**Note: This piece took first place in the November Flash Fiction contest on Devin O’Branagan’s Forum.**
She should have just minded her own business. But the kid was clearly out of her element. Still, it was pretty fricking stupid to come to this part of town looking all fresh and smelling of money. Might as well have worn a sign proclaiming, “Fresh meat. Come and get it.”
“Whatcha got here, boys?” Joslyn made it sound casual as she eased into the circle. She knew three of them and didn’t like any of them. And the kid in the middle, huge brown doe eyes that landed on her with one question. Foe or savior?
“Nuthin’ you need to mind, skank.” That was Jeff, the theoretical leader in a pack of brainless bullies.
“Why don’t you morons go pick on something a bit more challenging, huh? Like a city bus or something.”
Gordy flicked out a knife. Of course he’d have one. Because they were going to need a knife when there were five of them and one terrified wisp of a suburbanite. Joslyn sighed. She didn’t have a weapon but she was wearing her signature black leather and if Gordy’s knife was dull it would offer some protection. She was a fair fighter and heavy, black army boots made a great impression when slammed into an unsuspecting crotch. The move dropped one of the unknowns before he even knew it was coming and almost got Gordy on the following spin.
“Beat it, kid!” Joslyn yelled, grabbing the girl by her arm and propelling her toward the mouth of the alley. “Don’t look back.”
The kid hesitated then lit out like all the demons in hell were on her backside. Someone took off after her and Joslyn chased him down, tackling him around the waist and making sure his head hit the ground hard. He didn’t move after that and she barely had time to regain her feet before the rest of the blowhards were on her.
“Stupid move,” Gordy said, waving the knife in front of him like some demented wizard’s wand.
The remaining three circled her, making it tough to keep them all in her line of vision. Gordy came in with the knife and when Joslyn moved to avoid it Jeff grabbed her from behind. After that . . . well, there came a point when it just didn’t matter any more. Somebody would eventually stumble across her body and homicide would chalk it up as just another homeless, goth girl who got what she’d been asking for. When really, all she’d been doing was taking a walk.
#
“Get that freaking light out of my eyes.” Joslyn batted at it and tried peering through her lashes at the offender. Had to be either a cop or an EMT checking her pupils. In either case, blinding her wasn’t helping the situation. She blinked her eyes and tried to focus because what she thought she saw wasn’t remotely possible. “What the –“
“Hello, Joslyn.”
Blindingly bright or not, Joslyn opened her eyes wide then scrambled off the bed to her feet, nearly tripping over her gown. Not, she noticed, a hospital gown, but a black, sleek, thing made of some type of material that shimmered when she moved and fit her figure very nicely. And the guy facing her was no cop. In fact, if renderings at the local church were anything to go on, he was nothing she thought she’d ever meet face to face.
“I‘m Abel,” he said.
“You’re . . .”
“An angel?” He smiled. “Yes.”
“Then I’m . . .”
“Dead.” Still smiling. “Yes.”
“So. . .” Joslyn glanced around. They were in a large room with walls painted a shade of muted red and lots of cushy furniture with cushions in her favorite colors, black and red, and the only thing big, white and glowing was Abel. “This is heaven?”
“A section of it, yes.” He was still smiling, like he knew a secret he wasn’t sharing and it was beginning to grate on Joslyn’s nerves. “This will be your room when you’re here.”
She tilted her head and scrunched her face at him. “When I’m here? Listen, I hate to look a gift horse in the mouth, but am I in the right place? I mean, seriously? I haven’t exactly been your model citizen.”
“Oh, I’ve seen your rap sheet,” he said. “It’s impressive but not nearly as bad as some. Take William John Benson, street name Billy B. He’s the boy you killed the night you died.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“Exactly. And you did so in a self-sacrificing attempt to save another life.”
“Yeah, well, stupid kid shouldn’t have been down there in the first place.”
“She needed a guardian angel.”
“Ha! I’m nobody’s guardian angel.” Joslyn’s momentary burst of brevity faded at the look on Abel’s face. His little secret. He was looking pointedly over her shoulder and Joslyn swung around to look, felt something long and heavy swing with her. Something she got a glimpse of as she spun. Wings. Her wings. Long, flowing and absolutely beautiful.
“You’ll get used to them.”
“But. . .they’re black.”
Abel winked at her, the smile still there. “Not all the good guys wear white hats.”
