Taylor stepped out of the car, looking out into the night. It had been a week since he’d seen Angela. It tore him apart inside, more than he thought. He secluded himself from everybody but Mackenzie, and often skipped meals to be alone.
No one knew about the scars across his chest and his legs. Battle wounds, he called them. He always wore a shirt and always wore pants. He had to throw away what he was wearing when he went to dreamland so he didn’t have to explain why there was so much blood on them.
Taylor looked around at the stars, then to the ground. He appreciated where he was, for the first time. He enjoyed where he stayed and often lost himself in the stars. He wasn’t permitted to go anywhere without someone to look after him. "Make sure he doesn’t run off," his mother had said. They barely trusted him anymore. He hadn’t smiled all week.
"Get your butt inside," Isaac said, gently pushing his brother to the door. Isaac had broken the stillness of the night. Taylor had thought he heard a faint cry, but Isaac terminated the chance of hearing it again. Figuring it would be important to investigate, Taylor ran off. Isaac had to follow. It was his ass on the line if Taylor was missing again.
Taylor ran down the street, looking forward, back, left and right. There wasn’t anyone anywhere. He was about to turn back when he saw someone sitting on the curb. He slowed, approaching with caution. Taylor noticed that she seemed upset. It was hard to see her in the pale light.
The thought of the pale light and the moon shining caused him to think of Angela. Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight? Yes I haveAbsently he ran his hand over his left shoulder, and winced from the pain. He and Zac did a pretty good job patching him up.
Taylor now avoided bright colors and hadn’t worn orange since he found out Angela didn’t like it. At the moment he was wearing black and white. She would be proud of him now, he’d gotten rid of the hideous clothes.
"You okay?" Taylor asked. The girl was startled, getting up and backing away. Taylor recognized her immediately, through the filth and the scratches. She looked like she could use a shower and a doctor. "Angela?"
"Taylor?" she asked, looking over him. "You match! I almost didn’t recognize you." He gave her a look, then smiled. The first smile the whole week. Isaac almost gasped. "Oh God I missed you!"
"Oh my God she’s real?" Isaac asked as the two embraced. Taylor was smiling, and not just smiling. Taylor was glowing with happiness. Isaac had never seen the boy so happy. He forgot about Taylor’s happiness, and turned to look at Angela. When they pulled apart, Isaac had to question. "You’re real?" he asked again.
"To tell you the truth," Taylor started, then waited for Angela’s approval. She nodded. "Angela’s an angel." Isaac looked at the both of the skeptically. It was actually believable, considering Taylor’s state of mind. "There’s no way to explain it without a little faith."
"How the hell can you be an angel?"
Angela smiled, and put her hand over his heart. "I just am. No way to explain it. There’s not many ‘miracles’ I can perform to prove it, but I just learned one." Angela felt Isaac’s heart beating, then lifted him off the ground. "It’s pretty cool." Isaac noticed he wasn’t touching the ground, and his heart beat faster. She set him back down. Taylor grabbed her hand and held onto it.
"That’s enough, Angela. Come on, you have to meet the rest of my family. Now you’ve met all my brothers." Angela smiled and let him lead her back to the house. Angela was antsy and nervous about meeting his parents. They were nice and all, but that wasn’t the problem. The problem was explaining how they knew each other. And that fact that the two were constantly hanging on each other didn’t help much.
"Hey mom!" Taylor called, once in the house. Diana walked out of the kitchen, surprised that he was talking. She noticed Angela, and that fact that Taylor had his arms around her. "I want you to meet Angela." Diana looked over Angela. She seemed pretty comfortable.
"Hi," Angela said, smiling. Diana noticed she was nervous. She noticed a lot of things. The scars on her arms and the bruise on her neck. Although Angela had the power to heal others, she couldn’t do a thing for herself.
"Angela?" Diana asked, skeptically. Taylor didn’t have any time to meet anyone, he didn’t he didn’t have the time to keep in touch, and she was as sure as hell that he didn’t have the time to stay with her and be that close. "When exactly did you meet?"
