Fallen Identity
Ch. 12
The little girl pointed to the book, indicating she wanted me to open it. I flipped open to the first page and saw my name written in big kindergarden handwriting. I flipped to the second page to see a picture of a happy family. It was a mom, dad, and their daughter who I was assuming was me. On the third page was a picture of a large gate covered in thorns and spiderwebs. It was one of those wrought iron gates that you'd see in front of haunted mansions. On the gate were the words, "pasarela ao Inferno".
I also noticed how well-drawn the pictures were. They were like something a 13 year old would draw, not a 5 year old. The little girl kept pointing to the book so I kept flipping through the pages, seeing pictures of dead bodies and demons. There was one picture that frightened me a lot more then the others. It was a picture of a hallway and a dark, hooded figure was walking forward, toward the artist's point of view. It didn't really show anything but the dark, hooded figure creeped me out a lot more then all the demons ever did.
When I was done looking through the book, I still didn't know how it looked familiar to me. I looked up to see that the little girl was gone but the stuffed kitten was on the road in front of me and the balloon was floating upward in the sky. I picked up the kitten and looked over it's features. It had a button for an eye since the other guy was missing and only a thread was in it's place. An ear was ripped off half way and one of it's arms was shorter then the other. And the tail wasn't even there.
I stood up with the notebook and stuffed kitten and looked around to see the worried faces of Cameal, Raz, Gabriel, and Elijah. Micah, Nathaniel, and Zac looked indifferent.
"Carter? Are you okay?" Cameal finally asked since no one else was going to speak.
"I-I don't know," I admitted.
"How did you get that notebook and stuffed animal?" Raz asked me.
"The little girl handed them to me," I said. I couldn't tell them the little girl looked just like me.
"What little girl? All we saw was you sit down in the middle of the crossroads and you got this book and started flipping through it. We tried to get your attention but you were totally out of it," Gabriel stated.
"I was?"
"Yeah," they all agreed.
"Maybe we should just head back now," I said and then stood up. I didn't have anymore encounters from the little girl on our walk back home.
The first thing I did was take a nice, long shower to get this horrible demon stench off of me. I smelled like raw eggs, spoiled milk, dead fish, and black coffee all put together. Some people say coffee smells good but I think it smells awful and burns my nose. That's why I never drink coffee either.
After my shower, I put some clean clothes on that felt amazing compared to the same dirty clothes I had to wear for the whole time I was at Jezebeth's 'secret hiding place'. I don't even know how long I was there and I was almost afraid to ask and I did ask, Cameal told me I was gone for two months. I'm probably never going to be able to work at the antique shop now.
I made sure to have a good night's sleep since I was in an actual bed with blankets and a pillow for the first time in two months. I still can't get over the fact that I was gone for two months. I would've believed one month but not two.
The guys were waiting for me in the main room the next morning.
"Were you tortured?" Cameal asked me as I took the milk out of the fridge and poured me a glass. I thought about that for a minute. Was I tortured? Not really. I was just cooking and cleaning.
"Nope," I answered honestly.
"Nope? Meaning No?" Elijah asked.
"Yeah, at least last time I checked, nop meant no," I said slowly. Were they being stupid or just in shock?
"So what did happen there?" Raz asked me. They all seemed eager for me answer. Including Micah and his little minions. Ok maybe they weren't little and they definitely weren't minions but they sure acted like minions.
"Jezebeth made me cook and clean," I stated, almost not believing it myself after saying it out loud.
"Cook what? Human brains?" Cameal questioned.
"Uh, I have no idea actually. It smelt and tasted like chicken though." I laughed and then my face went serious. What if it were human brains? Or just human flesh? I ate that meat. My eyes went wide in horror and I suddenly lost my appetite.
"You ate it didn't you?" I only nodded in responce to Gabriel's question.
"They might've put something in the meat that could only affect humans ya know?" Micah proclaimed like the little know-it-all he was. Ok, maybe he wasn't little either but you get my point.
"Well I know now. But I was starving and I had nothing to eat," I admitted.
"So they were planning on starving you!" Cameal shouted like he just solved the answer to one of those murder mystery shows.
"No, I'm pretty sure they knew I was going to eat some of the food even though I was eating it sneakily," I muttered.
"Sneakily? Is that even a word?" Raz chuckled. He had such a wonderful laugh.
I never really noticed how gorgous these guys were. I mean, I did at first but then sort of forgotten as time flew by. Great, now I was going to be all nervous around them.
"Well it is now," I grumbled and had the urge to stick my toungue out like a girl. Good thing I refrained from doing so though.
I stood up and walked toward the elevator.
"Where are you going now?" Cameal shouted out to me.
"To my job. What day of the week is it anyway?" I answered.
