She's not an Angel[three]

Noah Evander – 20041

Daddy comes home early today, to my surprise. I have a feeling mommy had called him, which scares and saddens me. I lock the door to my room. I don’t want daddy to come in. He doesn’t like me. He says I’m a bad child who needs to be punished. 2

I can hear foot steps coming up the stairs. I shut my eyes tightly and wait for the knob to turn and for daddy to swear loudly. But I don’t hear any swearing, only the door opening. Mommy has a key. I try to even out my breathing so she thinks I’m sleeping. I feel her sit next to me and stroke my hair lightly. 3

“You look so much like her…” she whispers.4

I know exactly what she’s talking about and somehow I wish I didn’t. One of her tears falls on my cheek and at first I think it’s mine. I restrain myself from opening my eyes and burying myself in her arms, telling her she doesn’t have to cry. 5

“Noah, don’t give in…” 6

I open my eyes the tiniest bit and there in front of me is Charlie. She’s lying on her side, a lazy smile on her pale lips. I’ve never seen her smile until today. It was small but still very pretty. I wondered if all angels had pretty smiles. 7

“Sarah, come out of there, he’s asleep. We’ll deal with him in the morning.” Daddy’s voice is hard and cold. It sent shivers down my spine. 8

The weight on my bed lifts and the door closes. I open my eyes fully because Charlie is still there and I want to keep looking at her smile. 9

“Get up Noah, let’s play.” She says, hopping off the bed. She swings her arms into the air, goes on her toes and starts to dance. She’s wearing a dress today, a blue one. It swishes around her as she spins and twirls. She’s more graceful then a swan. She’s an angel, truly and definitely, no matter what mommy says. 10

“Noah, NOAAAH....” She was screaming so loud, I thought mommy and daddy might hear her. 11

I swallow hard and quietly get off the bed. She grabs at my hand but goes right through me. I looked down. My hand felt so cold when she did that. I looked up at her and her smile had vanished. In fact, she was five feet away from me now. A pained expression was plaguing her face but no tears erupted from her eyes.12

I go over to sit near her. She scoops away the tiniest bit which tells me she wants me there but she doesn’t want to be close. 13

“It’s okay to cry.” I say smiling weakly. 14

Her expression seems to only get worse, “Angel’s can’t cry, Noah. Didn’t mommy tell you…?”15

It never accrued to me until now. I mean, she could do a lot of other stuff humans could do. She could talk and dance and see. 16

“But I can’t breathe or touch or feel or cry…” she said as if she had read my thoughts, “Don’t ever forgot, Noah. I can’t stay forever.”