Half

“God is gone! Our saviour, who gave us his son! He sacrificed his only son…. his one child and he is dead! Gone! Join me and pray for his return! Pray for his glory to shine down on us again!”

He held a Bible in one hand and the other was outstretched up to the dark sky. I watched him for a moment, taking slow drags on my cigarette and he noticed my eyes in the half-light.

“You!” he screamed advancing towards me in slow shuffling steps, the carrier bags on his feet rustling loudly with each movement, “Serpent! You are a devil! Spawn of Satan himself!”

People in the street were turning to look as this crazed preacher closed in on where I was standing. I leant against the shop window behind me and coolly watched him. I threw my finished cigarette onto the ground, he snarled and pointed to the smoking butt with his free hand, “you! Creature of filth! No regard for us mortals, the worshippers of the Almighty! You should be sent back to Hell!” I chuckled quietly, rolling my eyes. “Where are the angels? Where are the angels?” he began to shout at passers by, his free hand now pointing at me, “They must smite this devil! This creature…”

“You’re talking to one,” I interrupted. He spun round to look at me and spat on the ground at my feet,

“Putrid lying…” I stepped into the full light of the street lamp and heard him gasp.

“You are…?” People were stopping in the street now to watch the scene, gasp at my iridescent eyes and the shadow my wings cast upon the shops outside wall and reflection in its glass window.

“Yes. Now walk away,” I said. I knew a direct command would work on him and he nodded, turning and shuffling back to his spot on the corner of the street. People were hurrying on now but their heads kept turning back to glance at me. I moved back into the shadows and leant against the shop window again. Emmy, my sister, was taking forever inside; she knew how much I hated going out in the evening. It wasn’t so bad in the daylight, people smiled at the shadow my wings cast, but at night I received mixed reactions.

As a child I had been tormented, misunderstood, because I was part demon. They called us Paras, but the Angelic Para children didn’t get it as bad, they were allowed to mix with mortals. There were very few Demonic Paras left now and no one knew where the Demonic children went. I was a problem. I was good and bad. But I simply thought that I was like a mortal because they are just the same. There were mortal children in my class who I believed would have been better integrating with the Demons. Some of the Angelics were not much better though.

My sister was my only friend, my twin. Everyone struggled to understand why she was mortal and why I had both traits of my parents. Emmy and I decided that she was my conscience; she controlled my supernatural sides and convinced me to hold back my powers when I desperately wanted to use them.

I sighed and pulled another cigarette from the crushed packet in my jeans pocket and cupped my hand over it as I flicked the lighter. I heard the tinkling of the bell in the shop doorway and Emmy emerged smiling. We began the walk home down the high street.

“I start on Tuesday,” she told me.
“What?”
“Aaron got me a job,”
“Who?”
“Aaron Jaymes. You know…he was in the year above us at school,”
“Oh the skinny one with bad skin,” I nodded blowing smoke into the cold air. Emmy shook her head,
“He looks okay now,” she replied. I turned to her and cocked my head in question, she answered by smiling mysteriously.

“I see,” I said, “You’re going to run off with Aaron Jaymes and leave me on my own,” Emmy rolled her eyes,
“Shut up Annie,” she said laughing, “you’ve always got Rusty anyway,” she added. I glared at her and she laughed again.

We continued walking down the quiet high street, eyes flashing at us in the dark and wing shadows flitting along shop walls. Emmy liked to watch these things, they had always fascinated her and I think she resented me a little for having both traits. The air was cold and I was glad when we reached our front door. We rang the bell and waited for our Dad to come and let us in, our breath hovering in the air in front of our faces and teeth chattering slightly. I watched his silhouette grow larger behind the frosted glass as he moved towards the door to unlatch it.

“Forgot your keys again?” he asked, smiling and opening the door wider to let us in.

“Annie said she had them,” Emmy replied pulling her coat off.

“Always the way with you two, miscommunication,” Dad muttered as he entered the living room and sat down again in front of the television. The shadow of his large wings covered the wall behind him. “Where have you been anyway?” he asked, “You know how dangerous it’s getting at the moment,”

“There weren’t any riots in the high street, I think people are blowing it up out of proportion,” Emmy said sitting down on the other sofa. I stood near the heater trying to warm my skinny fingers.

“Well I’d rather you didn’t walk around in the dark,” Dad replied whilst watching the news on the television, a grim faced journalist looked seriously into the camera and began reporting on the riots, ongoing in London. I shrugged my jacket off now that I felt a little warmer and sat down beside Emmy. “I wish these people would just leave us Paras alone,” Dad said out loud to no one in particular. Emmy nodded,

“Well apparently the Serps haven’t done anything bad for a long time, there can’t be that many left” she said.
“Serps?” I asked her, she shrugged, “Since when did you start calling us that?”

“Emmy that word is offensive,” Dad said.

“And people don’t forget about the bad stuff easily,” I muttered, thinking back to the crazed preacher I had met earlier. The news story had changed now to show a dingy looking club being forced into by the Police.

“Police believe the club is used exclusively by Demonic Paras…” the news reader commented.

“The Ice Bar is,” Emmy said,
“Well I don’t want you going there anymore,” Dad replied.
“Like I would,” Emmy snorted. I glanced at her as she pulled her phone out and began texting.
“Aaron?” I asked.
“No,” she hissed. She stood and left the room. Dad raised an eyebrow at me and I just shook my head.
“Aaron?” he whispered,
“Yeah, Aaron Jaymes, bad skin…” Dad nodded in acknowledgement and began watching the television again. Emmy was on the phone now in the kitchen; her voice was low pitched and hushed. She knew I couldn’t pick up on low pitches. I crossed my arms and sat back in the sofa, slightly irritated by her reluctance to tell me who she was speaking to. Dad noticed and glanced at the kitchen door every now and then. After a few minutes Emmy entered the room again,

“I’m going out,” she announced, pulling on her coat again.
“Where?” Dad and I asked at the same time, she laughed.
“Aaron asked me to meet him and some friends at the pub,” she glanced at me and I knew she wanted to go alone. I looked away, hurt that she was leaving me out. I watched the television in a determined way, desperately trying not to look annoyed. I knew my wings were twitching with irritation though and out of the corner of my eye I saw Emmy roll her eyes at their shadow on the wall behind me. Dad was warning her to be careful, not to stay out too long. I heard the front door slam and Dad sat back down in his chair scratching his head in a nervous manner and frowning.

“Want me to follow her?” I asked turning away from the flickering television screen.
“She’ll be fine,”
“She’s never wanted to go out on her own,” I said, “isn’t that weird?” Dad shrugged,
“You two are eighteen now you can do what you like,”
“And since when did she start calling us Serps?”
“Calling you a Serp,” Dad corrected me,
“I’m going to follow her,” I said standing and pulling my coat on,
“She’ll be upset if she sees you,”
“She won’t see me,” I said.

© Jade Tolley 2012