City of Dark Angels

*Dream*

The floor beneath me creaks as I slowly make my way down the hallway, back to my bedroom to get some sleep before the morning. I suddenly feel a strong presence behind me, but I am too scared to turn around to face it. I keep moving forward and suddenly the light goes out, and I am alone with my pounding heartbeat in the hallway.

I take a deep breath before finally turning around; I am face to face with a true nightmare. A shadow of my nightmares, with glowing red eyes blink in the darkness and I shriek at all the possibilities of what could occur next. From the shadows a figure steps out and a shriek of terror bellows from within it.

"Whatever you are, I'm not afraid of you." I shout out with confidence, the creature smiles at me from the shadows it lurks behind. I take a deep breath and step towards it, reaching my hand out to collide with the monster within. The touch is a soft feather; I take my hand back and see a black feather fall to the ground.

"Delilah..." It calls out to me, fading out from my perception. "Please, please save us."

"Who is us?" I ask, wanting to know what it wants from me. Doubting the answers will become clear any time soon.

"Those in the City of Angels, it's only getting worse. He's changing us, into the monster we were always meant to be."

"What is this 'City of Angels' I keep hearing about?" I question, the vision of the monster becoming clear to me. It's Cecilia once again, reaching out to me and giving me a sign. The wings on her back flapping from the breeze from my open window as she speaks.

"He will find you, and he will let you know how to get to us. You're the only one that can save us Delilah, you and Travis. Please hurry, before they escape into the real world. Before, the end of times takes over."

~~~

I am startled awake by a crash of thunder from outside of the car window, Travis and I had drove almost all night and pulled over sometime around three am to sleep for awhile before continuing our escape. It is nearly morning, and the sky is beginning to awaken. The storm outside nearing its end. Travis is still fast asleep in the passenger seat next to me, curled up with his feet pressed into him.

The dream I just woke from still looms on in my thoughts, I think about all I had seen. What is this 'City of Angels'? What does it have to do with me? Why is Cecilia so troubled and reaching out to me for help? I grab my phone from my cup holder and press the screen open. There is a missed call and a voicemail from an unknown number, I dial my voicemail and listen to the message.

"Delilah...Travis...there's no use running, you're going to be found wherever you go. Running won't stop me, or him, or anyone. So don't bother running anymore, just give up." I scream internally in fear, its the voice of my father, but how did he get my number? I changed it right after waking from the accident, and only gave it to a select number of people. People I trusted. He is certainly not one of those people.

Travis stirs in his sleep in the seat next to me, starting to mumble a little bit while he begins to awaken. It lasts for a moment before his brown eyes begin to open and peer up at me.

"Good morning." He says sitting up and stretching. "Sleep well?"

"As well as I could in a cramped car." I complain, dialing my voicemail and playing it for Travis. He listens intently and shudders in fear when its over.

"Keep driving." He insists, and I nod in agreement and continue the long drive down the highway. "He won't find us."

***

We pull up into a gas station sometime later, to fill up on gas and some junk food. As I'm finishing filling my car with gas, I look up to see someone peering out at me from behind a pole. A young girl with glossy scared brown eyes and brown hair, watching my every move. I pay for the gas with my debit card and glance at the window inside the store for Travis. He's at the checkout purchasing some snacks for us, so I quickly begin to walk over to the girl who is watching me. I see that she has wings behind her back as well. Just like the ones I seen on Cecilia in my dreams.

"Can I help you?" I ask, approaching her with caution.

She looks around in surprise before opening her mouth to speak, "You can see me?"

"What do you mean? Of course I can see you!" I say to her and she watches me fearfully and retreats into the shadows and disappears. I look around for her with fear, then turn to see Travis standing there watching me.

"Delilah? Who are you talking to?" He asks worriedly.

"There was a girl...?" I say, still looking around for the girl that mysteriously vanished. "She has brown eyes...and wings... "

"Maybe you had another episode..." Travis says reaching out to me and placing his hand behind my back and ushering me towards the car. I stop and turn around to face where I seen the girl, feeling confused. "Delilah, there is no one there."

He tries to sound reassuring, assuming it's just another one of my 'episodes' but I know I seen her, I spoke to her, and she spoke to me. She was surprised that I could see her, but I seen her. I know that I did.

"Maybe I'm just going insane." I say opening the car door and sliding in getting prepared to continue driving.

"I can drive if you want me too, try and get some rest." Travis says, and I nod in agreement sliding over to the passenger seat. I put in my headphones and turn on some music and close my eyes. Planning to get a small nap in, hoping my dreams aren't disrupted by nightmares once again.

And hoping my father won't catch up to us.