Chapter 10

       It was as if the tree were going to rip into a million, tiny pieces, and I as well. The sky was no longer dark, fully illuminated by the shattering lightning. It struck down hard, traveling as fast as it could, straight to the tip of the tree. It struck, blinding me from the brilliant light that it created. It happened so fast. I couldn’t remember if I had given up and just let my body fall, or if I had struggled. All I knew was that I was falling. My eyes closed, I could hear a scream. But whose was it? Mine or Amber’s? The few seconds of light disappeared and I could feel myself forcibly being pummeled by the excruciating wind.  One hit; one hit was all it took to kill me. I would fall to the ground either dead, or about to die. Either way, I was finished.
       I tried to reach for anything, but each branch kept swinging past me, making it impossible to grab. My right foot hit the trunk, sending an agonizing pain through my leg; I screamed again. Now I was facing face first to the ground, which with each passing second, seemed to travel its way nearer and nearer. With the last few seconds that I had, I covered my face with my arms, hoping to at least protect something of mine, and that’s when everything became black.
              
       Flailing lights; why were there failing lights?  It was so bright, too. And water, I could feel a mist settle itself onto my face. It made me uncomfortable, so I tried to wipe it away. But I couldn’t; a warm hand held mine. I squeezed my eyes even harder; my head was throbbing and my neck, oh my neck, I couldn’t move it.
              “Thank you so much!” Someone cried. The hand that held onto mine, let go and the footsteps became distant. Was I dead?
              “God?” I mumbled. All of a sudden, the footsteps retreated back to me, along with another set.
              “Hope?!” It cried.
       “God? Am I in heaven? Because if I am, could you shut off noise? I have a headache.” I grumbled. In the background, I could hear a wailing sound.
              Someone laughed. “You’re not dead, Hope! Open my you eyes!”
       I stopped squeezing mine, and slowly opened them. It took me a moment to adjust but soon after, I realized I was in my room. “Oh my God!” I said, quickly sitting up. I winced in pain. “I’m not dead!” Sitting on the bed next to me was Amber and next to her…was Angelo.
       “Hope, I’m so glad your okay! Really I am. You don’t know how hard I cried seeing you fall. I thought it was all over for you.” Amber wailed. I glanced over to Angelo. He wasn’t smiling; no in fact, there seemed to be grimace on his face. His eyes shot down as he noticed me looking at him. “Lucky for you, Angelo showed up!” She continued, unaware of the intense aura, “Can you believe it? As soon as you were about to hit the ground, he just showed up- plop- and you were in his arms. You don’t know how hard it was just to stand up! Of course, you weren’t awake…” She quieted down.
              “Thank you,” was all I said. I tried to touch his hand, but he just moved it away.
       “Hope, the tree caught on fire.” Amber pointed out. I looked over to the window. Water jumped up from the ground and shot it’s away across the tree. I tried to get up but I couldn’t.
              “What the—“
       “I think you broke your leg, Hope,” She answered. Yanking the covers off of my legs, I could see that my right leg was swollen. It didn’t look right; it was blue almost black, and when I touched it, I winced.
              “I guess your right.” Then I thought of dad and Kevin. “Oh no! What about dad? Does he know?!” I asked, alarmed.
       “No,” Amber reassured me, “By the time Angelo had caught you and had put you up in the room, they had just arrived home. We told them that when the fire started you rushed down the stairs, but ended up falling, and that’s how you broke your leg.” She explained. I sighed in relief. So Angelo hadn’t been found out. “Now the fire fighters are here,” she added.
       I leaned my head against the back board, taking a deep breath. So much had happened tonight that I didn’t think things could get worse. But they did.
              “Hope, are you going to be okay if I leave?” Amber asked, scooting towards the door.
              “Ya, I’ll be fine. What about you?”
       “I’m perfectly fine, now that I know you’re okay and all.” She replied. I nodded for her to go and as she shut the door, she smiled; a smile that gave me the reassurance that everything would be okay.
