Chapter 3: FEAR HIS NAME! & HER PAST!
"Where is he!?" Joyce had said to herself. She then looks all around the three rooms on the top floor. The boy wasn't in any of those rooms. She proceeds to walk downstairs. As she makes it to the bottom, she looks for the boy in the kitchen. Only to find him there holding a knife. He was just about to cut something.
Joyce couldn't see what it was clearly and out of fear she said, "Wait! Don't!" The boy stops and asks, "What's the matter, Joyce?" Joyce was half awake, she rubs her eyes to clear her vision. As her vision clears up, she notices that the boy was just about to cut some onions.
"Wait, I thought you were going to-" Joyce pauses her last words. "You thought I was going to what Joyce?" The boy asks. "Never mind," Joyce said. The boy proceeds to say, "Oh okay. Well, I forgot to mention I made some breakfast. I'm just finishing this last meal here. There's pancakes, sausages, eggs, bacon, bagels, French toast, waffles, grilled cheese, and some orange juice. I'm barely finishing up an omelet for your grandmother. I'm just waiting for her to wake up so we can all enjoy our food."
"Wow, that's a lot of food, but thank you. Hmm... If we don't finish it we can give it to my neighbors here close by. An act of pure kindness. I love being kind. I never want to be sad ever again, ever since-"
Joyce's grandmother had finally awoken. She yawns, then speaks, "What's going on here? It smells good." The boy says, "Good morning ma'am." Joyce's grandmother interrupts "Oh! please, call me Nana." "All right Nana. I made some food for all of you. Just trying to be sweet is all," the boy says while giving a big smile.
"Why thank you," Nana said. They all have some breakfast, talk, have a few laughs.
Afterward, Joyce says to the boy, "All right! Now let's go to my favorite place. It's 9:30 A.M. We should head on now to have the whole day to ourselves." "All right, let's go. I'm so excited!" The boy says.
Nana tells them, "All right then children, don't be out too late. Have fun." "We will! Thanks, grandma," Joyce says, while she was holding a picnic basket for her and the boy to eat afterward.
They proceed to walk to a nearby forest. As Joyce had said before, there were trees for shade and a beautiful lake. The boy could not believe his eyes. It looked like paradise. They then sit down and enjoy the view for a while.
The boy then says to Joyce, "Hey, when I woke up this morning and got out of your room... I looked around and noticed that there are three rooms. And today in the early morning you said that you never wanted to be sad. What did you mean by saying that?"
Joyce sighs and says, "Well the other room was my brother's." "What happened to him?" The boy asks. Joyce says, "Hey, I really don't want to talk about it. Let's just enjoy this day. Please!" "You're right. I'm sorry Joyce."
The boy proceeds to go up the lake and manages to grab a tiny fish. He then calls for Joyce to look at it. Joyce says, "Wow that little fish is so cute." After he puts the fish back into the lake, he then throws a little water at Joyce. Joyce then throws water at him too.
After they had their fun with water, they play around like little kids.
They were rolling down the grass, playing hide and seek behind the trees, and so on.
Once they are done playing, Joyce says, "I miss being a little girl. I use to have fun with my brother about almost every day. I never had to worry about anything, but now that I'm a teenager, it's hard. Although, now that you are here... I feel better now. Thank you!" "You're welcome, Joyce. Hey, it's getting dark. Shouldn't we head home?"
Joyce responds, "Not yet! When it's dark it's the best part of the night. Look at how beautiful the moon shines off the water. Let's just stay a little more. Please?" "Sure, why not?" the boy says.
He later says, "Joyce... You are the only one that has shown me respect. The only one that's been kind. I'm glad that you took me in so I could be taken care of. But, I also need to take care of you no matter what happens to me. Reason for this is... well... because I made a promise. Also, since you've always been sweet to me, I want to say a word or two that will make you smile. May I?" "Sure, go ahead," Joyce says while smiling and waiting for the boy to speak.
