Days to Come

  Two weeks had passed since the argument with her father and it seemed life had improved drastically for Angel. The house in which she lived was now her own. The conversations were short but her father had made it a point to call every few days. And, best of all, she was able to spend a lot of time with an interesting fellow named Malak.

Malak had shown interest in purchasing property on the other side of town. He planned to stay here where he could have a more simple life away from the city. So Angel offered him a room until everything was straightened out and a home could be erected. He accepted, much to Mr. Cadle’s dismay. 

And now here they stood in the very spot they had met. Angel still had no memory of this but Malak paused a moment, remembering the events that had transpired that night. He looked at her now and felt the blood rush to his face as he remembered gazing upon her from the shadows. She was smiling; too distracted by a pale blue butterfly fluttering around daisies to notice him blushing and for this he was thankful. 

Then his mind flashed to the event that had brought them to this point. He saw her tackle the vampire. He saw it struggle beneath her. Then he saw her laying on the ground, her emerald eyes closing. He heard her voice as she spoke to him, saw her smile. He watched her eyes close. He shifted into what he was now and lifted her onto his back. The memory was so real that he could almost feel her against him once more. But what really stuck with him was that smile just before she faded from consciousness…

“Malak? Hello? Anyone home?” Angel waved her hand in front of his face and he felt himself flush red once more.

“Huh?” He came to, as though waking from a dream.

“Wow, you were gone.” She laughed her charming laugh. “I said, they’re deliciously ripe, we should take some with!”

Malak looked at her for a moment and then next to her. They were standing by a blackberry bush.

“I have an idea. Give me your shirt.” She held her hand out, waiting.

“My shirt?” He looked at her in confusion. 

“Yea, your shirt. We can use it to carry a lot more. I can’t exactly use my dress.” There was that smile again.

“We could just come back later with a basket,” he offered. 

“You know as well as I do that the good doctor would be furious if he knew I left the house even once.” She sounded as though she was scolding him for being silly. 

“Doc says you’re well, actually.”

“Also says ‘Don’t go doing anything foolish or strenuous like walking in the woods again for a while’ regularly.”

“It’s a little chilly,” he protested.

“We’re not that far, we can walk back fast. And besides, you told me yourself that you like the cold.” 

She had him. Malak was not one to give in easily but he could not argue with her for no good reason and it would be awkward to try to explain why he didn’t want to disrobe. So he took off his shirt and handed it over.

“See? Was that so hard?” She hadn’t even looked at him; she just took the shirt and turned to the berries.

Malak held his arms across his torso as though doing so would hide the scars from Angel when she turned. He had a hard enough time explaining away the scar across his face and the ones on his arms as wounds from a dog attack. What would he tell her put such marks all over his body? He hoped she simply would not notice but knew there were several fresh marks on his back from her knife carving into him that would be difficult to overlook. 

“I think we have a good amount. We can hurry back before you get too chilly now.” She laughed. Then she walked on ahead of him, still oblivious. Relief washed over him. 

Maybe she won’t even notice.

  The two emerged from the woods not long after to find a small group of people crossing the property, heading towards them. Malak’s heart dropped.

Angel spun around to him, flung the shirt full of berries in his direction and bolted towards the group without even pausing to be sure Malak had caught her makeshift sack.

“Angel!” 

A boy broke from the group and ran for her. The two nearly collided but the boy stopped short and paused awkwardly, looking as if he was afraid he might hurt her. She looked at him quizzically for a moment and realized he must have been concerned about the injury she had nearly forgotten about. Then she smiled and bear hugged him. 

Looking past him she saw the others had caught up and hugged them each in turn. By the time she had done so, Malak had stopped a short distance behind her and the boy who had run ahead was staring at him as if he were diseased.

“Oh my God, what are you doing out here? Didn’t you suffer a concussion?” 

The girl speaking looked to Malak as if she had jumped straight out of an anime. She was Asian and wore a Japanese school girl uniform. Her hair was black but shone blue in the sunlight. And she seemed abnormally cheerful.

“Lucy is right. Get your a*s back inside and sit down.” 

