Angel with No Halo Ch. 01

"The building's been closed for a few days, why are you asking about it now?" Sharon asked with a genuine state of confusion.

Matching her perplexed expression, Arthur raised a question of his own. "What do you mean a few days? I was just in there about an hour ago."

"Is this a joke because I have things to do." Her welcoming tone was starting to become not-so welcoming by Arthur's constant questioning.

Not matter how many times Arthur explained his side of the story she wouldn't buy it. Both persons were the equivalent of brick walls, adamant and unwavering. Sharon had the upper hand however as she introduced technology into the heated debate, a close look at the calendar application on her phone solidified her side of the story and destroyed his. Chaos ensued in his mind while his face maintained the bewildered expression.

"How the hell did four days pass?" Arthur whispered under his breath, "I was just here."

"Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Arthur simply shook his head and walked off trying to wrap his mind around what he just heard. According to the evidence, the science building was exposed to a poisonous substance that contaminated the air. The said substance was now under investigation at some unknown location, everyone was escorted out of the campus and the building was closed off completely. All of that added onto the fact that Arthur had simply blacked out through all of it. Illogical was too light of a word to describe the situation but unless he could come up with another explanation, that was the so called truth Arthur had to accept. It was like forcing a puzzle piece to fit into a place it doesn't belong, Arthur's mind rejected it every time.

Arthur sullenly walked back to his dorm and opened a chilled beer before sinking into the inflatable couch.

"You are alive my child, you are truly destined to set me free."

He jumped out of the couch and spilled most of the drinks contents on himself before getting a glimpse at the seer.

"Alive? The fuck!? You knew I was going to die!?" The anger quickly dissipated once she began to ruffle his hair once more. "What do you want?" He spoke in a much more gentle tone, not to mention polite.

"I am here to pass upon you a gift, a precious gift stolen from a precious child."

The woman began to caress his cheeks and smile gracefully before getting into detail. She didn't delve into much but explained that Arthur had the gift of wills, he at one point was powerful enough to change the wills of gods on a whim. Although he tried multiple times, he couldn't get anything about how he managed to lose such a thing. All the seer revealed was that he had a major flaw centuries ago that led to his downfall. Once again there was no elaboration or focus on the part where he was alive centuries ago.

"But what about the school, the quarantine or whatever. How did I skip four days and not even remember it?"

"The gods sent out one of their hounds to kill you. They fear your kind so they take no chances."

"So what do I do now? Are they still out to kill me?"

As long as the seer had contact with Arthur, his heart rate never deviated from normal. The contact kept him calm, almost in a state of temporary sedation.

"The gods think you are dead, the hound almost always kills the awakened soul. You are the first to have survived. Please my child, you must do exactly as I say."

Arthur simply nodded in a trance like state, "I will."

"You must never return to that school, leave this town this instant and never return. We must awaken your full potential."

"Full potential..." Arthur repeated under his breath.

The seer broke contact, and in turn snapped Arthur out of the hypnotic like state. "Embrace your destiny."

"Embrace..." Arthur repeated once again.

"I cannot accompany you further my child, come back here once you have awoken your true self. For now I must leave. Be safe my precious."

The seer broke contact and vanished into thin air, which in turn released Arthur from the trance like state. He understood his objectives, however unclear they were. Nonetheless one thing was absolute, he needed to leave at that very moment. College seemed a tad bit minor when compared to his life, so much so that he didn't even bother packing. Under the assumption that he was going to return one day, Arthur grabbed his keys and took the first elevator down to reception. The faded red baseball cap slid down perfectly to cover majority of his face as he casually walked out the building making sure to avoid any and all contact.

Arthur's hometown was only a bus away, the 10 hour travel time was the only downside. Luckily he had a few of the sleeping pills the neurologist prescribed him, they were extremely potent and knocked him out in a matter of minutes. The bus driver finally woke him up once the bus reached the last stop, fortunately the last stop was where Arthur needed to be. With the main objective completed, Arthur felt a great weight lifted off his shoulders. Relief was casually dancing around his body as Arthur walked towards his aunt's place. It was the closest from the bus stop and she was always pretty welcoming of him.

