September Rain

by A.R. Rivera

2

  -Avery

  Angel completely ignored me for the millionth time.

  It's killing me. And it doesn't matter.

  I waited for her to show up in that corridor. For hours and hours. You know, it takes a lot of fucking effort to ignore someone who's in front of your face.

  But Angel did it.

  Once I reach the end of the hallway, instead of turning like I planned, I flip back around and head for the door that's now closing. There's a small window in the top-center of the door. I use it to steal a peek inside. There are four people around a table. Angel and three suits: the idiot lawyer, a lady with really bad hair, and a tall skinny guy.

  Angel turns toward the door and I shrink under the window. I've been hoping to grab her at just the right moment; a second when she isn't expecting me. Maybe she'll falter and let herself notice me, since she's hell-bent on acting like I don't exist. Right now, though she's expecting me to be hovering.

  It doesn't matter. Maybe if I keep saying it, I'll start to believe it.

  I don't know why everyone is so hell-bent on getting Angels' side of the story. She never knew anything. If she'd had a damned clue we wouldn't have ended up in prison. Then again, I was the reason she didn't know anything. I went out of my way to ensure that she didn't.

  From time to time, when I had to give her the bald-faced lie she needed to cope, I'd wonder if she suspected. But after everything came down and she completely withdrew from the world, then I knew for sure: she never had a clue.

  Which made me really fucking sad. Angry too, because I knew everything without anybody having to lay it out for me.

  Angel never was one to pick up on subtlety, though. Matter of fact, she's gifted in the art of ignoring anything she doesn't like. Like me.

  No, she always had to have shit spelled out to her; unless the shits name was Jake. He was her everything-greatest strength and biggest weakness. There were never any walls where Jake was concerned.

  I think he was our biggest problem. If she'd never met Jake, none of it would have happened.

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