Word Count : 2034

Dawn Turner

"You want what?" The cashier stood in front of me with a bored face.

"I want 10 crucifixes, 5 bottles of holy water, and a bible; thanks." I gave her a tight smile and fought the urge to run back home and yell into my pillow.

"Cal! Come here man. We got a lady wanting to perform an exorcism." She turned around and continued calling out to Cal.

"What? No. No exorcisms here!" I shook my head at her frantically. "Look, is it so wrong that a girl at my age wants to live a holy life blessed by her savior?" I shot her a glare. Is anyone even listening to me right now?

She returned my glare, huffing in annoyance. "Look lady, this is an appliance store. Do you really think we have crucifixes and bibles and holy water lying around for no reason?" Her face displayed a look of frustration and I could tell she wanted me gone.

Well how should I know that? Do I look like I pray to God often?

"There is a reason!"

"Let me hear it then." she crossed her arms over her chest.

There's a fallen angel literally roaming the earth right now and making people's life a living hell, including mine, and you might be next, lady!

Is what I wanted to say.

"Ghosts are a thing, you know! There are a lot of videos proving their existence nowadays." Is what I said instead. She looked unconvinced so I continued. "I can recommend you some..." She walked away before I could continue. "What unholy creatures you people are!" I yelled and walked out of the store.

Listen, I don't mean to be that girl that takes out her anger at other people but I woke up this morning and found out that I got my period. Out of all the days of the month, it had to be the day after I was done dealing with the fallen angel and guardian angel brother war.

Excuse me if I'm being a little dramatic over here.

I have been searching for crucifixes and holy water in all the wrong places and I don't have enough energy in me to care. I think I'm actually doing this on purpose to keep moving around from place to place because maybe then Alexander would get too tired to chase me around. I know I'd be tired if I was him.

Although to be fair, he has wings and can probably fly around.

Come to think of it, I've never actually seen him fly. Do his wings not work? Is he somehow afraid of heights?

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. If I don't think about him, he's not real. That's how things work, right?

After that dramatic exit of mine, I'll probably be too embarrassed to set foot in that appliance store ever again.

The weather was cold and cloudy today and the parking lot was empty of both people and cars so my steps echoed loudly around me along with the sound of the wind. The fact that this looks like a scene straight out of a horror movie was starting to make me feel anxious but I tried not to overthink it.

I kept looking around me to make sure no one was following and no one was.

Thud.

I heard the sound of loud footsteps near me and saw someone move in the corner of my eyes, making me halt in place. I could've sworn the parking lot was empty just a minute ago.

I turned around to look in the direction of the sound, praying it would just be a kid walking by, but there was no one in sight. It scared me even more because I was so sure I heard footsteps.

Did that fallen angel traumatize me so much that I'm starting to hear things now?

Shrugging it off, I continued waking to my car. Maybe it's just the weather making me feel on edge today. I usually like rainy days but recently I've grown to hate everything that reminds me of him.

Once I got in the driver's seat, I shut the door and brought my hands to turn the ignition key but the car didn't turn on. I frowned and tried again. Nothing.

Great. Just what I needed today.

I started hitting the steering wheel over and over again to let out my frustration when a loud grumbling noise made me freeze in fear. Dread took over me when the very animal-like grumbling continued flooding my ears from outside the car.

My hands turned cold but were also covered in sweat at the same time. It made no sense. I couldn't even tell if my heart was even functioning properly at this point because breathing seemed like an impossible task.

I always thought I would be the 'screaming and running away' type of person when faced with a scary situation but the fact that I couldn't even bring myself to move a finger proved me wrong. I could feel nothing but terror and it took absolutely everything in me to raise my head and look at the source of the sound. Terror sealed my throat once I found a headless body standing at the front of my car. "What the-" I screamed and shut my eyes tightly in fear while pressing on the accelerator of my turned off car.

My eyes flew open again in shock when I felt the car actually move. I immediately gripped the steering wheel tightly and looked around the car frantically for the headless person but I didn't see anyone there.

I need to get out of here.

Now.

I swallowed the lump that was rising in my throat and continued driving despite the fact that my entire body was shaking. My breath was ragged and I was surprisingly grateful to feel my heart beating loudly in my chest because I couldn't feel it at all before. My vision was slowly blurring and it took me a second to realize I was crying but I shook it off and continued driving at high speed. I needed to get as far away as possible from that place and as fast as I could.

