The Angel of Death

Old Memories

    “Please sweetheart, get out of here while you can.” His voice, usually deep and stern, is now faint and weak. Tears threaten to fall as I pull his limp body behind a wall, away from the gunfire.

    “I’m not leaving you here, idiot.” I hiss through my teeth as I settle down next to him. He lifts his bloody hand to my face and cups my cheek. The tears begin to fall and he snickers to himself.

    “You’re so pretty when you cry.” He smiles as he says this, but his beautiful blue eyes are filled with fear. His smile begins to fade as the gunfire and footsteps become closer.

    “Please, Aura. Please get out of here. I won’t let you go down with me.” His voice is quivering, in all of the years I’ve known him I’ve never seen him afraid of anything, but now he’s afraid for me. I shake my head and the hot tears fall faster.

    He pulls my face gently towards his and kisses me softly, tasting of mint, cigarettes, and blood. Pulling my face away he rests his forehead on mine.

    “I’ll always love you, now run.”

    My eyes open and I quickly sit up and take in my surroundings, panting as I do. What was that? Was that a dream? My body is soaked in sweat and so are my black satin sheets. I try to control my breathing and remember where I am. Armani household, top floor, my room. My breathing begins to slow and I look at the alarm clock on my nightstand. Almost 3 a.m.

    I sigh as I pull my legs over the bed to stand, there’s no way I’m going to try and sleep again tonight after that. My very first dream, why did it have to be that? It’s been years, why do I have to think of that now?

    Shaking my head, I walk to my bathroom sink to splash cold water on my face. Looking up into the mirror I can see my eyes are red and puffy, almost as if I were crying. s**t. I wipe off all of the water on my face and go into my closet to grab a black hoodie, then back to my room to grab my cigarettes off of my nightstand. A walk sounds nice right about now.

    Exiting my room, I quietly shut the door behind me then tiptoe down the marble stairs. The only people awake right now should be the men and women guarding the doors and they won’t ask any questions. At the bottom of the staircase, I go to the door that leads to the rose garden. A middle-aged man opens the door for me without a word.

    I step out into the warm night air, I can feel a slight breeze on my skin and hear thunder rumbling in the distance. I walk slowly into the garden so I can feel the soft grass under my bare feet and light a cigarette, feeling better already.

    I try to concentrate getting the image of him out of my head as I look up at the stars. I can feel hot tears begin to stream down my cheek and I silently sob to myself. My beautiful, strong boy was taken from me so early. If there is a god, there is no doubt in my mind that he is cruel. The only happiness and love I have ever known in my entire life came from that boy, and now he’s gone.

    I hear the garden door open and a silhouette walks into the darkness with me. Watching it grow closer I can see that its Blue, rubbing his tired eyes as he approaches me. Quickly I wipe away my tears. I can’t show weakness, not now. I’ve only been here a week, what would they think of me if they caught me crying?

    “Can’t sleep?” Blue asks as he makes his way next to me, smiling like always. I can’t figure out how he’s so cheerful all of the time. I try and clear my throat to get my voice back in order, but it doesn’t seem to help.

    “Unfortunately, no.” I rasp out, trying to avert his gaze. I glance up at him, his features accentuated by the moonlight. He looks concerned.

    “You’ve been crying.” He states softly. He extends his hand out to touch me and I flinch unintentionally. He sighs and pulls away.

    “Do you want to talk about it?” He asks me kindly. As much as I like talking to him, I don’t think I can talk about this. At least not yet anyway. I shake my head no and he nods understandingly.

    “Walk with me then?” He asks. I look up to him with a sad smile and nod as we slowly walk side by side in the garden. We don’t speak but it’s not an awkward silence, we just silently enjoy each other’s company.

    After a while of wandering around we come across a wooden bench tucked away behind some hedges. Blue sits and motions for me to sit next to him with a smile on his face. I sit next to him and look up at the stars, he looks up with me.

    “The stars are different here than in Russia, I mean, you can see them clearer there.” I whisper softly to the sky. I can feel Blue tilt his head to look at me.

    “You lived in Russia?” He asks me. I nod, not looking away from the beautiful stars.

    “I’m not sure where I was born,” I tell him, “but I know for at least most of my life I lived in Russia. That’s where The Academy is.” He nods and looks back to the stars with me.

    “What about your parents?” He asks me hesitantly, as if he knows the answer already. I just shrug and shake my head.

    “I have no idea who they are.” I tell him softly. My parents sold me to The Academy when I was a baby. I have no idea who or where they are, I don’t want too either. It’s not like I ever needed them, so I don’t want to now.

