The Real Story of Heaven and Hell

Chaos surrounds me as sound of battle raging rings out throughout the mountain. Lil, Brian and Matt have been gone for days. I knew she was all right because there were a ton of demons beating against our walls nonstop.

You see it didn’t take long for the demons to find the house in the mountains, but we had been holding our own for days. Cory had wanted to leave but Johnny had been convinced that the rest of our little tribe would be coming back any moment and so we should hold out here.

Oh yeah did I mention that Brian and Matt were in hell? I had begged them to follow Lil and keep her safe. I had believed that we would be safe in here and maybe we would have if the angels hadn’t shown up a day ago.

Now we were surrounded with no way of escape. I had stopped praying for Lil, Brian, Jimmy and Matt to come home in time to help and instead started praying that it would be over by the time they did. I knew what I had to do; the idea had come to me in the form of a nightmare.

There was only one way to save everyone, including myself.

Step one wasn’t hard. I threw a few things into a bag, old jeans, tees, my favorite hoodie, bra and panties. Yeah, you guessed it, I was running away. I realized now why my mother had done the same thing. I was saving my twin, freeing her from the burden I had become.

I hated to admit it but I hadn’t realized what I had been doing to her, what I had always done to her. She could have been popular if she had wanted but she had chosen to stay by my side so I wouldn’t be alone. How many times had she wanted to go out and when I said I didn’t want to she had changed her plans? I had been holding her back since birth.

Lil’s angry words still echoed through my mind. “God damn it Sera, for once in my life I’m gonna do something for me instead of staying and protecting you.” Pain sliced through my heart at the memory. Yes, I was doing the right thing now.

I looked towards the sound of battle; my guardians and my half sister were going to die to protect me. It wasn’t right and I couldn’t allow it. If I just got away I could hide, I was sure of it. I had always been good at hiding, at blending in. I could do so again. I didn’t need much, I never had.

This was going to work, it had to.

It was the only way to save the people I loved.

Step two of my great escape plan was a little more difficult. I used one of the tunnels still intact to get down to where we kept the cars. I moved quickly afraid of being caught by my guardians more so then any demon or angel. My guardians would try to stop me, angels or demons would most likely just try to kill me. Not that that hadn’t been happening for months now.

Step three was the most dangerous. I jumped behind the wheel of Matt’s suv and gunned it. I broke through the fake rock and catapulted into the driveway. My entrance did its job and got me the attention of not only my guardians who were surrounded and dangerously outnumbered, but the angels and demons a like who encircled them.

I jumped out of the suv with it still running. “SHEILD!” I screamed at Zacky, my voice echoing through the entire mountain. I thanked dad that he listened without question, without hesitation. I focused all of my energy on the mountain side. I commanded the rock to break away and fall taking snow, and trees along down with it.

It took a second for everyone to catch on to what I was doing and when they did it was too late. Throwing a hand up the very earth itself lifted, trapping the angels and demons where they were. I lifted my eyes back to the mountain side that was racing to meet me.

Within minutes it was over. I waivered where I stood as I felt liquid dripping from my nose. I wiped at it and realized it was blood. Guess a little earth shifting was above my pay grade and now I was paying for it. I lifted my face to the heavens and freezing rain began to fall. Soon everything would be frozen solid.

I stumbled over to where Zacky, Cory and Johnny were. Now came the hardest part of all. It was time for step four.

I dug them out just enough that they could breathe easily.

“Get us the fuck out of here.” Johnny commanded.

I wiped at the tears streaming out of the corners of my eyes. “I can’t.”

“Don’t do this.” Zacky pleaded. Of course he would realize what I was doing. He and Brian knew me better than anyone now. My heart squeezed again with the thought of Brian and I shut off that train of thought.

I gave him a sad smile. “It’s the only way.”

“It won’t change anything.” Johnny growled having now realized what I was doing.

“Maybe, maybe not. But I have to try.” I got up and almost fell I was so weak.

I heard Cory yelling for me but I ignored her. Climbing into the suv I rested my head on the steering wheel. I was in the process of gaining strength to move when I felt it. Lil was okay. Fresh tears streamed down my face out of relief. This was going to work.

I put the suv in drive and left without looking back. She might hate me at first but she would get over it. She had her freedom and Jimmy, all she needed to be happy. I wiped away my tears and focused on the road I was driving down.

I had no idea where I was going. I drove until I ran out of gas, the suv sputtering to a halt along the side of the road. Climbing out I grabbed the bag from the back seat, left the keys in the center console and locked the doors.

I walked for I don’t know how many miles before a car slowed behind me. The little old man inside of it gave me a lift to the next town. I thanked him for his generosity and got out. I looked around frowning; I had no idea where I was.

I wandered into a Walmart and headed immediately to the hair care section. First thing was first; this blonde hair had to go. I grabbed a bottle of brown dye and moved on to the personal hygiene section. I grabbed toiletries that were nothing like I currently used, contact solution and a pair of non prescription glasses. I mean hey if they kept people from realizing Superman was Clark Kent, it was good enough for me. Last thing was last, new color contacts.

With everything I needed for my new life in hand I made my way to the register. The middle age woman smiled kindly at me. She looked at the box of dark brown hair dye and then back to me as if trying to picture my hair brown. “Your hair is so pretty why would you ever want to dye it?”

I shrugged. “Need a change.” It wasn’t a lie just not the whole truth. I needed to look like anyone but me.

“Don’t we all?” She said laughing and I faked a smile.

I walked to what most would call a ‘seedy’ hotel. I tried to ignore the way the creepy young man kept eyeing me and hurried to my room. As soon as I was in it I shut and locked the door. When that didn’t make me feel any better I put the dresser against it, thank God for my inhuman strength.

Setting my stuff down beside the bed I looked around. The place looked gross and dirty. The carpet was a faded orangeish tan that looked like it was thirty years old. The paint that I guess was once white was now an off white and was flaking off. I ran my finger over the top of the night stand and came away with dust. It looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in a couple of months at least. The only thing that looked semi new was the bed, which led me to guess what this motel was used for most. A shiver of fear raced down my spine. It was amazing how much scarier everything looked and felt without Lil beside me. Get over it. That life is over.

I walked into the bathroom which wasn’t any nicer than the rest of the room. With one last look in the mirror I pulled out the dye. I had never colored my hair before and just hoped it came out okay. An hour later it was time to wash my hair. As I dried my hair I couldn’t stop thinking about how weird I looked with brown hair and lavender eyes. Once it was dried I wanted to see how I looked with everything on. So I fished out my new brown contacts and put my glasses on. With my hair back in a sloppy ponytail I looked like a whole new person.

I should probably cut my hair short just to make the look more complete. The thought made me sad, I hadn’t cut my hair since I was a child. Frowning I took down my hair, removed my glasses and contacts and headed to the bed. I didn’t bother changing out of my clothes as I lay down on top of it. Tomorrow I would find somewhere to get my hair cut and then hitchhike my way to the next town.

Welcome to my new life, the life of a vagabond.