Jariel didn’t know what he was going to do, he just knew that he had to act, and fast. He figured that Elise would take Dawn to some abandoned building, where Annette told him were on the far outskirts of the city. Jariel had quickly checked the warehouse he had slept in at the beginning of this nightmare, but there was no luck there. He had, however, found out that Isaac had passed away. He felt sorrowful about it, but right now he had a much bigger issue on his mind.
Annette had returned to the apartment to see if she could find anything there, but came back to Jariel with the same horrible news, that there was nothing. Jariel cussed under his breath and they just decided to make their way down to the out skirts of the city and just begin looking.
“I need you to go back to the apartment though.” Jariel ordered. Annette gave him an in-your-dreams look.
“I’m going with you!” she protested. “Dawn is my best friend, I’m not just going to sit around here and do nothing while my best friend may or may not be lying dead in some abandoned building!” she started to cry and Jariel just gave in, realizing they had no time to argue and she wasn’t going to listen to him no matter what he said.
They made their way, running down the streets of New York, since Annette’s car was in the shop, getting the tires replaced, getting weird looks as they did so. They could really care less though; they were just focused on getting to where they were going before it was too late.
It took them over an hour to get to the outskirts. By now, their exposed skin was red and numb because of the cold. Also, it was starting to snow. Both upset Jariel, but they were really the least of his problems at the moment. Dawn was the only thing on his mind.
They cautiously entered the first abandoned building and began to search through it, looking under everything and in every crease or room that they could manage. The first building turned up empty and so they moved on to the second one, and so on. Jariel would spend the whole night out here, if he had to. He was determined to find Dawn, even if that meant the end of him.
* * * *
Elise paced around the room, enjoying the cries of pain coming from the human in the middle of the room. She didn’t bother learning the humans name, she would be dead soon, so it didn’t even matter. She had to admit though; she was surprised that the mortal had hung on as long as she did. It also made her furious though, as though the mortal was spitting in her face, like saying that she was stronger than Elise. The human would see though. She would see just how strong and how powerful Elise really was.
The human started to cough and mumble something, but Elise couldn’t hear her. After that last little incident, she had gagged her again, this time tying the knot tighter. What did that human know anyway? She didn’t know what it felt like to be at the bottom of the social ladder. She didn’t know how it felt to have to watch angel after angel become the favorite, while she stayed back, just waiting for it to be her turn. But no, that never happened until she realized that life wasn’t fair and she would have to fight her way to the top, which is what she did. She learned to take care of herself. She learned that the only way to get through this life was fighting for what was rightfully yours. So, she did what she had to. She tricked the other angels and she slowly made her way to the top, and she wasn’t about to give that up. Now, what right did that pathetic human have to convict her like that? To judge her like that? She had no right at all.
Elise looked over at the human, who was in a fetal position on the ground from the last time she had kicked her in the stomach. She laughed. Humans. They acted like they were tougher than they actually were, when in reality, they were weaklings. They didn’t deserve to walk the face of this planet. She went over to the human, who weakly looked up at her, and she spit in her face again, calling her scum. She then went back to the window and stared out of it.
She wouldn’t let Jariel ruin this for her. Not this. She had worked too hard for it. Believe it or not, it was extremely hard to trick an angel. She let out another laugh. She had a good feeling about tonight. She had already fooled Jariel once, it would be easy to trick him a second time. Already, he was walking right in to her trap. Just as she wanted him to.
* * * * *
Dawn lied on the cold, concrete, floor. The dried leaves were being pushed around the room by the wind that was sneaking in through the cracked windows. Snow was also making its way in. Dawn was shivering, trying to keep herself warm. She could see her own breath come out in puffs. She was beginning to wonder if anyone was coming. On one had, she wished that Jariel would stay away, so he wouldn’t get hurt, but on the other hand, she didn’t want to die. Not here. Not now. Especially not like this.
Dawn had come to the conclusion that Elise was beyond insane. She would pace around the room muttering incomprehensible crap to herself, and then randomly come over and beat the living daylights out of Dawn. It was almost as if Elise was bipolar. That or she was becoming so overwhelmed on power, and wanting to keep that power, that she was going insane. She was so intent on keeping that power that she currently possessed, that she was beginning to lose touch on reality. She needed to realize that she couldn’t keep that power for herself. Even the most powerful rulers in the world eventually lost their power. It was how life worked and now it was time for Elise to give up her power. It was only fair.
“You’re scum!” Elise screeched, coming over and spitting on her again. “All of you are! Humans think that they are so smart, but you really aren’t!” she let out a wicked and insane laugh. “Why don’t you do the rest of us a favor and disappear off the face of this planet?!” Dawn tried to kick her, but missed. A mistake on her part. “You dare to try and kick me?” she let out another insane laugh, but then turned dead serious as she lifted her foot and kicked Dawn in the stomach again.
Dawn let out another cry of pain. The pain shot up through her stomach to her back and through the rest of her. She brought her knees up, hoping to stop the blows that continued to come. She screamed and tried to plead for Elsie to stop, but it came out as a bunch of muffled whims.
“Oh, do you want more?” she asked, preparing to deliver another blow. Dawn began to cry harder, paying for it to stop, for her to just go and leave her alone. For someone to find her. Anyone. She just wanted out of here. She didn’t want to hurt anymore, she didn’t want to be cold anymore. She wished that this was all just some nightmare, that she would wake up and be in her nice, warm, bed. No matter now many times she opened and closed her eyes, or how many times she wished for it to all be just some sort of nightmare, it wasn’t. She still woke up on the cold floor. Elise was still beating her. She was still crying in pain.
Elise eventually stopped beating her, going back to her window, where she stared intently out of it, as if expecting something to pop in at any moment. Dawn coughed up blood, adding to the puddle that was already there from earlier. Her mouth tasted like blood and tears. Her nose was running so badly, that she couldn’t breathe out of it. Her hair was wet and sticky with blood, which was continuing to bleed out. All in all, she felt like hell. She continued to cry silently, afraid that if she cried louder, Elise would come back and beat her some more.
Her whole body ached. Especially her stomach. She needed to go to the hospital, but she doubt that was going to happen any time soon. She sniffed, trying to breathe in through her nose, but failing.
“Oh, stop your sobbing over there. It’s making me sick.” Elise complained, letting out a yawn and stretching. Dawn tried to obey, in fear of what Elise would do. Silent tears continued to pour out, but Elise didn’t notice, thankfully.
From where Dawn was laying, she could see the gray skies. She wondered if, when the night came around, she would be able to see the moon. She really hoped so. She just wanted to get out of here. She wanted to survive. She wasn’t about to let some hell-bent angel take away her life. She decided right then and there that she was going to fight for her life. She wasn’t a quitter and she wasn’t about to become one. She remembered her family and her friends and filled her mind with happy thoughts and good memories. Eventually, she even stopped crying.
She knew that she had to survive. She had to; there wasn’t a choice in the matter. She had to live for her friends, her family, Jariel, but mostly for herself. She would win.
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Change of Heart (NaNoWriMo 2011)
Random**In The Editing Process!!** Jariel, a once favored angel in Heaven, has been thrown out. Not by his own accord, however. He was tricked, made a fool of, by an angel named Elise, bent on being the center of attention no matter what. Jariel is now s...
