Angel’s façade fell, his eyes narrowing in annoyance as he looked down at the heavy bag. God damn you Raylene Walker,he thought, cursing her name as he strode through the hallway, always making me do things I’m not used to doing.
For once, his mind was silent as he walked out and sat in the car. As it rumbled beneath his feet. Angel wasn’t thinking, was barely aware of his reality before he reached the hospital Verana had told him about in the note she’d handed to him with the keys. Now as Angel stepped out of his parked vehicle and walked up the silent stairs of the hospital, a dreadful feeling started climbing up his spine.
His thoughts that had been so silent before were carefully inching up his body, whispering, laughing behind his back as he walked up the stairs with the bag clutched in his hand. Angel breathed out, suddenly nauseous at the sudden voices in his mind as he placed a hand against the glass doors.It’s alright, he murmured as he placed his fingers around his necklace for comfort. The voices were muffled now.
But as he threw open the doors, they came rushing to him like a tidal wave.
Angel swore under his breath and tried to swim through the storm in his mind as he looked at the nurse who’d approached him.
“Raylene Walker.” He said, his voice dry, and saw her eyes widen.
“Yes sir,” she said, too fast for his mind to catch up, “Right this way.”
As the nurse, a brunette with a kind face walked through the empty hallway and led him to Ray’s room, the memories came to him in flashes.
His father’s hands around him, hugging him to his body as he saw his mother’s body being carried away.
His father’s voice as they walked into the room she was kept in.
Her entire body covered with a white cloth.
His father’s voice as they pulled it down to uncover her face and say–
“There she is.”
Angel snapped back, almost jerking back at the force of his mind as the nurse walked away. His eyes cut to the glass, and he saw Raylene Walker there. She was sitting up in her bed, an arm braced around her abdomen as she spoke with a man who stood before her. A doctor, Angel thought as he saw his white coat and the prescription pad in his arms.
He was about to walk in when a sudden noise stopped him in his tracks.
The voices in his head fell away suddenly.
Why wouldn’t they?
Angel’s eyes turned and he saw her then, her lips turned up and her eyes crinkled as laughter spilled from her throat. His lips parted in half surprise, his eyes going wide as he saw her throw her head back and close her eyes.
And laugh.
Dios.
It was all Angel could think of as her bag went slack in his hands.
Dios. Dios. Dios.
She was laughing at something the doctor had said, and he wanted to turn to see if the man was mirroring her grin, but he couldn’t. He wouldn’t turn his head away from her, wouldn’t take his eyes off her for a damned second. And a crazy,dipshitpart of his mind thought,
I want to make her do that.
I want to make her laugh like that.
Angel jerked back at his thoughts, blinking rapidly as Ray’s laughter dimmed into light chuckles. He didn’t give himself time to think. Couldn’t as he strode ahead suddenly, clenching the bag in his hands as he walked to the door of her room.
Threw them open and didn’t even flinch as–
Thunk.
As Raylene Walker threw a knife in his direction.
That brought him back to his senses. Angel didn’t even blink, just turned to face her with a shit-eating grin on his face as he heard her huff of surprise,
