"No, I was awake," I say to him. "Dad, I do not want to go to school today," I say quietly.

"Alright, but why? Are you ill?"

"No, but I do not feel a hundred percent," I mutter, and my heart breaks as he gently rubs my shoulders over my duvet.

"Alright," he says, picking the alarm clock and turning it off. "I'll leave a note for your grandparents and ask them not to disturb you." He concludes, and I nod gratefully.

He begins to rise from the bed.

"Dad?" He stops and looks back at me over his shoulder, "I love you," I whisper.

He looks so surprised, I fear that he might tear up, and I scold myself for not saying it often enough. I've probably never said it since I was seven years old or thereabout. He bends again to place a firm warm kiss on my nose.

"I love you too, princess." He whispers. He then gets up awkwardly and walks out of the room. I close my eyes, finally shutting the world out, and give in to the much-needed slumber.

Chapter 22.

Anne-Marie Calling

I watch the words shine bright on the screen of my phone, as the light blinks. I have turned my phone to silent, so it makes no noise.

I've been awake since a little past 10a.m. and very glad that my grandparents hadn't come in to check on me. The last thing I want to do is talk. I lie in my bed, staring at my painting lying against the opposite wall.

My b.l.o.o.d.y pajamas still lie in a heap on the floor before my bed. I hadn't feared dad seeing them because he never turns on the lights in the mornings. The dried blood on my skin is annoyingly itchy. I know I need to get up and get cleaned up before anyone sees me, but my mind doesn't want me to move. My spirit is broken. The realization of just how much my fate is not my own has scared me to hiding.

When I hear the front door open and dad's voice talking to grandpa, I immediately grab at the clothes on the floor and throw them under the bed, and then bury my head deep under my sheets. My movements had been a tad too swift, but I guess any movement after so many hours of lying still, would feel like that.

"Is she still in bed?" I hear dad's worried voice. He then opens the door tentatively.

"Princess?"

"Mmh..." I moan in response.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, I just need to relax today dad," I say, my voice croaking from lack of usage. He hovers by me for a while, not sure what to do or say.

"You would tell me if you were feeling unwell, right?" He asks with heart-wrenching concern.

"I would," I reply, trying to sound cheerful.

"I'll just grab on some work clothes, and then be out of your way!" I bury my head deeper into my covers, and listen as dad rustles about.

"Ok kiddo, I'll be rushing off to the house with grandpa. You have a good rest," he bends over and kisses my forehead, he can probably make out its profile from under my covers.

"See you later dad," I call as he walks out the door.

"Good bye princess! Be sure to eat something." I listen as the car backs out of the driveway.

I continue staring at my painting. Someone calls my phone again, but when I look, the phone goes out, having run out of battery power. I don't move to charge it, but rather remain on my bed, staring at my painting.

I feel the air warming up around me, I don't bother to look around. How did it get into my room with my window shut? I don't speak out my question though.

"Caroline?" Uriel's voice speaks up from beside me, but I do not bother to answer. "I wanted to check up on you, see how you are doing." Silence.

"I am so sorry that you had to go through that," she cries, throwing her arms around me. I do not move, neither to reciprocate her touch nor to coil away from it.

"Caroline, please talk to me!" She pleads. She might as well plead to judgment day. I am done.

"Caroline," grandmother calls, opening the door and sticking her head through it. I lower my beddings a little to peep at my grandma. Uriel is still perched beside me, but I know she has placed herself in the other dimension so that only I can see her.

"Yeah," I answer her call.

"I am leaving for the supermarket. I just wanted to check that you are ok."

"I am okay," I say to her. "Could you please bring me some cherry ice cream?" She smiles back at me, realizing that if I was asking for ice cream, then I was probably fine.

"Will do. Just be sure to get into the kitchen in the meantime and try some of the chocolate m.u.f.fins I just baked. They are still warm!" She winks at me as she closes the door behind her. I smile to myself. Grandma winks? Wow!

When I hear the main door close, I jump out of bed. I am b.u.t.t naked, but I don't care, Uriel is the trespa.s.ser here.