"Carter, you can't just go off wherever you want. Jacine could be kidnap you again. Or Kage could and you know he will definitely torture you," Raz's voice cut me like a knife. Kage. His name sent chills down my spine even more so now that I've seen what demon's really look like. Kage is pretty high rank in the demon world I was guessing and probably looked more terrifying then the others.
"Well can someone come with me then?" I asked nervously.
"I'll go with you," a voice said. What surprised me was who the voice belonged to. Zach. Now why would he suddenly leave his gang just to escort me like I was some little kid. I only nodded my head and turned to leave, not bothering to wait for him.
When we go to the surface, we began to walk awkwardly toward the antique shop. The silence was beginning to creep me out until Zach finally broke it.
"I know you're a girl." What?
"What're you talking about?" I asked, hoping that playing dumb might work.
"It's kind of obvious and I don't see how no one else can tell," he continued saying. "I didn't tell anyone because it's not my secret to tell. But because I know, I might be a little protective of you. And you can quit the dumb act. It's not going to work. I can tell when a person is lieing." Protective of me?
"What first led you on?" I asked.
"The way you'd flinch when anyone touched you. I think it's pretty clear why you ran away, Carly Andrews," he said, using the name that was all over the "MISSING" ads.
"Carter's my actual name. I've never been called Carly before," I stated. Frankly, I didn't want to be called Carly.
"I see," was all he said and then he gave me a small smile. His black, shaggy hair fell in his violet-gold eyes. Dang, he was gorgous. I smiled back and this time, it was a girly smile.
We got to the antique store by midday and I heard the small bell chime as I entered the shop. Ellie raced over to me right as the door closed and gave me a big hug.
"What happened? You've been gone for two months," she exclaimed.
"I, uh, was almost caught by the cops and had to hide out for a while but got a little lost in the process," I lied.
"Well I'm glad your safe. Do you still want your job?" she asked me.
"Yes, I'd like it very much," I smiled and the remembered Zach was with me. "Oh Ellie, this is Zach. Zach, this is Ellie."
"Ah, I see. You're one of the Daughter's of Freya," Zach said with understandment in his eyes. Me, on the other hand, was completely lost. Daughter of Freya?
"H-how did you know?" Ellie stuttered. Zach looked at her with his eyes and soon understandment appeared on Ellie's face as well.
"So the rumors are true," Ellie whispered to herself.
"I have full faith that you can protect Carter from any danger. Am I correct?" Zach asked suddenly, causing Ellie to break from wherever he mind led her and she quickly agreed.
"Of course. I would never let any harm come to Carter," she said and placed a hand on my shoulder as if to prove her point.
"Very well then. When does Carter get off?" Zach asked and when Ellie told him, he said we would come back to pick me up, and then left abruptly. I looked over to see Ellie staring after him, amazed.
I also noticed how well-drawn the pictures were. They were like something a 13 year old would draw, not a 5 year old. The little girl kept pointing to the book so I kept flipping through the pages, seeing pictures of dead bodies and demons. There was one picture that frightened me a lot more then the others. It was a picture of a hallway and a dark, hooded figure was walking forward, toward the artist's point of view. It didn't really show anything but the dark, hooded figure creeped me out a lot more then all the demons ever did.
When I was done looking through the book, I still didn't know how it looked familiar to me. I looked up to see that the little girl was gone but the stuffed kitten was on the road in front of me and the balloon was floating upward in the sky. I picked up the kitten and looked over it's features. It had a button for an eye since the other guy was missing and only a thread was in it's place. An ear was ripped off half way and one of it's arms was shorter then the other. And the tail wasn't even there.
I stood up with the notebook and stuffed kitten and looked around to see the worried faces of Cameal, Raz, Gabriel, and Elijah. Micah, Nathaniel, and Zac looked indifferent.
"Carter? Are you okay?" Cameal finally asked since no one else was going to speak.
"I-I don't know," I admitted.
"How did you get that notebook and stuffed animal?" Raz asked me.
"The little girl handed them to me," I said. I couldn't tell them the little girl looked just like me.
"What little girl? All we saw was you sit down in the middle of the crossroads and you got this book and started flipping through it. We tried to get your attention but you were totally out of it," Gabriel stated.
"I was?"
"Yeah," they all agreed.
"Maybe we should just head back now," I said and then stood up. I didn't have anymore encounters from the little girl on our walk back home.
The first thing I did was take a nice, long shower to get this horrible demon stench off of me. I smelled like raw eggs, spoiled milk, dead fish, and black coffee all put together. Some people say coffee smells good but I think it smells awful and burns my nose. That's why I never drink coffee either.
After my shower, I put some clean clothes on that felt amazing compared to the same dirty clothes I had to wear for the whole time I was at Jezebeth's 'secret hiding place'. I don't even know how long I was there and I was almost afraid to ask and I did ask, Cameal told me I was gone for two months. I'm probably never going to be able to work at the antique shop now.
