Chapter 3 of the Soul Survivor

Chapter 3

Angel Adams rode alongside her mother in the backseat of the cab while her father sat up front, talking to the cab driver. Florida was a new adventure, or so her mother had told her…she wasn’t sure yet.

Her father was in a foul mood now. Usually he laughed and teased her, but tonight was different. Angel’s spirits were already dampening with her father’s mood. It was close to Christmas though, and Angel was trying to live up to her God given name. She wanted a new telescope, one she could chart the stars out with, and Angel wasn’t going to blow it so close to the holiday.

“I’m calling that limo company,” her father said for the third time in the past fifteen minutes.

“Robert, it was a mix-up. It’s the holidays. Let it go.” Her mother pulled her onto her lap, seemingly knowing when Angel was unhappy.

Angel wanted their first night in Florida to be fun. It was supposed to be a brand new start for her, for all of them. She’d be away from the kids she’d grown up with, who had begun to make fun of her. And she knew her parents were happy she’d be leaving her friends behind, who they had practically forbid her to talk to. She wasn’t quite sure why her parents didn’t like them. They’d always been nice to her, much nicer than the kids from school. Her friends didn’t make fun of her eyes, and that was enough for her. She was tired of people staring at them and the kids at school making fun of them. Her eyes were so light in color they appeared to have been carved out of a glacier with a light blue tint and stood out dramatically against her black skin. Her parents tried to convince her she was special for having them but that didn’t stop the snickering from the neighborhood kids. The more she pulled into herself, attempting to shrink away, the more they made fun of her.

It wasn’t just her eyes they’d made fun of. Angel always new she was different. Her imagination astounded them all and she excelled at a rapid rate in academics.
She remembered when the doctor told her mother and father she had imaginary friends, that it was normal. It scared her parents, although Angel didn’t understand why. It was probably due to the horrible headaches she’d get after talking with them. Sometimes the headaches would get so bad her mother would put her in a dark room with an ice bag on her forehead.

She saw the fear in her father’s eyes when she’d speak with her friends. They were as real to her as the kids in her class but her parents could never see them. Her friends taught her things and listened to her. Sometimes they were confused and didn’t know where they were, other times they were happy just to talk.

Her father insisted they have her tested. She overheard her father talking to her mother about “a brain tumor no CAT scan could see”, even after she’d had four tests done. She heard them whispering about it sometimes long hours into the night. Angel knew what a brain tumor was. She’d asked one of her friends about it. She remembered he laughed at her and assured her she did not have a brain tumor.

Even the doctor assured them, as they sat in his Pledge smelling office, there was no tumor, no hidden meaning to Angel’s headaches that they could see. He’d wanted to try medication, but her mother had refused.

When she began to read and write by three, they tested her mind by giving her puzzles to solve and mathematic equations to figure out. The last tests showed she had the mind of a fifth grade student and she was only five. They called her “gifted”. Angel wasn’t sure what that meant, but she liked the sound of it.

Her father had said she would most likely be in college by the time she was twelve but he didn’t sound happy about it. He had said he thought God was letting her live her life too fast, learn too much about the world, so when He took her from him, she will have experienced life to the fullest. He said he wanted her to just be five…no more, no less.

Mom had always assured him she was fine. She had told him he should be proud of her, not worried.

The big move wasn’t starting out the way she had planned. First she heard her father complaining when the plane was late, and then the limo company didn’t send a car. Angel had been dragged over to the airline counter where they asked a woman if they had been paged. They hadn’t.

It had taken them almost an hour to find a cab to take them all the way to Naples and an extra hundred dollars on top of it. Angel heard her father mumbling under his breath about the extra money and how he was going to “sue the limo company”. It was a side of him she hadn’t seen before and she didn’t like it.

“Do you think the movers will be here tomorrow, Robert?” Her mother held her close to her breast and Angel could hear her heart beat.

“They said they would, Darcy. Of course the limo company said they’d have a car waiting too!”

A boy, who called himself Jazzy, and had followed her around the airport, now sat next to her on the over-sized gym-bag in the backseat of the cab, proving to Angel her parents had been wrong about leaving her friends behind. They had obviously followed her, just as she thought they might. She smiled at him reassuringly,
knowing he was confused. They were always confused.

“Why’s it so dark in here? Who are you?” Jazzy asked.

Angel didn’t answer him, afraid she’d get into trouble. Instead, she lifted her head and spoke to her father. “Daddy, can we go to Disney World tomorrow?”

“Not tomorrow, baby. Soon though.” Her father’s tone softened. He turned around and winked.

“What does Disney World have to do with anything?” Jazzy asked her. “And where’s your dad?”

“Dad says we can go another day,” Angel answered, looking to her new friend.

“I heard him, baby,” her mother said. Angel couldn’t help but notice her mother looking past her and holding her closer to her till she almost couldn’t breathe. She knew her mother couldn’t see Jazzy, just like she couldn’t see many of the other people she’d seen over the years.

“I was talking to Jazzy, Mom,” Angel whispered, knowing her father wouldn’t approve.