This girl was equally strange to Malak. Her skin was pale and her hair was a deep purple. She wore a purple shirt and a black leather vest with a short, tattered purple skirt. She stood at about his height but he noticed that this was due to the boots she was wearing. The boots added a few inches to height and accented her gothic style. And she looked pretty serious.

“Hey! No reason to go cursing at her, Ren. Besides, it was a head injury.” This guy was obviously teasing her.

Malak looked him over and could find nothing especially strange about him. He had a goofy smile. He was dark-skinned with a short afro. He wore dark clothing consisting of comfortably fitting pants and a plain shirt, much like Malak himself.

Angel addressed everyone at once. “I’m fine! If anything, the walk made me feel so much better! And keep joking, Sam. I can still kick your a*s.”

No one seemed to actually hear her words, as their attention had turned to the fair-skinned and shirtless guy behind her. He stood awkwardly as they all looked him over, unable to hide from their curious eyes.

The group each saw something different. Lucy saw a muscular boy with shaggy black hair and fair skin. She thought he was cute. Ren saw a scarred body that had obviously been through a lot but must belong to a strong individual. She found him attractive as well. Sam saw a topless boy carrying around his shirt full of berries to try and make a pretty girl happy. He figured the scars were from an accident and the boy was probably a goof. The last of the group saw a suspicious character covered in scars, probably obtained under shady circumstances, following Angel. He did not like him and this was apparent in his expression.

“Guys?” Angel was puzzled until she turned and saw Malak standing there in the sunlight. His body exposed, she first noticed that the definition of his muscles was somewhat impressive. She blushed and glanced away but her eyes came back to rest upon him once more. Scars. There were scars littered across his torso as well as his arms. Some were faded to the point where it was difficult to see them but they were there. Her heart sank. He had been hiding more pain than she had realized and she had indirectly exposed what were surely painful memories to all of her friends because she had been oblivious. 

“Hi.” Malak greeted everyone awkwardly. 

“Hello!” Both girls said in unison.

“What’s up?” Avery always played it cool.

The last one remained quiet and simply stared at him disapprovingly.

“And who is this?” He spoke to Angel as if Malak were not right in front of him.

“Oh. Guys, this is Malak. He’s the guy that kinda saved my life. Malak, this is-“

“Lucy, Ren, Sam and..?” He looked to the angry looking one for a response. There was no answer as the boy still stood in silence, glaring at him. 

Malak could not understand how this boy could think he was intimidating in the slightest. He was about Angel’s height. His skin was fair and blemish free. He wore khakis and a button up. His hair was short, brown and well kept. And his eyes were too kind, even when attempting to stare Malak down.

“Brandon,” Angel answered. “He’s apparently forgotten his manners.”

“Nice to meet you all.”

“Likewise!” Lucy chirped.

“Well let’s not stand here like a bunch of weirdos. Come on inside, guys! I’ll fix some snacks and whoop yas at some kind of game!” Everyone but Brandon laughed and they all headed back toward the house.
Once inside, the girls headed to the kitchen to decide upon food while the guys sat in the living room and turned on the television. 

  “So, Malak is a strange name.” Brandon finally spoke to him.

“I was named after my great grandfather,” Malak replied casually.

“I heard you’re Caleb Leary’s son.”

“Adopted. He was my godfather.” Malak put on a fresh t-shirt while talking. 

“Your parents?”

“Dude. You don’t ask that kind of thing,” Sam cut in.

“It’s fine.” Malak paused a moment. “They were murdered when I was young.”

“Sorry to hear it. What happened? Were they involved in something?” 

“Sorry, Malak. Brandon doesn’t know the meaning of the word tact.” Sam was giving Brandon a look of disapproval similar to the one Brandon had been giving Malak.

“It’s fine. He’s curious. From what I understand, this is a pretty close knit community. And I’m sure strangers like me aren’t very common. And no, they were good people. It was a ‘break in gone wrong’, or so they called it.”

“Oh. I am truly sorry to hear it.” He appeared as though he was sincere but did not stop his questioning there. “So how did you get those scars?”

Sam’s jaw dropped. He couldn’t believe how rude his friend was being to Malak. It was as if he was purposefully dragging up every painful memory he could.

“You wanna know how I got these scars?” Malak spoke in a voice impersonating the joker from the Dark Knight movie. 

