A "MANGAMANIAC" STORYXavier walked out of the trees to the park. He came upon a set of swings and sat on the only free one and stared into space. Then, he came back to earth. A shove in his chest knocked him to the ground. As Xavier looked up, he saw a girl, about fifteen, but there was something weird about her.
What was it? Xavier thought to himself, as she radiated an aura so bright it made him squint just looking at it. No one has an aura that bright, unless… I got it! She’s an angel. He stared for a moment.
“Sorry about that,” she apologized. “Here,” she offered him help as he got up. “That was my fault. I wasn’t watching where I was going”. She looked sincere enough, but something about her made Xavier shiver. “My name is Tessa.” She said kindly, and Xavier, for the first time, realized what it was that made her so different. Her energy and her power were just rolling off her skin.
She was one of the strongest angels he’d ever met.
As he took Tessa in, he realized her eyes kept changing color. Wait, changing color? He did a double take to be sure, but sure enough her eyes, which had just been light blue, were now a light shade of indigo.
“Xavier,” he muttered, he’d never been very talkative.
“Well Vaveir,” she said flabbergasted at such a peculiar name, “I would like—, ” she started, but he cut her off.
“I said Xavier,” he said louder this time.
“Oh, Xavier, that makes more sense,” she smiled. “As I was saying, I would like to speak to you, over in the trees if you don’t mind,” she finished smiling wider.
Wow, Xavier thought, her teeth are white, and her smile is definitely genuine, it reaches her eyes. As she marched him over to the trees, her eyes turned a light blue-gray and her light brown hair shimmered in the sunlight. With the sun beating on the back of his neck, Xavier, was glad to reach the trees.
“Okay, here goes,” she said. “I know you’re an angel of death. I can sense it. Also, I can tell you don’t want to be. I see your soul, Xavier, and it’s as white as the snow in winter. I just want you to know you don’t have to kill if you don’t want to,” she finished and her eyes—now a pale beautiful emerald green—were staring him down. He watched as they turned a bright blue.
“Easy for you to say,” he muttered. “You haven’t met my dad yet have you?” Tessa laughed at Xavier, then stopped after seeing the look of seriousness on his face.
“Well would you like some help dealing with your dad?” she asked him.
“Please, if he finds out I even talked to you, he’ll create a storm so strong it will wipe out the whole town. Oh, hold on,” he finished as his phone rang.
“Hello?” he asked into the receiver as a booming voice rang out.
“GET HOME NOW! XAVIER YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES OR ELSE!” His father’s words rang out, like a bee buzzing in your ears all day and night that never went away, as his dad hung up.
“I have to go,” he said.
“Wait. Here take this and call me if you change your mind,” Tessa told him
“Thanks, I better go,” he said and with that he turned and left.
********************************************************
As Xavier reached his house four and a half minutes later, he was out of breath. Breathing heavily, he opened the door. A smell of succulent, perfectly cooked pot roast and sweet corn greeted his nostrils. His mouth watering, he walked in the kitchen, thinking something between, Yes, mom’s cooking pot roast! and Thank goodness dad’s not cooking. I still can’t look at chocolate the same way and it’s been three years.
As he walked into the dining room, his father gave him a look of pure loathing: he had never liked Xavier much. And with that look, Xavier flashed back twelve years ago to his third birthday. He remembered asking his father two simple questions: “Daddy, why do you kill? Can’t you be nice?” His flashback ended with his father’s screams of, “It’s in my nature, and it will be in yours when you grow up!” That day his father had gone from a good father to a terrible, cold-blooded dad who seemed to hate him
“I know what you did today,” he said with detest just rolling off his tongue.
“I-i-i- d-d-d-don’t know w-w-what your t-t-t-talking about.” Xavier stuttered.
“Don’t you?” his father asked. “I’m referring to you talking to a HUMAN, BY THE NAME OF TESSA!” His father finished, yelling at Xavier through gritted teeth. “You know you’re not to talk, just kill!”
“Well, actually she wasn’t human,” Xavier stated. “She was an angel.” Xavier muttered the last word.
“A WHAT!? AN ANGEL!? BOY, DON’T YOU KNOW BETTER!? THAT’S IT! TO YOUR ROOM, NOW!” His father screamed, picking Xavier up and throwing him in his room.
“Stay there, and no dinner!” His father finished.
That didn’t stop Xavier; in the next minute, he jumped out of his bedroom window, and ran down the street before his father had even thought to follow.
“Come back here boy!” his father yelled, but Xavier didn’t turn around. He ran until he got to the park and went into the trees.
“Tessa?” He called. “Tessa, where are you?” he called again, and while he wasn’t looking he ran into her as she came out of the trees.
”What is it?” she asked as she tried to calm him.
“It’s my dad. He’s gone berserk.” Xavier said trying to catch his breath. He looked over his shoulder: his dad was nowhere in sight. He finally calmed down and walked out of the trees with Tessa, but they went back the way he had come. Big mistake. As they walked into a field at the other end of the forest, they saw Xavier’s dad standing there, with a murderous look on his face.
“Now I’ve got you,” he said smirking.
Xavier looked from his dad to Tessa, whose eyes had just turned red. She gave him a look that said: go on fight if you must.
Xavier lunged at his dad who pulled a fast one and rolled to the side. He stopped dead in his tracks and looked down at him just as his father muttered that stupid old line, “Son, this’ll hurt me more than it hurts you.”
He kicked Xavier in the shin, making him fall to the ground. Xavier hit the ground hard, as his father stood up to tower over his son. “Now I— ,” he started, smirking, as a jet of pure, untainted white—much like the color of Tessa’s aura—hit him square in the back. His smile slide off his face as he fell to the ground on top of Xavier who was forced to push him off to the side.
Xavier looked over; saw Tessa with her hand extended, and smiled. He got up as his dad moved, making to grab his ankle, so Xavier kicked him in the face, turned, walked over to Tessa, and kissed her forehead.
“Let’s go home,” she said.
“Where?” Xavier asked confused.
Tessa just sighed looking up to the sky. Xavier knew she meant, that they should return to the sky, where they both belonged.
Epilogue
As Xavier and Tessa returned to the sky kingdom, Xavier smiled. He looked around and saw to his surprise that the streets were covered with people all smiling and happy—the two things his father hated most he noted—as he turned in a circle. As he looked at Tessa, he saw for the first time more than her face. It was gentle, and her head was heart shaped. She was tall about five and a half feet tall Xavier noted. Her light, gentle brown hair was down to her waist and she wore sneakers on her feet. Most angels wore sandals, but sure enough she had on sneakers.
“Come with me,” she said gently as she took his hand. She led him through the crowd to a small but comfortable looking house. “This is my house,” she said quietly. “It’s not the best but, it’s home.” She finished looking at Xavier’s face.
“I like it,” Xavier said. “May I go in?”
Tessa looked delighted that he had even asked. She led him in. On the outside, the house had looked like an assortment of frail clouds, but on the inside, the house was made of wood. There was a carpet under the couch and recliner. She had a 50” plasma screen TV standing in front of the chair. There was a doorway leading to her kitchen where the smell of herbs was tickling Xavier’s nose. He shifted his gaze to a large spiral staircase in the corner leading up stairs; it looked like there were only one or two rooms up there. All in all, this home was very welcoming and friendly. Xavier could only hope that all the other houses were like this one.
“I think I’m going to like it here,” Xavier stated, and Tessa had a feeling he was right.