She felt her mother’s muscles tense and watched her face turn into a deep frown. Her mother knew all about her friends, although she never shared everything with her father. She knew about the lights she could see around her friends, dulled in color and yet she never told her father about the lights. Angel figured it would only scare him more.

“Jazzy is new, right?” Her mother spoke low, glancing up at her father, who was speaking to the cab driver loudly about the town of Naples.

“I had hoped your friends would go away here.” Angel’s head bounced as her mother sighed loudly. She knew she had disappointed her—again.

“He just showed up tonight,” Angel breathed, also taking the time to glance up at her father, who didn’t seem to be listening.

“You can’t see it, but this is called Alligator Alley. Can you imagine all the alligators that must be in there?” Her father said, turning his head to the back seat.

“Will they hurt us when we get home?” her mother asked, looking out at the dark marshy plants. Angel lifted her head and looked out the window with her. All she could see was blackness. No street lights lit up the long highway appearing to stretch on forever. “Can you imagine breaking down out here?” She felt her mother shudder.

“Nah, they stay away from people. Just don’t walk your dog too close to the lakes, if you have a dog that is,” the cab driver said.

“They eat dogs?” Angel’s eyes widened.

“They’ve been known to eat a dog or a cat. You’ll be fine, little lady.”

“That’s gross.” Angel decided she just might not like Florida. She’d have to study up on alligators.

***

They pulled up to their new house. It didn’t look much different than the house they had just moved from in Arizona, with its ranch-style layout and red clay tiled roof.

Robert hoped this new job would work out. He’d moved his family across country for a better life. He’d been a cop his whole life, following in his father’s footsteps. Now he was going to be a crime scene detective, working for the Florida Highway Patrol. He was sure he had made the right decision. They’d get to start over.

He had heard the snickers and the rumors around the neighborhood back home. They had thought Angel was a freak, and not one of them had the decency to hide their feelings.

It angered Robert his sweet wife could be treated so cruelly just because their child was smarter. It hadn’t helped they were the only black family on the block.

With both of their parents gone now, it was just the three of them. Angel was an only child, just as Darcy and he had been. Even his buddies in the department had started to treat him differently once the company picnics revealed Angel’s uniqueness. They had looked at him with sympathy when she’d walk off to a corner, speaking to someone that wasn’t there and ignoring the rest of the children. His daughter was gifted in so many ways, why couldn’t they see that? They had acted as if he’d been burdened by Angel. But that was all behind them now. A new life awaited them here.

He hoped they’d fit in. His new boss, Fred, seemed like a great guy and he was sure Darcy and Fred’s wife, Tia, would get along great together. Fred and Tia had a little girl, just about Angel’s age.

He supposed Angel’s accomplishments made the other children look underdeveloped and it had scared their parents. Cruelty usually sparks from fear, he had decided. He could only imagine what Angel would have to endure once she started school. They had pulled her out of kindergarten in Arizona, with their consent. She was bored and way beyond her peers. Next fall, she’d start third grade, the counselors had decided. And she’d only be six.

But this would be different. Angel promised she wouldn’t talk to her “friends” when anyone else was around. She promised she’d try to fit in with the other kids, even if they were “dumb”.

He turned to see his family waiting after he paid the cab driver an exorbitant amount of money. The house was dark and Robert grabbed the bags and headed for the front door.

“Where’re we going to sleep?” Angel asked.

“It’ll be like camping. We’ve packed blankets and you’ve got your pillow from the plane, right?”

“Robert, maybe we should go to a hotel for this one night.” Darcy bit her bottom lip.

“And miss our first night here? We’ll be fine. I’ve had the electricity turned on and the water. It’ll be an adventure.”

“Why does everything bad have to be an adventure?” Angel whined.

“Come on guys. Let’s just try it. If it’s horrible, then we’ll call a cab and go to a hotel—deal?

Darcy and Angel nodded as Robert opened the front door.

The first thing to hit Robert was the heat. The second thing that hit him was the smell of paint and his nose tingled.

“We’ll need to air it out a bit.” Robert switched on the light and walked into the great room.

Angel’s breath audibly caught in her throat.

“What’s wrong, honey?” Robert glanced to the center of the room where Angel held her gaze, her body shivering and her eyes wide.

“There—there’s a man here. Don’t you see him?” Angel looked up at him. “He’s dressed all in black and has a cape on.”

Darcy briefly regarded the empty room. She squatted next to Angel and took her into her arms. “I don’t see anyone. Is it Jazzy?”

“No. But how can you not see him? His light is bright red,” Angel whispered. Robert wasn’t sure what she meant by that, but his heart sunk to his knees.

“Who are you?” Angel stood behind her mother’s back.

“Why is he so scary?” Darcy asked.

“Th-that man is mean,” Angel stammered.

Robert lifted his brows at Darcy. Here we go, he thought. He had hoped things would change. He’d been wrong. “There’s no one here but us, Angel.”

She looked at him as if he had lost his mind.

Angel backed up, as if this figure of her imagination was approaching her. She looked down at the floor, her mouth agape.

And then she screamed.