The Fallen Ch. 01

And then...I shock the living hell out of myself.

My other hand rises, and I place both palms against the soft skin of Danni's cheeks. I lean forward and plant a gentle kiss against her forehead, as if to say "everything will be okay". Afterward I find myself wrapping my arms around Danni in a reassuring hug that she returns wholeheartedly.

Much as I had done when I first met my brother, Danni gives in and lets go of all the pain. Her sorrow comes pouring out in a torrent of tears as heavy, wracking sobs rattle her. Is this how Chris felt when he'd done the same with me? I can feel Danni's misery and heartache slowly melt away.

No...it's more like I'm drawing it from her. I swear I can feel every bit of her pain pass through me as well, like I'm sharing it with her and helping her shed the burden.

A sudden epiphany hits me with a crystal clarity that sends my mind whirling. I thought something had changed within myself, but I was wrong. It's been waiting here inside me, for how long I know not. Coming across Danni's suicide had rattled it loose, and talking with her today has freed it completely.

I know it with the same certainty that I know the sky is blue.

It's my duty to protect those around me from the darkness.

* * * * * *

I feel much better about things, and lunch hour is just about to start. I decide to keep my "date" with Thomas and my brother. I can tell Danni feels much better, too, and when I offer she gladly agrees to come with. We find ourselves in the bustling cafeteria inside the student union, looking for the two guys.

I spot both guys sitting at a table, but there's a girl I don't recognize with them. Her face is very pretty, with a slightly oriental cast to it, and her expression is a picture of somber and languid indolence. She looks a little shorter than I am, though it's hard to tell exactly from how she's slumped and lounging lazily in her chair. Like me she has a thin body but with more pronounced, feminine curves.

As Danni and I approach their table I give the guys a smile and a wave, saying, "Hey Chris. Hi Thomas."

Thomas stands up to greet us in an archaic gestures of politeness.

"Hi Erykah! You came, and...you have Danni with you," he says with his handsome smile. "Hi Danni."

Danni gives him a slight smile.

"That's okay, isn't it?" I question.

"Of course it's fine!" he assures me. "I'm just a little surprised is all. Danni is more than welcome to sit with us. I'm glad you two are hanging out."

"Thank you," Danni replies gratefully.

Christopher waves back to me. It's strange, but when Thomas sees Chris is still seated he gives him a light swat on the shoulder and a meaningful look. Chris sighs heavily, rolls his eyes, and stands as well.

Holy crap. That's theexactsame thing I used to do when mom would ask me to do something I found irritating or pointless. I know that heavy sigh/eye roll combo well.

"Hi Danni. Good to see ya again, sis," my brother says, giving an unruffled smile. "ForgiveThomas. He thinks it's rude not to stand when a lady approaches your table."

The tone my brother used when he said his friend's name strikes me as odd, as if there's some kind of tension between the two guys. I'll have to ask Chris about that later.

The other girl at the table looks over at Thomas and comments, "You didn't stand whenIapproached."

"That's because you're not a lady," Thomas snickers.

"True," the girl admits.

"And you'd probably hit me if I tried to open a door for you," Thomas says with a wry grin.

"Also true," she agrees with a nod and a chuckle.

My eyes widen a bit at the interplay between the pair. I look over at Danni who is looking back at me with the same confused expression.

"I'm Chiaki, Thomas' girlfriend," she says as she flicks a strand of her straight, shoulder length brunette hair behind one ear. " 'Sup."

"Just here to get our nosh on," I tell Chiaki.

"Cool," she replies.

Thomas has a girlfriend? I feel a touch crestfallen, but it's not like there's anything between the two of us. I get over the disappointment almost immediately and realize itwasjust teenage hormones.

I notice the three of them already have lunch trays full of food. I turn to Danni and can tell she seems uncomfortable. Strangely enough...I don't. I'm not sure why. Plus, I'm not talking in one or two word sentences.

Maybe Ishouldvisit the infirmary.

"Hey Danni," I suggest, "why don't you have a seat, and I'll go get us some lunch? Whatchu wanna eat?"

"Um, how about some..."

Danni is cut off when Trina rudely shoulder-butts her as she's walking past. Danni is pushed forward and has to place her palms on the table to catch herself.

"Watch where you're going, baby killer," Trina says with a malicious titter.

Danni's hands form into fists, and her teeth clench in anger. Good. Of all the possible emotions she could feel right now anger is the most useful one. I look over and see Trina is holding hands with a tall, muscular guy. Now, though, she's surrounded by not only Kelly but three other girls as well.

I'm about to speak up in Danni's defense, but Chiaki does something I have to admit floors me a bit. She moves so fast I can barely see it when she snatches the apple from Chris' tray. The small girl hurls the fruit with deadly accuracy and great force at Trina's face. Her throw is powerful enough that the apple ruptures against Trina's cheekbone and splatters everywhere as if it had hit a brick wall.

"OWIEEEE!" Trina squawks loudly, tears of pain coming from her eyes as she reaches up to clutch at her face. "Chiaki, youbitch!"

Still lounging with an unconcerned look, Chiaki's voice becomes rather grim as she tells Trina, "Piss off, cunt. Danni's withusnow. If you don't stop fucking with herI'll fucking break your fucking arms."