"Are you in any pain?" She asks, as I bend over beside her to drag out my soiled clothes for the past couple of days. I strip off my beddings that have some dried blood on them, and drag the clothes to the bathroom with me. I fill up the washing machine and set it to regular wash. I grab at my toothbrush and step into the shower cubicle with it, turning on the water. I stay almost half an hour in the water, letting the warm spray rejuvenate me.

Back in my room with a towel around my body and another around my head, I set about cleaning it. I open wide my window, hoping the dark haired angel hovering over my bed would take it as a sign to leave.

I sort out the closet, and set about replacing my beddings. As I spread out the bed sheet, Uriel tugs at the other end to help me. I immediately drop my end, not wanting to do anything with her. She finishes out spreading it by herself, shaking out one end and then rushing very fast to the other end to tug at it before it settles down. It is impressive, the speed at which she can move, but I don't say anything. Giving up the bed to her, I make my way to the storage closet in the hallway and carry back the vacuum cleaner with me.

"Are you never going to talk to me again?" She asks, just before I turn on the vacuum and enjoy as its loud hum drowns out anything she would have to say. I finally turn off the vacuum cleaner, and curse at the silence that falls over us again. As I straighten up, I feel another angel embracing us with his presence.

"Hi Caroline," Ariel's voice calls from outside my window where he hovers.

"She isn't speaking to any of us," Uriel answers him in my stead.

"I see," he responds with a sigh. "Have you tried the girl talk way, that always seems to work." Did he just? No... I thought I heard him speak in their language, and I understood him without being touched by any of them. How is that possible?

"Just tell her something about you been sad, and that you love me but think I don't feel the same way about you. I overheard her talking to a friend about something similar. She will warm up to you if you do." He finishes before flying off. I try my level best to maintain my calm as I hear them talk about how they should manipulate me. Is this what they have been doing the whole time they've been having their private conversations? Manipulative, another trait of theirs to remember in the future.

"Sweetie, I really need a girlfriend right about now," my heart breaks when I realize Uriel is actually doing what Ariel suggested. How could she? All the moments we have bonded, have they been discussing ways in which she could connect with me? Picking out topics for her that hit close to home? Has she been faking all the emotions, her tenderness?

"Sweetie, I really need to talk to a girl about this. And Camael doesn't count because she is a b.i.t.c.h."

And apparently, so are you! I think, pushing past her and carrying the vacuum cleaner back into the closet.

"Please talk to me," she begs, her voice laced with so much emotion, that I can hardly believe it is faked.

"Sometimes I think I am just not good enough for him." Wow! Did she just go there? How could any girl lie about such feelings?

"Sweetie?" She reaches out to me, but I push past her roughly, ignoring her pained face. It is all an act.

I go to the bathroom to take out the clothes from the washer and put them into the drier. Maybe I should do the rest of mine and dad's laundry, I think, forcing myself to completely ignore the angel hovering around me. I get back to my room, pour the laundry out of the basket, and begin sorting it out.

I feel the arrival of yet another angel.

"Hey Caroline? Are you speaking to us again?" Raphael asks.

Silence.

"No? Just to let you know, you are safe now. The fallen watched you die, so..." he leaves off. "So you're safe again." Silence is all he gets as answer.

"Anyway, we are all leaving to hunt them now, and shall not be watching over you. This here is Penuel, a guardian angel. He'll follow you everywhere you go, in human form. Please make an attempt to speak to him once a while so that he doesn't stand out as a stalker but rather as a good friend." Ariel chuckles at what he thinks is a very funny point made by Raphael. Okay, to be fair it is a little funny, but I keep ignoring them.

"Uriel!" He calls.

"A moment," she says before turning back to me. "Caroline dear," she says, placing herself right in my path, such that I can't avoid b.u.mping into her if I tried.

"I am so sorry about last night, but there was no other way. Caroline, it was the only way," she pleads with me, tears running down her face. Feigned emotion. This is the same person that had suggested Anne-Marie to be tortured in front of my eyes. Cold and calculated then, emotional and caring now. Which is which?

