EARTH ANGEL

CHAPTER SIX : THE WOMAN WHO WASN’T THERE

Elena stared at the golden key on her bedroom floor.

She didn't touch it.

She wasn't sure why.

It was small enough to fit inside the palm of her hand, delicately shaped, and unlike anything she had ever seen. The metal wasn't quite gold. It seemed to hold light inside it, glowing faintly even though there was no source of light around it.

She crouched beside it.

The moment her fingers came close, the key moved.

Elena jerked backward.

It slid across the floor by itself.

Slowly.

Almost deliberately.

It stopped beside her bed.

"What the hell?"

She stared at it.

The key remained still.

Elena reached for her phone.

She took a picture.

The screen showed an ordinary bedroom floor.

No key.

Her stomach tightened.

She lowered the phone.

The key was still there.

She raised it again.

Nothing.

She looked at the key.

Then the phone.

Then the key.

"Okay."

She stood.

"That's new."

She didn't touch it.

Instead, she left the room.

---

At breakfast, nobody mentioned the previous night.

That frightened Elena more than if her parents had started screaming.

Daniel sat at the table with his coffee.

Miriam prepared breakfast.

Everything appeared normal.

Too normal.

Elena sat down.

"Morning."

"Morning," Miriam replied.

Daniel nodded.

Elena looked at both of them.

"So."

Neither looked up.

"So?"

"What happened last night?"

Daniel took a sip of coffee.

"Nothing."

Elena laughed once.

"Right."

Miriam placed a plate in front of her.

"Eat."

"I don't want breakfast."

"You need to eat."

"I need answers."

Daniel put his cup down.

"Elena."

"What?"

"We will talk."

"When?"

"When the time is right."

She stared at him.

"You keep saying that."

"Because it's true."

"What exactly are you waiting for?"

Daniel's expression softened.

"For you to be ready."

"I think I'm ready now."

Miriam looked at her husband.

Daniel looked back.

Neither spoke.

Elena pushed her chair away.

"Fine."

She stood.

"I'll find out myself."

She walked toward the stairs.

"Elena."

She stopped.

Daniel's voice was quiet.

"Don't go looking for things you aren't prepared to find."

She turned.

"Maybe you should have told me the truth before I had to start looking."

Then she walked upstairs.

Daniel closed his eyes.

Miriam whispered,

"She knows something."

"I know."

"How much?"

"Enough."

---

Elena returned to her bedroom.

The key was gone.

She stared at the floor.

Nothing.

She searched beneath the bed.

Nothing.

She opened her wardrobe.

Nothing.

She checked the windowsill.

Nothing.

Then she saw something on her desk.

A small black notebook.

She had never seen it before.

Elena picked it up.

The cover was blank.

She opened it.

The first page contained a single sentence.

Do you want to remember?

Elena's breathing slowed.

She turned the page.

Nothing.

Another page.

Nothing.

She flipped through the entire notebook.

Every page was blank.

Except the final one.

Then find the door.

Elena frowned.

"What door?"

The words disappeared.

She dropped the notebook.

When she looked again, the page was blank.

She backed away.

"No."

She grabbed her bag.

She needed to leave.

She needed air.

She needed to get away from the house for a while.

---

Maya was waiting outside a café when Elena arrived.

"You look like you haven't slept."

"I haven't."

Maya handed her coffee.

"Here."

"Thank you."

Elena took it.

They sat outside.

For a few minutes, neither spoke.

Then Maya leaned forward.

"Tell me."

"About what?"

"Whatever is happening."

Elena stared at her.

"Why do you think something is happening?"

"Because you've been lying badly for days."

Elena smiled faintly.

"You know me too well."

"Unfortunately."

Elena looked down at her coffee.

"Have you ever felt like something was wrong with you?"

Maya frowned.

"Wrong how?"

"I don't know."

Elena struggled to explain.

"Like... you're living your life, but there's something underneath it."

"That's incredibly vague."

"I know."

"Are you sick?"

"No."

"Being followed?"

Elena looked up.

"Maybe."

Maya's expression changed.

"What?"

"I don't know."

She told her about the man.

Not everything.

Just enough.

Maya listened carefully.

"And your parents know him?"

"I think so."

"That's bad."

"Very."

"Did you tell the police?"

Elena shook her head.

"Why?"

"Because how do I explain it?"

She lowered her voice.

"He disappeared."

Maya stared.

"Disappeared how?"

"Just... disappeared."

"Like walked away?"

"No."

"Elena."

"I know how it sounds."

Maya studied her.

"Show me."

"Show you what?"

"Your wrist."

Elena hesitated.

Then slowly pulled back her sleeve.

The symbol was there.

Faint.

Golden.

Maya stared.

"What is that?"

"I don't know."

"How long have you had it?"

"A few days."

Maya touched it.

The instant her finger made contact, the symbol disappeared.

Both women froze.

Maya pulled her hand away.

"What just happened?"

Elena looked at her wrist.

Nothing.

"No idea."

Maya whispered,

"Okay."

"What?"

"I believe you."

Elena looked at her.

"You do?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I just watched a tattoo disappear."

"It's not a tattoo."

"I figured."

Maya looked around.

"Maybe we should go somewhere private."

---

They returned to Elena's house.

The house was empty.

Daniel and Miriam were gone.

Maya followed Elena upstairs.

"This place is creepy."

"It wasn't before."

"Well, it is now."

Elena opened her bedroom door.

She stopped.

The notebook was gone.

The key was gone.

But something else had changed.

The wall above her bed was covered in writing.

Not ink.

Golden light.

Hundreds of words.

Symbols.

Lines.

Shapes.

Maya stepped backward.

