Angel Over My Shoulder by Pepper Pace Read Free Book Online

car in for a complete check and bought a set of four new tires.
     
    At night she double checked that the doors and windows were locked and had begun sleeping with a knife under her pillow. She’d even had second thoughts about breaking up with Michael. Maybe he would go psycho on her.
     
    The first night that she went to sleep, she was surprised that she woke up the next morning with no memory of dreams. She went through her day robotically, barely able to wait until she was tired enough to fall asleep.
     
    Thoughts of Angel consumed her days. She would find herself smiling at odd moments and would touch her lips at the memory of their first kiss. His first kiss. Her heart beat would quicken as she replayed his lips on breasts. She wanted to see him, had never wanted it more than she did now.
     
    She engaged in tasks that were sure to tire her. After work she went to the grocery store, scrubbed the floors and then took a long hot bath. By the time she went to bed she was truly tired.
     
    “Angel…” She murmured as she fell asleep. What if it took him months to return or even years? “Angel, please come…”
     
    “I’m here.” She opened her eyes and they were standing in a vast field. She spun in a slow circle. She’d never been here before. It was bright outside and she squinted at him.
     
    “Where are we?”
     
    He shrugged. “Just a place.” He reached out and took her hand and even though it was natural between them, something he had done all of her life, her body shivered. They began to walk and Leslie took a deep breath because there was something she had to face, even though part of her only wanted to rejoice in being with him.
     
    “Angel, am I going to die?” She asked it quickly before she lost her nerves.
     
    He stopped walking and faced her, taking both of her hands into his. “I’ve never seen your death and if I did I would never tell you. Your death is mine, too, you know.” He smiled slightly at that. She didn’t. She still wasn’t relieved.
     
    “I’ll show you.” He said solemnly.
     
    She nodded. “God, I want to tell you not to, but I can’t live with knowing and not knowing.”
     
    “Ok.” They continued to walk until they were no longer in the field but in a room.
     
    “No…” She moaned as she looked about in sudden understanding. “Nooo…” she sobbed.
     
    Angel looked at her, the her whose hand he was holding—and not the her that lay strapped into a hospital bed with wild hair and wild eyes screaming to be released.
     
    She had been institutionalized.
     
    Leslie felt as if she could drop to her knees, she felt weak. Angel squeezed her hand gently.
     
    She stared at the image of herself strapped to a hospital bed. She was struggling against the restraints frantically, screaming to be let go, screaming for them to get the letter. The letter was on the stereo and would prove that she was sane.
     
    Leslie felt tears sprout in her eyes at the agony that she was to endure. But what letter? She looked at Angel for an answer. He raised his brow as if to say that he had nothing to say.
     
    Okay, there was going to be a letter and she had to remember everything that she could… because she would write the letter. Frantically she took an assessment of the contents of the room
     
    There was just the bed, two doors…linoleum floor. There was a window with ugly orange curtains. And at the window…Leslie walked to the window ledge. A small bouquet of lilies set in a pretty vase. She picked up the note. It was from her boss at the diner. Damn, and all of this time she had thought that he was just an ill tempered, demanding asshole. This was very nice of him, because his flowers stood alone; no one else had bothered.
     
    She turned and looked at Angel but he was staring with a broken expression at the Leslie strapped to the bed. The begging, the screaming, the writhing against the straps, desperate to be heard finally got to her and Leslie ran over to herself