The crime scenes have been wiped clean of evidence and the police are unable to find out who the killer is. The locals have been talking and gave the killer a name 'The Grim Reaper',"
I stopped listening after they said that name. This world is fucked up, and every day it gets worse. I didn't realize that they brought our drinks to the table. I was going to get my usual, but what would Luna want. So many choices. I'll get her what I usually get. The monkey ball roll. It's a small plate with ten rolls that are fried over and with some crab strings towered on top. It was probably the best thing I've ever eaten. When they came to get our order I told them what we wanted. Luna looked confused, but I assured her that she was going to like the food here.
Heh, this is like a date, right? Man, I don't know, but this is nice. As I sit here, I can't help but stare at Luna. Staring at her beauty made me feel weird inside. After about 20 minutes of waiting they brought us our food. I grabbed one off her plate with my chopsticks and put it up to her mouth. "What are you doing?" She asked sounding so confused. "I'm trying to show you how to eat," I explained. "Why do I need to know how to eat?"
"Because I don't want you to go out and not know how to eat food."
"why do I need to eat? I'm an angel."
"Yeah, I know. But you have to know how to eat properly so people don't suspect anything."
"Let them suspect something. I don't want to eat and I don't have too!" She started to sound like a little kid, she opened her mouth to say something and as she did I stuffed the roll in her mouth. She sat there for second and then started to chew. She swallowed and opened her mouth wanting more. I couldn't help but laugh. She is just a big child. I kept the smile on my face and fed luna again. We kept up with this until the rolls were gone. I only ate five of mine because luna wanted the other five. She started to pant acting like a dog. I guess she was thirsty. I handed her the tea and gulped it down instantly.
We were there for about an hour. I was telling her how humans act, what they do, and what they don't do. The basics I guess. After about thirty minutes of talking she had told me something that was interesting. "I can see what sin a human bares." I just looked at her in confusion. She just said this out of nowhere. "What do you mean by that?"
"On every human, there is a symbol on their forehead. That symbol tells me what sin you bare; like lust, envy, sloth, stuff like that"
"Oh? And what's my sin?" She stared at me for a sec then she spoke. "There isn't a sin on you." There was silence for a minute then I spoke. "What does that mean? "I don't know. I guess you have no sin, almost like an angel." I cracked up after she said that. If she truly knew who I was then she would know that I'm far from being an angel. Everyone has their secrets, mine are just darker than others. If Luna were to find out what I've done would she still stay with me? Damn, I'm starting to sound like a romantic person.
I paid for dinner and stood up. We left the restaurant and headed for the downtown area. There are a few malls and stores down there so it'll help show Luna how we act, and how we socialize.
Within an hour, she knew pretty much everything.
Luna asked so many questions that I couldn't take it. It's about to be six, we should head back. Nothing really fun happened downtown, but now she knows a whole lot more then she did. I tugged her arm indicating that it's time to go. She looked down in disappointment but followed after me. As we walked back we passed an alley. There were muffled screams and a few deep waves of laughter coming from the dark abyss. I motioned Luna to stay right where she is and that I'll be back. Just what I thought.
It was a typical mugging. I approached the four men in the alley. "Hey, kid beat it! We're doing some important business here!" I stared at them dead in the eyes. I slowly reached into my pocket to grab my little secret, but before I could Luna jumped in front of me and stopped the men from approaching me. They laughed and came closer. Everything went dark and all I heard were the screams of those guys. When my vision came back there was nothing. No blood, no bodies, and no sign of that woman. I didn't want to know what happened to them. Deep inside me, I knew what happened, but I didn't want to accept it. Did Luna really just kill four humans?
I didn't want to complain if it meant I didn't have to get my hands dirty. I dragged Luna home and plopped on my bed. "Um, Ian? Can I lay down with you?" she asked with an innocent smile on her face. "Yeah, sure. Just don't get too close to me, and don't take up the whole bed." Luna jumped for joy and hopped right next to me. It was nice sleeping next to someone. After about five minutes of laying there, I passed out.
There were flames everywhere, and screams of so many people. I sat there holding a lifeless body, it was blurry and I couldn't make out who it was. Then something went inside my chest. There was no pain, just silence.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone