"He's making the wrong move, and if not acted upon, things are going to end up as bad as it was before or probably worse".
"So, how can we counter the situation?"
"He's arrogant and stubborn, he believes that he's doing the right thing even in his perplexity".
"And aren't you the person in charge of luring him out of knowing the truth? Asides from your silly chats and glitches what else have you done but change his perception of reality?" asked Atê
"I thought that was the plan?"
"Of course", she scoffed, "that's exactly the plan. But everything will be useless if he does know the truth. He doesn't need to know better, and with Gaby in the way things aren't going to get any better".
"Tell me, what do you think should be the next option because I've tried a lot to deviate the truth from him filling him up with lies?".
"Clearly, disguising yourself as Howard would have to go a long way in order to keep the path. And though I know this could be hard, I'm sure you'd never want him to know that you're a part of the fallen, most especially, you being his dad".
**
A day like every other would've been the dream, but not quite the possibility of the future. I stood, leaning against the metallic rails outside Angelica's apartment, not quite sure for how long, staring at the blossom of white Gardenia flowers in a garden just before the pavement of the road, surrounded by some thistles. A little clarification wasn't enough, I knew there had to be more, my whole mind was empty and for some reason, I couldn't help but think about finding my way into the home of omens. Things could've gotten a lot different if I was precognitive, but I wasn't. Every guardian had a special ability based on the thrive of their animal spirits, the fallen had the ability to shape shift, and the chosen, well, let's just say that the chosen one is the most powerful of all coupled up with a higher level of extrasensory perception and psychokinesis, and most likely has lots of empathy, which to me is his only weakness. All these and many more of which I can't do and of which I have little understanding of brings me here to my bewildered state still staring at the blossom of white Gardenia flowers surrounded by thistles in green grasses.
"It's been almost an hour, and you haven't moved a bit".
I turned, snapping out of my thoughts looking at Angelica as she approached nearer by the second and soon arriving at where I stood.
"What's wrong?" she continued, sounding a bit concerned.
I turned back round as we both looked at each other almost the same time. To be honest, I never expected her to look charmingly attractive, yet she was not just attractive but beautiful. She had a nice set of teeth and I couldn't help but notice the change in the color of her eyes.
"I thought you had blue eyes?" I asked
"No, I don't. I use lenses".
"But you told me that the flame from the dragon's mouth.... "
"Transformed the color of the hair on my head, not everything in my body" she added cutting me short of my words. Quirking a brow at me, she asked.
"Why that look on your face?".
"It's nothing", I replied nodding my head in a goofy way, "I've never seen you look so gorgeous before".
She scoffed before adding. "You still haven't answered my question, what's wrong?".
"Uncertainties, that's what's up". I responded
"So you're here, looking at moving cars and inhaling fresh air all because of uncertainties. That's not much of a problem".
I sighed for a while thinking about the right word to say at that moment but nothing came to my mind. It was like I was trapped in an illusion and there was no way out.
"You know, sometimes you could be so amazing, and most times, you are super unbearable, you're just like the worst person to talk to".
"Or maybe, you're just the worst person in the universe who thinks a lot about things that aren't meant to be. You're so filled with illusions that there's no way you can ever live a normal life". She uttered.
"And what do you know about being normal?" I protested starting an argument.
"One thing for sure is that I work at a breakfast shop, but you, you go around following your so called intuition".
"Oh please Angie, you don't need to hide the real you, you know who you are and not even your boyfriend knows the truth about you".
"At least I have a boyfriend, but you don't have any and I doubt you'd ever have any because you might probably die drowning in your thoughts, filled with unforgiveness because of the death of your parents".
The whole place was silent for a few seconds before I replyed to her mean statement.
"I'm sorry, being here is wrong. I don't need any opinion from you. I'd let you and your boyfriend do your stuff, but just know that I always have a choice, and you don't get much graces like I do".
I walked backwards looking at Angelica, but then, I tripped over one of her heels which was carelessly kept on the floor. Just then did I notice that the same boy I had met earlier in the shop was behind the door all this while. I sealed my lips and gently walked out of the room, just like how every man would do. Angie never looked sorry for what she said, but deep down, she knew that she made a mistake, and all that matters in making things work out is nothing more than an apology, but that wouldn't be done either.
Walking out of Angelica's apartment, I decided to find my own path. If being normal was an easy thing for Angie, why then should it be hard for me? Despite my suspicion on the brief history of both chosen and fallen, I had a very strong urge to head towards a nearby ware house which was only few blocks away. I reached the ware house in time, but funny enough, no one was working. I stepped into the ware house and to my greatest surprise, everyone in the ware house was dead, blood stains filled the soft tile on the floor having some splash on the surface of the wall. I got the more irritated on seeing the fork-lift operators skull opened up wide revealing some parts of his brain.
"What's wrong, can we help you?" asked a man in the ware house. "If you don't mind, we could get you the very best cookies available". He added.
I turned round, and great to my surprise, everyone I saw dead wasn't dead. Everyone was active, most especially, the fork-lift operator.
"No, I'm all good, I'm really sorry for any inconvenience I might've caused". I apologized before walking out of the cookie warehouse.
Just before I arrived at my exit, I couldn't denounce the presence of a huge mirror which stood at the left side of the entrance next to towers of cookies sealed in huge carton boxes. A man dressed up for work seemed to be having a hard time getting through something and his body vibrated vigorously. I turned aside from the mirror and made my move, I tried approaching him the more but I didn't and there was no way I could. Before my very eyes, the skin on his face was ripped off from his body and he was transforming into something, or someone. But one thing I could not forget was the tattoo of a viper at the left side of his neck and those fangs caught my attention. I had seen that tattoo from somewhere and the face was one I couldn't forget, back in the hotel where the lady died. I had eyes of the warehouse workers fixed on me, especially that of the man who stopped me at first, he looked so puzzled and confused but that wasn't my problem because the man who had a viper tattooed to the left side of his neck didn't have a tattoo, and his face had taken a different form, more like he was a different person. His eyes flashed in complete red ready for annihilation, grunting harshly in anger as though brain washed, and at this I knew something bad would happen if I didn't stop him. But just when I made my move, I fell in complete darkness appearing in the one place I wanted going to for quite a long time, the home of omens. This could've been a good thing, yet my whole nature was filled with rage because in me I knew that innocent blood would be shed and all this dissheartned me because the unexpected became the expected to which I must have to adapt to.