The boy says, "Okay here it goes... your eyes shine beautifully in the moonlight. You are the reason that keeps me alive inside. I never want you to get hurt, for I will do you right. You are the light that guides me out of the dark. You'll never have your heart torn apart. I would not want us to depart. We shall be close. Our doors should never be closed, so I wanted to say that I really love you, and I hope you do too."
"That was beautiful," Joyce says while tearing up. "Come here," Joyce says while opening her arms to give the boy a hug.
"You are the best thing that has ever happened to me in my life!" "I will always be the best for you Joyce. Come on, let's go. It's really late I believe," said the boy.
"You know, all your words make me smile. It's like... You're an angel that came down from heaven to always keep me smiling. Wait! that's it! Your name should be Angel! And since I've been taking care of you like a baby that needs to be taken care of, your nickname is now AngelBaby," said Joyce.
"I love that name," said the boy. Joyce says, "Okay then, it's settled. Now let's go home."
As they proceed to walk home, Joyce's grandmother opens the door. Joyce says, "Sorry we're really late grandma. Although, I have some good news. I decided that this here boy will always be known as Angel."
"It's fine Joyce," her grandmother said. "All right, well then Angel... There are leftovers from this morning, So I decided to reheat it. Do you mind giving this delicious food to our neighbors?" "Not at all," Angel said.
Now he's walking alone to the neighbors' house. Once he made it, the house had rusty wooden stairs. Every step he took, he heard a creak. As he's on the top of the porch, he gets close to the door. He knocks on it three times. He pays very close attention to his knocks and heard hollow echoes.
Footsteps were heard, and as the door opened real slow, a tall old man came out. He looked down at the boy. Angel speaks with fear, "Hi... um... my name is Angel. I've brought food for you from Nana." The old man says, "Oh, well why didn't you say so, son? Come on in." Angel is following the man to the kitchen.
"Here, put it in that there table. I appreciate it, young one." "You're welcome," says Angel.
As he continues to look around, he notices that the man had candles in specific corners of the house. Some were aligned. Angel flipped a switch to turn on the light.
The old man looks at him, "Oh no son, we don't have electricity. We live in the... how you say... Old life. Get it?" The old man begins to laugh. "Uh yeah," Angel says with confusion.
An old lady comes out saying, "Harold! Oh Harold, darling. You left your nasty underpants in the couch again." "Rebecca darling, not in front of the boy. He doesn't need to know them full details now," says Harold.
Angel was trying to hold in his laughter. "Well I should be going now," says Angel still trying to hold in his laughter. "Are you sure you don't want to stay and talk for a little while, son?" asked Harold. "No, but thank you. I appreciate your hospitality."
As Angel turns around to walk away he felt a presence of wind. He turns around only to notice the windows were open. The flames of the candlelights were off. It was dark for a few seconds. Then, all the candlelight flames turned on. The difference was that the color was now blue instead of orange. Angel begins to look around.
He tried to focus to see where the old man and the old lady were. He then shouts, "Hey! Harold! Sir? Rebecca! Where the hell are you guys!?" Some of the candle lights now illuminated someone. The boy asks, "Hey, is that you Harold?" "No! It's not," the person laughs in an evil manner. Now finally some light was cleared.
"Great! Now there's more of you," says Angel. "Yes, it's us, the Shadows." "What the hell do you want?" Asks Angel. "Well first off, I can't believe that bitch finally named you by something so stupid. She's just a bitch who is using you to protect herself!"
"No, she's not! And don't call her a bitch you wannabe serial killer who has to listen to a big fat ugly man. What's the matter? Can't do things yourself!?" Angel says while laughing at him.
"Shut the hell up!" The shadow smiles and continues, "Angelbaby, do you need someone to take care of your little ass?" The shadow was constantly making fun of his name. Angel then says in an aggressive tone, "True, my name is Angel. But which one am I? The good one or the bad one? I'm the demon that will make you fear your worst nightmares! Go into your soul, until you go psychotic. Take control of you," he says smiling in an evil manner and staring at the shadow.
The shadow was frightened yet intrigued. He said to Angel, "That's it, let the fear consume you. Nothing and no one will stand in your way, because one day you'll become fear itself! You'll be unstoppable. You'll feel the desire to kill anyone in your way. You won't be able to love anymore. Being bad feels good, doesn't it?"
