Page 108 of Death is My BFF
“Jesus!” I screamed, grabbing my chest. I took in the thirtysomething-year-old woman with poker-straight blond hair and a glowing smile that could brighten up anybody’s day. “Aunt Sarah?”
She crossed the room in a few excited leaps and squeezed me tightly against her bulky pumpkin sweater. “Happy Halloween! I was going to surprise you in the kitchen, but I just couldn’t wait!”
She held me at arm’s length, her crystal blue eyes identical to my mother’s. “You get more and more gorgeous every time I see you.”
“I literally just saw you,” I laughed out. “What are you doing here? I have school today.” A wave of panic hit me as I remembered the time. “And I’m late!”
Aunt Sarah blocked my path. “Are you kidding? You betternotbe going to school, missy! Your mom told me this morning on the phone you’ve been stressed and she was going to let you sleep in. I’m off today. Figured I’d stop by and take you out to cheer you up.”
“You’re kidnapping me?”
“Well, duh. Playing hooky was my specialty in high school. As far as Pleasant Valley knows, you’ve had these terrible on-and-off migraines the past few days, and it’s best for you to do something spooky fun today.” She jumped a little in excitement, and so did I, although less enthusiastically. Unbeknownst to her, Ihadbeen getting terrible migraines. “Mom called you in sick at school! Play along, kid, I’m breaking you out of jail!”
Once Aunt Sarah left my room to let me get changed, I paced my bedroom floor, reconsidering this whole thing. Going out felt like another demon incident waiting to happen and staying home or going to school could be just as damning.
Death knew where I lived. Hell, he could find me anywhere I went. Hiding under a blanket in my closet wouldn’t protect me. The last thing I wanted to do was stay cooped up in the house all day, terrified of what would happen next. Maybe going out with my aunt was just what I needed.
I wore a pair of medium wash ripped jeans with black fishnets underneath and my old “Batman’s Wife” T-shirt to be festive for Halloween. Then I brushed my long black hair until it was bone straight and shiny, laced up my Converse, and quickly applied mascara, eyeliner, and burgundy lipstick.
On my vanity mirror hung my communion cross, which my mother must have snuck into my room while I was sleeping. I clasped the dainty cross around my neck, so it hung close to my throat.
I inhaled a slow breath.
“You’re a normal girl,” I told myself. “You are anormal girl.” I grabbed a zip-up hoodie and headed out of my bedroom. “Who shoots light beams from her hands.”
I spent the car ride venting to Aunt Sarah about art school options and potential majors that interested me. Before enteringThe Twilight Zone, starring Death, college had been my number one stressor. Funny, when actual life-threatening problems enter your life, the other trivial issues you had before then, which had felt like the end of the world, vanish into thin air.
Happiness to me was to be immersed in art for the rest of my life, embraced by the magic of color and creating. Realistically, I knew I might have to settle on being an art teacher or some variation of that, since art studies and fashion design were so competitive. I wasn’t the type of person to settle on anything less than what I truly wanted though. Not until I’d exhausted every other option to get to it. “David Star” helped me see that strength within myself.
The radio was on low in the background, and Aunt Sarah turned it up to hear it.
“The crime rate in New York City has snowballed, leaving citizens frazzled,” said a male broadcaster, “after a man was found dead outside the Empire State Building. Witnesses have referred to him as the ‘Man with Wings.’ Before investigators could arrive to the scene, it is claimed the mystery man ‘vanished into thin air.’ Video footage has turned up of this ‘Man with Wings’ lying on the sidewalk. Some believe this bizarre incident is real, while others say it’s a Halloween prank, or a publicity stunt. An eyewitness has come forward with disturbing details about the supposed dead man, claiming, ‘His eyes were pecked out of his head, and he had massive white wings, like an angel.’”
“He was alive for a while,” a staticky recording of a male voice said, who I assumed was the eyewitness. “He spoke to me. There was this blinding light, and he just went ‘poof.’ Gone. Like one of those Las Vegas magicians. Something ain’t right about this city anymore.”
“You can say that again,” I muttered.
“Witnesses have reported that in the man’s final moments, he warned of a ‘great evil coming.’”
My blood turned to ice. The angel that had crashed through David Star’s office had said those same words. With a bitter tang in my mouth, I remembered the bloody mess and the gory pits where the angel’s eyes once were. Had another angel been attacked by Malphas and his underlings? What kind of message was he trying to get across to Death?
Aunt Sarah switched off the radio. “A stuntman with fake wings is found dead and now the whole city is freaking out like it’s the apocalypse. Classic NYC.”
I felt ashamed for feeling concerned about Death’s safety. A part of me wanted to call him, confirm he was all right, and tell him about the demonic projection with Malphas. Then I remembered who he truly was. Remembered how he’d hurt me. How he’d come to my house the night before and made me feel exposed and helpless. How we’d kissed, and somehow, that was the cruelest part of all because none of it was real. The man I wanted to kiss wasn’t real. He was a character, a persona that went up in flames at the strike of a match, exposing the wicked creature standing behind a curtain of fire.
I clutched my phone with white knuckles, staring but not seeing the passing scenery outside the car.Then why did I kiss him back?
“In other news,” Aunt Sarah said. “Faith, is it true you’re dating David Star? Your mom sent me a picture of you and him in a magazine.”
It crossed my mind that she should have seen those magazines at her bookstore. If she’d checked any of her social media, she would have known too.
“We’re acquaintances through mutual friends,” I replied. “It’s a small world.”
We pulled into a picturesque farm with a freshly painted red barn, apple trees, pumpkin patches, and corn lined up in neat rows. Sunny Haven’s farm, where Pleasant Valley went to enjoy all their favorite fall festivities. Normally, Mom and Dad took me pumpkin and apple picking every year here, but the past two years we hadn’t gone. I missed our Halloween traditions, so I planned on bringing Mom home plenty of apples to bake apple pie with her and picking the biggest pumpkin in the patch to carve a jack-o’-lantern with Dad.
He wouldn’t care if we did it the day after Halloween.
I spent the next few hours pretending it was any other day. The two of us went on a hayride to go pumpkin picking, ventured back to the car to drop off our harvest, and then rode another hayride for apple picking. It didn’t look like it had rained here on the farm last night, even though the drive was only twenty minutes from my house. I wondered if Death had brought that nasty storm with him, like the force of nature that he was.