Chapter 7: A Different World

I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. Lou had told me to wait outside the school gates while he cleaned up. I offered to help him but he said it would be faster if he did it alone.

“So you’re going with him?”
I opened my eyes to see Victor standing in front of me. I looked down at the floor, ashamed.
“Victor...I’m sorry, I just...”
“It’s ok.” Victor interrupted me, “You’re probably safer with him anyway.” He looked at his feet and I suddenly felt a pang of guilt.

“Come with us.” I pleaded, hoping he would look up at me and see how desperate I was, but he didn’t. He shook his head slowly.
“Tim, I’m sorry, I can’t...I just can’t stand that guy.”
“You don’t even know him.” I said plainly, kind of angry that Victor just decided not to like him even though he was a nice person. Victor sighed and began to walk away. I grabbed his wrist, pulling him back towards me. “Victor, don’t go, please.” He stopped suddenly, then spun round, pulling me close to him and placing his lips on my forehead gently.

“I’ll always be here for you, Tim.” he said, then he turned around again, and left. If only I knew that that was the last time I would see him for a very long time.
I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand. What the hell had he meant by always being there for me? Well he wasn’t here now so he obviously hadn’t meant it. Lou came up behind me.
“I’m finished; nobody will even know what happened.” I turned round.

“What are we gonna do now?”
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“Where is your house anyway?” I asked as we walked down the street.
“Quite far from here, actually.” he said plainly, clearly not going to tell me just how far he meant.
“Won’t your parents mind me staying there? Do they even know that you’re an angel?” I asked quickly, the thought suddenly hitting me. He looked down at the floor and suddenly I wished that I hadn’t asked him.

“...I...I don’t have any parents, Tim, I’m an angel.”
“Y...Yeah, I know, but...”
“That means I’m dead.”

I stopped in my tracks and he walked ahead of me a little, then realised I had stopped and turned round.
“W...what?” I said, “Did you just say... I’m so sorry.” He smiled at my expression.
“Don’t worry about it, it happened a long time ago, I’m over it now.”
“Over it?” I repeated, “Ho...How can you get over something like that?”
“When I said a long time ago, I meant like, hundreds of years ago. It’s easy to get over it if you’ve had that much time.” he chuckled. I just stood there, gawping at him.
“S...so, how old are you?” I asked, my voice shaking slightly.
“I’m seventeen.”
“B...but, you just said...”
“I died when I was seventeen, so I’m going to stay that age forever.” he smiled, “It’s kind of crap, I know, another year and I would’ve been all set, but that’s just life...well, metaphorically speaking.”

I walked over to him and hugged him; it was kind of awkward, but I really didn’t know what else to do, or say, for that matter. He laughed.
“Seriously, Tim , it’s fine, I may look seventeen, but I’m really experienced at dealing with bad things that happen to me now.”
I let go of him, “So you don’t have any parents? Or family? What about all of your friends?” I was on the verge of tears.
“To be honest, I don’t even remember what any of them looked like anymore, or their names.”
“You don’t remember the names of your family?”
“I...I don’t even remember my own name, how sad is that?”
“So you’re not really ‘Lou Stevens’?”
“No.”
“Then what does everybody call you?”
“Well, you’ll find out, it’s kind of embarrassing for a human to know my name so I can’t tell you yet.” he laughed. “Anyway, if we walk to my house it’s gonna take quite a long time, so...”
I looked at him blankly. He chuckled, “Hope you’re not scared of heights.”
“W...what do you mean?” I shivered, I actually was scared of heights, well, most things, really.
He scratched his head, “The problem is, how are we gonna do this, I’ve never really carried anyone before.”
“No way, I’m not letting you carry me.” I said plainly, folding my arms to show I was serious.
“How else are you supposing we get there fast enough?”
“I don’t know, can’t you, teleport us or something?” I wasn’t being serious.
“Yes, I could. Do you enjoy vomiting?”
“No.”
“Then let’s not do that then. The only way that’s quick enough that isn’t too strenuous on your body is flying.”

I sighed heavily, “O...ok, but it better be quick so I hope you can fly fast.”
“Faster than most other angels.” he grinned, and I suddenly noticed that I could see his wings again. I looked around us cautiously.
“There’s no-one here, but there will be soon so we need to hurry.” he said, suddenly lifting me up bridal-style.
“What are you doing?!” I blushed; if I had any dignity left I was losing it right now. Luckily there was nobody around to see it happening. He ignored me.
“Are you ready?”
“No!”

He jumped up into the air anyway, despite my protests. I closed my eyes as the buildings rushed past extremely quickly. Suddenly I felt us stop and opened my eyes.

