Divinity: The Gathering: Book One (43 page)

“Cool! Well
I can’t wait to meet him now —I mean I’m sure I won’t miss him if he’s as tall, dark and gorgeous as you said he is. I still can’t believe you’re gonna be dating a cop. Are you bringing him to the concert?” She said excitedly with a wide grin and then asked.

I wondered how of all things that happened last night, she could only remember that.

“No, he’s not into rock music.” I then said.

“Oh, well that sucks we could have all made a double date night of it.” China pouted.

“Maybe another night,” I told her as I moved to the sink to rinse out my mouth and brush my teeth.

“What the...wait, be still.” China then said as she moved towards me and examined my back.

“What?” I asked, craning my neck around to try and see what she was looking at.

“I thought that was mud and dirt at first. Is that dried blood? Are you bleeding?” China then said in a more panicked tone
, as she began to lift my soiled shirt up.

I flinched and winced out loud
, feeling my shirt come away from my skin like sticky tape.

“Oh my God!” She gasped with a hand over her mouth
, and a look of shock on her face.

“What?” I exclaimed,
starting to panic now myself as I lifted my shirt higher and turned my back to face the mirror.

I paled.

There were three parallel, long, vicious, reddish brown welts slashed across my back with several smaller, three fingered scratches randomly marking my skin, in between those lines. Though it wasn’t profusely bleeding now, it had been bleeding, and the lines of dark crimson had already dried and stuck to my shirt.

“Wh…what is that? What happened?” She then asked as tears began to form in her eyes.

“I don’t know. I guess I fell or something too,” I whispered as my heart thundered in my chest, knowing exactly what it really was. That was why my back was sore this morning, and felt as if it had been on fire last night, not to mention that I got sick to my stomach when it happened too. All of those shadows had been trying to grab at me.

“Fell on what? A barbed wire fence? Damn, what the hell did we get into last night?” She said breathlessly with worry etched on her face.

“Obviously up to no good,” I laughed and tried to make light of the moment.

“It looks bad. Does it hurt or burn?” She asked gently touching the area arou
nd it and accidently grazing an open scratch. I gasped and jerked away.

China immediately went for the peroxide and bandages under the sink

“Let me shower first.” I told her.

“Are you sure? It’ll sting, it may even be infec
ted.” She then said with a serious face, as she continued to examine the marks.

“I’m a big girl.” I smirked, quickly sliding my shirt back down.

“You should go see the nurse anyway for a tetanus shot, just to be on the safe side.” China then urged.

“I will when I get a chance,” I waved off.

She sighed at my nonchalant attitude towards her advice, “Okay, well I’m gonna treat them when you get out, I’ll get started on the BLT’s.” She said. Her brows still furrowed, in trying to figure out the source of my wounds.

              I closed the door once China retreated to the kitchen, and when I heard the comforting sounds of her rumbling around the cabinets for a frying pan, I felt relief. After all that’s happened so far and now this new mark of another assault, I was becoming more disenchanted and afraid.

These demons weren’t playing that was
for sure. The marks they were leaving on me were real, and the level of assaults was escalating. As real as this was to me, I was sure that to other people —I was simply insane and probably intentionally hurting myself. I wasn’t sure what to think anymore. Was I crazy? Had I done something so heinous in my life that these demons were trying to drag me to hell with them? I didn’t know if there was any use or point of fighting back anymore. I bit my lip and to my own surprise…I began to cry.

I didn’t like
crying. I’m not the weepy type, so it wasn’t like me to cry so easily like this, but it came on all of a sudden, as if the dam had burst and I could no longer contain it. I had been crying a lot lately, and I haven’t really since…my grandmother died.

Have I really not cried in three years? Over an
ything?

No, I hadn’t.

I thought of the feather again, my guardian angel feather.

I need
to make sure I had it with me at all times. Maybe it would help me. I drew in a deep breath to suck up my tears with a new determination.

             
I shucked my dirty clothes and stepped into the steaming water, not making a sound as the spray beat against the scratches, sending shockwaves of stinging pain across my entire back and shoulders. I said a silent prayer, not to help me but to help me understand what I’m up against, and what I needed to do now in order to keep my friends from harm and being possessed again, if I was even capable.

             
Cleaned, renewed and refreshed, though still in stunned silent shock, I let China treat my wounds while I downed the BLT and coffee she had made. The burn didn’t seem so bad after my shower and I managed to ignore the nagging, cold sting against my skin with each touch of the cotton ball.

I had my journal out and had already commenced to make my bucket list
, starting with number one. I wanted to lose my virginity of course, but I didn’t want to just give it away regardless of the circumstances. I thought of Joel then.

That might put our friendship on a diffe
rent level if not messing it up entirely and I didn’t want to do that, but he was the only one that I cared about in that sense.

Next, I put road trip across all fifty states, staying one night in the capital city of each of those states. Third, I wanted to head back to J
amaica and look up any relatives that my parents and I may have lost contact with on my mother and grandmother’s side, to let them know I was ok and I was the only one left for now if they even cared, but I knew many of them only spoke French and Spanish anyway so communication may be an issue, even if I ever did manage to find and see them. Anyway, then I’d go down to the unemployment line and just hand out money to each and every person standing in line to find work, for just one day.

I had to put down both para-sailing and line-zipping…I’d always wanted to do those things.