I made sure to have a good night's sleep since I was in an actual bed with blankets and a pillow for the first time in two months. I still can't get over the fact that I was gone for two months. I would've believed one month but not two.
The guys were waiting for me in the main room the next morning.
"Were you tortured?" Cameal asked me as I took the milk out of the fridge and poured me a glass. I thought about that for a minute. Was I tortured? Not really. I was just cooking and cleaning.
"Nope," I answered honestly.
"Nope? Meaning No?" Elijah asked.
"Yeah, at least last time I checked, nop meant no," I said slowly. Were they being stupid or just in shock?
"So what did happen there?" Raz asked me. They all seemed eager for me answer. Including Micah and his little minions. Ok maybe they weren't little and they definitely weren't minions but they sure acted like minions.
"Jezebeth made me cook and clean," I stated, almost not believing it myself after saying it out loud.
"Cook what? Human brains?" Cameal questioned.
"Uh, I have no idea actually. It smelt and tasted like chicken though." I laughed and then my face went serious. What if it were human brains? Or just human flesh? I ate that meat. My eyes went wide in horror and I suddenly lost my appetite.
"You ate it didn't you?" I only nodded in responce to Gabriel's question.
"They might've put something in the meat that could only affect humans ya know?" Micah proclaimed like the little know-it-all he was. Ok, maybe he wasn't little either but you get my point.
"Well I know now. But I was starving and I had nothing to eat," I admitted.
"So they were planning on starving you!" Cameal shouted like he just solved the answer to one of those murder mystery shows.
"No, I'm pretty sure they knew I was going to eat some of the food even though I was eating it sneakily," I muttered.
"Sneakily? Is that even a word?" Raz chuckled. He had such a wonderful laugh.
I never really noticed how gorgous these guys were. I mean, I did at first but then sort of forgotten as time flew by. Great, now I was going to be all nervous around them.
"Well it is now," I grumbled and had the urge to stick my toungue out like a girl. Good thing I refrained from doing so though.
I stood up and walked toward the elevator.
"Where are you going now?" Cameal shouted out to me.
"To my job. What day of the week is it anyway?" I answered.
"Carter, you can't just go off wherever you want. Jacine could be kidnap you again. Or Kage could and you know he will definitely torture you," Raz's voice cut me like a knife. Kage. His name sent chills down my spine even more so now that I've seen what demon's really look like. Kage is pretty high rank in the demon world I was guessing and probably looked more terrifying then the others.
"Well can someone come with me then?" I asked nervously.
"I'll go with you," a voice said. What surprised me was who the voice belonged to. Zach. Now why would he suddenly leave his gang just to escort me like I was some little kid. I only nodded my head and turned to leave, not bothering to wait for him.
When we go to the surface, we began to walk awkwardly toward the antique shop. The silence was beginning to creep me out until Zach finally broke it.
"I know you're a girl." What?
"What're you talking about?" I asked, hoping that playing dumb might work.
"It's kind of obvious and I don't see how no one else can tell," he continued saying. "I didn't tell anyone because it's not my secret to tell. But because I know, I might be a little protective of you. And you can quit the dumb act. It's not going to work. I can tell when a person is lieing." Protective of me?
"What first led you on?" I asked.
"The way you'd flinch when anyone touched you. I think it's pretty clear why you ran away, Carly Andrews," he said, using the name that was all over the "MISSING" ads.
"Carter's my actual name. I've never been called Carly before," I stated. Frankly, I didn't want to be called Carly.
"I see," was all he said and then he gave me a small smile. His black, shaggy hair fell in his violet-gold eyes. Dang, he was gorgous. I smiled back and this time, it was a girly smile.
We got to the antique store by midday and I heard the small bell chime as I entered the shop. Ellie raced over to me right as the door closed and gave me a big hug.
"What happened? You've been gone for two months," she exclaimed.
"I, uh, was almost caught by the cops and had to hide out for a while but got a little lost in the process," I lied.
"Well I'm glad your safe. Do you still want your job?" she asked me.
"Yes, I'd like it very much," I smiled and the remembered Zach was with me. "Oh Ellie, this is Zach. Zach, this is Ellie."
"Ah, I see. You're one of the Daughter's of Freya," Zach said with understandment in his eyes. Me, on the other hand, was completely lost. Daughter of Freya?
"H-how did you know?" Ellie stuttered. Zach looked at her with his eyes and soon understandment appeared on Ellie's face as well.
"So the rumors are true," Ellie whispered to herself.
"I have full faith that you can protect Carter from any danger. Am I correct?" Zach asked suddenly, causing Ellie to break from wherever he mind led her and she quickly agreed.
"Of course. I would never let any harm come to Carter," she said and placed a hand on my shoulder as if to prove her point.
"Very well then. When does Carter get off?" Zach asked and when Ellie told him, he said we would come back to pick me up, and then left abruptly. I looked over to see Ellie staring after him, amazed.