『Guardian Angel』»〈skephalo〉

VIII

•zak•

I woke up and felt something soft surrounding me. It felt like a big cozy blanket that was wrapped around my body, fluffy and delicate. It was as if I was coated with some sort of velvety material, like a giant feathery cushion making me feel safe and protected.

When I finally opened my eyes, I saw white. A milky colored feather tickled my nose as I squirmed to escape this mysterious burrito. When I broke free, I realized I was in my living room, on my couch. What was wrapped around me was actually Darryl's wings.

We must've fallen asleep watching the movie.

I ran my fingers through my hair, letting out a yawn as I stood up. I stretched for a few minutes, then walked across the room in my bare feet to the kitchen. When I entered the kitchen, I noticed I had set my phone on the counter the night before.

I grabbed it, flipping it and seeing the home screen.

10:31, Saturday

My eyes were immediately drawn to the amount of notifications on my phone. George and Jack both spammed me on all social media apps, along with some school emails and an amber alert.

"Holy shit," I murmured, unlocking it and immediately opening Snapchat to reply to George and Jack. Swiping left once the app was open, I tapped on "Crumpet" to see what George had sent me.

George
ZAK
zakkkk
sent at 8:13am
George
BRO ANSWER MEEE
sjdjdkksskskks
sent at 9:49am

I stared at the text with confusion. Why does he need me so bad? I shook my head with frustration, then began to type my answer.

Zak
sorry, jsut woke up, what's up?

I closed the app, turning off my phone and shoving it into my pocket. I strolled into the living room, staring at Darryl's sleeping figure on the couch. I smiled to myself, crouching down to his level and resting my hand on his shoulder. "Wakey wakey..." I said loudly, watching him stir from my words.

He groaned, unburying himself from his own wings and sitting up. Darryl rubbed his eyes. I glanced at his hair with amusement, since it was sticking out in all sorts of places. I found it humorous that guardian angels had bad hair days too.

"Good morning angel," I told him as a play on words. Darryl chuckled at my joke, blinking quite a bit to get used to the light of the room. "You seemed to sleep well."

Darryl shrugged. "I slept like a baby," He replied and then laughed.

That's when a notification went off on my phone. I pulled it out and saw that George had replied to me. I sighed, opening up the app again and swiping over to see his message reply.

George
Dude, Carson King went missing last night. Everyone got an amber alert for it, just like when Dave went missing last week. I think the demon distracted us by targeting you at the party

I stared at George's words with shock. I didn't know who Carson was, but quite frankly, it didn't matter. The fact that another kid went missing at one of Zelk's parties was insane, and revealed a lot more than it should.

Zelk was now one of the primary suspects on the list.

"Darryl... another kid went missing last night," I told the guardian in front of me. I looked up from my phone to see his eyes widen.

"That's terrible," Darryl murmured, covering his mouth with his hand. "That means the demon is using Zelk's parties to it's advantage or...." His voice trailed off.

I decided to finish his sentence. "Or it is Zelk."

I seated myself next to Darryl, feeling horrible in my stomach. I wasn't even sure who to trust anymore. It could be Clay, it could be Zelk, it could be... anyone at this point. It was pretty scary, the fact that my next door neightbor could possibly have two kids trapped in his basement, tormenting and torturing them until maximum fear radiated from their bodies.

"Do you think we should confront Clay?" I asked Darryl. "Like George suggested? Then we can study his response and see if he seems guilty or not. At least we'd have a better reasoning for investigating him and stuff."

"Yeah," Darryl agreed. Then he paused. He stared at me momentarily, as if he was trying to find out something from my face. I swallowed nervously, wondering what he was thinking. "Hey Zak... are you okay?" He asked genuinely, as if he thought something was wrong with me.

I stared back at him with confusion. "Yeah, I'm alright. Why?"

Darryl gave me an uneasy look. "I don't know, it's just... after you found out Carson went missing, you seemed all panicky and weird."

I blinked. "Well, yeah... aren't you? Kids from my school are being picked off one by one. It's only time before one of my friends are picked again."

"Wait... again? Were you friends with the kid that just went missing?" The guardian questioned me with concern.

I shook my head. "Carson? No. I was friends with Dave before he went missing. Now I just can't help but think..." My voice faded mid sentence. I bit the inside of my cheek, feeling a terrible guilt wash over me.

Darryl stared at me with worry. "Zak, you know that it's not your fault, right?"

I looked at the ground. "I know," I mumbled in reply.

The angel shook his head. "No, you don't. Look Zak, there was nothing you could've done-"

"You don't know that!" I snapped back. "If I didn't pass out, all of the angels would've been present at the party and maybe you could've caught the creature!"

Darryl looked taken aback from my outburst.

I sighed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come off like that. I just..."

"I know," Darryl interrupted. "And it's okay. We'll catch this demon, I promise."

My eyes met Darryl's and I managed to force a small smile. Darryl was right. Now, with two guardian angels, there was no way we'd let this demon escape our grasp.

Whether it knew it or not, we are going to catch this demon. There's not a chance it can get away with this. Not a chance.