This Side Of Heaven

Chapter Two- Inhuman

“I’m a what?!” Her surprised and even humored voice questioned the man before her as his eyes fell away in uncertainty until they returned once he held a book wrapped in antique leather engraved with odd symbols.

“A nephilim." He began reading from the book while continuing his explanation; "You are part demon and part angel...You have been sought after since the beginning of time...and your conception is something beyond a miracle.” But as this figure she had come to trust as having been an academic scholar in the form of her history teacher read, her eyes fixated on him, as if she attempted to study each and every word he had delivered to her to digest.

"I just woke up a handful of minutes ago, my feet aren't even flat on the floor, and you tell me I'm a...what?!"

Suddenly Avery’s hand caught the edge of the blanket left over her by Tate’s kindness, pulling it off of her body, and moving to her feet.

“Mister Sydney...I think you need some serious help!” In vexation from the last twelve hours, she attempted to part from him immediately as he grew worried with desperation.

“I trust you ceased having the dreams then? The ones of those you love, strangers...people with memorable faces you see dying? The only way you have been able to stop them is by helping them? Or perhaps the shadows that you sense follow you with faces impossible to be deemed human...The dreams of both fire and light; beautiful and dark...Or the feeling of being incomplete; never quite ‘fitting in’, no matter the fads you give in to or the peer pressure you succumb…” Avery’s gaze danced around the lower half of the room, not wishing to meet with her pedagogue as she feared he would come to understand how he had been correct on each of his assumptions.

“Maybe it is the abundance of knowledge for things you were never taught and somehow know? Like Latin? The details of the world that others can’t know-” He stilled once realizing he had startled her, her eyes nearly bulging from her scalp as she tried for the door once again. “I can prove it to you...I know it is far-fetched…” His Australian accent pleaded with her as he ran his fingers through the long curtain bangs of his hair that fell luxuriously down his head and just shy of his stubble.

These recent words of lingering promise piqued her interest enough to keep her from exiting, as her eyes came upon the sight of a case made entirely of red wood. A small locking mechanism kept the box enclosed as her elder, a man of only about fifteen years her senior, whispered something to himself as the two lids separated per his request. Inside the container sat a pair of glasses held together by frames made of ivory and crystal unseen in any form of jewelry previously witnessed.

“They are made of oracle glass, they will show you what you were forced to forget. But I must warn you...it may be quite intense.” For a moment, her fingers reached at the smooth edge of the rims, feeling drawn to the magic aura set around the device, before she returned to her stubborn stance of disbelief.

“No...this is all crazy! YOU are crazy! I always knew it...the way you spoke of the world as if it wasn’t real-”

“Avery...There is a world beneath our own...it is veiled by magic and I believe that you are the key to lifting it again. This makes you an asset to some and an enemy to others...” Her scrutiny deepened at him as she rotated to leave once again, only now, his body kept her from abandoning the rise of her calling. “It is called Destiny Falls...It held creatures we cannot fathom...the ones that made dinosaurs their pets and humans their prey...or even friends-depending on what they were. If you put these glasses on...you will see it. It will be as a movie or a play within your head...memories will flood you. What is it you have to risk?”

“You could have done something funky to the glasses...Maybe tar on the lenses or a drug or something-” As she made these accusations, Vince now lifted the frames to himself, proving that there was nothing more than a pair of ‘average’ glasses.

“Harmless. If you see nothing, I will never mention a word of this again...I swear it…” He offered the spectacles once again as her eyes rolled as she took them with annoyance. But the moment that her eyes set on the glass, a sudden shimmer spread from one optical to the other and she was met with fractions of memories hazy and distorted. Voices that should have come clear were altered to sound nearly demonic or as a twisted impersonation of Darth Vader. And the visions that he guaranteed she would witness were only shadows dancing on backgrounds between nature and stone-but nothing allowed her damning evidence to be convinced enough with his words. All but one memory that came as clear as day.

A figure masked in gray smoke and light reached for her, allowing her to feel a sense of warmth that was indescribable to anything compared to it on earth. The closest thing she could balance it with had been that of acceptance and unconditional love without the pain of loss or the fear of abandonment; it was pure love. This figure, whoever they were, could understand her in a way no others were able to; as if they were truly joined by their spirits and not just their hearts. It was a feeling that made her body tremble and frightened her deep enough to her core that she took the glasses from her nose and forced them to the ground. This abrupt descent and collision with the hardwood floor caused them to crack with immediate contact as their eyes locked.

“I don’t know what you did to those or me...But...You’re crazy...all of THIS is crazy! I don’t know how you know those things about me...But everything else isn’t true!” She now succeeded in her attempts to flee, but not before her academic mentor called out to her.

“You cannot be alone now...It is too dangerous! Avery!” He pleaded with her to return to him, but watched as she sprinted in a direction far away from him and into an alleyway she had come to know better than the pathway before her own home. She had taken it nearly everyday to return herself from school and slip over the threshold of her comfortable residence. But now, she became lost in her thoughts, trying to understand how anything within the last twelve hours could be factual and how her history teacher, a man whom she hardly knew from Adam, was conveying her deepest struggles as if they were a calling of some kind. She narrowed her eyes in frustration before being stopped by a figure made up entirely of shadow, blocking her exit.

