Angel’s heartbeat went fast when she heard her doorbell rang. She initially thought it might have been Kyle- maybe this is what she wanted, but she would not open the door whenever the person showed up.
A loud noise was heard, someone kicked the door- obviously, the person outside was not Kyle, Angel thought, and she also knew who it might be. Just like a dead zombie walking, Angel walked from her bed to the door, and she was right.
It is Linda.
“YEA! You died already?!” Linda shouted.
Angel did not take offense; she knew this was Linda’s way of showing she cared. She used to be the sweet girl next door type when she was younger, but now Linda is like the thug of the neighborhood.
“I miss you too,” Angel said to Linda with a smile as she opened the door and let her come in.
Linda knows Angel is not much of a clean freak, but the smell and the visuals are far from just not being a neat freak- the place shouts depression!
Linda looked at Angel; she was unsure whether she was happy to see this, but she gave Angel a look that clearly said, what the heck?!
Angel’s only response was silence.
Linda watches as Angel’s bed pulls her back in just like a magnet. Angel automatically covers her head with a blanket, not even bothered by Linda’s presence.
Angel usually acts as a mother to Linda whenever she is around, but this time is totally different. Angel is like a zombie who is neither alive nor dead.
Linda is not used to this because even if she hated Angel at the bottom of her heart, there is a place in it that cares for her.
Linda pulled the blanket out of Angel’s head and bed. Angel did not even move or even show annoyance- she just took the pillow next to her. She covered her face with it pretending to be asleep.
“What the f*ck!” Linda said out of frustration.
“What?” Angel finally responded in a faint voice.
Linda, instead of being annoyed, finds Angel’s answer amusing. She smiles a little. Linda shows the soup she has been carrying since she came in and gestures to eat now. Angel finally gave up being stubborn and followed Linda in the kitchen.
Linda smiled when Angel took her first spoonful. It is clear that she starved herself for days, and her body cannot take it anymore, at least not in the presence of a hot meal.
Linda and Angel ordered two other meals from the nearest stores because Angel was as hungry as a horse.
After one serving of soup,
Two servings of Noodles,
And One box of Fried chicken
The two filled sit together on a cup of coffee.
Silence and peace prevailed in the place.
Not the usual chattering of the two nor their bickering over trivial matters.
It is so quiet and peaceful that even the usually creaking sounds on the walls are absent this afternoon as if to give way to this solitude.
“You will not ask me what is wrong?” Angel said while looking at her almost empty cup.
Linda took another sip and walked towards the sink as she said,
“I asked the same question some nights ago. I didn’t know I would be borrowing his words tonight. “If a person does not want to say something, they either choose to stay quiet for a reason or do not trust the person yet. “
And just like that.
As if the plug that stopped Angel’s tears from falling has been pulled.
Angel’s sobs and tears fill the already small space of the place.
Linda walked closer to Angel, pulled her, and tapped her head just as a mother would do.
Linda can’t understand herself; she is supposed to be glad to see this person in this miserable state. Still, Linda’s feelings are far from being happy at this moment.
Above Linda’s rage, what prevailed is her heart as a friend- the heart she thought she had forgotten and buried six feet under. Clearly, she is wrong.
When Angel finally stops crying and is ready to speak. She told Linda what had happened. Everything that happened.
How Kyle is suddenly not gay.
How they made love.
How the tables had turned, and she found out that Kyle’s father was the one who killed her father.
And how she is still being hunted down up to this day.
“And also the reason why you changed your name, right?” Linda bluntly said in cold eyes.
Angel was confused as she never said that she changed her name, but because Linda already said it, she just responded with,
“Ye, Yes. How did you know that?”
Linda can’t hide it anymore.
Her gaze became cold
Her warm hands became the opposite that Angel immediately removed them from her back.
Linda walked towards the tiny window in front of the couch with the county's worst view. She opened the window, put out a smoke, and lit it.
“You smoke?!” Angel said in shock.
“I needed to after all your father had done to me. Angel Kim,” Linda said, so calm, yet her voice sent shivers to Angel’s spine.
“How did you….”
Linda cut Angel mid-sentence. Her emotions are getting the best of her.
“Why? Did you purposely hide it from me? Do you know this all along? Did you enjoy making a fool out of a naïve, sheltered child?!”
“What are you saying? I didn’t. I wouldn’t….”
“You wouldn’t WHAT! Your father is the reason why I am miserable today! I once had the best things life can offer, riches, a loving family, high status in society! But all of this went down to the drain when your father FALSE ACCUSE MINE!”
Linda is already crying out of anger. Her body is shaking. The smoke she is holding is almost falling off her hand.
“FALSELY ACCUSED?!”
Out of all the words Linda said, this is what hit Angel the most and the only word that made her instantly get up off the couch and walk towards Linda and….