The rain clouds had pretty much all formed and were just waiting for the green light to let it pour, in the meanwhile the humidity had formed a Rorschach test on his back. By the time he reached his aunt's door, his shirt was drenched with sweat.

"Arthur?" A woman not much taller than opened the door and was immediately taken back by his presence. Arthur could tell by the dough stain on her faded black t-shirt she was cooking, his aunt always made a mess when she entered the kitchen.

"Aunt Maggie, hey." Arthur gleefully replied.

The smooth talking approach failed before it even started as she assaulted him with questions immediately after. He already knew it was in his best interest to keep most of the details to himself so he stuck mostly with half-truths. Arthur explained, or attempted to, the situation with the science building and then went to say that most of his classes took place in there. Once she was emotionally invested in the backstory he cut to the chase and explained that he was free for the rest of the semester.

"Oh my god! Come in! I can't believe they would keep it quiet like this!"

Maggie rushed him inside and offered a change of clothes immediately before brewing up two hot cups of coffee, a tell tale sign that more details were needed.

Arthur took a sip and almost instantly felt energized, a bit too much in fact. "Damn this is strong."

The second sip sucker punched him in the heart and forced him to rest the cup permanently on the table. Maggie paid no heed to his comment and casually sipped a quarter of the cup down while maintaining the expression that she was eagerly waiting.

"There's not much else to say." Arthur wasn't a great liar and his confidence was getting stripped fast. He awkwardly smiled and began to scratch the back of his head.

"How did the place get locked down? It's super weird that they would just close down an entire building like that right? And how is this not on the news?"

Without wasting anytime he immediately responded, "It wasn't that big of an issue, I mean they locked it down mostly for precaution. Probably it was someone goofing off in chem lab and something spilled, you know how they get about those things."

That was the one and only excuse he had brewing in his mind, if she probed further he'd be found out in no time. Luckily for him, Maggie had enough with the details. She offered him her sincerest sympathies and praised him for being so resourceful and coming to her place.

"So what's the plan now Arthur?"

"To be honest I think I'm just going to go back to work you know. The store will hire him right away after I tell them I'm available for a few months and I guess I'll stay at my house."

"You're not going to visit them?" The question immediately struck a chord with her nephew.

"Just cuz they adopted me doesn't mean they're my parents. We've been over this multiple times."

Just as Arthur lifted his gaze from the ground he saw his aunt in, for a lack of better words, a frozen state. It was like someone had pressed the pause button on a movie, everything inside the room felt like a display. Even the bleached yellow clock hanging proudly on the living room wall was stuck in time. The sink no longer dripped, or rather the water droplet was levitating in mid air while the other had barely formed. Maggie, although she sat a few feet away, seemed completely distant. Her eyes told a starkly different reality, they held no depth whatsoever.

What the fuck is going on, Arthur repeatedly thought.

Just as he was about to grab his things and run to nowhere, he felt a presence nearby. Goosebumps appeared all over his body and it became seemingly impossible to breathe. After a huge gulp, Arthur slowly turned his neck to the left to notice the woman in grey. She stood right next to the fire escape, the top of her face still covered by the hood of her robe.

"S.S..Seer?" For a quick second, Arthur's mind was put on high alert as it told every part of his body to get out of there but that was quickly put to rest after she slowly walked over and caressed his cheek.

"My child, my beautiful child. It brings me great joy to see you alive." She stated motherly. She still had a bony appearance but her skin wasn't as pale as before.

Arthur attempted to respond but he was once again brought to the trance like state. His mind pumped questions to his mouth but they changed route midway. "H..How?" Arthur whispered, a miracle that something escaped the roadblock.

The woman paused for moment as if taken aback before resuming her exploration of his cheek. "I couldn't stay away once I saw you alive. I was so consumed with joy I couldn't stay away and my precious, call me mother."

"Mother..." He stated, almost as if he was out of breath for some reason.

