Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

 

 “Is he alive?”

“I don’t know”

“Can he stay for awhile?”

“Look for the last time no!”

“Hey he’s waking!”

 

Matius’s vision suddenly starts to come back seeing; his eyes flicker open seeing blurry things looking down upon him. “Hey can you hear us?”, a voice questions a face zooming closer. Matius’s eyelids flicker seeing a women looking down at him immediately recognising her as Eva. Matius squints slowly as she continues looking at him. “Hey how are you feeling?”, she questions looking at Matius with curiosity. Matius uneasily gets himself up into a sitting position, feeling sharp pain in his side his wings still weak from that night. He looks down at the damage seeing his wounds heavily bandaged. Some of the bandaging soaked from the deepness of the wounds. He gently caresses his back wounds, feeling scabbing already taking place.         “Where am I?” he asks weakly looking around his surroundings dazed. Eva leans closer smiling, “You’re in my home, and here you’re safe”. Just as she says this, the phone rings downstairs, interrupting their talk. Her father quickly walks out of the room, his footsteps heard going down the stairs. Her father gone Matius turns towards Eva, “Why are you doing this?”. Eva looks at Matius confidently, “I’m returning the favour for you saving my life, in the alley, on the roof, I own this to you”.

She then remembers her mother in the room, “oh by the way this is my mother. She did the bandaging”. Matius turns looking at her thankfully as he does this her father walks back into the room. “It was just my boss from work”, he utters, “about issues in the office”. He glances to look at Matius annoyed, “so what are you anyway? Are you like some demon from hell or something?”. Matius twists his head insulted before calmly replying, “I am from hell yes, but do not judge me from mere looks. I might appear evil, but rest assured I’m nothing of the sort”. Tired Matius looks through to the window, looking at the outside world. “I must go”, he hastily reply’s lifting himself off the bed much to Eva’s surprise. As he stands pain goes straight through his back, doubling over in response. Eva immediately rushes over to him, her mother close behind. “Please don’t, you’ll hurt yourself more. Just stay here and rest”, Eva looks firmly at Matius, “just trust me…alright?”. With some help Matius is led back towards the bed, Matius pushes himself onto the bed lying down. “Now just relax okay”, Eva replies, “When you feel ready… come down stairs and I’ll get you some food to eat okay?” Matius looks confused before looking back to the ceiling; “Alright…but will I be safe here?” Eva looks to her mum and dad before looking back to him, “Sure. My parents will be heading to work, I will still be in the house all day okay?” Matius gives a little smile before closes his eyes.

Several hours have passed as Matius finally awakes, bored of being on the bed Matius forces himself into an upright position, his wings semi recovered find little life moving weakly. Then his feet find the soft floor his stomach immediately hurting, Matius grits his teeth ignoring it as he steadily makes his way down the stairs. He holds on for dear life on the stair railing, his legs seem to collapse at each step. He finally reaches the bottom turning left towards Eva who’s sat in kitchen eating her lunch food.
  She spots Matius approaching her, “wow you’re up earlier than I expected. Here I’ve got some food for ya” Matius approaches a chair as Eva puts some bread in the toaster. “What is that?”, Matius questions looking at the toaster in confusion. “This?” Eva looks in bemusement, “It’s called a toaster. You not heard of them?” “We don’t have such devices”, Matius replies defensively, “We use grills, ovens to cook things. Just how does it work exactly?” Eva gives a little smile moving the toaster towards her; “Well you have these dials on here see. This one gives you the level of toasting; this one is the time of toasting and this…” Eva presses the button as the toast bursts out from the toaster, “Is when you want the toast”.
  

She starts buttering the toast before passing to Matius,“Here, try it”, smiling reassuringly. Unsurely he grips the piece of toast looking at it. “Eat it”, Eva encourages looking at Matius. He looks down it awquardly looking to Eva for reassurance. “What is this?”. Matius questions eying it. “Its toast”, Eva remarks, “it’s something we always eat in the mornings”. Matius turns back towards the toast before hesitantly taking a shy bit out of it, Eva watching him every second. He moves the toast around in his mouth in discomfort; his eyes meet Eva’s. He then swallows it, pulling a face of disgust. “So?” Eva asks enthusiastically. “I hate it”, Matius announces pushing it back.

