Fallen

Chapter 38. Confessions and invites [Caleb]

My alarm blares its usual god-awful tune at too-early-o'clock in the morning.

My eyes force themselves open, even with the greatest of discomfort.

They are dry, and my throat feels sore with each swallow. I've never been this tired in my entire life, and that's only a slight exaggeration.

The last few days have all gone by in a bit of a blur. Days only consisting of waking up early, driving Lucy to school, and then practicing M's new ability long into the evening, followed by restless nights of worrying on my part.

Although clearly, I'm not the only one tired if the heavy angel on top of me is anything to go by. M groans as he rolls off of me. Pushing me with a grumbly demand to shut it off. I get smacked with his white-feathered wing in the process.

With a groan of my own, I move over M to shut it off. When the blissful silence overtakes my room once more, I flop down next to M again. He wraps his arm around my waist, hand warm. His breath is ghosting the back of my neck as he mumbles, words incohesive.

I close my eyes, ready to enjoy the warmth of M for the next 15 minutes before we have to get up and ready. But before I even manage to doze off, my phone starts ringing.

"Make it stop," M whines, pulling his pillow over his head to drown out the noise.

I reach for my phone to see a screen glowing with an unanswered call. Brows furrowing, I can see M peek out from under the pillow, bedhead gone wild.

"Who is it?" M asks. His voice is muffled because of the bedding. "Tina?"

"No," I manage to reply, cringing. "It's the school reminding me of the consequences of my absurdly high absence." I wish it would have been Tina instead. She's gone silent on me for the past few days, only leaving me with short messages about her time with this mystery guy of hers.

"You should probably go," He groggily says. "To school, I mean."

"And leave you here alone for what? For the beasts to come and pick you off if they somehow find you, meaning I will never see you again or be there to help," I voice my initial fear, "That's not gonna happen."

M must be able to hear the worry in my voice because he sits up, pushing the sheets off of himself, wings folding out behind him.

"When will you be done putting your life on hold just because of me," He says. "This can't go on for much longer Caleb, and I can defend myself now."

I bite my lip.

"I know," I reply. "And it won't."

"We will eventually see the end of this, maybe much sooner than what you're hoping for," M then says, catching my eyes in his. His brown eyes are soft, probably from the early morning sun streaming in from my bedroom window and maybe something else too. "We can't avoid confrontation forever. I don't want to either."

"Well, let's at least avoid it for today, " I joke, jumping up from bed to put on some fresh clothes. "We have to drive Lucy to school soon."

I throw some pants in M's direction, which lands on his lap. "Now, get ready."

Everything goes exactly according to routine. A freshly-faced Lucy is already up and ready, followed by a quick breakfast. One where Lucy and M go crazy with the cereal right before we end up in the car heading for school.

The drive is as trouble-free as can be. I only hit the curb once and a pot-hole twice. When we finally reach the school's parking lot, the car rattles before it slows to a stop in front of the school, and with one horrible cough, the engine goes silent.