I Won't Let You Die Angel (9 page)

“What are you up to,
Angel
?”

“Can’t you see I’m trying
to makeshift a skirt out of the ruins of my lovely dress? What do you think I’m
doing?”

Neil chuckled, “Adding one
more achievement to your resume, ‘exotic’ designer.”

I made a face, “If you can’t
help me, don’t mock me at least. You might be comfortable roaming half-naked, but
I have my virtue to keep intact.”

“No, no, go on, reinvent
yourself”, he said stifling a laugh.

“Okay, laugh at me. One
day you’ll cry for me.”

His expression flipped like
a common emitter amplifier behaving like a switch. “Let’s get going.”

I didn’t mean to get him
into an all serious mode again. We had a moment, an extremely intimate moment; but
both of us were restraining ourselves from talking about it. I guessed I’d have
to preserve it for later. For now, we had a hill to climb.

The countryside was inanimate
and quiet. We walked and walked and walked, and not a single ride passed by. A sign
signaled that we were in Northern California, in a place called “Malefic doors.”
Seriously, what kind of name was that? Phew.

A red SUV screeched to a
stop right in front of us. Due to the inertia of motion, we both skidded a few steps
backward. To our huge relief, Carl darted out of the driver’s side. Oh, I’d never
been more pleased to see anyone else in the world as I was now seeing Carl.

Neil opened his mouth to
speak, but before he could even utter a syllable, Carl caught him by his collar,
“What the hell do you think you’re doing? Have you totally lost it?”

Neil prudently pried Carl’s
hand off his collar and said with an elusive smile, “Hello to you, pal.”

Carl’s look was sinister.
Without a word, he backtracked his steps to the car. I frowned, “I guess that’s
our cue to seal our mouths and follow him.”

A few minutes passed by,
and I could do nothing but swing my head from Neil to Carl to Neil.

“Come on, Carl, don’t be
like a pissed-off girlfriend. You can’t live without talking to me.”

Carl passed a sturdy look,
“Try me!”

Neil pinched his eyebrows.
“Dude…”

Carl interrupted, “It’s
not like I could say anything to knock some sense into your cobwebbed brain. You’ll
still do what
you
feel is right, which is actually quite offensive. Do you
have
any
idea what you’ve brought onto yourself or me or dad? You violated
the most absolute law of our covenant, and all I get as an answer is that stupid
grin.”

“You guys follow a covenant?”
I asked. Carl’s furious eyes reminded me to shut the hell up. Uh oh, preserve your
allies, Janet.

“Dude, you don’t even know
the actual story here. Storm was not only doing Majestic’s deeds, but he has a personal
grudge against Janet. You can’t even imagine what he would have done with her.”

“Was it your concern Neil?”

“Carl, Storm’s Janet’s brother.”

Carl looked stunned for
a second. “What???” and then continued,

“Did you know that before
or after you sabotaged Majestic, and in turn me?”

“That’s not the point.”

Carl cracked his knuckles
on the steering wheel.

“After, the brother part
I knew before, but the rest, after”, answered Neil truthfully.

“See! God, Neil, I told
you I’d convince Majestic to spare the girl after her work is done. But as usual,
you rush into scenarios that prove lethal to us in the end.”

“Sam would have killed me
by then, or worse.” I interceded.

“Well, you need to separate
yourself from your fantasyland princess; everything is just not about you.”

“Carl, please …” intoned
Neil.

Carl slammed his head on
the steering wheel and sighed, “Majestic will never trust me again. And more than
that, there’s absolutely no one who’ll help us get out of this mess. We are doomed.”

Wait! I guess there’s just
one person who can actually help us.”

“Why don’t you just drop
us somewhere safe and play dumb about what Neil did? That way you would be safe
at least.” I supplied.

Carl finally looked at me,
“Nice of you to suggest that, sugar. But would you abandon Nicole if she does something
totally disagreeable, but needs you nevertheless?”

“No, absolutely not!”

“Then how can you even venture
to think I would back off from this? We are family, Janet, although not blood related.
But we don’t abandon our family, no matter what the circumstances.”

His words echoed in the
silence that came after. People don’t abandon their families, even underworld criminals
respect that vow. Then how had my own flesh and blood left me alone to deal with
this cruel world? How come the only family I have left, figuratively speaking, is
my dad?

Neil’s desperate questioning
look landed me back to reality. “Sorry, what?”

Carl laughed, “Nothing princess,
Neil’s just concerned you stopped talking for a whole ten minutes. You know, that’s
kind of a new trait, and no theories out of your meticulous brain, now that’s gauche.”

Neil just rolled his eyes.
I clamped my mouth shut, not wanting to engage in any kind of argument.

