I wipe my tears with the top of my hand as I obediently follow the two people, all the while pulling my nose.
When I lift my face, their silhouettes seem unimaginably tall, but I'm only five years old and from my perspective everything looks big. I don't know who they are, but they are the ones who saved my life. They provided me with the safety I needed at that moment.
I fall over my feet and drop to my knees on the sidewalk, breaking into loud cries. The boy crouches in front of me, and I look carefully at his face.
- Don't cry. In a little while, you will have to cope on your own. When we get to that street.... - With his finger he points to the road, which is by the bridge. - All the time you will walk on the sidewalk, and then someone will help you, understand?
I sob even louder when I understand that they are going to leave me here.
- Stop it! - he yells at me, so I open my weeping eyes wide and look at him with visible fear. - I called the good gentlemen, who will be here in a moment and take you to your parents," he announces, out of the corner of his eye, glancing at the nearby phone booth he just used. - You will be fine.
I take a few steps forward and then stop in place again. I look over my shoulder and look at the boy, who orders me to go on with a movement of his hand. Tears drip down my cheeks as I follow his command. I was terrified, so I once again turned my back and this time ran back when I noticed that he was not there.
I roll over on the sidewalk and tear the skin on my hands. I lift my face and with wide-open eyes look at the two people — the girl and the boy who helped me earlier.
They are standing on the bridge railing, holding hands. When I start crying hysterically, they look over their shoulders and stare at me for a moment, then throw themselves down.
I open my eyes and breathe heavily as I float to a sitting position. I look around the room, and then my attention is caught by the open door.
The angel, who just moments ago was holding my hand to take the nightmare from me, is now leaning with his back against the wall in the hallway. He closes his eyelids as he realizes that these are memories from my childhood, and worse... that he saw his friends in them.
*
The lectures are so boring.... The professor is so smug that I'm already starting to fall asleep, but fortunately, I'm rescued by Lisa, who appears out of nowhere in the middle of the room, fluttering her black wings.
Maybe it wouldn't be so interesting if it weren't for the fact that she brought a guest with her. No. I put it wrong. He flew after her himself, although the worst part is that it's the middle of the day, and he's completely drenched in a dead body.
When did he bring himself to such a state? I guess I'm the most unlucky among all mankind, since I'm the one who had a Guardian Angel happens to me — an alcoholic.
I rest my chin on my hand and observe beings with entirely different characters, thinking that their performance are much more fascinating than those played in the theater. White and black wings swirl alternately in front of my eyes, and the breeze is quite pleasant, considering how stuffy the room is, since all the windows are closed.
I can see that the professor is already ignoring these supernatural phenomena that are happening in this place. He has probably resigned himself to the fact that this hall has been haunted for some time and tries not to pay special attention to it.
Andy falls to his knees in front of Lisa and starts crying loudly, and it's so chaotic it's no different from a coyote howling to the moon.
- If you don't shut up, I'll put a shoe in your mouth! - yells the blonde at him, and like a frightened child, he loses his balance and falls with his butt to the floor. The whole room gets a slight shock and I can see that people are starting to panic.
The worst affected, however, is the professor, who is pale as a corpse.
- Is it an earthquake? - asks one of the students, to which I snort maliciously.
- It's just the fault of one sluggish ass," I mutter in response.
- Probably someone let off a rocket at us. - The boy tries to be funny, yet no one laughs.
The blonde rests his hands on his hips and mirrors Andy with a furious look.
- Why is it that when you're drunk, you follow me around?
- Because then I think you are an angel. Your blond hair is very misleading. - She giggles like a girl as she puts her hand to her mouth, clearly making fun of her demon friend. - Next time, wear a diaper, and I'll think you're a cupid.
I rub my brow, not taking my eyes off them. The students continue to panic and try to look in the window to convince themselves that nothing bad is happening.
- Jennie! - The blonde finally notices me. - I see you are bored. You're breaking off from further activities. I need you to help me take care of this howling angel. - She reaches down from the floor a white feather, and I only now notice that they all around are showered with them. - Who said that alcohol only destroys people? Just look at how he lines up. Worse than a dog.
