When Angels and Demons Collide

Chapter One

Keller woke from his sleep drenched in sweat. Tired eyes scoured the room looking, searching. Keller sat up and walked over to the bathroom sink to wash his face. He had had the same dream every night for about a month now, although he had no idea what it meant.

Walking back into his room he glanced at the alarm clock and groaned. It was 3:30am and he had only 3 hours until he had to be up for school. Shaking his head trying to clear the dream from his thoughts, Keller walked over and picked up the book he had been reading before bed.

Grabbing his iPod, he climbed back into bed, shoved the ear buds in his ears and turned it on full volume and began to read. Rock music pounding in his ears Keller found his body slowly relaxing and the dream fading. Not long after Keller read the first page he drifted off into a dreamless slumber, his book falling to the floor once more.

Startled, Keller woke up to his alarm clock blaring. Groaning, he rolled out of bed to get ready for school. He had a quick shower and paused briefly looking at his reflection in the mirror. A face of shaggy sandy blond hair and bright green eyes looked back at him. He was slender but had muscle and stood at 5’6”.

He quickly dressed in black fitted jeans and a long sleeve black shirt and his black sneakers. Keller grabbed his backpack and his leather jacket and headed for the door. It was autumn, so the morning was cool and crisp. The leaves had just started to change colors. It was a beautiful sight, autumn was his favorite season.

Walking towards school he passed the nearby forest and his thoughts returned briefly to his dream. Those big long black wings, how he ached to feel the feathery softness. Shaking his head, he quickly dismissed that train of thought, as he arrived at school. Delmont High what a typical boring high school Keller couldn’t wait to be free of this place, but he was only 16 and a freshman. He walked over to the big tree in the center of the courtyard where a group of his friends awaited his arrival.

His best friend Judah Michaels slandered over in his usual goth wardrobe. Judah stood at 5’4” and had black spikey hair and brown eyes.

“Hey man did you see the new release of the Gothica comic last night?” Judah asked Keller.

“No, I was studying late last night for the English test today. Let me guess, Judah you forgot about it, again didn’t you?”

“You know me so well man, besides I have a reputation to uphold. I can’t act like I care about classes and grades. I would lose all my gothic badboy slacker cred.”

On they walked towards their first class of the day Judah talking about his comic while Keller’s mind drifted off about the girl in the cemetery. When they stopped briefly outside English they made plans to hang out after school at Keller’s, so Judah could show him the new comic.

The rest of the day passed by in a haze for Keller as his mind struggled to stay focused and drifted off on thoughts about his dream. He met up with Judah after the final bell of the day and they started the walk back to Keller’s house.

As they walked past the forest near Keller’s house, he looked over towards the trees thinking about the girl from his dream. Keller stopped dead in his tracks. There along the edge of the woods the girl stood staring at him, her big black wings behind her like a backdrop.

It was like the entire world stopped. All sounds of the world muted as he stared at her. He couldn’t believe his eyes, but he dared not to blink fearing she would disappear. Keller felt drawn to her although he didn’t know why, like magnets.

He moved to take a step towards her as Judah elbowed him, “Dude where did you go? Why did you stop?”.

All at once the sounds of the world flooded back and the magnetic pull was gone.

Reluctantly Keller looked away from the girl and to his best friend, “I, uh, saw a deer.” He lied quickly. “I wanted to get a better look at it, but it ran off. Anyway, let's go. I want to see this comic you’re going on about.”

As they continued Keller glanced back towards the woods expecting her to still be there, but she had vanished. I must be losing my mind. Keller thought to himself as his thoughts once again returned to his dream.

When they had reached the house and grabbed a snack they headed up to Keller’s room. He had the biggest in the house, his mother preferring the smaller bedroom at the back of the house away from everything. She worked nights, so it was quieter in the back of the house. His room was decorated with random rock band posters on the walls, black sheets and curtains. A black rug covered the light wood floors, his queen bed was pushed off to one side of the room up against the far wall away from the windows.

His room was big enough that he had a couch and a couple bean bag chairs for when his buddies would come over to play video games and watch movies on his flat screen. Everyone loved coming over to Keller’s since his mom was working; they didn’t have to worry about being too loud. He also had a bookcase filled with various types of books and in the spaces that had not yet been taken up by books he had little skull figures placed.

They flopped onto the couch and Judah started pulling out the comics and explaining each one and why Keller would love them. Keller barely heard him; he didn’t know if he had really seen her today or if it was just his imagination. He glanced down at the comic Judah had just shoved into his hands and drew in a sharp breath. He couldn’t believe his eyes. The girl on the cover looked exactly like the one from his dreams; she even had the same wings.

“Judah, do you have every issue of the series? I’d very much like to read them.” Judah almost bounced in his seat.

“Yes of course I do see I knew you would want to read them, I even brought with me the first 5. I’ll let you borrow them as long as you treat them like gold. I want them to stay in perfect condition.”

Judah handed Keller the stack of comics he just pulled out of his bag and looked at his watch, “Crap I have to go. I almost forgot my date with Tanza and you know how she is if I’m late. Later dude.”

Keller quickly did his homework and made himself dinner, then spent the rest of the evening scouring over every inch of the comics trying to absorb every detail. Time passed quickly, the full moon’s light filling up his room. Keller had by now looked over every inch of the comics at least 5 times by now. Trying to figure out how a girl from a comic book he had never read ended up in his dreams for the past month was becoming aggravating for Keller as he could see no connection.

Frustrated he set aside the comics and glanced at the time it was nearly 1 am. He sighed in defeat and decided it was best to sleep, perhaps tonight he would have a different dream he dared to hope. Quickly he dressed for bed, climbed in, shoving his ear buds in and turning his music on full blast. Not 5 minutes passed before he was dead asleep.

“Keller....Keller.” a voice in the shadows called. “Come find me Keller. Your destiny is about to begin. Come Keller we must not delay, the time has come.” Keller found himself in the edge of the woods, glancing behind him he saw a deserted dirt road. Keller stopped and wondered if he should go into the woods to find the source of the voice or if he should just turn around and run home. “Keller,” the voice called,” you cannot run from me. I know where you are, and I know what you are thinking. We must not delay. They are coming.”