The Angel Side (4 page)

He loved us all with no favoritism but made sure each soul received the nurturing they needed, no matter what. Even when a child he’d sacrifice
His time and energy on would betray Him, He would be there for them if called. But with His immense power, it
was
easy to f
orget that the same as
His children, Father had emotions beyond stoic and
reserved
.
It had not been my intention but it had been obvious my words
deeply wounded
Him.
The realization of my actions brought a cloud of shame over me.

“Father, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—.”

“Go!” Father
roared as a flash of lightning struck the
jamb
of the door
.

I bolted for the
exit
when Father called out to me.

“
Rahovart
,
”

Too terrified to face
Him
but
also
too scared
by
what would happen if I didn’t, I turned
around at the speed of smell
and wait
ed
for Him to continue my reprimand.
As if a hurricane had been sucked into a human sized bottle, Father returned to His angelic form.

“Ye—yes
,
Father?” I stuttered
.

“Tell Etta I
send my
congratulations on the new job and not to worry, she’s going to do great.”

“I will, Father.” I humbly replied
.

With a
bow
of Father’s head, I knew it
was
safe to leave without further angering Him.
Opening the door, I found myself faced with
a
dozen Angels standing outside, eavesdropping on Father and
me
. Forging a path through the crowd, I set
out
for a safe place to flash when I heard a whisper in the crowd.

“Told you he was unfit for duty.”
The feminine voice snarled
.

Using every ounce of restraint I possessed, I ignored the comment and continued walking to my home with my nose in the air until another whisper caught my attention.

“He’s nothing more than Lucifer’s spy. It’s just a matter of time before he falls again and sees to damning our souls to the depths of Hell beside his Demon loving whore
,
Etta.” The voice hummed.

Months of suppressed rage, frustration and aggravation came to a head in an instant.

“Oh! Holier art thou that pass judgment against me, you
sickened
fiends of false witnesses and gossips. You think yourself so pure?
Unable to transgress?
Look at yourself… standing around like statues, waiting
for fresh
gossip to spread like a plague. You’re all nothing more than weak sheep that rely on the sins of the strong to protect your souls. I pray you never know the pain or sacrifice of losing your tarnished feathers!” I roared at the encircling crowd.

The looks of disgust and surprise were abundant. In a final act of defiance
,
I protruded my tongue out of the cor
n
er of my mouth and extended my middle finger before flashing to
Etta’s room in hopes I hadn’t missed her.

The trip to the Divad home had taken me longer than usual. The wound on my shoulder had been becoming increasingly more painful, weakening my flashing abilities.
As I expected, Etta’s room had been empty. I glanced at
the
clock radio. Florescent green numbers flashed 7:10
a
.
m.
Knowing Etta and her ‘If
you’re
five minutes early, you’re ten minutes late’ motto, s
he had already
left for her first day of work
.

Any other day, Etta’s room would be a mess with her new brown and blue polka dotted comforter hanging off the side of the bed,
dirty
clothes and shoes strewn across the hardwood floor, and her school work and books scattered on her white wicker vanity.
Seeing her bed made, her books in their proper pla
ce on the shelf above her mirror, her shoes neatly organized
on the rack in the closet, and her clothes in the laundry basket only further added to my guilt for missing her. She had waited for me as long as
possible
before giving up and moving on with her day.

I
had been
proud of her for finally making the bed
,
but I hadn’t had the energy to go back home, so I pulled the blanket back. As I sat on the edge of the bed to remove my
boots and leg plates, I heard the heavy footsteps of John coming up the stairs. By the time I removed my g
orget
, pauldrons and
c
uirass
, John had been standing in door
way
, arms folded across his chest. Ignoring his disappointed gaze, I finished removing the rest of my armor in hopes the man would
see
I didn’t care what he had to say.

“Missed her again?” John asked as he sat next to me.

“Yup.”
I replied with a long drawn sigh
.

“Eh, you’ll catch her next time.”
John patted my knee
.

“Yup.”
I said with slight indignation as I allowed my upper body to fall back onto
the
bed.

The pillow top of the mattress engulfed my tired body, luring me to snuggle in and sleep for an eternity. Listening to the
sandman’s sirens, I closed my eyes
just
when
the bed jolted as John go
t up.

“You’re not just burning the candle at both ends; you’re hitting the middle of it with a blow torch.” John whispered under his breath as he got up from the bed.

From day one he’d been against me being with his daughter, Etta. Even after teaming up to fight off Lucifer, Vetis and his thugs, John and I constantly got into petty spats over what
was
best for Etta. He didn’t want his daughter “wasting her life waiting on a Demon who momentarily found his Angel side
”
as he put it. I simply wanted him to butt out of our business. I had the feeling John had been trying to goat rope me into a
squabble, but his statement had hit
too close to the truth to neglect.

