CHAPTER 11
When I woke up I still felt a warm area on my cheek where Avan kissed me before he left. I noticed the screen was lit up on my cell phone, indicating that I had a new text message. I pressed the button, which brought the words of the text onto the screen, and I felt a warm fuzzy feeling seeing Avan’s name. Looking up at the clock on the mantel, I noticed it was 2:00 p.m. My exhaustion had gotten the best of me. I had not slept that long in a while.
Getting out of the shower, I already felt like a new person just from rinsing away all the impurities on my skin. I toweled off my hair, got dressed, and opted for a ponytail, considering I still had some residual tiredness. About the time I was done, I also got a reality check from my stomach in the form of hunger pains, which reminded me that I had not eaten since before getting sick in the alley. Without any hesitation I headed for the kitchen and made a sandwich, grabbed a bag of chips, and a cherry soda.
I sat at the bar as I quieted my talking tummy. The temperature was far from being cold in my apartment, but being fresh out of the shower with wet hair, it felt chillier than normal. I gave a small shiver as I finished up my late lunch.
I was beginning to feel a bit nervous, knowing Lena should be back in town any day now. What was more perplexing was how Ian had all but dropped from existence over the past few months. I had enjoyed my freedom from both of them so much lately that I never bothered to wonder why Ian had disappeared from harassing me or how Lena would react when she got home to realize I moved out. That was the thought that made me wish I had refrained from eating lunch. I calmed myself down by telling myself what’s done is done and tried to focus on other things. Starting with the bathrooms, I cleaned them and gathered the laundry, separated it into loads, and put one into the washer.
Vacuuming the bedrooms and dusting the furniture as I thought about my conversation with Allen Hearsch in the alley, I went over the details again about the three items, remembering earlier in the night when I woke up to find Avan reading in the office. I thought about how he had told me it was someone’s journal that was interesting and how I should read it sometime.
Dropping everything I darted for the office, around the desk, and to the bookshelves that lined the back wall. My eyes scanned the binding of the books that sat side by side, one after another. I knew this book would be different from all the others having titles running vertically along the spines. I did not get a good look at it when Avan had it in his hands, so I was not sure of the color or pattern. I did notice it was a little smaller than most of the other books on the shelves so that was a starting point. On the third shelf from the bottom of the middle bookshelf, I noticed a small red book on the end next to others that were much taller.
This little book had no title staring back at me, and somehow I just knew this was the one. It was as though it had a voice of its own, calling to me and letting me know I needed it to find the answers I had been searching for so long now. Reaching out to pull it off the shelf, something caused me to hesitate before my hand touched it. Allen’s voice echoed in my mind with his warning that this needed to be the last thing I read.
Rushing back to the desk, I began emptying the drawers one by one, looking for a hidden compartment. Emptying all of them, nothing looked out of the ordinary, leaving me wishing I had watched more mystery movies that may have given me clues as to what a hidden compartment in a drawer would look like. Instinctually, I felt inside the drawers, starting with the front center and making my way to the drawers on the side. I pushed on the sides and the bottoms, but they all felt solid. I only had the bottom drawer left, and to no surprise, it was solid as well. There was nothing! Wanting to cry, I sat in the floor with the top drawers still hanging out of the desk.
Looking up in defeat, I noticed something odd on the bottom of the top drawer. Touching it with my finger, a small, thin piece of wood fell out, bringing with it a copper-colored key with a paper tag. I could not believe my eyes. I actually found it, even if it had been by accident. Picking the little key up from the floor, I turned it over in my hand, inspecting it. The paper tag had a number on it just like Allen said it would. On a small paper tag secured to the key with a piece of thread the number seven was written in black ink.
Now having what needed, I had to get to the bank. It was already 4:30 p.m.; the bank would only be open for another half hour. Luckily for me, the bank was only a few blocks from Angel Towers, but there was still the elevator, red lights, and a possible long line at the bank to deal with before getting my hands on what I was after. Shoving the key in my pocket, I slipped on a pair of flip-flops, grabbed my keys, and headed out the front door, leaving the office in a mess.
The elevator doors opened to reveal an empty car. I stepped into it, smashing my pointer finger into the button next to the number one so hard I thought a bruise would surface on my fingertip.
