Forsaken by Keary Taylor Read Free Book Online Page B

Less than thirty seconds later, Jessica came walking out of
the office with Rita.
    “ You ready?” she said with
a smile that was half forced.
    “ Yeah, let’s go,” I said
as she grabbed my hand. I glanced back at Austin who quickly looked
away. I was starting to get a little tired of all the guys who
looked at Jessica like she was a piece of meat.
     
    X
     
    The next day Jessica was pulled into
work when another girl had called in ill. She hadn’t even said
good-bye when she left. I felt sick. Our ice cream trip had ended
up in a huge fight. She had actually slammed her bedroom door in my
face. She tried telling me she didn’t care what happened, that she
just wanted to be with me and I tried to tell her that we couldn’t
have that anymore.
    But in that moment I hated myself,
everything I had become. I hated the angels who had tried to take
her, I hated Cole for what he had done, I hated the entire
afterlife. I wanted to fix this. But how could I do something so
selfish?
    The gravel crunched as I parked the
truck in the tiny lot. I wasn’t sure why I was here or what I
expected to get out of this. I wanted some answers, for someone to
tell me what was right and what was wrong. It seemed a church
should be the place to find someone who could answer that for
me.
    The chapel was empty when I entered,
as I should have assumed it would be on a Friday afternoon. I
looked around, making sure no one would be watching from the
shadows but my senses told me there was no one around.
    I worried I might burst into flames as
I knelt at the altar. I wasn’t supposed to be here. Angels weren’t
supposed to walk the land of the living. I wasn’t alive. But here I
was, searching for answers as any mortal man might in the house of
the Lord.
    “ If you’re out there,” I
said quietly with my eyes squeezed shut. “Help me know what the
right thing to do is.”
    I sat and waited. What was I supposed
to be doing? Listening for words to be spoken to me? A feeling from
within? I wasn’t sure.
    Nothing came for a good three
minutes.
    The sensation started in my fingertips
and crawled up my arms to my chest. The air that flowed through the
building suddenly sounded hollow and far away. My vision faded in
and out and I struggled to make my eyes focus on the marble floor
at my knees.
    A chorus of low chuckles resonated
from the darkness. I heard them whispering my name, calling me to
join them, to go back to where I now belonged.
    I gasped for air.
    “ Are you alright,
sir?”
    The call of the dead dropped away
instantly as a voice from behind me rocked me back to my senses. I
realized then that I had dropped to all fours and was shaking
violently. An itching like I couldn’t describe ran under the skin
of my back as I struggled to fight back what I was.
    The priest who stood in the aisle
behind me looked concerned and took a hesitant step toward
me.
    “ I’m fine,” I said as I
shook my head and climbed to my feet. It took every ounce of
concentration I had to keep my wings from erupting. That would make
for a difficult conversation. Actually, it might kind of make this
priest’s life, seeing a real angel. It would also probably greatly
increase the size of his congregation. “Sorry, I just got kind of
dizzy.”
    “ Why don’t you have a
seat?” the middle-aged man said as he indicated the front row
pew.
    I wanted to slip out and avoid this
entire situation I had stupidly put myself into but couldn’t do it
without offending the man who was trying to be nice. “Thanks,” I
said uneasily and sat beside him.
    Neither of us said anything as we sat
side by side and looked at the stained glass window featuring a
baby Jesus.
    “ Do you believe in
redemption, Father?” I blurted out before I could stop
myself. Ah crap. I really didn’t need to get into a discussion with a man of
God in my current… condition, about redemption.
    “ Of course,” he said with
a slight smile as he looked at me. He had the same expression