    “I’ve always lived here,” Blue tells me, “sometimes I want to leave, see the world you know? But there’s always something to do here. I couldn’t leave everyone behind.” His voice is sad and longing. He may have everything I never had, but I also have everything he doesn’t.

    “You should travel sometime, at least once in your life.” I tell him. He sighs beside me.

    “I’ll have to when I’m the boss, for meetings and whatnot, but that might be a while.” I look over to him and see a small, sad smile creep across his face. He’s probably thinking of where’d he go and what he’d do.

    I hesitantly reach my hand down to his resting on the bench and give it a small squeeze. His eye grows wide and he turns his head to me. I give him a small smile.

    “You’ll get to see it all one day, I’m sure of it.” I tell him quietly. His sad smile turns into a happy one as he turns his face back to the sky and closes his eyes. I begin to pull my hand away but he catches it and wraps his fingers through mine. My eyes grow wide and I blush as I look to the sky again. My hand begins to relax in his as we continue to sit there in silence, but my heart is pounding in my chest. This is ridiculous, I need to calm down.

    We sit this way in silence for a while longer, just as my eyes begin to grow heavy again I hear footsteps in the distance. I sit up and Blue releases my hand from his just in time for Andrew to turn the corner and jump at the sight of us.

    “Dammit guys.” Andrew groans and runs his hands over his face as we chuckle and stand up, stretching.

    "What’s up, A?” Blue asks him, planting a firm pat of his back. Andrew groans again.

    “It’s too early for this s**t,” he sighs to himself before looking back to the two of us, “Blue did you forget about the training we’re doing this morning?” He asks. Blue raises his eyebrows and looks away.

    “I may or may not have.” He mumbles. Andrew just laughs and starts walking back towards the direction of the house, we follow quickly behind him.

    “Aura, you’re more than welcome to join too.” Andrew looks back and winks at me. I roll my eyes at him. The past week that I’ve been here Andrew and I have become friends, and he sure loves to pretend to flirt with me.

    “I’m good, A. I’m going to head back to bed.” I tell him, he just shrugs.

    “Suit yourself.” He says looking forward again. We almost make it back to the house before Blue stops.

    “I’ll meet you down there, ok? Give me a minute.” He says. Andrew just nods sleepily before heading inside. As soon as he shuts the door Blue turns and looks me in the eyes. Again, I can’t look away, it’s like a trap every time I see them.

    “I don’t know what was wrong earlier,” Blue begins, “but whatever it is, whenever you’re ready, you can talk to me.” His eyes are worried, but they shine so gently. I realize I’ve been staring too long and try to respond calmly.

    “O-ok.” I stutter, almost shocked at his kindness. Blue smirks at me and leans in closely next to my ear.

    “Sleep well, Aura.” He whispers. I let out a small shutter as he says my name and pray that he didn’t notice. He sadly breaks eye contact with me and walks inside, leaving me out in the garden. Pulling me away from my thoughts I feel a raindrop on my cheek and look up in time to see the rain begin to fall heavily.

    I run inside just as the downpour begins and see a few sleepy faces have begun to move about the house. Making my way to the elevator I push the button to the fourth floor and make my way slowly back into my room, my mind occupied by Blue. Pulling myself into bed I think of the night we just shared in comfortable silence and some life story sharing as I drift back to sleep.

******************************

    He stands on the top of the building, outlooking the San Francisco area. Holding his hand out he feels the rain begin to fall, but he doesn’t move. Hearing someone behind him open the door he turns to find his right-hand man coming out to join him.

    “Good morning, sir.” The man says to him. He nods, saying nothing and turning his attention back onto the city. The wind blows his black hair back and makes his eyes water.

    She’s definitely here. He thinks to himself as he takes in the morning air. I just need to find her now and explain to her what happened. He’s been putting this off for years. There have been so many opportunities for him to find her, but he’s always been afraid of what she would say. Would she reject him? Would she be angry that he didn’t come back for her? Would she try to even kill him? All were possibilities. His partner clears his throat.

    “We found the girl you were looking for, sir. She’s working with the Armani’s.” The man tells him.

    s**t. He thinks to himself. That’s just my luck isn’t it? He sighs and nods at the man who heads back inside and leaves him to his thoughts.

    My beautiful angel, he thinks, you always did know how to make life hard on me. He wants to be mad but the thought of seeing her again just brings a smile to his face. It’s been so many years without her, but now he’s come back. He just hopes that she can find it in herself to forgive him.