I start to go around her, but she blocks my path, enveloping me in a forced hug, as her wings snap out of her back and encircle us in a rather endearing embrace, of which I fight every single bone of mine against responding to.

Chapter 23.

Penuel is a more annoying babysitter than the other angels have been so far, I realise over the single afternoon I spend with him. He doesn't try to stay out of my way. He is constantly in my room, follows me outside when I decide to take a bike ride to the beach after grandma comes back. Hovers over my drawing board as I sketch at the beach, asking this or that. It doesn't matter to him that I never answer back, he just keeps going on and on. Resilience, another annoying trait these angels possess.

When I bike back home, the angel hovers besides me, still going on about something or other. He really does have a mouth on him! I find the car parked in the driveway, and I smile inside.

"Oh, your dad is early home today. I was told he normally gets back from the other house after 10pm."

He was told, huh! So they briefed him about my family and what to expect. Another trait, angels like to be informed and a step ahead. I am glad though that dad is home early.

"Hi dad," I call cheerfully, slamming the door against the annoying angel. "How did it go?"

"In the shower, princess!" He calls, and I make my way to the bathroom. Dad is in the shower cubicle. I walk up to the washer, taking out the completed whites and stuffing the other heap of laundry into the washer.

"How did it go with the concreting?"

"Flawless!" He says cheerfully. "They also gave us an idea of how we could avoid thermal loss through the connection of the floor to the walls," he goes on to say, as I pull the folded clothes rack from behind the door and unfold it.

"How?" I ask while I sort out the clothes to be hanged from those to be tumble dried.

"What?"

"How is it to be done? To stop the thermal loss?" I ask, hanging up one of dad's favorite shirts.

"By using about 50 mm thick insulation all around the walls to stop the concrete being poured from directly touching the external walls."

"Oh, neat!" I say as I stuff the rest of the wet clothes into the drier. I don't turn it on because I want to wait for the other clothes in the washer first.

"Pa.s.s me the towel," Dad say's sticking out his hand. I grab at a towel and hand it to him. I then seat myself on the counter.

"So, did you have a good day?"

"I did actually," I say smiling.

"Well don't act so surprised," he teases. "I see you tidied up the room and even did laundry," he says, as he picks another towel to dry off his hair and upper body.

His hair is getting longer, I note. I should cut it soon. I've been cutting my dad's hair since I was fourteen. I'm better at it than mom is.

"Relax dad. It's just a little hygiene," I call out to him laughing. "I am not a pig, you know!" We both take the moment to laugh, enjoying been able to have some alone time together, because almost always one or both of his parents is around. I think at this point we are both looking forward to moving out to our own place and having our own s.p.a.ce.

"Anyway, I am glad you took a personal day to recoup, you've been pushing yourself too hard." He says, ruffling my hair fondly before he leaves the bathroom.

"It's your turn dad!" Dad calls to his dad as he leaves the bathroom. I too pick myself up and go to the kitchen, grandma probably needs help with setting up the table.

After a hearty dinner of baked salmon, potatoes and green beans, we relax to an animation movie, before I retire to bed.

When I wake up the next morning after a full night's sleep, I almost don't believe my terrible luck. Perched on my bed, intrusively, is my annoying stalker. Great!

I get up quickly and as fast as I can, shake off my beddings hoping to catch him by surprise and force him of the bed. I astound both myself and him for I manage to do just that, topple him so hard that he lands with a thud on the floor. I guess he is not as fast or as strong as the others.

"How... How did you do that?"

I roll my eyes, as I make my bed neatly. It's called hatred, baby! I chuckle to myself.

Unlike my last few mornings, I have woken up on time today, so I take my time at the breakfast table, enjoying my tea and one of the m.u.f.fins grandma made yesterday. My lunch is on the table too. Dad, dad! Making up for all the lunches he missed to make for me as a kid. Oh well, I'm not complaining, just enjoying it as it lasts.