Unexpected Visitor

Chapter 4 of Banished for Love

I wake up the next morning long before Jeremy. I lay there unmoving for an immeasurable amount of time, trying to process everything I'm feeling, and not feeling. The events of last night replay over and over again in my mind. It's startling to know my face is pressed against my soft pillowcase, my flannel blanket is laying over top of me, and I can see multiple points of contact where Jeremy's sleeping form is pressed against me, but it's as if I'm experiencing life through a windowpane, unable to feel any of it. The complete sense of sensory deprivation makes my insides crawl. 

 

Restlessly I slip off the bed, trying my best not to wake Jeremy, and head downstairs for some hot tea. I fill up our tea kettle and set it on the stove to boil. I pour the boiling water into a mug and dunk in an Earl Grey tea bag. I watch, mesmerized, as the rich color seeps into the water. A few minutes later, once the contents of the mug have turned a nice brown color, I toss the bag in the trash and scoop some sugar into my Jack Skellington mug. Extremely glad taste wasn’t a sense I lost, I put the mug to my lips and take a sip of steaming tea. Though I find taste is the only thing the tea effects. I guess fallen angels don’t really need to eat or drink.

 

Suddenly, I hear the front door open, and I freeze. Slowly, silently, I set the mug down and slip over to the entryway of the kitchen. I crouch in an attack stance against the wall, ready to fend off my intruder. The front door shuts, and Maggie walks into the kitchen.

 

“Maggie?” I ask in surprise, straightening out of my defensive crouch. She turns to look at me, her surprise mirroring mine.

 

I hear a small noise on the stairs.

 

Oh no! Jeremy, please do not come down here! I think hard in that direction, the last thing I need is Maggie seeing him here. Moments later, he’s not at the bottom of the stairs. Huh, I must have imagined the noise.

 

“Oh, uh, Kelsey. I didn’t expect you to be here,” she says uncomfortably, shifting from foot to foot, looking anywhere but at me.

 

“Well, it is our home, where else was I supposed to go?” I reply, confused and a little vexed.

 

“Yeah, about that. Kelsey, Janie and Libby have to stay up above,” Maggie says, still not looking at me.

 

“What? Why?” I ask frantically.

 

“For their part in aiding you hide your treason. They’re basically grounded to their rooms,” she says with a nervous laugh.

 

“Treason?! I fell in love! It wasn’t exactly a choice!” I yell, infuriated. I don't regret a moment of my time with Jeremy but guilt twists in the pit of my stomach at the thought of Janie and Libby being punished for my choices.

 

“Kelsey, I’m sorry. I hate to have to be the one to do this, but you have to leave. The High Council can no longer financially support you or this house. They'll allow you one week to pack your things and move out,” with that, she turns and flies out the back door. I glare at the doorway, feeling as though I had been kicked in the stomach. Seems I really have been completely dropped by heaven.