When the doors opened into the lobby and everyone was out of my way, I took off in a run toward the garage, bursting through the door, through the passageway, and into the garage. Before I could register how hard I was breathing, I was behind the wheel of my trusty Bug, zipping out of the garage and down the street toward the bank.
Creeping along until I got to the light, it inconveniently turned red upon my approach. Perfect, this was just perfect! I kept my eye on the digital clock as the numbers kept ticking away. Every traffic light turned red the entire way to the bank just for me! This was maddening humor. When I parked my car in front of the bank, it was seven minutes until five o’clock.
Locking the doors of the car, I ran to the heavy front doors of the bank and made it inside with five minutes to spare. I looked around, trying to find someone to help me, but with it being closing time on a Friday, everyone was attempting to get their paychecks cashed or deposited. I waited nervously, watching the clock, when a personal banker walked to the printer to grab something. Lightly tapping the man on the shoulder, I was determined to get help before the place closed. Remembering how Allen instructed me not to let anyone at the bank see what was inside the safety deposit box I had, being the last one here, all eyes were on me.
“Excuse me, sir?” I was so nervous and panicked.
“Yes, ma’am, how may I help you?”
“I need to get something from my safety deposit box. Is there someone who can show me how to do that?” I asked, thinking I must have sounded so clueless.
“Yes, ma’am. Let me get the client I am with her copies, and I will be right with you.”
It was working! I knew I was about to receive to crucial pieces to my puzzle in a matter of minutes. I was excited and nervous at the same time, not knowing how to feel. Evidently, whatever I was about to receive in the form of my bracelet and a letter was important enough that my dad had hidden it quite well. I guess I was mostly afraid of what I was about to find out. What if I refused to accept the answers I discover? One way or the other I was about to find out, so I may as well saddle up for the ride. I could see the elderly woman at the banker’s desk scrutinizing each form he had given her off of the printer to make sure she got each copy she was supposed to receive.
“Okay, I’m so sorry for the wait. Come in and have a seat,” the banker said, inviting me into his office as he slid back behind his desk again.
Following him inside, I sat as he looked up the safety deposit box on his computer. Once he had the information he needed, he asked for my name, date of birth, address, my father’s name, date of birth, address, and then made a copy of my driver’s license. Once that process was over, he instructed me to follow him. We made our way across the inside of the bank to a room with a vaulted door and what looked like walls of metal mailboxes. He showed me where to look for the box that would open with a turn of my little key and then told me he would give me a few minutes.
Taking a deep breath and moving toward the boxes, tracing my finger along each one, I finally came to box seven. It was small compared to some of the boxes sitting in the middle of the farthest column to the right. Sliding the key into the small lock on the front, I turned, hearing it unlock. I gently pulled the door open and removed the little black box from inside and set it on the small table in the middle of the room. Just as shiny as it had always been, I laid my angel charm bracelet right in the center as I removed the lid with a note written in my dad’s penmanship: Put this on and wear it out. Everyone will think the box held your jewelry.
Immediately putting the bracelet on and sliding the envelope in my back pocket, which was concealed by the oversized hoodie I was wearing, I could tell it contained a very thick letter. Placing the lid back onto the box, I slid it back into the little compartment in the wall I had taken it from and locked its swinging door.
I stood in the doorway of the small room and waved to catch the attention of the banker who had helped me, not knowing if he needed to close the door or not.
“Did you find everything you needed, Ms. Holland?”
“Yes, my dad had kept our jewelry here, and I wanted to get it out. I don’t think I will need the box anymore, though.”
“That’s fine. Do you have the key?”
“Yes sir, here it is,” I said as I handed him the little copper key.
“Okay, Ms. Holland, why don’t you come and have a seat at my desk, and I will print out a form I will need you to sign, stating you no longer wish to keep the safety deposit box.”
With that, I followed him back to his office as he printed the form that stated the box, from this point forward, was not for my use and that I acknowledge this fact. The form also stated how monthly fees would discontinue and if there were moneys left over, I would receive a refund. I put my accountant’s name and contact information at the bottom in case of a refund, so that he could take care of any monetary business or transactions. I did not have the slightest clue of how to add the refund to my trust account if there happened to be one. After finding all of the things he said I would, I trusted Allen now more than I ever had. I still didn’t understand his whole undercover job, whatever it was, but I knew he had to care about me even if he had never shown it before last night to continue to put himself in that kind of position just because he had made a promise to my dad who was now dead and would never know if he broke it or not. I wanted to call him and tell him I had gotten the puzzle pieces successfully but was struck by the thought that if he was undercover, he was probably always surrounded by people who watched his every move. They might even have his phone conversations monitored. If that was any possibility at all, I would have no part in revealing anything. I wasn’t about to get the one person who had just provided me with more information about my life than my own parents since I was born into serious trouble.
