Bullshit. The whole thing was utter bullshit.
Was I not allowed to see my own future? Didn’t I deserve that much? Was it God’s idea of protecting me from myself? I’d hardly think after everything I’d seen and felt that he would think that this would be his way of saving my sanity. From what I’d witnessed God didn’t give two shits about me or anyone else.
He was that mean girl in high school who spread rumors to other kids just to see the horror and mayhem unfold.
If the very fact that I was getting screwed over in the whole deal, then I could appreciate the irony. I liked irony. Like the time that a bully named Reece at my middle school had cut in front of the whole line so he could get the last piece of pizza only to find out it had pineapples on it. See, irony. Didn’t want that gross crap anyway and neither did Reece.
But I had even gotten to see even Reece’s death. I could see everyone else’s future, but my own. In the end I guess I was just like everyone else. Waiting in the dark for a future unwritten. I had never liked the dark. Too many shapes and whispers around the edges that fought to be free.
“Eleanor.” They whispered. Their voices are like raspy smoke victims, all crackled and harsh. “We see you, Eleanor. We’re going to find you.”
Usually, by this point I was curled up into a ball on the floor of my theater with the dark creeping in around me. This dream was different than the others. This time they didn’t come any closer. They were stuck. As I looked around the corners of the theater, I could feel the pressure of their struggles as they tried to get to me. Why weren’t they moving?
I suddenly cried out as a burning overtook my right hand. The scar. I stared down at it and realized it wasn’t like it was before. It’s red and festered like an infected wound. What in world was going on?
“Help!” A scream ripped from my throat as the pain radiated through my hand and I fell to my knees. The whispers in the dark laughed. A haunting cackling that bounced off the walls.
“No one to help you now. We can see you, Nabi.” The last word came out as a hiss. Nabi. They repeated it over and over almost like a prayer. The sound of them grew louder and louder, until I couldn’t even hear the sound of my own voice anymore.
As I knelt there with my hands over my ears trying to drown at the noise, the burning in my hand started to fade and with it another voice could barely be heard over the chants.
“Eleanor.”
Dad?
The chanting around me came to an abrupt halt as if they had heard it to and were trying to listen. I lowered my hands and slowly pushed to my feet. With the pain in my hand gone, I scanned around me and saw the shadows still there, just barely moving around in the corners of the room. Were they scared of my dad?
“Wake up, Eleanor.”
The sound of his voice caused light to shine into the darkened theater and my eyelids fluttered open. Even as my conscious awakened in the back in my mind, in the theater I could still hear them. No longer silent and waiting but panicked and rushing about in the darkness. In their haste for escape I could still catch them chanting the word.
Nabi.
“I think she’s waking up now, Bart. Give her some room.” My eyes snapped open at the new voice of a woman near my feet. One hand rubbed my eyes as I tried to sit up on what seemed to be a leather couch. Where was I?
“Don’t move to fast dear. Though, you were out cold, shifting still makes most of us nauseous the first time.” There was a slight musical note to her voice, and I wondered for a moment if she was related to my dad.
I blinked my eyes several times as I stared at the dark-haired woman at the end of the couch. She stood with her arms crossed under her breast, which looked like they could spill out of the v-cut in her deep purple suit jacket at any moment. Was she even wearing a shirt under that thing?
“Who are you?” Damn. Even my voice sounded hollow compared to hers. Maybe I should stop smoking. Nah.
“Eleanor, don’t be rude.” My eyes jerked from the woman and over to my dad, who stood by my side. Hands in his pockets he had a smug expression on his face that was just itching to be slapped off. If my hand didn’t still ache, I would have done it by now.
I swung my legs over the side of the couch and took in the room around me. We were in an office. The woman’s I assumed. Books filled the bookshelves that decorated the walls. A large mahogany desk took up much of the space in the middle of the room. There was no name plate and no personal items that would give away who she was.
“What did you do to me?” I was proud of the venomous tone my voice had taken on. It was hard to sound threatening when you had to look up at someone.
“Eleanor it was for you own good.” My dad didn’t even remotely sound apologetic for what he had done. “You wouldn’t have left with me otherwise and we were running out of time.”
“You’re damn right I wouldn’t have.” I stood and curled my hands into fists. I’d never had a lot of patience. As an only child I had always gotten what I wanted, when I wanted it, and right then I wanted answers. Ignoring the stranger in the room, I shoved a finger at my dad. “You think you can just pop back into my life whenever you and abduct me because you think it’s best? Well, listen up, pops.” I popped my p aggressively. “I’m a grown ass adult. Eighteen, almost ninteen. I don’t have to do anything you say. In fact, you lost that right when you left mom and me to fend for ourselves.”
I shoved around him intent on leaving. Never mind that I had no idea where I was. I just needed to get away from him. A thin but strong hand latched onto my elbow and halted my dramatic exit. Glaring down at the black painted nails, I jerked my eyes up to the dark purple eyes of the stranger. I was startled enough by her unusual eye color to drop my scowl but what really got to me was I couldn’t see her death either.
Leaning in close to her, I stared hard. “What are you?”
Her crimson colored lips tilted up on one side. “Stay and find out.”
She had me there.
I contemplated for a moment between barging out of the room or satisfying my curiosity. The fact that my dad also couldn’t be read was what won out. Whatever this woman was, I had little doubt my dad was too.
“Fine,” I clipped, pulling my arm from her grasp. I didn’t sit back down on the couch but wandered around her room.
“Eleanor,” my dad started.
“Elle,” I interrupted him, my eyes skimming the books on the shelves. Book of Enoch. The Rise and Fall of the Morning Star. Encyclopedia of Celestial Beings. Frowning at the books, I turned back to my dad and the strange woman. “Are you some kind of religious organization?”
My dad gave an exasperated sigh. “If you would just sit still, I can explain.”
“Why don’t you let me, Batariel?” The woman placed a hand on his arm too familiar for my liking, her lips curving up at the edges.
“Very well, Azazel. You were always far better at these things.” He lifted his arm, shifting his suit jacket to look at his watch. “I’m needed back anyway.” They exchanged a knowing look before my dad turned his attention back to me. “I know you hate me right now, Eleanor. But please know that everything I do is to protect you. Please stay here with Azazel. She’ll explain everything and protect you.”