              Angelo moved to the chair next to my desk, across the room. He didn’t say anything, just sat there quietly.
              “Angelo, listen—“I started
              “You don’t have to say anything,” he interrupted me.
              “Yes, I do. I have to say something. I feel terrible.”
              “I thought you were my friend?” He rhetorically asked.
              “I know,” I looked down, unable to look him straight in the eye.
              “I’m sorry I was no help to you.” He apologized.
              “Huh? Why are you apologizing? I should be the one—“
              “I’m sorry I made you worry. I only made things worse.”
       “No, Angelo. You made everything better. My mother came back because of you. Don’t you realize I owe everything to you?” I stopped to breath and then hesitatively continued, “And I’m sorry I insulted you and your mother. I should have never done that. I put too much pressure on you; I was wrong.”
       He got up slowly and made his way to my bed. He wouldn’t sit next to me, just at the end of the bed. I was okay with this, as long as he smiled.
              “Smile for me, Angelo,” I pleaded.
              “I thought I was going to lose you,” he said grimly.  I wasn’t going to get my smile tonight.
              “I know, but you didn’t”
       “I saw you, falling, and at that moment, my heart stopped.” He continued, ignoring my optimistic comment. “You were falling, and the look on your face; I just ran when I saw that look. I’m not allowed to use my powers, at all, but I did. I used them to catch you. You were shaking terribly, and I felt horrible. You were crying and I couldn’t stop you, and I started to cry.”
              “Oh, Angelo.” I reached for his hand and grabbed it tightly. It was warm, and soft. And I just didn’t want to let go.
       “Are you hurting?” He asked, motioning to readjust my pillow supporting my back. I sat up as far as I could and I let him help me. He sat back down, but a little closer than before.
       “You’re dad is coming,” he stated and then moved back to the far chair. Dad walked in as I was told, and I received a sympathetic smile.
       “Hey, Kiddo. How’s the leg?” he asked, walking over with a glass of water. I chugged at it greedily, savoring the wetness. My mouth had been so dry from yelling out in that storm, so much, I thought it would have turned to dust.
              “It hurts, but I’ll be okay.”
       “We should have the doctor check it out, tomorrow,” he said, folding his arms. He remained standing, eyeing Angelo in the corner.
              “Angelo, this is the second time I must say, thank you.”
              “For what, sir?” Angelo questioned politely.  
              “You looked after Hope while I was away. You’re a good kid.”
              “Thank you, but it was my pleasure. I would do the same for any body.”
       “You know, I should really call up your parents. They must be worried.” Dad offered. My eyes averted to Angelo, who sat calmly, unaware what that meant. No, he knew what that meant; he was just going to be collected about it. I thought about myself being in Angelo’s shoes. I would have panicked, trying to come up with ways to avoid that phone call. Angelo was truly amazing.
              “My parents are gone, sir.” He stated bluntly.
       “Oh, well I’m sorry to here that,” Dad said truthfully. I didn’t need to second guess his words; my dad was always honest with his emotions.
              “Dad, if it’s okay with you, could Angelo stay here the night? It is late.”
       His eyes bugged out and I almost could taste the rejection. “Honey, I may be thankful but I’m still your father and he is a boy and you are my daughter. If he wants, he can use your brother’s room and Kevin will sleep with me tonight.”
       “That’s okay,” Angelo said, standing up. I didn’t have time to speak. “I have my own place. I thank you both for your hospitality.” Angelo glanced over to me. “And Hope, I’ll see you soon. Get better.” He shook hands with my dad, and then strolled out of my bedroom. I desperately hoped he would find his way back to my room.
       Dad followed him out and then returned to me. “What a strange boy,” he noted, scratching his head. “I though the whole politeness was too over-rated for you kids?”
              “Well dad, Angelo is pretty unique.”

Author's Note

Rough draft