“That bracelet is beautiful! Do you collect angels?” the banker asked, catching me off guard. He studied the charm bracelet on my wrist that rested on his desk while my left hand held the paper steady while signing my name.
“Uh, thanks, yeah, it was kind of a thing my dad and I always had…have.”
“You said had. Is there a specific reason that you find that important?”
“Not really, my dad just gave me the bracelet before he died, so it’s special, I guess,” I responded, not liking the way he had so many questions.
“Surely it must have some kind of a special meaning to it. Why would it have been in a safety deposit box with no one coming to check on it for years? It’s almost as though you just found out about it,” he said, giving me a devious smile.
“No sir, it just took a while to get everything from the will ironed out, and my dad wanted to make sure I was old enough to not lose it, so he put it in the safety deposit box, intending to give it to me earlier. But I guess being dead prohibited him from doing so. I came for it as quickly as I received the key,” I retorted with a slight attitude.
“Well, Matalyn, it seems we have a little problem. I’m afraid I’m going to have to call our bank’s president in here and let him decide if we need to call someone to have you taken into custody, because it seems to me you are hiding something. I call it bank fraud, and I am quite certain the president of this bank will agree with me.”
“What? Bank fraud? What are you talking about? I haven’t committed any fraud! All I did was come to get a bracelet my dad gave me out of safekeeping! I haven’t been dishonest or fraudulent in any way!” I screamed at the banker as I looked behind me at a bank that was all but empty, except for a few employees who remained staring at me with the same deep, dark eyes and looks of threat on their faces.
“Well, Matalyn, it looks like I’m the only one with witnesses, so it won’t matter what you say. It’s a shame Daddy won’t be here to defend you. As a matter of fact, no one is here to come to your defense is there? No one is here to save poor, little, confused Mattie. Let me tell you what I think. I think that ring on your hand signifies that you know more about that bracelet than you’re letting on. I think someone is trying to help you, Mattie. I even think you know why. So let me make this clear, you won’t be walking out of here unless you tell me who is helping you.”
“Look, I have no idea what you are talking about! My boyfriend gave me the ring for my birthday, and to be honest, you are really about to make me angry with all of these accusations, so you should back off,” I shouted. I started to feel my blood boil while the heat in my body started rising from my feet.
“Aww, look at Daddy’s special little angel get all mad and flustered! Calm down. We’ll take good care of you, I promise. You’re old enough to be used for your intended purpose now. We have to keep you in tip-top condition. We wouldn’t want to make any mistakes with you. After all, you are the only one, and we won’t be able to get anymore unless you give them to us, right?” he said, speaking down to me as if I were in kindergarten.
“Give them to you? I don’t have any idea what you’re referring to, but know this—I will never be giving you anything! I’m going to give you one final warning: bad things that I can’t explain tend to happen when I get to a certain point of anger that I have no control over, so you really should back off,” I warned, knowing I would black out sometime within the next few minutes and I had no idea what I would find when I came back to reality.
Right after finishing my sentence, I saw the banker nod in the direction of the front door. I took it as a signal for me to leave, so I turned to make my way out of his office. I no more than got out of his door when I heard the clank of the lock on the front door latch and the entranced-looking employees begin to encircle me. I felt the rage climbing to the top of my head, and just before everything would usually go black, instead my finger felt heated where the ring on it shined with the same intense glow it had the night Avan and I had made our promises to one another.
What happened next was enough to blow my mind. I could feel that I was the one doing it, but I had no idea how. Even though I knew I ultimately had the willpower to stop what I was doing, I did not want to. As the employees made their circle around me tighter, I could no longer control the anger that was overtaking me. I felt the wind whip up around me like a tornado, blowing papers all over the place, and pieces of furniture moved and turned over. Unfortunately, it was not enough of a distraction for the employees to notice, which only heightened my anger more.