We stopped at a diner to
fulfill our hunger and, of course, washroom needs. Carl had somehow managed to arrange
for decent clothes for us. I looked in the mirror: my eyes were swollen a little,
hair disheveled, oversized shirt, and weird skirt alias dress. I looked like a little
cute zombie. I wondered how Neil managed to look at “this” me and admire it. I recalled
the kiss and a pleasant bliss flowed through my veins. The way he held me, kissed
me, everything was so, so amazing. Is this how it feels when you find someone special?
Someone who…

A loud bang on the door
disrupted my train of thought. “Sugar, how long does it take you to just freshen
up? I’m not getting any younger here.”

“I don’t need a babysitter,
Carl. Go away!” I shouted from inside.

“Yes, you do. Now hurry
up.”

Huh…. I finished cleaning
up and dutifully let Carl lead us to our table to await lunch. The whole zoo was
doing hip-hop in my stomach. I don’t even remember the last time I ate.

 I took a peek at Neil;
he was unusually silent.

Carl felt that something
fishy and tried to start a conversation, eventually landing on the most out-of-range
topic. “So, you eloped last evening, what were you two doing the whole night?”

I was about to answer something
smart, when Neil said, “Nothing. What do you think we were doing?”

Carl cleared his throat
slightly, “Well, I don’t know, torn clothes, disheveled condition, blah, blah, that
give much of an insight?” 

I gaped at him, “Here I
was, dying of hypothermia and shock-o-phobia, and all you care about is torn appearances.
Great!”

Carl considered a retort,
but decided otherwise. “So, what are we eating? I bet you’d be starving.”

I literally attacked the
buffet. I ate everything, regardless of taste. Carl kept whimpering at me. “You
know, for a little thing, you digest a lot.”

“I digest a lot of pesky
people too, e.g., you.” I taunted slyly.

And our conversation went
on and on, Carl asked me annoying questions and I continued giving smart-ass answers.
But what was bothering me big time was Neil’s fickle behavior. He was here, but
actually not here. 

“Carl, I need to talk to
you,” said Neil after a long stretched silence.

Carl took a bite of the
cheese pizza he was holding, “So, talk.”

Neil stifled rolling his
eyes, “Alone.”

This time Carl actually
glanced at him. Something in Neil’s expression demanded an immediate audience without
any argument. Neil abandoned his chair and walked towards the mini-bar. Carl shot
me a questioning look. I shrugged a “whatever”.

The two guys ordered drinks
and all I could enjoy doing was eating more pizza and sipping more cappuccino. I
couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but from here it looked like Neil was
about to drop some dreadful discovery.

A moment ago, Carl was all
cheery tense, but normal and seconds later he looked like he had seen the ghost
of his long-dead enemy. The wine glass slipped out of his hand and smashed to the
floor with a loud bang. All around, everybody looked in their direction, but Carl
was looking into oblivion. He looked literally pissed-off, remorseful, sad, annoyed,
and tearful all at once. He hid his face with his palms and shouted as loud as possible,
“NO”.

“Where are we going?” I
asked the fifth time in five hours and got silence as answer ditto the four other
times. “Okay, at least say something, you two, you’re acting like Jack and Cody.
Okay! Not-so Jack and Cody.

It’s been five hours and
all my poor ears are getting is Lady Gaga over and over again.”

Silence….

I slammed my head back.
God, this is so annoying.

We stopped at a motel-cum-diner
for dinner.

“Tell me again why we’re
not booking any rooms here? It’s not like we could spend the night eating. I doubt
that you can, and I know that certainly I can’t digest that much.”

Carl finally gave in to
the conversation, “Because Storm would track us if we book any rooms here in his
circle of dominance.”

Something had changed in
the way Carl was looking at me. I couldn’t frame it till now, but he became more
conscious about my choices and what I’d like, but refrained himself from getting
along with me too well.

Was it possible that Neil
told him about our little romantic interlude? But what if he did? That shouldn’t
change the way we engaged ourselves.

After the dinner, they again
escaped for drinks. This time I wouldn’t let them do it, leaving me all alone, and
my mind was messed up as well. So, I joined them at the bar.

Neil frowned surprisingly,
“Janet? What are you doing here? I told the manager to find you a corner table and
some dessert.”

I feigned ignorance and
ordered the only drink I know, “Tequila please.”

Neil grabbed the shots out
of my hands, “You’re not drinking.”

I snatched my drink back
and gulped it down my throat. It tasted like a….

“One more”, I hailed the
bartender.

Neil slammed his fist next
to my drink, “Aren’t you listening?”

You talking to me?? I thought
I was a loner here.

Hi, I’m Janet, nice to meet
you. Cheers. I swayed my shot in the air and gulped it down. Hmm, better.

Neil rotated me 90 degrees
to face him, “Are you crazy. This is not the place for you to drink. Come on...”
He tried to drag me away.