“This is crazy Star. God, I hope this won’t leave scars because you have like totally flawless skin. I’m not gonna bandage them yet, they need to breath. Go to the nurse and get a tetanus shot though, seriously,” She urged as she capped the bottle of peroxide.

I appreciated her compliment and was beyond relieved when she had finally finished
, as I pulled down the loose t-shirt that I would be wearing today over the leotard instead of just the leotard with shorts, like I usually did.

“I’ll be fine. I’ve had stranger boo-boos.” I joked
, but that was actually true.

She sighed, “Still, they could get infected and we have no idea how or what scratched you.” She fussed.

I sighed with a shiver.

“What’s that?” She then asked with a nod t
owards my journal after reading number one.

“I’m just writing a bucket list.” I told her.

She quirked a brow and laughed a bit, “A bucket list? I second number one there…that’s like three years overdue for you, but ah —where did this whole idea come about anyway?” She then asked with a quick glimpse over my shoulder and then moved to the sink to wash her hands.

“Everyone should have one since we’re not all promised tomorrow. I don’t know what happens after death but I don’t wanna have any regrets.” I told her.

She nodded, “Sure I guess so but…” She chewed her lip as she studied me for a moment, while steadily drying her hands with a paper towel.

“What?” I asked.

She paused, and her expression went from confusion to sadness, as if she were trying to figure out what she wanted to say.

“You know how…you know how you always see things like shadows and stuff like that?” She then asked
, looking at me with a serious inquisitiveness.

I stiffened and my heart began to pound.

I could only nod, wondering if China had indeed either seen something too, or remembered something from last night after all.

“Have you ever seen an angel?” She then asked me.

I had to admit, she was creeping me out for some reason, but not in a bad way. I swallowed, waiting for her to go on and wondering where she was going with this, not because we hadn’t had this conversation before though.

I shrugged a shoulder and shook my head as I looked down at my shoes for a moment, “No, not that I know of anyway. Why?” I then asked her softly.

She licked her lips and looked as if she were trying to search for the words, “How do you know you haven’t?” She then asked me as she folded her arms across her middle, almost protectively.

I didn’t know what to say or how to answer that.

“I guess I don’t really know.” Was all I could come up with for an answer.

             
She inhaled as if she was thinking for a moment, and it had me concerned. She seemed strange to me all of a sudden and though I had an idea of why, I still couldn’t help but wonder where this was really coming from. I looked at her suspiciously, which was becoming automatic for me now regarding everyone, in my paranoid state.

“Did you know that sometimes
—when I look at you, it’s like you’re glowing? It’s like you have this super bright halo of light around you. I don’t know if you ever noticed it. It’s in some of the pictures I have of you and the ones on my cell phone too,” She then began.

She had my attention now
, and I wasn’t sure why suddenly every muscle in my body seemed to grow chill and tense, hearing this from my best friend.

She had never mentioned any of that before, hell I hadn’t really noticed or paid m
uch attention myself either and...what was she doing going through all the pictures she had of me or us all of a sudden anyway?

Maybe being possessed and being delivered from it had given her some sort of second sight
, I wondered. Had she seen an angel? If so, I was jealous.

“Where is this coming from?” I then asked no
nchalantly.

She slowly shook her head.

“I don’t know. It’s weird. I feel like it was a dream, but I have this burnt image of you in my mind being on fire — but it’s not like regular fire, it’s super bright and there were shadow things surrounding you, trying to touch or grab you, but they couldn’t because each time they did the fire would burn them and they’d curse and scream in frustration.” She tried to explain.

             
My heart began to pound. It was almost as if she had been watching me in the dream I had the other night from afar. I was confounded to understand why all of a sudden she was talking about this, when and how she had seen or began to notice any of this.

What had really happened to her last night? Was it more than just being possessed?

I then chuckled to lighten the mood on purpose, “Whatever we drank last night — never again.” I gestured with my hands out.

She smiled weakly
, but her eyes showed she was telling me this with conviction, and it was something that was apparently at the forefront of her mind.

“Yeah, maybe so,” She then said as she chewed her lip and laughed a bit
, but I could tell it wasn’t genuine.

It was quiet for a moment and I wasn’t sure what to think say or do.

“You know what I think though?” China then said moving closer to me and leaning against the bar counter with a sad smile.

“What?” I asked softly.

She inhaled slowly and looked upwards at the ceiling, as if she were thinking about her words, “I think that the reason you see these shadows is because of your aura. It attracts them to you, they see you so you see them but they can’t touch you for the same reason. The fact that you survived Katrina for one, given the circumstances you were in too; people tend to gravitate towards you automatically and I’ve always felt safe with you around me if that sounds weird.” She then said.

I was both puzzled and speechless.

Aside from this just not sounding like China, what could I even say or comment to that?

             
I studied her with more empathy and concern this time in picking up that China seemed sad, but I don’t know if it was for me or as a result of what happened to her last night.

I nodded and smiled, “No, it’s not weird, I’m fla
ttered actually. I’d better go though, I’m gonna be late. I’ll call you when I’m on my way back.” I told her as I put the journal in my duffel bag and grabbed my purse.

I hoped to her it didn’t seem rude
, but I just couldn’t do this. It wasn’t just thinking about what happened when we hugged, I felt as if I were going to cry again and I didn’t want to do it in front of her, not now anyway.