“I wouldn’t recommend looking down.” he said, his wings moving gently behind him.
“Why did we stop?”
“I need to figure out the quickest way to go.” he replied. Before I could even speak my breath was taken from me as he suddenly sped off. We were moving so fast I couldn’t see anything around me, and my body felt weird. I closed my eyes again, holding onto him tightly and fearing for my life.

Suddenly we slowed down.
“We’re here.” he said calmly; he hadn’t even broken a sweat. I opened my eyes a little and gasped. Down below us was the biggest castle I’d ever seen in my life, surrounded by acres and acres of trees and grassland, which must have hidden it from view if you were on the ground. We began to descend slowly.
“Th...this is your house?!” I screamed, not able to take my eyes off it, it was like something out of a fairytale.
“I suppose, I don’t really use it a lot.” he said casually as we touched down gently onto the ground.
I was completely speechless. He put me down gently.
“Do you feel okay?” he asked, holding onto my shoulder.
“Y...yeah, I’m fine.” I shrugged him off in a daze, still staring in awe at the architecture in front of me.
“Are you sure, sometimes it’s hard to walk afterwards if you’re not used to it.”
I didn’t reply. I couldn’t.

“There...there’s a statue of you?!” I shouted, pointing. There was the biggest fountain I had ever seen placed just in front of the doors. The middle was a marble sculpture of Lou, wings and all. He was dressed in a suit with medals pinned all over the front and sleeves and he was holding a large bouquet of flowers, from which the water was spouting.
“I know, it’s really embarrassing, I didn’t want them to make it but they insisted.”
“What are the medals for?”
“Numerous things.”
“N...numerous things?!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. If I saw anything else like this I was probably going to pass out.

He laughed at my expression, “Like I said, hundreds of years.” He sat down on the edge of the fountain and took a deep breath.
“Sometimes I feel that old.” he laughed loudly, splashing his hand around in the water.
“You know, some people would kill to have your life.” I said, sitting down next to him.
“Really? All my seventeen years, you’re right, they should be jealous.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”
He smiled and patted me on the shoulder, “I’m kidding Tim.”
“I bet you have loads of girlfriends as well don’t you, hidden in your castle.” I said seriously.
He suddenly burst out laughing.
“What’s so funny?” I asked, frowning. He shook his head.
“Nothing.”
I felt someone skid to a halt next to me. It was a boy around our age. He had shoulder length blonde hair in a ponytail and he was wearing a white tuxedo.
“Y...you’re back.” he panted, straightening his tie. I noticed he was wearing white gloves.
“If you don’t mind me asking, how did the...” he stopped mid sentence and looked at me.
“Oh, I...I’m dreadfully sorry, I did not realise you had a guest with you.” He turned to face me and bowed.
“Very pleased to make your acquaintance, Sir.” He turned back to Lou.
“Would you like me to make preparations for the evening meal, an extra seat for our guest, I assume?” Lou looked at me.
“Would you like to eat dinner with me?”
“E...er, y...yeah, if that’s ok with you.” I stammered, hoping that this did not count as my first ever date.
“Please set the table for two then.” Lou said to the boy. The boy coughed.
“Three, Sir.” Lou raised an eyebrow.
“Master Walter is here, Sir.” Lou bit his lip and placed his hand over his eyes.
“Ok, please could you inform him that we have a guest.” The boy bowed.
“Yes, Master.” He walked away quickly and through the door of the castle.

I looked at Lou, “Master?”
He laughed, “No matter how much I tell them they won’t stop calling me that.”
“Are ‘they’ all angels too?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re just full of surprises aren’t you?” I laughed.
“You don’t know the half of it, trust me.” he sighed, “Shall we go inside?”
I nodded, “Sure, as long as there isn’t anything weird inside there, like a dinosaur or a portal to another world.”
“No, I keep those in the shed.” he laughed.
“Seriously?”
“No.”

I followed him through the large front door into a gigantic hall with doors leading off to the sides and a grand staircase in front of us. There were paintings all over the walls, some were of Lou and some were of other people who I didn’t recognise. Another boy ran up to us, wearing the same white tuxedo as the first. He had the same colour hair, only it was longer and it was in a plait down his back.
“W...welcome back, Master.” he bowed even lower than the first.
“Thank you, but I thought I told you all to call me by my name.” Lou said, smiling. The boy looked up and a bright blush plastered his cheeks.
“N...no! I couldn’t possibly...p...please don’t make me.” he stammered, looking away. Lou just smiled.
“Very well, do whatever you want.” The boy looked horrified.
“Master! I did not mean to offend you, I will do as you say!”
“That’s not what I meant. You can call me master if you really want to.” Lou said, sighing.
“Th...thank you, Master.” he stammered, “please, excuse me.” He hurried off into another room. Lou sighed and rubbed his head.