I freed myself from his
grip, “Oh, are you talking to me again?”

Even if you are, I’m not
listening. You didn’t listen to me before, so I won’t now. Tit for tat.”

I sat down and consumed
one more, and then one more. I started to feel light-headed now. Woo…

I was on my fifth shot when
a hand hindered my route to salvation. I was about to splash the tequila on Neil’s
face when I realized this time it was Carl. “Stop acting like a stubborn child,
Janet. You’re creating a scene.”

“Stop acting like you care.
You’re not my brother for all I know.”

He stammered while he spoke,
“Look… Janet… I’m like… your… um… brother. Okay.”

My undivided attention was
on the sixth shot looming ahead of me. “Okay…. Join me… cheers.”

Carl looked delirious. “All
right, lets party.”

Neil practically died of
a heart attack. “Carl, I swear…”

“I drink, you babysit. Period”

The bartender looked slightly
distorted. Was he hurt or something? What do I care?

I lost count of drinks and
at some point Neil scooped me out of my chair, “All right, enough. Let’s take a
walk. You’ll feel better.”

I dodged him, “I’m already
better. I never felt better. This is better. This is awesome.” I faltered on my
steps and Neil caught my waist. “Come on, Angel! You wanna sightseeing, right? Let’s
go!”

“Wow, sight-seeing. Yes!!!”
I nodded my head three times. Three times gives more impact, right?

He smiled, “Yes, so shall
we?”

Carl had this funny, fuzzy
look on his face, “You got her?”

Neil sighed, “Yeah, looks
like it.”

I turned my face to see
him, “You got who?”

He propelled me forward,
“No one!”

“But you said you got someone.”

“You, I got you.”

“But I’m already yours.”

That stopped him in his
tracks. I eyed him, “Are we stopping for another drink?”

“No, rain check”

“Rain, it’s raining, yay…”

He laughed, “No,
Angel
,
it’s not raining” and he pushed the door open. Cool air tickled my skin.

“But you said yourself that
you need to check the rain. Are you a part-time environmentalist?  I like environmentalists.
They’re cute.”

We strolled into the middle
of the road. I felt like I could fly. I opened my arms and embraced the beautiful
night, and stumbled. Neil caught me and lifted me in his arms. His proximity exponentially
increased the fuzzy warm feeling. It was like finding solace, finding home finally.

He leaned closer, his stubble
almost caressing my cheek. “
Angel
?”

“Hmm”

“You’re heavy” and his soft
laugh tickled my breath.

He leaned away and I noticed
the trees were tilted sideward, so weird. “Says who?”

He lifted my head and the
trees seem like they were spinning, too. Even Neil was spinning, everything was
spinning. I blinked and he was again inches away from my lips, and everything stopped
spinning. Wow, I discovered that Neil was my new center of gravity.

“I say.”

“Neil?”

“Hmm.”

“Am I drunk?” I had
never been wasted so I needed to check.

He laughed and all my worries
swept away. “What do you think?”

I pondered for a few seconds,
“I think you are pretty, gorgeous and damn sexy.” He smiled heartily. “Don’t you
think I’m pretty?”

He didn’t answer for an
extended minute. I shifted myself in his arms to look at him closely. “Neil, don’t
you think I’m pretty, huh? Don’t you think I fit perfectly in your arms, and life?
Don’t you think so?” I pouted.

“Oh,
Angel
!!! You
fit perfectly. You’re so beautiful, so perfect that it hurts,” he answered in a
husky tone.

I unwrapped my hands around
his neck, “Put me down.”

He eyed me warily, “
Angel.
”

“Put me down Neil.” And
he did.

“What’s happened? You feel
like vomiting?”

“No! You said it hurts.
I must be heavy.

“I can walk; I won’t be
a burden to you. I may be incapable, but I’m not weak.”

He stroked my chin gently,
“Don’t say that. You can never be a burden.”

A sweet chiming sound hummed
in the background. I focused and spotted a mysteriously pretty church. “I want to
go to the church.”

He frowned surprisingly,
“You’re wasted!”

“So what? God doesn’t discriminate.”
I walked forward dizzily, “Come on.”

He sighed loudly, “This
girl could be the end of me.”

Instead of taking me
inside
the church, he took me
above
the church, meaning to the rooftop. I kept elbowing
him, “No, I want to talk to God. He’s my best friend, don’t you know?

If you won’t obey me, he
will… he will… um… yeah, impale you.”

He laughed, “Okay,
Angel
,
I believe you. But didn’t you want to sight-see? The views from up here are breathtaking,
and look at the clear sky, so many stars. You’ll love it.”

I stared at the stars
astonished. It brought tons of memories flooding back. For now, all I wanted were
those stars.