Chapter 5 of the Soul Survivor

Chapter 5

“Angel!” Her mother grabbed her and shook her. Angel’s eyes glazed over as her body trembled. “Angel, look at me!”

Angel was lost. Darkness surrounded her as the man kept his finger to his mouth, attempting to quiet her. The room disappeared, her parents disappeared and Angel had never felt so frightened in her young life.

“What is it, Angel?” Her father looked around.

Angel’s screams echoed off the walls, through the rooms and inside of her head. Her mouth stayed open, but no more noise left her throat when the man disappeared whispering his name as he faded. “Lange,” was all she heard.

Angel realized her mother was shaking her and her father was kneeling next to her. The light returned around her, showing their concerned faces.

“There was a man here. I saw him. I promise.” Her shaky voice revealed how scared she’d been of him. When his eyes lit up, it felt as if the beam of light went straight through her.

“Like your friends?” Her mother picked her up and cradled her against her.

Angel shook her head. “He wasn’t a friend. He was…I don’t know what he was, but he wasn’t friendly.”

“Will this ever stop?” Angel felt her father wrap his arms around both of them.

“I was hoping…I mean I had such high hopes that the move…” Darcy lifted her head and looked into her husband’s eyes. Angel could see he had been wishing for the very same thing. He nodded as they created a shield around her.

“I don’t like this house.” Angel covered her ears with her hands. “I don’t like this house and I don’t like Florida!”

“Is he gone?” Darcy looked around. Angel wasn’t sure why. Even if the man had still been standing there, she wouldn’t be able to see him.

“He’s gone for now,” Angel answered.

“What makes you think he’ll come back, baby?” her father asked.

“I don’t think…I know. He’ll be back.”

“Let’s get the blankets out. Maybe it’s just been a long day.” Her mother set her down and went for their bags. She watched her fingers shake while she unzipped the large suitcase. .

“I know things will look better tomorrow.” Her father helped with the blankets and the three of them lay on the floor in the living room. They kept the lights on at Angel’s request.

“When we came to look at the house six months ago, the realtor said a woman had just moved in with two young boys. One of them is your age. I think she said his name is Joseph and he’s six.” Darcy tried to lighten the mood.

Angel heard palm trees scratching against the house, reminding her of fingernails against a door, a madman trying to get in. Dead bodies and skeletons roaming, trying to get them all and one terrifying man standing in the middle of their house, coming to claim her.

With her eyes closing slowly against her will, she heard her father speak. “We’ll make it work,” he said. “There’s nowhere else to take her.”

“Why is this happening to us…to her?” Angel felt a tear drop land on her cheek. Her mother was crying again.

“We’ll make it work.”

She felt her mother nod against her, thinking she was asleep as the room fell silent for a moment. “Robert?” she heard her mother say.

“Yeah?”

“Do you think we should take her to see a psychiatrist?”

Angel didn’t know what that meant. She assumed it was another doctor and she was tired of seeing doctors.

Her father sighed loudly. “I don’t know, Darc. If it isn’t a medical problem, maybe it’s mental. I’d hoped it was a phase, but it’s getting worse. Maybe a psychiatrist is the answer.”

“That’s not what I wanted to hear.” Angel felt her mother stroke her cheek. “I wanted you to tell me everything’s fine. I didn’t want to hear “maybe.” It’s these visions or delusions. I’m beginning to believe her. She uses more of her brain than most people. Maybe somehow she’s opened up her sixth sense?”

“That’s crazy, hon. There’s no one there. It’s all in her imagination,” her father whispered.

“Well, if it is true then it’s an amazing thing, miraculous even. And I curse it.”
Angel fell sound asleep after that.

***
The doorbell rang at nine in the morning. Robert’s back cracked and popped as he lifted his sleep-heavy body off the floor. He hoped his back wouldn’t go out on him. He didn’t think he had slept longer than a half an hour lying on the hard floor, but he was asleep when the doorbell rang. Darcy sat up, rubbing her eyes as he went to the door.

“Well, hello there, neighbor!” a loud southern voice boomed through the empty house.

Robert jumped back and put his hand to his head, easing the headache and erasing the grogginess from the long night.

“Hi.” Robert opened the door wider, just as Darcy rose. She straightened out her yellow dress and pulled her fingers through her hair.

“I’m Joe. I saw you guys come in last night. Is this your wife?” Joe’s red dirty baseball hat sat backwards on his head. A dirty flannel shirt was half tucked into blue jeans which sported several holes and he was barefoot.

“Uhh, yeah. This is Darcy and I’m Robert.”

“And this cute little thing must be your daughter.” Joe went to Angel and bent down on one knee. “What’s your name, sweetheart?”

“Angel.” She tugged on her mother’s dress and Darcy bent down. Robert heard her whisper into her ear. “He has a yellow light around him. He’s nice.” Robert winced and looked back to Joe. He figured he’d heard Angel’s comment.

“Your name sure fits you. You are the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. My Cindy is going to flip when she sees you. Y’all wanna come over to my house and watch the tube until your furniture comes? Cindy made pancakes. I gotta tell ya, she makes the best pancakes. Better than Denny’s, I swear to God.”

Darcy laughed with Angel. Robert stared at him, trying to soak in his new, outgoing neighbor.

“Can we, Dad?”

“I am kind of hungry.” Darcy placed her hand on her growling stomach.

“What if the movers come while we’re gone?” Robert asked.

“You’ll hear ‘em comin’ from down the street. I can see your house from my trailer. We won’t miss ‘em.”

