Angel's Uprising

by Campbell, Jamie

“Don’t worry, I’ll pass on the message and instructions.”

  He stood to leave, dreading it already. Before he could flash away, he turned to Leila. If he went without saying the words he really wanted to, he would never forgive himself.

  “I’ve really missed you, Leila. Please know that I have wanted to be with you every second of every day. Not a moment passed where I wasn’t thinking about you.”

  She didn’t know what to say, although she did feel like crying. The emotion and love conveyed in his words told her there was a lot more she couldn’t remember about him. But until she could recall those memories, she could only stand there in silence.

  Jerome disappeared before her eyes, she let him go with his words lingering in the air. Nothing she could say would be as beautiful, nor conveyed with his melodic voice.

  She fell back onto the bed, exhausted and completely awake at the same time. She doubted she would be able to sleep but she didn’t have another plan. Leila crawled into bed and picked up her book again, trying to remember what being normal felt like.

  Sometime during the night she fell asleep with the book still resting on her chest. When the sunlight started filtering through her blinds, she awoke.

  The night before definitely seemed like a dream now. Surely she couldn’t have really had an angel in her room? Speaking with her? Telling her he needed her help? It was completely surreal.

  But, there on her nightstand, was an envelope and a piece of paper with a name scrawled across it in her handwriting. It wasn’t a dream, she had tangible proof that she had received a message.

  She dressed and had breakfast, trying to act like it was just another day. She couldn’t be questioned by Toby and Maree, she would go to pieces if she tried to explained what she had planned for the day. They might even send her off to the insane asylum.

  Grabbing her bicycle, Leila set off on her journey. She didn’t have too far to go, just the other side of the city. It would have taken about twenty minutes by car, twice that on the bike. The weather was sunny and warm, it was much nicer being on two wheels though. At least the bicycle had some merits over the four wheeled machines.

  Jerome had told her the girl lived somewhere across the city, he didn’t know exactly where because she wasn’t his human to protect. He had only one and it was her. This girl was his friend’s responsibility.

  As she approached the neighborhood Jerome mentioned, Leila kept a lookout for a post office. They were slowly re-opening and accepting mail deliveries but only a few. If you posted something, there was only a slim chance it would get to the person.

  But she wasn’t interested in the mail, she wanted the phone book that the office’s held. It was old fashioned, but with the internet still down, it was the only way to find someone these days. She entered the store.

  Two women stood behind the counter, chatting to each other. Leila interrupted them. “Excuse me, where are your phone books kept?”

  They didn’t appreciate the way she had butted into their conversation. One of the women grimaced at her. “Behind the counter to stop people stealing them. What do you want it for?”

  “I’m trying to find someone.”

  “The phones don’t work, girly.”

  “It’s an address I’m trying to find. I know it’s a long shot but I’m trying to track down an old friend of mine,” Leila lied, hoping it would be enough.

  “You don’t know the address of a friend?” The woman replied skeptically.

  “I can’t remember, it’s been a while.”

  The two women exchanged a glance, it wasn’t looking promising. Finally, the grumpier one of the two looked back at her. “What’s her last name?”

  “Tyler.”

  The woman grunted and reached down behind the counter. She pulled out a dusty old volume of the white pages and threw it on the counter. “You’ve got two minutes.”

  “Thank you,” Leila said politely. She quickly flicked through the directory, jotting down the address of every Tyler she could find in the neighborhood. There were seven of them in total, she had her work cut out for her.

  “Two minute’s up.”

  “I’m done, thank you.” She smiled sweetly, hoping it would anger the two women when she didn’t get riled up by their attitudes. She left the post office and returned to her bike, unlocking the chain from around the fence post.

  It had been so long since she had ventured this far from home. Her focus was her direct community and the two buildings in the city. People rarely left their comfort zone in the last few years and Leila was no exception. Scary things could happen in unfamiliar surroundings, you never knew who was around or what they were up to.