"Yes, don't you like making mother happy?" Arthur merely nodded his head this time. "Now Arthur, do you want to make mother really happy?"

Once again, stuck in the trance like state, he just nodded. The seer pointed to his aunt and ordered him to stare at her, an order that was met with little to no resistance. As he stared at Maggie, the seer looked down at him and merely smiled while she slowly ran her hands through his wavy black hair. After a while she broke contact with Arthur, and in turn took him out of the trance. However, even though he was out of the trance he still stared at his aunt all while knowing the seer was standing right next to him.

"What do you feel?" The seer crooked her head slightly and studied his response.

Without looking back, he just shrugged his shoulders. Arthur didn't know how what to feel, there was a torrent of emotions within him but none that he felt strongly of. The seer's patience ran thin and asked him once more about his feelings towards Maggie, once again she was met with a shrug of the shoulders.

"Look at me Arthur." The order was followed immediately, there wasn't even a second of delay for the response. "There is no need to hide what dwells inside you my child, my love for you will not erode."

"What's inside of me?" He asked in a slightly elevated tone, now that Arthur was no longer in a trance there was no interruption between thoughts and words.

"You're desires Arthur, be truthful to yourself. You have nothing to hide."

Once again he asked he asked her to explain what she was referring to, after which he grew tired of her vague answers. "Just tell me what the fuck I have to be truthful with! What fuck are you talking about!?"

Once again the woman was taken aback by the hostility, almost in disbelief as to how such a reaction occurred. However, she quickly regained composure and attempted to make contact with him once again. Arthur stood up as soon as he saw her inching towards him, partly out of instinct, and demanded answers. Everytime she would try to touch him he would gently swat her hand away, finally she gave into his demands.

"The flesh." Her tone wasn't the same as before, it was still calming like a mothers but vastly different. "You desire the flesh Arthur."

Arthur scoffed at the accusation and later laughed it off. The validity of such a thing wasn't just unlikely it was next to impossible. The woman held a firm however, insisting that whatever she was saying was nothing but the truth. When Arthur still refused to believe her she pointed downward, causing Arthur's eyes to follow and finally rest upon the major tent in his pants.

"My love for you isn't lessened by the discovery my dear, and neither do I wish it."

Arthur, still baffled by the discovery, slowly shifted his gaze towards her. His face contorted in confusion and fear as he looked at her for answers. Arthur knew he wasn't attracted to his aunt, it was clearly wrong but his body sang to a different tune. The weird part was that he didn't even feel the change, he didn't even feel the boner pushing the zipper to its limits.

Now that Arthur was stuck in shock, the woman made grabbed his left hand and brought it to her chest. Just like before, his heartbeat normalized and in turn his breathing pattern followed by the trance. The woman, while Arthur's hand was still on her bony chest, ran her other hand around the perimeter of his skull. While her hand ran across the surface of his head, she whispered obscure patches of words in an unfamiliar language.

"Now wake my child." As soon as the command was given, Arthur snapped out of the state and stared at her. "Are you able to see yourself for what you truly are?"

He nervously looked at the ground and whispered, "Yes, mother."

"Do not be ashamed my child, it is but a common byproduct of your abilities. The awakened often have changes thrust upon them. Fear not my dear, you are not a monster."

Arthur didn't lift his gaze one bit. With his eyes glued to the floor he nervously spat back, "Then why do I feel like one? The things I want to do, the urges. They're wrong, I need to control -"

The seer's smile diminished slightly when she heard thoughts about control. Before he could go on she cut him off. "No! That is how you die!"

She explained that urges left unanswered would build up and eventually translate to an explosion of desires, losing the parents personality in the process. In order to unlock his true potential, as well as stay alive, Arthur would have to find ways to satisfy the urges. The longer he waited the stronger they'd get as well as darker.

"Do you love mother Arthur?" The question was answered by an immediate nod. "Will you do what Mother says?" Once again Arthur nodded almost instantly. "Then go and act on your desires and until then, be well my child."