"A few weeks ago," Taylor said. "Obviously we didn’t have much time together, but we kept in touch." Angela felt Diana’s stare, and knew she didn’t completely approve. "Well if you’re just going to give us death looks then we’ll leave."
"No, that’s quite alright. You’ll stay in the house. Angela, I’m glad you’ve been able to keep a smile on his face. I’m guessing he really cares," she said. Zac walked in the room.
"Hey Angela!" he said, not even realizing it. "Oh my God, Angela! What are you doing here?" Diana looked at Zac, confused. He seemed to know Angela, which worried her. Angela smiled to him and waved. When Diana was about to leave again, she found her youngest running past her.
"Angel!" he yelled and gave Angela a hug. "Where’s your glow?" Angela had forgotten that children tell who the Angels are by their glow. She wasn’t an Angel anymore. She was just regular Angela Kennedy now…besides the powers.
"It’s gone," Angela said, slightly upset by it. "How have you been doing, kid?" Mackenzie only smiled, holding onto her. Diana stood in amazement What the hell was going on with the boys? All she needed was Isaac to come in and make a comment. "Hey Zac! Group hug!" Zac smiled and joined in.
Just then Isaac passed. Diana groaned. He saw the scene, and shook his head. Angela asked him to join in. "No! No way, you get away from me, Angela." He put his hand up, blocking her. He was acting like an idiot because she lifted him and freaked him out.
"Come on, Isaac!" Angela said, smiling. He shook his head. "Fine then, you’ll regret not getting on my good side." Isaac walked away, still muttering something about her being real. Diana was now completely baffled.
She watched as the four migrated to the couch. Taylor and Zac sat on either side of Angela, and Mackie took comfort in her lap. Diana couldn’t understand why Angela was able to just walk in and control three of her boys. Diana was worried when Taylor stuck an arm around her and pulled her close to him. The feeling only grew worse when Angela grabbed his hand and kissed it.
Diana, shaking her head, left the room. Taylor watched her leave. Once she was gone, he gave Angela a kiss on the cheek. "I missed you. She’s weird so I don’t think she’s going to be appreciating our touchy friendship."
"Well that’s alright, Taylor," Angela said. "We just can’t be touchy around her." Zac rolled his eyes at them. They were always touchy, it would be an impossible task. And he barely knew her.
Angela noticed that Mackenzie had fallen asleep on her lap. She smacked Zac, who was drifting himself. She pointed to the boy. "He’s asleep, take him upstairs." Zac gave her a look, reminding her of his now infamous cocky attitude. She smiled.
"Why don’t you take him upstairs?" Zac asked. He shifted, closing his eyes again. He didn’t want to move, he wanted to stay downstairs and bug the two. "I was just getting comfortable."
"Duh, Zac! I don’t know where his room is! Anyway you look like it’s bedtime too." He groaned. Angela ran her hand over his face and sent him off. Once he left the room, Angela let her head fall into Taylor’s lap. "You haven’t said anything in a while."
"Just admiring you." Taylor said. "You look tired. Let’s go." Angela sat up, and just fell onto Taylor again. She was too tired to think. It had been a long journey from Atlantic City, and Angela had hitched the whole way. She barely slept the whole week. The time she had, she was on a park bench in Kentucky. That had been three days before. Taylor noticed that she wasn’t about to get up now. "Okay, when was the last time you slept?"
"Three days ago," Angela whispered. "Can you take me upstairs? I’m so tired." Taylor smiled at her before picking her up and carrying her to his room. Taylor set her down on his bed, making sure she was comfortable and had the covers tightly around her.
When he grabbed his shirt to take it off, he realized everyone could see her. If he slept in the bed with her and someone came to wake up, they’d have a bit of explaining to do. He couldn’t sleep in the bed with her like he used to.
"Angela," he whispered. She grunted in response. "Um, well I’m going downstairs to sleep. I’m prolly going to be in the studio when you wake up." She rolled over. He smiled, and shut off the lights before leaving the room.
"Goodnight Taylor," she whispered. "I missed you."