The three chuckled. Sam was impressed by the fact that Malak could take such things in stride. He imagined most people would have taken a swing at Brandon by now rather than make a joke, himself included.

“In all seriousness, I can’t answer unless you specify which of the many you’re questioning.”

“All of them?”

“Well then,” he pointed to the scar on the left side of his face, “this one was given to me the night my parents were killed.”

Brandon and Sam sat in silence.

“These,” he motioned to his arms, “were mostly acquired when I was mauled by a stray dog as a child. As were several on my abdomen.”

“Are you serious?” Brandon looked at him in disbelief.

“Yep. I’m a lucky guy, what can I say?” He and Sam smiled at the joke.

“I’ve never met anyone that actually happened to.” 

“You also live in a very small town, good sir.” Malak commented.

“Well, what of the rest of them?”

“This one was from having my appendix removed. This cluster is from a hunting accident, after which several bits of a buck shot had to be removed. This one is…”

“So… You definitely didn’t tell me the guy was hanging around. What’s his story?” Lucy always wanted to know everything.

“What? He’s moving to town, so I offered him a room until he has a place set up.”

“You shacked up? Damn, never had you figured for the type,” Ren teased.

“Shacked up would imply that we’re dating, Serenity.”

“Oh, so he’s available?” Lucy was too chipper while asking this.

“Well, kind of… I mean, I don’t know…”

“Let me get this straight. You’re living with a guy and you don’t even know his relationship status?” Ren was baffled by this bit of information. 

  “It’s not like that. He doesn’t have a girlfriend but…”

“Do you like him?” Lucy leaned in uncomfortably close for effect.

“What drugs are you on?” Angel replied smoothly.

“Don’t ya know? I’m high on life!” Lucy laughed her silly giggle.

“You’re definitely high on something,” Angel retorted.

“Why? What’s wrong with him?” Now both girls leaned in uncomfortably close.

“Nothing. He’s a great guy.” 

“So you do like him!” Lucy smiled triumphantly.

“Shut up!” Now Angel was visibly blushing.

“Aww! Our baby girl’s first crush!” Ren teased.

Angel snapped her head around to face her. “Be quiet, woman! What if he hears you! I’d die of embarrassment! Do you really want my death on your hands?”

“I’m sure he’d save you again. He may even have to give you ‘the kiss of life’!” Both girls laughed as they teased Angel relentlessly. 

 

  Angel, Ren and Lucy walked into the room, with plates of sandwiches and chips for all, to hear Malak talking to the others.

“…from a fall through the roof of an abandoned house, straight onto a mess of broken glass and boards with nails sticking out.”

“You have to be one of the unluckiest b******s alive today.” Brandon laughed.

“So this is what men talk about while the women are away,” Ren joked as she walked up and sat beside Brandon.

“At least we didn’t walk in on a conversation about measurements,” was Lucy’s response.

The girls laughed, the guys looked slightly uncomfortable. 

“Yea, that part would have been too exciting for you girls to handle.” Sam spoke with a mischievous smile. He and Brandon laughed and Angel punched his arm before taking a seat between the two offenders. 

Lucy set down a couple plates then left the room. She returned with a red game box. “Who’s up for some Apples to Apples?”

“What’s Apples to Apples?” Everyone turned to Malak. One might have thought he had just announced he was pregnant from their facial expressions.

“Only the most awesome game ever!” With Lucy’s level of excitement it would be easy to believe it truly was. 

“Alright, we’ll break in the newbie. But first the tv is going off and I’m putting on some music. Sam, could you get some cups and one or two of the sodas out of the fridge for me, please?” Angel was in high spirits.

“I’ll get it,” Malak volunteered.

“Nah, you gotta learn the rules. Lucy, why don’t you take the role of teacher?” Sam got up as he spoke and headed for the kitchen without waiting for an answer. 

“Ooo, yay! I get to be teacher! Now listen up, young man. Pay careful attention.” Everyone laughed and Lucy went on to explain the rules of the game the way they played it. Malak seemed interested and listened well, which pleased Lucy.

Jimmy Eat World started playing from the speakers mounted around the room, and Angel sat down next to Malak.

  Say hello to good times ~