Page 51 of Eyes Like Angel

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Beyond the green pastries, I treaded carefully without tripping. Strolling across the fresh green-cut grass and across the vineyard, I stumbled up on the farmhouse with colorful lights coming out from the barn.

When I entered, several people had their heads pivoted to me, muttering each other, either the words ‘nun’ or ‘witch’ would come out. Everywhere I go, people muttered, “witch’ to me sharply, hissing like a pit of snakes, and I was alone. Unknown and unfamiliar music blasted in, and all conversed with joy, drinking that isn’t red wine, that isn’t the Blood of Christ, their energy in a party pumped and bumped other guests in a large barn.

I tucked my veil in, entering between thick crowds, searching for Adrian, but when a close space suffocated me, I headed back outside.

By then, Adrian showed up, a smile relieved on his face, worn in a black attire, black, buttoned-up shirt with black cardigan and loafers, lax and casual. His widow’s peak sharpened by the moonlight, and his palest hair gone paler.

“You’re here,” he said in relief.

I nodded, inhaling cold air. “I am.”

His brows scrunched. “I was afraid you might not show.”

“I’m here now.”

His charming smile materialized; his posture relaxed and his eyes sparkled when I uttered three words.

Adrian tried not to nod so eagerly. “Alright. I’ll go grab a drink for you, and I have something else to give you.”

Give me what?

“What is it?”

“It’s a surprise, you’ll see.” Then he jogged back inside as he yelled, “I’ll be right back!”

My smile died down when I spotted Emily in her glittered top and her mini skirt with her cowboy boots. Her sandy-blonde locks tucked to a high ponytail with two strands framed on her face, eyeing me, approaching me.

Her top was nearly see-through, showing her brownish nipples, which left me in shock.

“Why the fuck are you here?” her voice went cold, her posture stiffened and her eyes blazingly cold.

My limbs felt a shiver ran down.

Emily wasn’t like this.

“I’m not sure what you mean. Aren’t you happy to see me?” I said, voice so faint I barely hear myself.

“We’re never friends. Never! What makes you think I’d be friends with a loner—sorry, a loser—like you?” she leaned forward, judging me, or my outfit. “God, you reek! And your outfit looks like you’re haunting everyone with your ugly presence! Seriously, this is so fucking gross!”

She guffawed.

“We’ve known each other for a while now,” I reminded her, fingers trembled but kept it still.

She scoffed in cold amusement. “Known? I’ve only known you because of Father Divine, and told me to be friends with you. Ha! As if!”

My stomach coiled in burning sensation, my head numbed and unbalanced.

“As if I give two shits about you!” Emily continued, wide eyes and wide, insincere smile.

“Hey! Leave her alone!” another voice said. I turned to see the girl with the girl with hefty rings and studded silver piercings on her earlobes and her hair streaks in stripes of rosy pink and whitish-blonde mingled in her former brown shade, resembling a Neapolitan ice-cream.

Emily pushed the girl back, closing in on the proximity, her eyes darkened with threat.

Her shrilled voice blared into my hearing, sharply loud for my sensitive ears to bleed. Surprisingly, it didn’t, but it still hurts.

“But you don’t belong here, not in my world, and not in his world. God, you look so pathetic, are you becoming a ghost or a zombie? Are you here to confess your sins or are you trying to get into my way? You fucking irritate me. Wherever I go, don’t follow. Don’t try to talk to me, don’t try to convince me to be friends with you because I don’t see you as a friend, I see you as a slave to God’s work.”