“Come on”, Eva exclaims, “You must eat some food. You will grow hungry and starve otherwise”. Matius refusing pushes the plate back, lifting himself from his chair. “Wait!”, Eva replies remembering something. Matius turns around noticing Eva. “Just try one more piece of food? Okay?”, Eva pleads, “You need to eat”. Matius looks at her, then admitting defeat he sits back down knowing full well he must accustom to their food. 
  She goes into the fridge kneeling down, “I just remembered that there was some chicken left from that party we had just before the prom”, Eva replies bringing out left over chicken marinated in chilli and Barbeque sauce. “Maybe you might like this?” she says hopefully plating it just in front of him. Matius look at it with interest, reminding him of meat he used to eat at home. Perhaps not freshly cooked but it still looked good to eat. With one hand he picks up the piece of chicken thigh before biting into it, his teeth tearing into the chicken. He closes his eyes in enjoyment before looking down at the rest of the chicken, deciding what his next piece will be. “This is good!”, Matius compliments lifting another chicken thigh, “reminds me of the meat we used to eat once a week at home”.
  “If you have a home…then how come you came here?” Matius stops eating remembering those hurtful memories, closing his eyes. “I can’t go back home…not now. Not ever”, looking towards Eva. “But why? I don’t understand, what happened where you come from?”, Eva questions drawn into the conversation. “There was an assassination”, Matius replies, “In hell we have someone who is in charge of hell. This person was assassinated by someone at night. The next day I was wrongly charged for murdering our ruler and was set to be tortured and killed. Somehow I managed to escape and using teleportation I ended up here”. Matius turns his head to the side, “the scarring you see if a reminder of that day and why I can never go back”. Eva expression suddenly changes looking in guilt. “I never realised”, Eva utters looking at Matius’s face, “you can stay here till you heal but I don’t think my parents would approve of you being here”. Matius gives a smile lifting up another piece of chicken, “Don’t worry about it, I have my own place of hiding”. Finished Matius lifts himself up from the chair, “I’d better head back up. The pains are starting to come back”. Eva watches him start to walk away, “Alright come down again when you need to alright?” Matius turns again looking back at her, “Sure… and Eva…thank you”.

 

The next following days Eva sleeps in the living room, every now and again her and mother check on Matius, each time taking off some of the blood soaked bandaging. Everyday Eva brings food to matius, his introduction to human food is a strange one but in time he slowly adapts becoming more hungier. With some days gone Matius can now see butterfly stitching covering the wounds in his body. “You mustn’t remove them”, utters Eva, “it will help the wound to heal”. Matius leans back allowing Eva’s mum to remove more of the bandaging.
  Matius’s recovery is a slow one and soon her father starts to lose patience, falling into arguments with Eva at each passing day. A week later Eva enters her room checking on Matius. Matius moves from the bed allowing Eva to inspect him. Most of the small damage has healed well however some of the more serious cuts have left scars in places. Satisfied Eva backs away, “Tell me how do you feel?”. Matius cautiously try’s to control his wings without any problems, the back pains he felt before have gone much to his liking. He turns towards Eva smiling, “I feel fine, thank you”. Eva smiles accomplished, “excellent!” she suddenly calms herself looking troubled. “I guess this is goodbye”, she utters. Matius gives a smile, “thank you for everything that you’ve done” Just as he moves towards the bedroom door Eva grabs him. “Wait! Before you go there’s something I must give you”.

 

Matius waits outside for Eva as night begins to fall. He looks around seeing the rain falling before being distracted as Eva goes through the front door. “So what is it you need to see me about?” Matius utters as she walks towards him. Eva reaches deep into her coat pocket, reaching inside, “There’s something I need to give you”. Her hand stops moving lifting out a silver necklace, it dangles gently from her fingers. At the very end is the cross of Christ, with detail to the hair and muscle showing signs of good craftsmanship. She reaches her arm towards Matius, urging him to take it. Curiously he reaches his arm, gripping the silver beads. “They used to be my grandfather’s until he died”, Eva explains backing away, and “He believed in Christianity and thought the cross gave him luck”. He looks at the cross fascinated, more interested into it. “Why are you giving me this?” Matius questions surprised. “Because I think you’ll need it”, she replies solemnly. He looks at the cross hesitant before looking back at Eva.

  “You know when I look at you? I see a monster. However that’s not what I see inside. Inside I see someone who’s been tortured and lost all their life, trying to find the right path. All you need is someone to guide you the right way, and I believe you came here to find that path, to find forgiveness here.” Matius looks at the cross before looking back at Eva, “You are right I am looking for forgiveness, for the things I’ve done in the past. How will I know if I will find redemption?” Eva gives a little smile, “You should go to the church, it’s not too far from here. Many people go there when looking for forgiveness or help in life. Its east from here”, pointing towards a large steeple like structure standing amongst several buildings. Matius turns towards Eva, “Thank you for all your help. I don’t know what to say”. Eva gives a little smile, “It’s okay. If you need anything please come and visit”.

As Matius flies away the hooded angel watches from the shadows watching in interest, comfortable with his choice he walks away before disappearing. Back on heaven the hooded angel appears before the angelic council once more. “I don’t think Matius will harm those on earth”, the hooded angel announces, “they only fear him because of his...unfortunate appearances”. The council head leans back in relief, “Well that is one less thing we have to worry about. What else did you learn?” The hooded figure thinks to himself, “strange as it seems I think he feels guilty about his actions about the past. He feels that his damnation from hell, has made him aware of the truth. He’s also trying to befriend someone on earth, strangely enough it’s worked” There his many murmurs in the council room of shock and surprise. The council head frowns in response. “Strange… I’ve never heard of such a thing, there may yet still be hope for that one. Keep watch on him, and if he wishes for salvation. You may guarantee it” The hooded angel bows down in respect, “as you wish”.

 

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

A very strong chapter. I like the interaction and the thoughts in the chapter. I like the ending. Trying to seek some kind of peace. The woman is my favorite. Fearless and strong in a dangerous place. No weakness in the excellent chapter.
Coyote