The seer vanished before he could respond, Arthur looked around the room aimlessly trying to find some sort of anchor. When the seer vanished, he felt as if he was stranded in the middle of the ocean with nothing but a never ending shade of blue wherever he looked. Her instructions resonated in his head like an echo but his mind actively tried to block it. His psyche went through a crisis trying to figure out which information it should accept. Morality and the social construct that Arthur had been living under pulled on one end while the teachings of the seer pulled on the other. The tug-of-war between the ideologies seemed evenly matched at first, but the more Arthur thought about the the seer's words the more he leaned over to that side.

Everytime he thought of her, there was a calming effect similar to a typical over the counter analgesic. The metaphorical void that everyone spends trying to fill seemed a lot smaller when viewing the world from her perspective. Letting go of the social order didn't seem that bad when he put all the cards on the table. Without the seer's guidance he was lost and everytime she graced him with her presence, the world made that much more sense. The seer's mentality brought order to a chaotic reality and the more he thought of her, the stronger the feelings became. Soon there was no rope to pull, it was like the warnings of a rat going against the wishes of a hungry lion.

Before he knew it the time had once again resumed, the clock ticked normally and the droplet finally formed and mated with the stainless steel sink. Arthur exchanged a nervous glance with his aunt and unknowingly entered the dreaded moment of awkward silence. However, the oven timer came to the rescue and grabbed all of her attention. While she was preoccupied in the kitchen, Arthur quickly scribbled a small thank you note on a napkin headed out the door. It was a matter of trust more than anything and at that moment, Arthur knew he couldn't be kept in the same room as her. Explaining to his aunt why he had a raging boner out of nowhere was a conversation that he wanted to keep as far away from reality as possible.

Luckily he wasn't homeless and actually had a place to stay. Rational thoughts only come from rational weather, the relentless assault of the sun coupled with a sad excuse for wind doesn't create an optimal environment for a sane mind. The death threat and the anxiety also could've played a part in forgetting about the apartment he leased. Although his biological parents didn't stay with him for long, they did manage to pass something on to him. The insurance money he collected allowed him to lease a nice little apartment only a few bus stops away from his aunt's place as well as pay for most of his tuition.

Like a spoiled child on any given day, the weather had also changed it's mind seemingly on a whim. The rain had just started teasing the earth as tiny droplets fell one by one. As the first drop cooled his eyelid, Arthur dawned a smile and walked calmly towards his destination. The wind gave up it's anger as well and danced with the rain in perfect harmony. With such graceful weather time seemed to be an illusion as Arthur realized he was already at his destination. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he blocked out nearly all sensory information, in the blink of an eye he crossed close to 2 miles.

Finally at his destination, he stopped to take in the view and notice the stark changes since he last saw the place. The stucco exterior of the two story house was, to put it bluntly, going to shit. Cracks were were overpowering the paint to the point that it almost seemed like a design, the grass was overgrown on the lawn and weeds were picking at the concrete walkway heading to the porch. The fence however stood proudly against the forces of time, it looked like shit before and it still looked like shit now. The wood had been chipped even before Arthur moved in and even with all the rent money, Helen couldn't gather up a hundred bucks to fix it. At least the gate was working, partly.

To the side of the building was a staircase leading to the second floor, this was the preferred method of entry since Helen was quite the character. The room unsurprisingly looked exactly the way he left it, possibly since he rarely invited anyone over. In fact, the only person that visited the place was his aunt and that was when he just out apartment searching. The place was a mess, dirty clothes littered the floor while half eaten takeout and pizza covered anything resembling a flat surface. Arthur really couldn't fathom how he ever lived in such a place. Before anything, the first order of business was giving the apartment a complete makeover.

He went inside the main closet and took out a couple of black 30 gallon trash bags and immediately threw out all the food and whatever resembled it in one bag. He filled the others with useless items that he no longer needed and clothes he either grew out of or no longer cared for. About an hour later, the apartment was looking much better. All he needed to do was windex all the surfaces and thoroughly vacuum the place to make it liveable once again. Before he could put on the imaginary maid outfit, he heard a knock on the door.