Suddenly, another guy came flying out of nowhere, jumping on Lou and knocking him to the floor. I moved out of the way quickly, staring at the floor where they were. Lou was lying on the floor underneath the boy, who was sat on top of him. The boy had shoulder length black hair with a bright red fringe over one eye, he looked a little older than me and Lou. He had two piercings in his lower lip and one in his left eyebrow. He stuck out his tongue at Lou and I noticed that he also had two silver bars through his tongue. I winced.

“Told you I’d get it done, and you said, no, the first one hurts enough, you won’t get another one, how wrong were you!” he shouted, laughing.
“Y...you’re crushing my pelvis.” Lou said, coughing. The boy laughed and stood up, grabbing Lou’s hand and pulling him up too. Lou breathed deeply and then cleared his throat.
“Well. I guess you need an introduction, or do you just wanna pin him to the floor as well?” Lou asked, nodding in my direction. The boy looked at me and smirked. Something about him reminded me of Victor. He held out his hand.
“Walter.” I shook his hand cautiously, half expecting him to throw me across the room.
“T...Timothy.” I said. His visible eye was kind of creeping me out; he was staring at me, and his eye was bright red, really bright red.

“A...Are you wearing contacts?” I asked stupidly.
“Hah, no, this is my natural eye colour.” he said, moving closer so I could see he wasn’t lying.
“If you think that’s weird you should see Lou’s eyes!” he said, trying to lift Lou’s fringe but Lou slapped his hand away protectively.
“He’s really sensitive about his eyes.” Walter whispered in my ear.

“Hey, do you have any piercings?” he asked suddenly out of the blue.
“Er...no.” I said.
“Shame...I really like piercings, especially on guys, I have loads, I have some tattoos as well but they’re not as cool don’t you think?”
Lou put his hand on Walter’s forehead.
“Are you feeling ok? You’re not usually this talkative, especially with strangers.”
Walter frowned, “You’re right, I do feel kind of weird, which is strange, because I didn’t think that you would have alcohol this strong in your house.”
Lou sighed heavily, “Where did you get alcohol from in my house? I don’t drink.”
“Oh.”
Walter suddenly looked concerned, “Come to think of it, I don’t even remember drinking anything... I feel sick.”

Lou suddenly clapped his hands and another ‘servant’ ran up.
“Yes Master?”
“Could you take Walter upstairs and put him to bed. Find out what’s wrong with him if you can, and get a doctor as well.”
“Yes, Master.” The servant put his arm around Walter and helped him up the steps. Lou looked at me.
“Sorry about that, but you should get used to strange things happening around here I guess.”
“Yeah, I thought so, I’ve already prepared myself.” I said, lying.
“Angels can get strange illnesses which don’t affect humans, that’s probably one of them.” he said, “Well, should we get ready for dinner? I’m sure you would like to change into something different.”

I looked down at myself and realised that we were both still wearing our school uniforms, which were stained with blood.
“O...oh, yeah.”
“Follow me.” he said, walking up the steps. I followed him through some double doors at the top of the staircase.
“This is my room.” he said, “Well, it’s the one I usually sleep in when I’m here, anyway.” I looked around. The room was huge, about twice the size of my whole house, with a king-size four poster bed against one wall. There were huge curtains hanging down around the bed, which went from the ceiling to the floor. There was a door next to the bed and another door at the opposite end of the room.

“That’s the bathroom.” he said, pointing to the door next to the bed, “And that’s my wardrobe.” he added, pointing to the other door. I opened the door next to the bed and went in. The bathroom was almost as big as the bedroom, with a huge swimming pool in the middle and three doors leading off, each with ‘W.C’ written on them. He followed me into the room.
“That’s not a swimming pool, it’s a bath.” he said, pointing.
“I guessed. Nothing’s going to surprise me anymore.” I said. He chuckled.
“Ok. Come on, I’ll find some clothes for you.” I followed him out of the room and through the other door into a smaller room. Well, I thought it was smaller, until I looked up. The room seemed to go on upwards forever, I couldn’t see the ceiling at all. There were shelves built into the walls, covering every inch all the way up to the top.
“Surprised?”
“...no.” I lied; I was very surprised.
“Who needs so many clothes anyway?”
“...I like to stay in fashion?” he laughed. There was a small computer in the wall next to him. I pointed at it. “What does that do?”
“It picks out your clothes for you.”
“How?”
“Watch.”

I went and stood behind him, watching over his shoulder. He pressed a button on the side and the screen came on, showing rows and rows of labelled buttons. Each button had a different item of clothing written onto it. He pressed the button for suits and the screen changed, showing more buttons. The buttons were labelled with different colours and styles. He pressed black and another screen flashed up. This one was different; it showed pictures of different suits.