  She tried to put her fear out of her mind. Jerome had told her he wouldn’t ask her to do anything dangerous, she trusted him. If he said it was safe to speak with this girl, then it would be. Leila had no idea where that kind of blind optimism came from, but she knew not to question it. She had faith in him, that was enough for now. After all, it could still all be a dream.

  Leila started with the address closest to the post office. She cycled up to the house, well, what was left of it anyway. The entire building was nothing but rubble on the ground. She hoped this wasn’t where Shenay Tyler used to live and was now lost in the wind. It would be impossible to find her otherwise.

  She continued on to the next four houses, each one was intact but the occupants insisted they had never heard of a Shenay. Nor did they appreciate a stranger knocking on their door. She left each one just a little more dissuaded.

  On the sixth house, Leila found the address that matched her piece of paper and walked her bike to the door, unprepared to leave it in the street. She could trust those in her neighborhood but wouldn’t chance it anywhere else.

  Knocking, Leila waited and hoped the occupant would be home. The house was nice enough, it had obviously been repaired in the last six months with newer bricks holding up one side of the house. Signs of where boards had once been erected over the windows were there too. Someone had ridden out the violence in the house, all the signals were there.

  Leila knocked again. “Hello, is anyone home?”

  Finally, the door was answered by a girl no older than Leila herself. Both of them were just teenagers, but their haunted eyes betrayed the ordeals they had gone through.

  “Who are you?” She asked, looking her over suspiciously.

  “My name is Leila Loudon. Are you Shenay Tyler?” She silently crossed her fingers, praying she had found her. With only one more address on her list, her odds were not looking good.

  “I might be, who wants to know?”

  “Just me. May I come in? I promise I’m not here to cause trouble or anything. I just need to tell you something.” Leila smiled, trying desperately to convince her of her words. If she didn’t then her whole morning had been a waste of time.

  “Are you alone?” Leila nodded and the girl finally stepped away from the door. “You better bring your bike inside, I wouldn’t leave it out there if I were you.”

  She cared about her possessions, it was a good sign she might be helpful, Leila noted. The story she was about to tell her was farfetched, she needed the girl to be caring at least.

  Inside, there was barely more than a lounge in the living room. Leila was used to the sparse furniture, most houses had been looted at some stage. Somewhere in the city, there was either a warehouse of stolen furniture, or a massive pile of ashes from their destruction. It all had to have gone somewhere.

  “So, you said your name was Leila?”

  “Yes, and you are Shenay?”

  She shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. How do you know my name?”

  “Someone told me to find you.” Leila sat on the lounge, signaling she wasn’t going to leave anytime soon. She watched as Shenay did the same, at least she wasn’t planning on kicking her out either. Not yet, anyway.

  “Who was that, then?” Shenay asked, her gaze was intense and challenging. She could easily have intimidated anyone sh
e was speaking with. Leila tried to not let it get to her, she had a mission to complete.

  “My friend Jerome. I know this is going to sound crazy but he’s a guardian angel.” She waited to see the reaction, it was as expected.

  “A guardian angel? What are you, nuts?”

  “I know it’s hard to take in, but you have a guardian angel too. Her name is Lucia,” Leila continued, speaking fast so she couldn’t be interrupted. “You may have felt the presence of someone, like a ghost, but you couldn’t explain it? Perhaps you’ve heard a noise that couldn’t have really happened? Or maybe you’ve almost been hurt but saved at the last minute with no idea of how it could have happened that way?”

  Silence blanketed them. Considering she hadn’t been thrown out, Leila knew she had struck a chord. Shenay had experienced at least one of things she had mentioned. She just might not be willing to share it with the odd stranger in her home.

  She continued. “I know you understand what I’m saying, I’ve experienced it too. The angels are in trouble, they need help. We have-”

  “How do you even know this?” Shenay cut her off.

