I walked gingerly into my kitchen and grabbed a trash bag from under the sink, my legs still feeling like warm jelly. My apartment was a fairly standard set up. Leaving the bedroom revealed another door directly to the right and left. Left would take you into a single full bathroom. Right would open a supply closet. Taking two steps forward would take you to the front entrance- a large metal door next to the supply closet. Yet two more steps would take you to the living room with a large doorway to the immediate left again, being the kitchen. If this gives you the impression my apartment was small, you would be right. Though, for a single man in his twenties, it was a variable mansion in it's own right. I returned to my room with trash bag in hand, gathered up the day's old food and garbage. Looking at the peels and cores that lay strewn about it was clear to me that Rhiannon hadn't been lying. It really had been at least two days.
"Why did this have to happen to me?" I mumbled quietly as I picked up the last piece of rotting banana peel off the floor, as if in answer, memories from that night flooded through my mind. That poor girl was dead, and so was that man who… ate her. Then my thoughts drifted to the sickened face of my dad, he had been so sick right before the end.
I shook my head and tried to block them out, these thoughts were not going to help me right now. Placing the trash bag next to my front door so as not to forget to take it with me on my way out, I had to pause for a moment to catch my breath. My hands shook and my head still ached, but I could go on. I made some toast, placing it between my teeth as I took my phone, wallet and keys, depositing them into various pockets before I grabbed my leather bag, the trash bag and left. Locking the door behind me I headed down the three flights of stairs and walked out of the complex towards the train stop, grumbling to myself the whole way. Anything was better than remembering.
As I commuted to work I did my absolute best to keep my mind blank. A difficult task for someone who had just that morning; been told he was sharing his body with the devil, was a wizard, and had angels coming for him. I know I couldn't possibly have been successful in this endeavor, as monks train for decades to achieve such zen, however Lucifer did not interject in the solidarity I had silently demanded. As I suspected it took a while to get to work, roughly an hour and a half. I checked my phone and saw the time read 10:45. I let out an exasperated sigh and shook my head. Today would be a rough day.
As I stepped off the train I headed down past the courthouse, turning a corner on my right and crossing the road. I kept my head down and wasted no time making my way to work, walking through the revolving doors of my office building in record time. I didn't bother stopping for coffee, I was sure Jessie would forgive me as she had denied me the last time I had been there for my fix. I strode directly to the elevator and pressed the call button. I really didn't want to be at work today, but I figured that it was better than wallowing in my own self pity at home. At least some work would help get my mind off things for a while.
Once on my floor, I made my way to my desk, badging my way into the office and trying my best to dodge the angry troll who no doubt was on the prowl for my hide. Sliding my bag off my shoulder next to my desk I sat down, logging in to start the day's work. As soon as I saw the office messenger log me in, I knew Rhiannon wouldn't be far behind, and I hated when I was right. Moments later I heard her awful foot falls, their sound causing my spine to shrink with each step.
"Look who finally decided to grace us with his presence!" she said loud enough for my section of the office to hear. "Care to explain yourself? The whole office is behind now because of you!" Rhiannon spat, her excessively hair sprayed locks framing her ugly features much like a sour faced pig, glowering at a butcher for daring to consider turning her into bacon.
"I'm… Sorry? I don't really know what to say, uh, something came up." I replied, doing my best not to face her. I didn't like lying, but who could blame me in a situation like this? Unfortunately, Rhiannon didn't miss a beat before continuing
"Really? Don't know what to say? That's hilarious Desmond. Luckily though, I do." She practically began purring. "On top of the unexcused absence, I'm writing you up for no call, no showing. Here you go, have a good day."
She turned to leave but then leaned down and whispered quietly into my ear, making sure the other nearby workers who were already gawking at our debacle couldn't hear. "and don't even think about pulling this shit again, or I'll personally make sure the door hits you on the way out."
I grit my teeth and kept my eyes locked onto my screen, the brown write up slip slowly floated down from her fingers before landing gracefully onto my keyboard in front of me. Rhiannon turned and practically skipped away, clearly not upset by my absence, as it gave her the ammunition she needed to really start gunning for my termination.
I knew better than to do it, but I snatched the slip up into my hands, crumpling it up into a tight ball before tossing it into the drawer to my left. I could hear the gasps and whispers behind me, but did my best to ignore them, as the shame I was feeling was far worse than any words they could birth.
Hours passed as I toiled at my computer lifelessly, the keys clacking under my fingers that operated like a robot. Finally my very late lunch came and I snatched up my jacket and headed downstairs for my favorite food cart lunch, or more appropriately, dinner. If there is anything I truly miss about Portland, I would have to say it is the food carts. Not that other places in the world today don't have them, but Portland truly had something special.