The next thing I knew, the electrical equipment began to spark at the outlets and connections; I noticed flames begin to burst from them, yet the employees still advanced toward me, trapping me. Before I knew it, the glass from every window, computer monitor, door, camera lens, and any other glass object inside and attached to the building burst into shards, flying in all directions and entering the employees like shrapnel, sending them all to the floor shrieking in pain and agony. At this point fire had spread up the walls, nearly engulfing the entire bank. For whatever reason, I did not care. I had no mercy for the individuals who had obviously planned on taking me hostage and harming me in some way for some unknown reason.
“I hope you know I’m not calling anyone to come save you, and since there seems to be faulty wiring, I seriously doubt first responders will be here until it’s too late. I have a feeling you will be going back to where you came from. It looks like you can feel pain, so consider burning alive here a preview! Have fun in Hades!” I told the banker while looking down at him without remorse as I held my shoe on his throat.
With that I could hear the exploding flames behind me completely consuming the bank and blowing out the door all around me as I walked through the open door frame where the plate glass had stood only minutes earlier without the backdraft even causing me to lose my footing. Feeling nothing but comfortable warmth, I saw nothing but the enormous ball of orange flames that surrounded me as I walked from the middle of it onto the sidewalk.
I got into my car without any hurry as I watched the bank burning to the ground, feeling no remorse. I almost felt as if I had just done the world a favor and saved people from ever coming into contact with these insane, possessed individuals. I was so lost in thought I failed to realize that Avan had pulled up right next to me in the parking lot.
“What happened?” Avan asked frantically.
“I blew them up. They’re all dead,” I said sounding as if I were in shock but feeling very calm.
“Okay, tell me what happened. What were you doing here? Never mind, meet me at your apartment and we will talk about it there. Come on, go! We’ve got to get out of here now!”
Avan ran back to his car, jumping inside and throwing it in reverse. I followed him to Angel Towers and parked inside the garage. I had been so worked up that I was just now beginning to feel somewhat normal again. I was a little light headed and could really use a bottle of water. Getting out of the car, I realized there was not a single singe mark on my clothes, my hair was perfect despite the fact I was inside a burning building, and there was no trace of any soot on my arms, legs, or shoes.
Thinking back, I had not even had a hard time breathing surrounded by all the smoke inside the blaze! I must have been completely separated mentally from the situation in order to not pass out or even die from the smoke inhalation. I could have died! Why had I not died? How had I done all that damage without even touching anything? As I contemplated what had occurred in my mind, I realized I was wearing my bracelet, reminding me of the letter in my back pocket.
Seconds later, wrapped in Avan’s arms, he held me tighter than he ever held me before. I did not understand why at the moment and was sure he would hate me once I revealed what had actually taken place inside the bank. Backing up, Avan looked me over, making sure I had no obvious injuries before heading into Angel Towers. Neither of us said a word the entire ride on the elevator.
After a few seconds the elevator doors opened and we were walking down the hall and into my apartment. I never felt so relieved to be home!
I wondered if I would have gone ahead and taken the chance to get the items in the safety deposit box if I had known what was going to transpire. How could I have been so heartless to the banker when I said those things with my foot holding him down by his throat on my way out of the bank? Was I really that cruel of a person? It astonished me to know I was capable of being that vicious.
“It was self-defense. Stop beating yourself up. Besides that, it’s taken care of. You didn’t kill anybody either,” Avan answered my thought out loud.
“All those people made it out? Am I going to be arrested soon? Are the police on their way?” I asked frantically.
“No, no, and no.”
“Then how was it taken care of? How did they not die, and why am I not being arrested?”
“Okay, first of all, you need to breathe. Oxygen is necessary to function. It was taken care of by the good guys. The bad guys went back to where they belong, and the cops will chalk it up to faulty wiring. The end.”
“Who are the good guys? Where did the bad guys go? Who were the bad guys?” I asked, seeming to only be able to respond with more questions.
“Our friends, an unhappy place, and demons. Any other questions will have to wait until after you read your dad’s letter, okay? Now come in here. We need to make some adjustments.”
Taking Avan’s outstretched hand, I followed him into my bedroom, where he opened my jewelry box that held the new angel charms he had given me for my birthday. Gently unclasping the bracelet from my wrist, he took out a pair of small needle-nosed pliers and began working on my bracelet, which I had not noticed until now had just enough extra links on it to put the new charms.