  “Because Jerome told me, he came to me and gave me these instructions.” She thought if she used his name, it didn’t sound so crazy. If that was even possible.

  “And Jerome is an angel?” Her theory wasn’t going to work.

  “Yes, he’s my guardian angel. Just like Lucia is yours.”

  Leila was sure that if she looked up the word confused in the dictionary, it would have a photograph of Shenay next to it. She wasn’t getting through to the girl but didn’t know of any other way to do it. All she could do was keep chipping away at her.

  “Angels aren’t anything to be afraid of, but they do need our help. I need you to do something that is really easy and won’t hurt at all.” Leila waited for a reaction but didn’t get one. Either the girl was shutting down or she was listening intently. She couldn’t be sure which one. “I have a note here-”

  “Why should I help you?” Shenay interrupted. “What do I get out of it?”

  Leila was taken aback by the question, did she have to get something out of it? Being able to keep her protector should have been incentive enough, right? “You get to keep your guardian angel safe and help them out. What I’m asking isn’t hard, it will only take a minute.”

  Shenay stared at her for some time before answering. “What do you want me to do? I’m not saying I’ll do it, but I don’t know unless I know. Right?”

  “Right,” Leila answered, hoping that was the correct answer. “I have a note here for Lucia. All you need to do is place it in your hands and hold it up in front of you. Then, you need to pretend you’re in danger and scared. That will summon your angel. She will see the note and take it.”

  “That’s all?” Shenay watched as Leila nodded. “And this angel is just supposed to take the note?”

  “She will. At the moment they can’t leave the angel realm unless their human is in danger. So you need to convince her to come and protect you.”

  “This sounds crazy.”

  “I know, but it won’t hurt to try, right?”

  Shenay didn’t have an argument for that reasoning. She sighed. “Fine, I’ll do it. But you can’t blame me if it doesn’t work. I mean, seriously, this is nuts. You know that, right?”

  “It should work.” Leila prayed it would, she would sound crazy if it didn’t. A little vindication wouldn’t go astray. “Can you do it now?”

  “I guess.”

  The girls stood, facing each other. Leila positioned Shenay so she held her hands upturned. The note, with the name Lucia scrawled in big letters across it, was perched on her open hands. The angel could take it without touching her human and would hopefully see it easily.

  “Okay, now I need you to be really panicked like you’re in danger and scared,” Leila instructed, hoping the girl was a good actress.

  “Like I just think it? Or do I need to scream or something?”

  “Just think it,” she guessed. Jerome hadn’t exactly been big on the human details. He had made it sound easy, which she believed at the time. But now, trying to convince Shenay, she realized how flimsy the plan was.

  Leila stood watching her anyway, giving her some space so the angel wouldn’t be put off by the audience. She didn’t know what the rules were but they were probably strict if Jerome’s attitude was anything to go by.

  “Are you doing it?” She asked when nothing was happening.

  “Yes, I’m doing it. Don’t interrupt me,” Shenay responded tersely. At least she was taking it seriously.

  They waited as the minutes ticked by painfully slow. It didn’t look like anything was going to happen. Leila’s mind whirled with a plan B, something she could do to salvage the situation. She didn’t think Shenay would continue for much longer and trying to get her to agree to anything else would be tricky. She’d lost any goodwill she had built in the short time she had been there.

  Suddenly, the note vanished into thin air. Shenay’s eyes opened wide but she remained as still as a statue, not daring to move. Leila stood, making sure her eyes weren’t playing tricks on her.

  It was definitely gone. “Lucia, the note is from Jerome. Please read it. You can reply the same way he sent it. I am his human, my name is Leila Loudon.”

  There was no way to tell whether the angel was still there or not, but Leila had to try anyway. She looked at Shenay, her face was drained of color. “Are you okay?”

  Shenay nodded slowly. “Can I move now?”

  “Yeah, you’ve delivered the note. We did it.” She wanted to hug the girl but settled on a high five. Neither could believe they had actually accomplished it and were giddy with the thrill.