She closed her eyes tightly, hoping that it had been an accompaniment constructed by her imagination due to Vince’s words. But as they came open, she found the being to now be in front of her, moving in the form of a man, but with equine details wrapped in demonic accents of red eyes and a cold breath despite the fact it was well over freezing. Yet, the more horrifying realization had been the fact that at least half a dozen souls passed by the edge of the alleyway, and not one looking at this beast, and instead, glanced at the young girl with tears in her eyes and a look of fear across her face.

“Leave me alone!” She begged as she began to move backwards until feeling the extent of one of the weathered walls connect with her spine. Avery attempted to cower away from this being, praying that whatever it is would disappear with the extent of her ignorance. Similar to that of a young child harboring the belief of a monster in their closet or a creature beneath their bed, she concealed her eyes within a deep press and hid her face within her arms.

Her mind conjured the nightmarish images of Josh from the night before and the callous homicidal rampage of the man who apparently saved her but also withheld her from society long enough to find himself stabbed with his own letter opener in an attempt to keep her concealed. She questioned how she got from point A to B and if the words either of these men spoke had been true, as a part of her could not deny it as the evidence was far too strong.

“Are you alright?” A voice suddenly called to her as a hand made its way to her arm. Jolting, she looked forward to an older woman, analyzing Avery with worry as she carried her hand over her mouth.

“Sweetheart-You’re hurt….” But before this woman could assist Avery was on her soles once again; this time, not ceasing a single step before she made it into the front door of her home. Only when the door was closed and locked at her back, did she use the windows on either side of the entrance to survey the area before she turned with yet another shake of her contentment.

“What are you so buzzed about, spaz?” Her younger sister, a gothic adolescent in annoyance with her older sister’s obsessive need to fit in, glared with her arms folded across her chest. But instead of being countered, Sophia was abandoned as Avery raced up the steps and slammed her door.

“Mom, Avery’s being weird again!” She called out as Avery took solace in her room.

A medium space consisting of a closet stuffed to the brim in clothes both thrifted and purchased from retail, a dresser sitting beneath the window, and a bed hugged by two small tables on either side, had set before her as she threw herself onto her bed. The decor was expected yet minimal with a few posters of her favorite movies hanging on either wall and photographs of younger years with her father’s presence caught on camera and hung in matte frames. Sorrow filled her heart in the absence of his death as she collected her sheets and attempted to hide beneath them and from the revelations of the last day, begging God to take this day back and begin her anew prior to Josh's transition and eventual death and these questions that allowed her a sense of peace as it somehow made sense.

Having fallen asleep by a mix of exhaustion and the loss of blood, Avery would awaken with a sudden chill filling her room and bringing her upwards, as she came to notice the window atop her dresser had been left open. Within seconds of stretching and familiarizing herself with reality, she returned to the window in a swift descent, as a sudden force pulled her further back into the room. Her lips parted with an attempt to scream, but was silenced by a thick hand wrapping around the width of her mouth as a voice moved into her ear.

Her initial thoughts were to locate a source of weakness, but found that the being that held her temporarily captive was solid with muscle and steadfast in strength both impenetrable and intimidating. Yet, his hold was familiar with her connecting these strong arms as having been the same ones she had blanketed herself over when she was lifted from the Corvette not even a full day prior.

“I am not going to hurt you, but if you want me to let you go, you have to listen to me…” His voice was kind, but his tone was rushed, as if he was either anxious or breathless. She slowly nodded, turning to face the figure as he made himself known as coming into the moonlight, slipping through her parted blinds, and illuminating him in soft light.

For a moment, she stood in awe of him as he was a stranger to her and yet impossibly alluring. His dark features were worn in contrast to his porcelain skin that matched the hue of her own, but held light eyes that weakened her stubbornness against him. Those same eyes analyzed her as well, as her gaze took stock in the defined edges of his jaw line and the overall large persona before her that could crush her without much of an effort if he desired it to be so. And yet, as her eyes rested in his, she somehow knew that he wouldn't harm her…

But she then recalled the effortless lift of Josh's body onto the hood of his own car and the ironic heartlessness that he used to end his life, having decapitated him for good measure, before lifting her from the scene. And it was the memory of his eyes parting the darkness and rising to her in a huff that led her to see the monster within this man.

Her feet moved into the direction of her door in an attempt to escape, but slammed with the force of his palm against its wooden surface. He was now angered by her attempts, pushing his body against hers with his knee propped upwards to keep her from trying for the window, while his palms sat on either side of her.

"You have every right to be afraid, Avery. But if I wanted you dead, I would have killed you along with your leech last night. That should prove as enough evidence to know you can trust me…"

"W-wh-what do you want?" She stuttered out of nervousness as he now lessened his provocative press from her physique and allowed her the freedom to take a full breath without feeling their chests meet with each attempt she made at an inhale or following exhale.

"The same thing you want." He confessed as he now moved to the center of her room, his touch tracing the objects collected in her last seventeen years set on display for herself.

"To find out what makes you so special…" These words were not meant to be read as seductive or threatening, yet their delivery made her question just what he was to her; a friend or a foe. This was a detail, he too, had yet to identify for himself.