Page 29 of Eyes Like Angel

Aaron laughed for a moment, before three guys spotted us and handed over a red rose to Marceline. Aaron’s teeth clenched.

“I got this rose for you,” the guy with a red beanie cap said with a lopsided grin, his two friends sniggered at the side.

The red rose lifted up towards Marceline’s face.

She hated red roses. She preferred black roses in a coffin-shaped bouquet, according to Aaron. The first time he met Marceline, he spoke to me about her non-stop.

“Um, do I know you?” she said, grimaced.

The rose still lifted in the air. “I gather them all today, and give them to the most beautiful ladies to ever exist in Fort Heaven, especially a very tall lady before me.”

Kind gesture, but wrong girl to approach; Aaron was livid.

She scoffed, crossing her arms, ambling at the red-beanie guy with a darkened form.

“Sorry, red roses aren’t my thing,” she said in a flat tone. “So take that roses and shove it up at your—”

“Oh, look at the time, I’m so hungry,” I intruded with a loud voice, clearing my throat and stretching my arms widely in the air. “Come on, we might not be able to get good food somewhere!”

We went past them and explored the grounds, but I knew this town like the back of my hand. Everywhere I go, there were posters of religious and biblical pasted on the walls and poles, sometimes I see a poster of the priest I saw on Thanksgiving Day, wondering if he’s ruling this town. ‘Come join us’‘Praise the Lord’‘Pray at Divine Miracles Church’ ‘Father Divine will grant you salvation’, it said everywhere, plastered with the priest’s picture and a golden cross with a glowing effect on the posters. I’ve never seen a town or a city that advertised the religious agenda as dedicatedly as this ominous town.

“Jesus, that was harsh, Marcy,” I said, half-joking.

“Guys like that pissed me off,” she huffed. “If I see one more guy with sleepy eyes and veneers, they can shove their teeth up in their own ass.”

Holding back my laughter in, I asked her, “I wonder what happens if you take the rose.”

“I shove it in his mouth like a Mama’s boy he is. I bet he’s crying from a rejection.”

“Oh, look, there’s a burger stand,” Aaron changed the subject, gleaming at the sight.

Aaron mentioned this to me days ago that the owner from a Three Angels Diner might bring more customers in if strategizing it in a different approach since sitting at a diner was being stagnant. Didn’t think it would work; the line was hectic and long, anticipating for a juicy tender burgers and fries steaming in the air.

“Hey,” Marceline began, walking backwards a bit, “Aaron and I are going to grab some food. Want some?”

“How much was it? Same price as the diner?”

“Ten dollars,” she confirmed.

I handed her the cold cash. “No shit,” I said, surprised.

“Come on, Mars,” Aaron yelled with his hands each side on his face.

“Yeah way,” she said to me in glee, reaching the money I distributed.

“Mars!” Aaron’s shouts grew louder.

She groaned at Aaron’s impatience.

“Be right back!” she told me and ran at the line, smacking Aaron’s head.

Rushed into the line where Aaron was at, the phone vibrated in my back pocket in my jeans. Before my hand could reach the device, two nuns strolled across the town square with wooden baskets in their hands, distributing flyers.

One of the nuns lifted her head, and her verdant eyes swept across the crowd.

It’s her!

Some people refused to keep the flyers she handed out.