  Shenay finally slumped onto the lounge. “I really have a guardian angel.”

  “It’s supposed to be a secret though, so you can’t tell anyone. People do crazy things if they know they are protected.” As the words spoke from Leila’s mouth, she didn’t know where they had come from. It was like she was hearing it for the first time too. Jerome hadn’t told her that the night before, so how did she know? She had no idea.

  A smile spread across Shenay’s lips. “This is really cool.”

  “I know.” Leila returned the grin.

  She wrote down her address for the girl in case there was a return message. If there was, Lucia would leave it out for her to see but probably wouldn’t reveal herself. Shenay was to take the note and deliver it back to Leila. And vice-versa if Leila got a message.

  They agreed to keep their arrangement between themselves and Leila left her in peace. Cycling home, she hadn’t felt that good in six months.

  CHAPTER 13

  Three days passed without another message or visitation. With each moment that went by, Leila grew more anxious. Despite evidence to the contrary, she still wondered if she had dreamed the whole angel thing. Plus, if everything had been so urgent, why hadn’t he returned again? He didn’t know she didn’t have a message to give him. He could have checked on her.

  Standing in the nearly complete library, Leila was fidgety. She didn’t know what to do with herself and couldn’t get rid of the sick feeling in her stomach. Something was wrong, she just couldn’t put her finger on it.

  Reece gave her a smile through the shelves as she carried books to put away. She returned his grin but it didn’t translate to her eyes. She was faking being normal so people wouldn’t ask her questions but it was wearing. Any moment now she felt she might collapse into a heap.

  As she worked in the parenting section, Leila replaced a book on baby names. Suddenly, her mind whirled with activity. Jerome with the book, standing outside in the daylight arguing with him, tripping over loose bricks. They flashed through her mind in under a second. Just long enough to catch a glimpse of the images.

  She stumbled to lean against the shelves, fearing her legs wouldn’t hold her up for much longer. The remaining books she held were gripped tight, she expected to drop them
at any moment.

  Leila took a few deep breaths, trying to recover. It was like the memories were thrust into her head with the subtlety of a bowling ball. It took everything out of her but left so many questions in its wake.

  Why was she fighting with the angel? Why did he have the baby name book? Where were they? When did it happen? There were so many questions she wondered if there was ever going to be enough time to answer them.

  Still, Leila knew they were memories and not just her mind playing tricks on her. They weren’t something she had dreamed up, they were real. Just as much as she knew Jerome was an angel, she knew this was the truth too. It didn’t matter that it made no sense, at some point perhaps it would.

  “Hey there, are you okay?” Niall came around the corner, holding a stack of books himself. “You look a little pale.”

  “I’m fine,” she said, shaking her head to get rid of the memories. She instead tried to remember how to be a normal human being. Surely it couldn’t be as hard as it felt.

  “Anything you want to talk about?” He asked, in his usual caring way. He glanced between Leila and Reece across the room, wondering if there was more going on than he knew about. “We can keep it between us.”

  Leila wanted to laugh at his unnecessary discretion. Reece was the last thing on her mind. She wished it was just boy trouble, that would have been nice – and normal.

  “No, I’m fine, really.” She hesitated, but thought better of it. She trusted Niall, perhaps he could help. “Do you believe in angels?”

  To her surprise, he nodded eagerly. “I sure do. Why do you ask?”

  She ignored the question. “Why do you believe in them?”

  “Because I think it would be arrogant to believe only in the things we can see. Where would the magic be then?”

  “Those who don’t believe in magic, will never find it,” Leila added, remembering the famous quote. She couldn’t help but smile at the man, he certainly had a way of making her feel better. He always thanked her for the help given, but really she owed him many thanks too.

  “That’s right, Leila,” Niall continued. “I believe angels walk amongst us, we just can’t see them. I’d like to think there was somebody looking out for me.”