My Fallen Demon

Chapter Five

DAPHNE

"I don't think that's a good idea. If anyone finds out..."

It was too risky. Just because we discovered a paper in a bottle didn't mean we had to decipher the message written on it. For all we knew, it could be someone's idea of a joke. I was already devastated enough about my promotion being canceled—I didn't need to add to my problems by agreeing with Amy's ludicrous plan. I had decided I would try harder than ever before to change my boss' mind about the promotion, starting with the moment I returned home, when I would write a heartfelt letter addressed to him, expressing my deepest apologies about my unacceptable behavior.

"No way. You're crazy," Finn said with a laugh. "I'm not going on a scavenger hunt with a human and an angel."

Despite agreeing with him, I didn't appreciate the way he said 'angel', like we were complete scum. I didn't have the energy to get into a verbal spar with him, though. My head swam with thoughts of what would happen once I got home. "I'm leaving," I announced, to nobody in particular.

"No, you can't!" Instead of pleading, Amy was staring at me with an accusing glare. "I'll come with you if you do."

"Please, that's ridiculous," I scoffed. "You're a human."

"A two-thousand-year-old human, thanks to you."

It surprised me that I wasn't all that bothered. I guess I really was an opportunist, and a heartless one at that.

"That's irrelevant," I said.

"Two thousand?" Finn gasped at the same time. "But you're a human!"

"I'll live as long as she lives," Amy said with a look that portrayed the calm before a storm perfectly. If I didn't make an escape soon, I had a feeling I would get an earful of complaints and accusations.

Amy and I stared at each for a few seconds before I closed my eyes. I was sure she thought I had given up; her wide-eyed gaze was a dead giveaway when she spotted my wings. Taking advantage of her momentary surprise, I spread my wings and let the breeze carry me. I didn't look back.

When I got home, I snuck into my room and collapsed on my bed. I cried over my failure, I pondered over the cryptic message, and I felt the slightest tinge of guilt for abandoning the girl who saved me all those years ago. Once I finally fell asleep, my dreams were centered around my boss finding out about my little adventure, my parents weedling the information of my whereabouts out of me, and my sister discovering every little detail without me knowing and tattling to my parents.

All of them ended with a lifelong trip to Hell for me.

*****

My eye cracked open a millimeter. When the blinding rays of the 6AM sun didn't hit me, I instantly knew something was wrong. My room was bathed in the silvery light of the moon, while a cool breeze blew through the open window above my bed. The clock on my bedside table glowed with the numbers 5:27.

After living for a few decades longer than two thousand years, I had fallen into a routine. I always woke up at 6 o'clock. If my promotion ceremony hadn't been at the time the sun's first rays grazed the horizon, I wouldn't have needed an alarm to wake up yesterday. I never woke up earlier or later if I didn't set an alarm, and my cloud was occupied only by my sister, my parents and I, so I doubted a commotion outside was what woke me up.

The window being open and the clock displaying the time, earlier than I always woke up, were enough to keep me wide awake. I couldn't drift off again, even if I wanted to. I made my way to the bathroom, where I freshened up and changed into comfortable attire—gray sweatpants and a faded blue T-shirt. I didn't even think of touching my haphazard curls; I knew by now that brushing my bed hair would result in an afro bigger than that of Mrs. Smith, my boss preceding Mr. Frish, whose hair had never seen what a good hair day looked like.