Andy bursts into a loud cry when he notices that he has lost unimaginable amounts of his beautiful white feathers.
Lisa starts picking them up from the floor and lifts her shirt up to place them safely there, and then the angel weeps louder as he notices that she has a navel.
- Why do demons have one? This is not right!
- You were probably an alien when you were alive," Lisa answers him, putting a feather in her hair. - There's a reason you like to sleep in the bathtub when you're drunk.
- Really! - I yell out to the whole room, and only now I realize that everyone is looking at me as if I were insane. - I'm sorry," I humbly turn to the lecturer, who still doesn't know what's really going on in the room. - I received a disturbing message from my family and I have to go home.
The man only nods and turns his back to us, but I can see that he is rubbing his forehead from nervousness. I don't think he's feeling very well.
I throw all my things into my bag and as I walk towards the door, he eloquently shows Lisa to hurry.
- Help me get this idiot out of here! - she turns to me.
I knock my finger on my forehead, letting her know that people will totally take me for insane, but apparently they already think so, because in their eyes I have just insulted the professor.
I hastily run out of the room, feeling like killing Lisa and Andy for completely losing my reputation at the university because of them.
*
At least on the street I'm not the only moron, because Lisa, who is again visible to others, also puts her arm around an invisible friend. I realize that it must look pretty funny with our arms dangling in the air, so I feel awkward as we pass the handsome boy. I see that he giggles under his breath at the sight of us.
- Good mood, eh! - turns to him Lisa, and then she lets go of Andy, who without her help falls right on top of me. I don't have superhuman strength like her, so the result is that I fall over onto the sidewalk, and he crushes me with his body. Passing people look at me as if I were a mentally ill person as I lie in the middle of the sidewalk with my arms outstretched and unable to move.
- Lisa? I need your help," I turn to my roommate, but she is so agitated currently that she doesn't even pay attention to me or Andy, by whom I am officially becoming the laughingstock of the entire city.
- They say that laughter is health. - The boy looks like he's trying to flirt with her when he notices her attractive appearance. - It's nice to laugh in the presence of a lovely girl like you.
She sends him a mischievous smile.
- Your grasshopper is also cute," she announces, with her eyes aiming at his crotch, which is too bulging. - Are you using too much viagra, or is it just the sight of me?
The stranger turns red in the face and with his hands tries to hide the bulge. The blonde crosses her arms on her chest and unequivocally raises her eyebrow, letting him know that she doesn't like it when someone makes fun of her.
- I'm afraid the castle won't hold it. Your horse is invading it too much. - She winks at him.
Finally. I let the air out of my mouth when my roommate notices my distress. She lifts Andy off me, and passing people continue to watch us as if we were haunted or drugged with some kind of drug.
- Why didn't you take the car this time?
- Let's just call it bad luck. - She shrugs her shoulders. - You're already tired, aren't you? Let me take care of you.
I open my eyes wide in amazement when Lisa takes him on her back. The angel hangs his arms around her neck, and I blink my eyelids because it looks very strange. I haven't yet had the opportunity to see a very slim girl who would be able to carry a boy bigger than herself on her shoulders.
Anyway... I might find it strange if I knew he was a man.
- Don't jump," mumbles Jin, stroking her cheek with his hand.
I wrinkle my eyebrows, because this is quite an astonishing sight.
- What do you mean? Where do you think I'm not supposed to jump?
I, on the other hand, stop for a moment as I begin to understand what the angel means. I know he was watching over me that night.
Could it be that he saw the image that was playing out in my head?
Could it be that...
I stop in mid-step and put my hand to my mouth as I recall the faces I saw in that nightmare. No. This was no ordinary dream. It's a memory. A memory from my childhood. It is a resurrection of the day I was kidnapped. The worst period of my life.
- Jennie, what about you? Why have you gone so pale?
I look at Lisa and again see the moment when she and Thomas stand on the bridge railing and hold hands. The worst part, however, is what I notice later.
That day they committed suicide together, and I witnessed it.