“There. These are all of the black suits I own. Once you’ve picked a suit you can change the colour of the tie or any other part of the suit you want to change.” I walked up to the screen.
“Do I have to wear a suit?” I asked, looking through the list.
“No, I just thought it would be fun if we all dressed up.”
“You really are strange.”
“Thank you.”
“What do I do once I’ve picked.”
“Click on it.” I clicked on the picture of the suit and a bigger picture came up, with options for changing different parts. There was a button at the bottom that said ‘finish’. I pressed it. Suddenly a robotic arm came out of the wall and zoomed up to one of the shelves, before reaching in and picking a box from the shelf. The arm brought the box down and placed it at my feet, before disappearing back into the wall.

I looked at Lou and he smiled.
“Aren’t you going to open it?” I picked the box up from the floor and took off the lid. Sure enough, it was exactly the suit I had seen on the computer screen.
“That’s an expensive one you’ve picked out there.” Lou smiled.
“Are any of them not expensive?”
“...no.”
“I’m really starting to hate you.”
Lou laughed, “Why? I invited you over for dinner, didn’t I? Don’t be so mean.”
“Well, I am kind of hungry.”
“You can go and change into that suit if you like.”

I walked back into his bedroom and placed the suit on the bed carefully. The label did look very expensive, even though I had never heard of it before. The suit did fit me quite well once I had put it on. Lou walked out of the ‘wardrobe’ while I was doing my tie. He was already dressed in a white suit with a gold waistcoat.
“Have you never done this before?” he laughed, watching me struggle with the tie, which was different to my school tie and I couldn’t figure out how it worked. He walked over and took it from me, tying it quickly and neatly around my neck.

“You should wash your face, too.” he said, wiping my cheek with his finger, “You have blood on your face.” I ran into the bathroom and looked at my face in the mirror. Sure enough there were a couple of streaks of dried blood on my face. I went over to the ‘bath’ and dipped my hands into the water, then rubbed them on my face to get rid of the blood. When I turned around he was stood behind me, holding out a towel. I dried my face quickly.
“Can we go now? I’m hungry.” He took the towel from me and hung it up on the wall.
“Sure, you’re the guest.”

I followed him back downstairs and into the dining room. The size of it nearly knocked me out. This place really was like a castle from a story. There was a huge fireplace at one end which was lighting up the whole room. Then there was the longest table I had ever seen, laid with silver tableware and crystal glasses. There were three large chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. He stopped and pulled out a chair for me. I sat down and he sat opposite me. A menu was placed in front of me and I turned around to see another ‘servant’, this one had his hair up in a bun. He smiled at me and I quickly looked away.
“Order whatever you like.” said Lou. There was a waiter behind him pouring him a glass of something which looked like champagne.
“Do you want some?” he asked.
“N...no thank you, I don’t drink.”
“It’s not alcohol, it’s fruit juice.” he laughed. The waiter poured some into my glass. I took a sip, it was extremely sweet and cold.

Lou stood up as someone entered the room. It was Walter. He looked embarrassed.
“I’m sorry about what happened before, I don’t know what came over me.” he said to no-one in particular.
“It’s ok, are you feeling better?” asked Lou. Walter nodded and sat down at the table next to Lou, who sat back down. A waiter immediately appeared next to him and poured him a glass of water. He leaned over to Lou and whispered something in his ear, before two more people came into the room. They sat either side of me without even introducing themselves. I looked to my right. It was a tall, slim boy with long black hair in a high ponytail. He had a green fringe neatly tucked behind his ear and a small silver stud in his nose. Then I looked to my left. It was another boy, only he looked younger than the rest of us. His hair was very long and black and he had a white fringe clipped back from his face.

“You two didn’t tell me you were coming.” said Lou, “Is there a reason you’re here?”
The tall boy looked at Lou lazily, “What do you mean, can’t we come and eat dinner with you when we want to?”
“Yes, but you should have told me you were coming. I have a guest.”
The boy looked at me and I noticed that his eyes were bright green like his fringe. He held out his hand.
“Hi. I’m E.J, and that’s Ike.” he said, nodding in the direction of the other boy.
“Erm...I’m Timothy.” I said. The boy nodded and smiled, though it looked like it pained him to do so.
“These are my friends.” said Lou, looking at me. E.J laughed.
“Friends? Oh, Lou, you’re so modest.” he looked at me, “We’re all generals in the angel army.” he said, “Although, Lou probably hasn’t told you this, but he’s higher in command than all of us, he’s second only to God.” Lou sighed.
“I’m not as important as they make me sound.” he said.
“Second only to God sounds pretty important to me.” I said
“Oh, it is.” said E.J, “Except Lou gets to do all the dirty work because...”
“That’s enough talk about me.” Lou said quickly, “We should all eat something.” Walter glared at E.J and E.J backed away. A little later we had all ordered something to eat.

As the night progressed, I began to feel slightly uncomfortable about some of the other ‘guests’.