“Something on your mind
,
John?”
I replied as I pulled the comforter over my chest.

“Just worried about you.
You’re looking pretty haggard and tired. You’ve been running from one place to another like a squirrel on crack.” John
raked a hand through his hair
as he stood in the doorway
.

“
Well, no worries. I’m not running anywhere right now.” I said, pulling a pillow under my head.

“You know there’s a much easier way to handle family and work. I’ve been doing it for
over thirty years in the Marine Corps. T
ell them no.” John
walked to the window, closing
the drapes.

“What do mean
tell them no
?”
I inquired, lifting
a
pillow from my face
.

“I mean, when a man nee
ds his rest, he says no. As in ‘
No, I can’t go to the movies with you. I just got done fighting off a
horde of Demons for two weeks.’ or ‘
No, I’m sorry
,
but I can’t make it to the rehearsal dinner. I haven’t slept in days because I’ve been trying to give the citizens of Syria hope because some tyrannical government decided to wage war against its own people
.’
I think Etta is capable of understanding that
if you’d only tell her instead of keeping her in the dark
.
I think we can both agree she’s spent enough time there.
”
John replied
.

“I just don’t want her thinking she’s not important, that she doesn’t come first.” I said as
I
rubb
ed
my sore, tired eyes.

R
eleasing a gaping yawn, I looked over at a picture of Etta and
me
on her nightstand. A happy, squealing Etta
faced
the camera as the lean, acne
-
infested illusion of Ramen snorted on the ticklish spot on her neck.
Those
smiles of hers had been the
most important thing to me for
millenniu
ms.
As much as I hated
donning my ‘Ramen’ form
,
I came to terms with the fact I had to wear
it
whenever I left the Divad home
and entered Earth’s society.

Though I gradually made changes to my human appearance to resemble more of my natural self
,
such as clearing up my face, growing a full patch of chest hair, and filling out the thin frame a little more, p
art of me resented Ramen for being the one in the
picture, for being the one making her squeal with laughter, and
for
being
the one
by her side when veiled eyes were upon us. It should have been the real me in the photo.

“My duty to the Corps superseded my duties to my family. From day one
marines
are told if the Marine Corps wanted you to have a family, they’d issue you one. It wasn’t until I saw war time that I understood why they drilled it
into
our heads. When you put something or someone above the safety of your brothers in arms, you’re putting them and yourself in harm’s way. And if you do that, what’s the point in having a family if you’re simply going to die on them or get yourself hurt, leaving them to change your diapers?”
John sat back
down
on the bed, pulling me from my moment of self-envy.

“What’s your point? If I don’t leave Etta
,
she’ll
be forced to change my diapers?
”

“No. My point is Etta doesn’t come first. Your duties as an Arch do
…
the same as mine while I served this great nation and now serve our Father. You are entrusted to protect and guide mankind. That’s your number one priority. It always will be. To put Etta above all others will only impair your ability to accomplish the tasks Father has given you. It’s what I have been trying to tell you and Etta. You’re a bigger fool than I thought if you
still
believe
having a relationship with a human
will
be easy.” John snatched the picture frame from my hand and slammed it back down
onto
the nightstand.

I rear
ed up at his
display of
disrespect
. John jumped to his feet, meeting me chest to chest.

“Look, I just got ripped into by Father. I don’t need it from you too!”
I yelled, digging my finger into John’s shoulder.

John swatted my hand as he leaned up toward me.

“And there’s the famous
temper again
. Look
,
I’m not here to fight with you. I’ve accepted that my daughter isn’t going to give you up
,
and no matter what I do
,
I can’t get rid of you. But what I see standing in front of me right now is not a man worthy of my baby girl. If you can’t meet your simplest
of needs
, how do you expect to meet
any of
hers? Do you not see the pattern here? You’re falling apart
,
Ra.”

“Typical John.
When I ask you for help I’m not asking you to tell me what I’m doing wrong. I’m asking you to help me do it right!” Ignoring the strong urge to punch him,
I shoved past John and plopped onto the bed.

“You can start doing it right by getting some sleep.
Etta’ll be home in a couple hours. I’ll have her wake you up.”
John
threw the blanket over me
then lumbered out of the room.

I had been running on empty
,
and all the arguing drained me.
Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep.

***
*

“Hey
,
sleepyhead
.
Time to get
up
,
or you’ll be late for work.” the soft coo of Etta’s voice whispered in my ear.