"What is that?"

Elena couldn't answer.

She walked closer.

The symbols looked unfamiliar.

Yet somehow she understood them.

Not all of them.

Only one.

A single word.

REMEMBER.

Elena touched it.

The room disappeared.

---

She was standing in a forest.

Dark.

Silent.

The trees were enormous.

Silver light poured through the branches.

Elena looked down.

She wasn't wearing her clothes.

She was dressed in a long white gown.

Her hair was longer.

Her hands were covered in golden markings.

Someone was standing ahead of her.

The woman.

Silver hair.

Golden eyes.

Six wings.

Elena's heart stopped.

"You."

The woman smiled.

"I have been waiting."

"Who are you?"

"You know me."

"No."

The woman stepped closer.

"You have forgotten."

"What have I forgotten?"

The woman lifted her hand.

"Everything."

Elena stepped backward.

"Tell me who I am."

The woman's expression changed.

For the first time, Elena noticed something wrong.

Her eyes.

They were golden.

But there was no warmth in them.

They looked empty.

"Don't trust them."

"Who?"

"The angels."

Elena frowned.

"Why?"

The woman smiled.

"Because they will tell you who you are."

Elena's heart raced.

"Then tell me."

The woman leaned closer.

"You are something they fear."

The forest trembled.

Elena looked around.

"What does that mean?"

The woman's smile widened.

"You'll remember soon."

Then the entire forest turned black.

Elena screamed.

---

She woke on the bedroom floor.

Maya was kneeling beside her.

"Elena!"

Elena gasped.

"What happened?"

"You collapsed."

She sat up.

"How long?"

"Maybe thirty seconds."

Elena looked toward the wall.

The writing was gone.

Maya stared at her.

"What did you see?"

Elena hesitated.

"The woman."

"What woman?"

"The one from my dreams."

Maya's expression tightened.

"What did she say?"

Elena looked at her.

"She told me not to trust the angels."

Maya frowned.

"Angels?"

"Yes."

"Do you know any angels?"

"No."

"Then why would she say that?"

"I don't know."

Elena stood.

Something about the vision felt wrong.

The woman had looked like the figure from the photograph.

But she hadn't felt the same.

The woman in the photograph had looked peaceful.

Almost sad.

The woman in the vision had felt...

Cold.

Hungry.

Elena rubbed her arms.

"I don't think that was really her."

Maya stared.

"Who?"

"I don't know."

---

Far away, beneath a sky that never saw sunlight, something opened its eyes.

The creature sat upon a throne carved from black stone.

Its true form was impossible to understand.

It had no fixed face.

No fixed body.

Only shifting shadows.

A servant knelt before it.

"She saw you."

The creature smiled.

"She saw what I wanted her to see."

"Will she believe you?"

"Not completely."

The servant hesitated.

"Then why show yourself?"

"Because confusion is enough."

The creature stood.

"You don't need to make a human believe a lie."

It walked toward a pool of dark water.

"You only need to make her question the truth."

The water rippled.

Elena's face appeared upon its surface.

The creature touched the image.

"She is beginning to remember."

The servant lowered his head.

"Should we stop her?"

"No."

The creature smiled.

"Let her remember."

A pause.

"Why?"

"Because she won't remember everything."

The creature's reflection changed.

For a moment, it wore the face of the beautiful six-winged woman.

"She will remember the wrong things first."

---

That evening, Elena sat beside her bedroom window.

Maya had gone home.

Her parents still hadn't returned.

The city lights flickered below.

Elena couldn't stop thinking about the vision.

The woman had looked like the figure from her dreams.

But something had been wrong.

Deeply wrong.

She couldn't explain it.

She looked at the photograph on her desk.

The real woman in the picture looked gentle.

The woman from the vision had smiled differently.

Elena picked up the photograph.

"Who are you?"

Nothing happened.

Then she noticed something she hadn't seen before.

The woman's hand.

She was holding a white feather.

But there was something beneath it.

A tiny symbol.

Elena brought the photograph closer.

The symbol was identical to the one that had appeared on her wrist.

Her heart began racing.

She turned the photograph over.

There was another message.

She hadn't noticed it before.

Three words.

SHE IS NOT ME.

Elena froze.

A cold breeze moved through the room.

The lights flickered.

She looked toward the window.

The reflection staring back at her wasn't hers.

For one brief second, she saw the six-winged woman standing behind her.

Elena turned.

Nothing.

She looked back at the window.

The woman was gone.

But another reflection appeared.

A man.

Tall.

Golden-eyed.

Wearing white.

He stood several feet behind Elena.

She spun around.

Nobody was there.

Then a calm voice spoke from somewhere in the room.

"Elena."

She froze.

The voice was gentle.

Nothing like the voice from her vision.

"You don't have to be afraid."

Elena slowly turned toward the window.

The man appeared again in the reflection.

This time, he was looking directly at her.

"I've been trying to reach you."

"Who are you?"

He smiled.

"My name is Seraphiel."

Elena stared at him.

"Are you..."

She couldn't finish.

"An angel?"

The man nodded.

Elena's heart pounded.

For the first time, the impossible was standing in front of her.

Not as a nightmare.

Not as a shadow.

Not as a reflection she could explain away.

An angel.

And yet, strangely, Elena didn't feel afraid.

She felt safe.

Seraphiel looked at her with an expression filled with compassion.

"We have been waiting a very long time to find you."

Elena swallowed.

"Why?"

His expression became serious.

"Because there are things about your life you were never meant to discover alone."

And somewhere far away, the creature wearing the face of the six-winged woman smiled.

Because Elena had finally met someone who could tell her the truth.

And it knew exactly what it needed her to believe before that happened.