He isn't real.

He isn't real.

He isn't real.

He isn't real.

But no matter how many times I repeated this, I knew that I was just kidding myself. This is very much my reality and I couldn't stand it.

My head was pounding but I continued driving with an uneasy feeling still. I tried looking at the stores to my left and right while passing by to calm myself down but I heard a loud and daunting thud and immediately pressed my foot on the breaks out of instinct. I let out an ear piercing scream when I saw a body fly and land in front of my car.

No. This is not happening.

My eyes widened when I realized I hit someone. I hurried out my car in panic and ran to the front to see an old man lying on the ground with blood surrounding him.

Oh my God, I just killed an old man.

"No! Oh my god. No, please stay with me. Are you okay? Please tell me you're okay. I'm calling an ambulance, just hold on. Don't go into the light, please. I'm begging you." I let out in between my sobs and unlocked my phone.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

My body froze again against my own will when I heard the same sound I heard in the parking lot.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

The sound got louder every time and the color drained from my face when I felt a hand wrap itself around my leg.

I gulped down the bile that was threating to come out and pried my eyes away from my phone. I stared into the, now awake, old man's eyes and watched as the 'old man' turn into a small kid right in front of me.

"You gave me a booboo!!" He gasped and held his knee tightly. My jaw dropped and my phone fell out of my hand as I continued staring at the little kid in front of me in shock. This isn't happening.

The kid looked at me with a smile on his face and his features started changing slowly into an all too familiar face. "Boo." He whispered with a smirk.

My eyes widened and I yelled again.

I pushed him away and swiftly ran to the side of my car. I'm not dying today. I didn't even see my mom yet. I got in the driver's seat then slammed the door shut. Without thinking, I pressed my foot on the accelerator and the car started moving immediately. I wasn't even surprised when I turned around to look back at him and found no one on the ground.

That bitch.

I cursed myself when I felt tears blurring my vision again. This is not the time to be crying, I need to get home to my mom now.

My shaky legs were refusing to let go of the accelerator and I just watched as everything around me sped up. I could barely even see anymore with the tears in my eyes so I brought my hand up to wipe them when a bright yellow light blinded my already weak vision and continued heading towards me at an incredible speed.

I didn't even have time to scream before the airbags knocked me back and I hit my head against the side of the car. The sound of glass and metal shattering was stabbing my ears and I felt the car tumble around twice before coming to a stop.

All I could hear after that was silence and somehow, this silence was more excruciating than any sound I've ever heard before. Darkness clouded my mind and vision and I slowly gave in to it.

Zach Adams

"She manages to get herself in trouble every single day." The angel in front of me complained.

"Maybe if you did your job better, she would be in less trouble." I rolled my eyes at him.

"Oh and what do you know? How is your girl anyways?" He asked curiously.

"She's not my girl. She's an assigned project girl human task protection human thing. Wait, I said human twice already..."

"Anyways." He ushered me to continue.

"Right, yeah. I mean, she's good. Perfect actually. Doesn't get herself into trouble AT ALL. I can barely call this a task. It's like a daily activity. A routine. No problems whatsoever. Not a single one!" I defended Dawn proudly.

I spoke too soon.

A sudden agonizing feeling shot through my stomach and I fell to my knees in pain. It started flowing throughout my whole body and I let out a scream so loud, it made the ground visibly shake.

The angel in front of me smirked as he watched me struggle to get back on my feet and I shot him a glare. "Oh shut up, Bob!"

I closed my eyes and focused on the image of Dawn. It took a few minutes but when I opened my eyes, I found myself in the middle of the road. It was very dark and cold out here and there was a crowd of people standing in the distance, talking loudly.

I pushed right through them to see what they were looking at and my mouth dropped in a silent scream of terror at the sight of Dawn's car flipped over with glass shattered everywhere.

"Dawn!" I ran towards the car and opened the door where she was lying unconscious. I grabbed her hand and pulled her out carefully, laying her on the sidewalk.

"Relinquere!" I yelled out at the crowd. Everyone started walking away without looking back and with no memory of what had happened.

I turned to look back at dawn and cupped her face gently. "You will feel no pain after this. God blessed me with power and I shall give some to you.

Rise, little one."

I sighed in relief when her fingers twitched and carried her in my arms.

Time to go home.