The food was relatively cheap, and delicious. Not to mention the portion sizes. My favorite food cart was less than a five minute walk from work, a little halal place that served the best lamb I had ever eaten. I got my usual lamb kebab plate and headed back up to the break room. As I passed through the lobby Jessie spotted me, she must have been on her last break, or returning from it, because she wasn't behind her barista counter, but rather sat in one of the ugly green leather armchairs in the lobby.
She called me over and I half heartedly obliged. A piece of me still just wanted to be left alone, but that was not Jessie's fault. She looked a bit less worn down than when I'd seen her two days ago, though it felt like just the morning before to me.
"How's it going? I haven't seen you in a few days, was starting to get worried something happened to one of my most faithful customers." she said, most likely only half joking. I did tend to purchase a fair amount of coffee.
"Sorry, something came up, I had to take a few days off" I apologized, feeling guilty for worrying her so, and for lying.
"It's okay! You look a bit run down, want a coffee on the house?" she smiled, the light wrinkles on her face deepening as she did. She really was such a nice woman. I would be lying if I said I had not thought about asking her on a date before. She was a beautiful woman after all, but I doubted she could take someone my age seriously. I was only 25 after all, and though I was fairly mature for someone my age. I doubted it could make up the difference.
"Sure, I'd love that!" I answered gleefully as I returned her smile, just the offer alone was enough to lift my gloomy spirits. I followed Jessie to the counter and waited while she went behind to her station. She was wearing a flannel shirt, the top two buttons undone, her hair was down and showing all her blond curls. She went right to work on my usual order. Hot coffee with milk, sugar and a little drizzle of white chocolate. She turned to me while she worked.
"So, you been watching the news lately? What do you think of that sighting?" she asked, clearly very interested in the topic.
"Nah, I don't really watch the news. Not really my thing, you know? So negative." I replied not really putting thought into her question. It was true of course, I rarely, if ever watched the news. I preferred to keep up with politics via websites and podcasts, anything else wasn't really my cup of tea.
"You should really look into it. There are like a hundred different videos. They say an angel visited Portland! Flew right over the courthouse! A bunch of people caught it on camera! The news has been going crazy! The churches, even crazier!" she laughed as she poured the java into a small white cup. I could feel blood draining from my face.
"A… a what?" I replied, too stupefied to form any kind of substantial question.
"An angel Desmond! Wings like a bright white light and everything! All of the videos caught it so clearly! A lot of people are trying to debunk it, but think it might be the real thing!" she reported gleefully. I could feel the excitement practically radiating off of her, which only seemed to further my sense of dread. She turned around as she placed the lip on my coffee cup and offered it to me.
"Thanks! I'll look into it…" I replied as I took my coffee and left rather abruptly, turning on my heels and rushing up to the seventh floor break room to continue my panic in solidarity. Of course I wouldn't be alone there, but at least most people in the break room either wore headphones for music and videos, or carried on their own conversations with friends.
"Lucifer! What the fuck!? You didn't tell me you got caught on video!" I growled under my breath. The anger in my chest was beginning to boil over. Many moments passed before I decided he probably wasn't replying on purpose. The elevator door beeped and opened, "Hello?!" I prodded him.
"Oh, my apologies, are we on speaking terms once more?" he buzzed back sardonically.
"Are you fucking serious right now Lucifer?" I mumbled quietly as I continued to the break room, scanning my badge to grant me access. Lucifer sighed.
"You needn't speak aloud Desmond, I can hear your thoughts just fine. You look like a bedlamite when you talk to yourself." he retorted, clear irritation in his voice.
"A bedlawhat?" I thought, taking a seat at a lone table in the back of the empty break room. It was late after all, most people had long since eaten lunch. Lucifer just groaned.
"A lunatic…. Desmond, do at least try to keep up. Perhaps you should pick up a dictionary once in a while, or learn to read context." His reply was monotone, clearly he wasn't enthused by the manner in which I was speaking to him but I was far too panicked to pick up on that.
"Okay. Great. Thanks." I replied sarcastically, this time remembering to do so in my mind rather than speak out loud, which was a strange sensation, and made me feel far crazier than speaking aloud to myself. "So, would you mind telling me how exactly you managed to get yourself caught on camera?" I inquired angrily, making no attempts to hide my frustration.
"What did you expect me to do Desmond? Ride the bus home? Hail a taxi? Your body was dying. I had to get you home to start healing. Not all of us have my brother Raphael's affinity for healing the wounded." He scoffed, totally uncaring of the potential problems this could mean for us.
"Didn't you say that angels would be hunting us or something?!" I chided him in my mind.
"Most certainly." He answered too quickly.
"So what if they put two and two together? Feeling your presence and the sighting? What if it leads them to us?"
"These are astute observations, Desmond. I do find myself quite impressed by your critical thinking at times, perhaps there is hope for us yet." He mused. His lack of care was becoming deeply disturbing.