“You live in a trailer?” Angel asked.

“Sure do little Angel. Come and see. It’s not what it sounds like. We got a double-wide trailer and it’s as nice as any house.”

Joe had been right. Robert and Darcy walked through the front door in awe of the large living area of the double-wide trailer. Once inside, they would have never guessed it wasn’t a house on a foundation. A large screen television sat in the corner with a surround sound system shaking the house.

Joe walked over to a glass table, grabbed the remote and turned the sound down. “You deaf or what?”

A voice came from the other side of the house. “I haven’t touched that remote! You have that thing so loud all the time, I don’t know whether I’m comin’ or goin’!”

“We have company.” Joe walked through a hallway, gesturing with his hand for the three to follow.

Cindy was at the stove of a nicely decorated kitchen. It was small, but no smaller than an apartment.

Darcy was drawn to the pictures on the walls. They were sketched in charcoal and intricately detailed. One was of Joe, sitting on the beach. He wore the same baseball cap, turned around, and a bathing suit. The water looked to be alive as it rolled onto the sand in deep blue charcoal.

“Cindy’s an artist.” Joe stood next to the drawing.

“Hi there!” Cindy turned with a wide smile. She held a spatula in one hand with six fluffy pancakes, balanced perfectly, and a plate in the other. “Have a seat. You’re just in time for breakfast.”

Darcy smiled and sat at the kitchen table. Cindy wasn’t what Robert had been expecting, although he wasn’t quite sure what to expect. He supposed he’d find a woman with big blonde hair, blue eye-shadow up to her brows and stretchy spandex pants. He realized then, he had stereotyped the couple, just as he hated when people stereotyped them. He put his head down, embarrassed. Cindy was petite, with short stylish chestnut brown hair. She wore little make up which accented her large brown eyes. With jeans and a t-shirt, she looked beautiful. Her bright, large smile made him feel immediately welcome.

“Are you settled in?” Cindy asked, setting plates in front of each of them.

“Good Lord, woman. How can they be settled? The movers aren’t even here yet!” Joe scooped up three pancakes and set them on his dish.

“Well excuse me!” the woman drawled. “I’m not always looking out the window watching what everyone is doing! Unlike some people. I swear to God he’s like Mrs. Kravitz from that old show Bewitched. You ever see that show?” Cindy sat down when the table was set and picked up two pancakes off the center dish.

Robert chuckled and looked at Darcy.

“I’ve seen that. They show re-runs of it,” Angel answered.

Cindy looked at Angel and pulled her head back slightly. “Yes they do. You know, you’ve got the prettiest eyes I think I’ve ever seen. Doesn’t she have pretty eyes, Joe? Where’d those eyes come from?”

Angel immediately lowered her pale blue eyes to her plate. Robert hated that she felt like she had to hide her striking eyes.

“Don’t you do that. Don’t you dare do that! You show the world those eyes…you hear me? I’d die for eyes like that!” Cindy lifted Angel’s chin and smiled broadly.

Robert smiled along with Angel. He knew people avoided her strange eyes. He decided right then that he liked Cindy and Joe.

“My name’s Angel.”

“What a beautiful name,” Cindy said.

“I’m sorry. How rude of us. I’m Darcy and this is my husband, Robert Adams.”

“It’s nice to meet you Darcy and Robert, and especially you, Angel. It seems like this whole street is filling up. When we moved here—when was it Joe—three years ago…?” Cindy looked to Joe for confirmation. He nodded and she continued. “We were the only ones here. Now we’ve got you and someone else moved in awhile ago. We’ve never met them though. We saw them move in and then they just sort of disappeared. We get their mail for them, but we aren’t quite sure what happened.”

“Do they have kids?” Darcy asked. “The realtor said there were kids close by.”

“I saw kids when they got here,” Joe said through a mouthful of pancakes. “Haven’t seen ‘em since.”

“That’s odd.” Darcy glanced out the window. A brand new cream stucco house could be seen from the kitchen window. “Is that their house?”

“That’s the one. We try to keep an eye on it.” Cindy’s brows pulled together. “I wonder what happened to them.”

Robert watched Angel look to an empty stool at the counter. Her face changed from contentment to alarm. He wondered what she thought she was seeing now.

“How old are you, Angel?” Cindy asked.

“Not now!” Angel hissed.

“Should I ask another time?” Cindy chuckled.

Robert and Darcy collectively gasped. “Angel!” Darcy yelped.

“I wasn’t talking to her,” Angel said quietly, her head lowered.

“Who were you talking to, kiddo?” Cindy asked.

“No one.” Angel’s voice was no louder than a whisper. “I’m five.”

Joe and Cindy laughed. They always laughed, Robert thought. “She really is,” he said.

“She can’t be!” Joe set his fork down, swallowing the rest of his pancakes. “I just thought she was small for her age. She’s got such a—a sense about her.”

“She’s…advanced,” Darcy said.

“Well, I’ll be! She’s more than advanced! That’s amazing.” Joe smiled, calming their frazzled nerves.

“You’re a very special girl, Angel,” Cindy said, staring straight into her eyes.

Walking back to the house, Angel between them both, Darcy looked down at her. “Was it him again?”

Angel shook her head. “Not the scary man. It was only Jazzy. He was mad that I wasn’t answering him. I’m sorry, Daddy.”

Robert only nodded. How could he punish her for being sick? And now, he was almost certain that’s what she was. Mentally ill, delusional, maybe psychotic. Please, Lord, help my daughter, he prayed.