Angel then quickly gets in back of the shadow. As the shadow looks to the back of him in the little time he had, he had a haunted facial expression. Angel says to him, "What's the matter? Scared?" As the shadow looks closely he notices that Angel was all black. As if he had become darkness.
The darkness of fumes were rising up. His eyes were blue and he was smiling. The shadow so frightened said to himself, "Am I going psychotic?" Angel tries to stab the shadow but only manages to cut off a piece of skin from his arm. His blade was now bloody.
The shadow got out of Angel's way and sliced off the old man's neck. "Noooo!" Angel shouts. He runs to the shadow, tries to stab him, but the shadow ends up punching him in the gut. Angel ends up slamming down to the floor and by then it was already too late. He already killed the old lady too.
Angel witnessed all of it. All the blood filled the floor. The shadow was nowhere to be seen.
Angel then grabs the old man's watch to check the time. It was late. It was 2:00 A.M. Angel here's footsteps in the grass. It turned out to be Joyce.
Joyce looks at the boy and the dead bodies. Angel was the only person there with a blade and blood on his hands. Joyce was scared, but she was mad at him too. "What the hell did you just do!?" "Joyce please wait, it's not what it looks like," Angel States.
Joyce proceeds, "They were are only loving neighbors and you killed them!? They were like family to me. They took care of me when I was little!" Joyce proceeds to run back home while crying. Angel then covers up the dead bodies with the blankets they had on the couch. He then proceeds to walk slowly to Nana's house.
Once he makes it inside, he goes upstairs and knocks on Joyce's room. "Hey, let me in! Please! I need to talk to you." Joyce says, "No! Go away! I don't want any more murderers to hurt this family. You're just the same as every other serial killer out there, so you better leave me alone!"
The boy then says, "Joyce if I were the same as those killers I wouldn't be talking to you right now. Plus, I love you. Please, Joyce, it's just... I need to know why you are so upset. I know it's not because you think I killed them. It's a different reason, isn't it?"
Joyce opens the door. There were still tears on her eyes. "How did... how do... You know?" "I'm smart Joyce." As she finally lets him in her room they sit down on her bed.
Joyce says, "Well as said before, the other room was my brother's. Ever since we were little we use to have a lot of fun, but one night he was kidnapped. I believe by the group you were talking about last night. The Shadows-"
"Wait! What I've noticed is that they only target orphans, so why him?" "They didn't kill him. They put him through hell! They tortured him until he went mentally insane! He had no desire to love anymore." Joyce was tearing up again. "So, what happened?" Angel asked.
"One night he came home. I was so relieved to see him, but he wasn't the brother I knew anymore. He had one target. Which was to kill me and anyone in his way. My family tried to protect me. My father gave me a gun and as he looks at me with despair, my brother killed him. Took his heart right out! My father fell down on the grass. My brother then targeted my mom. I had no choice but to shoot my brother. On the first shot, I end up missing. My brother then tries to kill me when all of a sudden, my mother stands in front of me. I saw my brother's hand penetrate her stomach and out of her back! He throws my mother as if she was nothing to him. I didn't have any time to put sense into him. He was going to kill me! So I shot him in the gut, in his heart, in front of his head, and I just kept shooting out of fear. Until I realized I killed him. He was dead! Do you know how much psychological trauma was caused!? I really miss being young Angel (Joyce says crying on his shoulder). I just don't want you to end up like him! Please never do."
"I won't Joyce. I promise that I would always take care of you." He gives Joyce a kiss on the forehead while caressing her hair gently. "Here let me tuck you in. Good night Joyce, sweet dreams. Don't let fear haunt you. I'll always be an angel to you." "Thanks, Angel. You're the best."
"Hey, one last question. At the bottom of the floor of your grandmother's house, there's one more door. That door has nice writing all over it. By any chance, do you have a sister?"
"No, she was a friend. A very good one." "What happen—" Joyce was already dreaming. "I will ask tomorrow." Angel dreams away on Joyce's bed.
Word count 2,640
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone