Human Meets Angel

The rest of that day, Ethel refused to come out of her room and when Collin wanted to share his excitement about Raphael she fumed and pushed him out of her room slamming the door. Collin just couldn't work out why she was so mad.

Collin frowned at her door as he walked upstairs to go to bed and paused infront of it. He bit his lip and began to worry about her. His mum had told him Ethel and Brad had split up and he wasn't to go upsetting her.

Taking a few steps forward, Collin leaned towards the door, listening for any sign of life. He heard a slow acoustic song playing in the background that he could only recognise as Ethel's favourite song. He pressed his ear further to the door and for a while could hear nothing apart from the music. Collin got slightly frustrated and gritted his teeth in concentration and tightly closed his eyes.

He couldn't quite make it out. But he was sure Ethel was crying.

Reaching for the door handle and gently twisted it open, Collin prayed Ethel wouldn't chuck anything his way and opened the door. He slid through, and closed the door behind him as if there were rats that could come in if he opened the door any further to let them pass through.

Immediately he spotted Ethel sitting on her bed hugging her pillow and she looked up at him. Collin gulped as he stared at her face. Her eyes were puffy, with black streaks flowing from them. The sight before him pained Collin and he walked over to the bed, sat down next to her and hugged her sideways, slightly pulling his big sister onto his tiny shoulder to cry.

Ethel obliged without a fuss which actually shocked Collin who was expecting a "Get out!".

Crying herself to sleep on Collin's shoulder, he thought about what could possibly be upsetting her this much. She had been with Brad a while... But he was a jerk as far as Collin was concerned and couldn't see why she liked him in the first place.

"Brad's a jerk." Collin muttered, and rested his cheek on Ethel's head.

Little did Collin know that, despite being drowsy, Ethel could hear Collin talking to himself. And she smiled and silently thanked Collin for his support.

Ethel had finally fallen asleep and Collin struggled to lay her down on her bed without dropping her. He couldn't wait for his growth spurt. He managed to tuck her under the covers, whispering 'Goodnight' and switched off the lights and walked out of her room leaving her alone.

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Ethel shrugged her shoulders, and slowly rolled to her side. Her eyes fluttered open and she realised her alarm was sounding. She groaned and slammed it with the palm of her hand. She rolled onto her back, placing her hands over her eyes. She wiped all the sleep and sticky black mascara and eye liner that was still left on her face.

'Collin...' Ethel remembered and mentally sent a warm smile to her brother in the next room, though he'd never get it.

She stretched and walked downstairs to get come cereal and as always her mum and dad were all dressed and ready to go but they sat in their chairs and hugged eachother while eating their breakfast.

A slight pain passed through Ethel's stomach but she walked it off. She grabbed some Coco Pops from the shelf and poured it into a bowl.

"Hey hunny, how're you?" Ethel's mum asked with almost too much concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What time are you guys off to work?" She questioned changing the subject.

"Right... Now." Her dad said staring at his watch, he kissed Ethel's mum on her forehead and kissed Ethel just the same but with a hug.

Ethel frowned, but hid it in his shoulder so he'd never know. Once he'd gone Ethel's mum started cleaning out her bowl and began to gather her things.

Once washing the plates, Ethel's mum stared out the window into the garden. She sighed but never took her eyes off something outside. Ethel watched her mother with curiousity. I kept her mind of things she didn't want to think about.

"You know what I do when something bad's happend?" Ethel's mum blurted out in a soothing voice. "I make a change. I change something about myself. So that people concentrate on that change and not the bad one, so inturn, you do to." She turned to face Ethel with a smile, "Understand?"

Ethel curiously nodded at her mother's strange behaiviour and watched her kiss her goodbye and out the door. Ethel shrugged and carried on eating her Coco Pops.

'Not a bad idea though...' Ethel thought intrigued.

Two knocks at the door made Ethel jump and look at the door. 'Mum probably forgot her keys.' Ethel thought rolling her eyes.

She walked to the door and grinned, "Corr, mum, you sure are getting old and wi-"

Ethel's face dropped automatically to a angered expression, "Go away," she said angrily and pushed the door closed but it swung back open and Ethel stood shocked.

"Don't."

"Don't want?" She replied angrily.

"Do not slam the door in my face. You need to listen to what I have to say." He muttered angrily but didn't look at Ethel.

"Hmm, let me think... No." And once again sent the door slamming against the frame but, once again, the door flew open and Raphael walked in.

"I said don't do that." He warned.

"Tough. This is tresspassing. Get out of my house."

"Or what?"

"Or I'll scream."

"Yeah, right."

"Want to try me?"

"Go for it."

There was a pause and Raphael looked at Ethel. As they both stood in the hallway, Ethel shrugged and opening her mouth to take a gasp of air before screaming as loud, and high, as her lungs could let her. Raphael's hand slammed over her mouth and he kicked the door shut with his foot. He pushed Ethel into the wall with a panic, "Okay, okay. Stop!"

Ethel stopped and smirked but was still unsatisfied, and warned him again, "Get out of my house."

"I need to explain some things to you first-"

"Get out or I'll scream again."

"What's going on?!" Collin shouted running down the stairs with his baseball bat. "Oh, it's you... What're you doing?" Collin asked Raphael lowering his bat.

"I need to talk to you. Both of you. It's really important." Raphael said urgently ignoring Collin's question.

Ethel scoffed. "I am in no way, listening to you." She pushed Raphael off her and walked/stomped up the stairs to her bedroom getting ready for school.

Raphael growled and looked to Collin with pleading eyes, "It is really important I talk to you both."

"Okay, okay." Collin nodded. "She'll calm down in a sec."

Ethel, throwing on whatever clothes she could find, flattened out her hair, grabbed her school bag taking out some books and replacing them with ones she might need today. She ran out of her room, down the stairs and turned to Collin, "Don't be late for school, mum'll kill you." and went to walk out the door.

Raphael grabbed her arm abrubtly, "I told you I need to talk to you."

"Nah-uh," Ethel replied childishly and swung her arm around, getting out of Raphael's grasp running out the door.

She sighed walking down the road and stretched her arms up in the air, letting the breeze fly against her skin. It felt good to be out of the house, all crammed up in her room, all hot and stuffy.

Reaching the school a little early Ethel walked around the back of the school to sit by the benches. She stared out onto the football pitch where a few guys were throwing a rugby ball to eachother, but other than that the surroundings was pretty empty.

Listening to the wind blow and the birds sing she became slightly paranoid she was being watched. She looked around but didn't see anyone. She frowned, trying to shrug off the feeling but it never seemed to go away. Becoming uneasy she decided maybe she should wait in her Tutor room instead.

"Hello, darlin'. You 'nd me need abit of a chat."

The voice, sounding slightly like a hillbilly accent, startled Ethel and she spun round. Ethel's mouth fell open and her eyes wide, as horror took over her whole body. Fear was stuck in her throat so she couldn't scream. Her hand clasped over her face to try and cover the stench that was leaking from him.

"Now, little lady, aint you ever heard of manners?"