"So, what are we going to do?" I practically yelled in my mind. My knuckles were white at this point as I balled them into fists. Had Lucifer been sitting in front of me, I might have slugged him right in his perfect little jaw.
"Relax Desmond. There is some small amount of freedom in being backed into a corner. Except we aren't quite there yet. We have at least two options before us. Firstly, We could fight. Though you would be absurdly useless and most likely kill yourself and get me sent back to hell. So, I think we shall politely pass. Which presents us with option two. We flee. Simple, yet effective." Lucifer was so pragmatic that it caught me off guard. So much so that his relaxed demeanor and sensible answer strangely began to calm me, if only slightly. I felt like ever since I'd woken up this morning, I was stuck in some horrific roller coaster of emotion, up and down over and over again.
"How did I go from a simple life two nights ago to this?" I asked, my fists releasing and my eyes resting on my unopened box of food.
"If we run, how long do we have to stay away for? What about my family?" I asked nervously, rightfully afraid of Lucifer's response.
"I am truly sorry for the burden I have thrust upon you Desmond. But fretting over what cannot be changed is wasted energy. As for your question, the simple answer is… well, forever. Once they have divined your identity, your family will be under unresting watch. No message you could send them would go unread by them. For their safety and for yours, you must leave as quickly as possible. No Looking back." His words rang clear in my mind. I hated what he was saying, but I had a feeling he was right.
"They would hurt them, wouldn't they? My family?" I asked after a moment. Lucifer didn't reply. Which was all the answer I needed. It was all the call to action I required. "Alright. Do we have time for me to go home and get some things?" I asked as I stood, taking my boxed lunch in hand and turning back for the elevator. My phone and bag were still upstairs.
"I'm unsure how wise that is. They've had two day's head start to look for us. When I said we had a few days, that was before I knew that I'd been seen. For all I know, we may have already been found." Lucifer still didn't sound too concerned, which told me that he either wasn't, or he was very good at concealing his worry. I, On the other hand, was attempting with great difficulty to keep my nerves together.
"Well, if we're going to escape, I need to get us some cash, luckily I have a lot saved up, so that means we have to go to the bank, plus I will need some clothes and food." I started creating a mental list as I rode the elevator up to my pod. I walked to my desk and snatched up my bag and put my lunch inside, slung my jacket over my arm and turned to take my leave. Unfortunately I saw Rhiannon was rounding the corner after me, blocking my quickest route out of the building.
"Going somewhere Desmond? Your lunch is over, I need you to finish the reports you missed while you were out." She said impatiently, annoyed that I was trying to leave.
"Yeah, sorry. I need to go home. I uh, don't feel well." I replied, clearly grasping at straws for an excuse. I could hear Lucifer chuckle lightly.
"Quite the Classic, Desmond… will you be trying 'the mutt ate my homework' next?" Lucifer mocked. Rhiannon didn't buy it either.
"Bullshit. Sit back down and get back to work." Rhiannon said as she started to turn around to leave. She must have assumed that I'd roll over and do as she said. Just as I always had. I felt hopeless to my circumstances, everything appeared out of my control, But Rhiannon had made it her personal mission to ruin my life for the past three years. I let my knuckles tighten, draining white again. No more.
"Yeah, fuck that Rhiannon." I growled. Which stopped her in her tracks. She turned to face me, stunned. Something about being in a position of power over someone strangely takes them off guard when you stand up to them. Her big eyes bulged out as she tried to comprehend what I had just said.
"And you know what else Rhiannon? Fuck you, and fuck this whole place. How about you step on someone else for a change, yeah? I'm sick of the sound of your voice, I'm sick of all these reports, and queues; if they're so important, how about you do them?" My retaliation had started at a normal office volume and ended with my shouting, loud enough that the whole office could hear.
As soon as I finished, I heard the echo of my own voice crescendo back to me. Hiding my embarrassment, I pushed my shoulder into her as I walked past. Rhiannon flailed about and hit the ground with a loud thump. Clearly she'd not been expecting contact. I continued walking without looking back. My heart racing a hundred miles an hour, I had just technically assaulted her after all…
"Get back here! You don't get to just walk out of here!" she yelled as she pulled herself up to her feet, the new hires watching on in total surprise. "You're fired! You know that?!" Rhiannon screamed after me finally as I continued my exit. Honestly I have since wished I had done something cool, perhaps a wave over my shoulder tauntingly, or given her the finger as I rounded the corner.
But I did none of those things. The beating of my heart drummed all sounds out, so I simply exited the building with a quiet dread for my future. This was all new territory and I was already setting off on a difficult note.
Angels wanted me dead, I had no job, no place to go, and only Lucifer to watch my back. My mind raced with terrible possibilities until I found myself walking down the street towards the train stop that would take me home. The sun was still out, though blocked by several clouds and quickly setting, It was still winter after all. Many people milled about towards their various tasks, unaware of my dilemma. Today really was a rough day…