I was surprised at this, considering the fact that my dad must have intended this. If that was so, then Avan too must have been in on it, although seemingly impossible. It was all so confusing and exciting at the same time. It was as if Avan had known all along and planned it out. Most people would probably be unnerved by the situation, but for some reason I felt like this was how it was meant to happen from day one. It felt to me that my dad had planned every single thing as if he knew his death would happen at some unexpected moment so he left little pieces and plans in place for me to follow. I was getting closer and I knew it. I could feel it so strongly that I knew all of the answers were just within my grasp now.
After Avan secured my bracelet that was more beautiful now than it had ever been before we moved into the office, we proceeded to pick up my mess I had made looking for the key to the deposit box. I was so thankful that he was an artist when it came to organization. Compared to me, he took organizing my office to a new, undefined level. It took a bit longer to clean up than it would have if I had done myself, but I enjoyed being around him so much that it did not bother me one bit. One question was sticking in my mind so much I knew there was no way I could possibly accept not getting an answer. I had to ask.
“How did you know to come to the bank?” I asked Avan as he looked up, meeting my eyes with his.
“I could feel that you needed me,” he answered matter-of-factly.
“My ring glowed when things were starting to get crazy. Is that how you knew?”
“Yes, any time you ever need me, whether you realize it or not, I will always be able to tell. When your ring starts to glow, mine does too. Remember, I promised to be by your side and protect you forever, Mattie. I would have been there sooner, but because of where you were, it wasn’t easy for me to get a clear understanding of the situation. I will explain it all as soon as you read the letter your dad gave you. I promise, and I can’t break promises.”
“Why is that? Every other guy on the planet can!” I snapped, wanting more answers that I knew he had.
“Not every guy, Mattie. There are plenty of them who can’t break promises no matter how much easier their lives would be if they did. Trust me on this one.”
“So that’s it? That’s really all you’re gonna give me?” I asked, disappointed that I already knew the answer.
“Yes, Mattie. In fact, I am going to give you some time alone tonight to read the things your dad left you. I’ll go make sure everything is under control with the cleanup crew at the bank.”
I gave up arguing, considering I was used to the idea that winning an argument with Avan was impossible. I knew he was protecting me and knew exactly what he was doing. He always had a strategic plan for everything he did. I had to trust him now more than ever, considering I had just made C4 look like children’s firecrackers by taking out the better portion of a city block with my crazy, pyromaniac mental talents. I really wanted to avoid going to prison for arson. He had mentioned demons that had not died, and to be honest all of this made no sense to me. I was rather alarmed on about ten different levels, so I intended to let him play superhero and take care of the entire situation.
Within minutes Avan was gone and I was alone with the keys to my past. The explanation of my life now sat in my hands and though I felt a sense of urgency to find out what made me so unique that people would come after me, kill my parents, and set it up to look like a murder suicide, somehow I was also overtaken by unexplained fear of the secrets these puzzle pieces would hold. Taking a deep breath, I took the envelope from my back pocket, slowly opened it, and slid the letter out. Unfolding the thick letter, I felt the hot tears escape my eyes.
I had done so well lately, trying not to think about how much I missed my parents. I kept myself distracted without crying over it in months, but now all I could do was hold the letter close to my heart, sobbing uncontrollably as it broke all over again. The emotion of the night I came home to flashing lights and crime scene tape played in my mind again. My mind went to a dark place where I began scolding myself for being such a horrible daughter. I was ashamed to admit that I had not been to my parents’ graves to pay my respects since they day they were placed there. The only thing I could say was that I often had recurring pity parties for myself over the past few years when they crossed my mind. I was so selfish and self-centered. I hardly deserved the things my dad had left for me. Right now the only thing I wanted was to be with them again.
I wished I had been at home that night as well so at least I would not have to go through the rest of my life alone without them. I just knew my dad was incapable of murdering my mom. He was such a strong person and had never had any suicidal tendencies either. No matter how bad of an argument they ever got into due to his bad temper, the thought of murder/suicide would never have even crossed the darkest, most vile part of his mind. I knew there had to be more to it, and it was time to find out. The only way to know was to open the pages of my past and read it from my dad’s words.