A look of shock comes over Trina's face, and she turns to the guy whose hand she was holding until a moment ago.

"Are...are you gonna let her talk tomelike that?!?" Trina virtually shrieks, drawing the stares of other nearby kids. "I'm gonna have a bruise from that!!!"

"Itoldyou to leave Danni alone," the boy says quietly with a shake of his head as he turns to leave. "Let's go."

"You know what?" Trina begins in a derisive tone as she frowns. "I was gonna let you be my boyfriend, but you're just a pussy...a pussy who's afraid of agirl."

The guy shakes his head again and stabs a finger into Trina's breastbone forcefully, saying, "Ain't no one in this entire school gonna call me a pussy for not wantin' to tangle with Chiaki. Fuck you Trina. Youarea cunt."

And with that he stalks away angrily. Trina looks completely taken by surprise, her face a perfect picture of shock. It's like this is the first time in her life anyone has ever taken her down a notch.

"Let's go," she huffs to her girl-gaggle entourage, leading them elsewhere in the cafeteria.

I'm speechless at what just happened. That boy is sobig...and he's afraid to "tangle" with little Chiaki? How in the hell doesthatwork? Most guys are leery of hitting girls, but still...the way he talked you'd think Chiaki was some seven-foot biker who'd lance him with a pig-sticker or something.

I notice half the lunchroom is staring at our table, having just witnessed the event. With the spectacle over they go back to eating and talking, though the atmosphere seems slightly more subdued than it had been a minute ago. I imagine the gossip will be flying about this.

Thomas looks at Chiaki with a reproving glare.

Chiaki looks back at Thomas, gives a languid shrug, and asks innocently, "What?"

Danni looks just as flabbergasted as I am. She watches in wonder as Trina retreats into the crowd.

"There were better ways to handle that, Chiaki," Thomas frowns slightly.

"No one will screw with Danni any more," the smaller girl shrugs again. "And if Trina does I'll break her fucking arms."

"No you won't," Thomas proclaims firmly.

Chiaki opens her mouth to say something, then thinks better of it and clamps her lips shut.

"Okay daddy," Chiaki replies sarcastically instead.

That seems to settle the matter between them, which is good because this is getting really weird. The way Thomas is acting toward Chris and Chiaki reminds me of how a parent would treat their children.

"Thank you," Danni tells Chiaki gratefully. "She's been the worst since this year started."

"No prob, sister," Chiaki drawls. "If anyone else hassles you let me know. I'll sort them out."

Thomas shoots Chiaki another glare, which isn't lost on her.

"With words," she reassures Thomas, holding up her hands in surrender.

Thomas seems mollified. He turns to Danni and I.

"Let me buy you both lunch," he offers. "What would you like?"

Danni and I accept the gracious offer and give Thomas our food orders. He nods and heads off to get our meals.

Christopher looks over at Chiaki and says, "Hey. You owe me an apple."

* * * * * *

The rest of the day goes by quickly and strangely wonderful. It's as if I'm looking at the world through a different set of eyes. I feel sharp...focused. Like nothing can phase me. Even better, I find out I have three of my four afternoon classes with Danni. I can't help but think fate is pushing us together.

Our last class of the day ends, and I breath a sigh of relief. I managed to get my first tumultuous day at Bay Ridge under my belt. What a hell of a day it was. My mom's words about perseverance making me stronger comes to mind as Danni and I walk into the hallway together after that final bell rings.

"So," Danni begins tentatively with a hopeful look on her face, "what do you have planned?"

I think for a moment.

"Well, I need to stop by my morning classes and see if the teachers are still there so I can get my homework. After that...I suppose I better hit the books. Probably just homework in my room, some dinner, and then bed. It's been quite a day."

"Yeah," Danni nods knowingly, a lengthy yawn stretching her mouth open. "I guess I better do the same."

"A little tired?" I ask.

"Uh-huh. I was up until like one in the morning...um...cleaning."

"Oh," I mutter.

Yeah. All that dark water. I try to push the image from my mind.

"Had a hard time getting any sleep after that," Danni admits.

"And by hard time you mean none at all, right?"

"Pretty much. So what were your morning classes?" Danni says to change the unpleasant subject. "I know my way around pretty well. I can take you to them if you want."

I pull my class schedule from my folder and show it to Danni. Her eyes widen.

"No way!" she says excitedly. "Those aremymorning classes, too! Same teachers and everything. We have all the same classes except the one right after lunch."

"No kidding? That's really something," I tell her with an amused grin.

Thank you, fate. After your shitty attitude lately it's about time you threw me a bone.

"Okay, let's go get our homework," Danni says, returning my smile.

On our way from classroom to classroom I see Trina and her ever-present side-kick Kelly walking toward us down the hallway. I can tell Trina is biting her tongue. She and Kelly keep walking without saying a word. In fact, it's as if they're pretending Danni isn't even there.

Danni and I exchange a look of wonder. We giggle once the other girls are out of earshot.

Thank you Chiaki.

A short while later we're at the girls' dorm. We exit the elevator and step into the third floor hallway. Danni stops at her door and starts to unlock it.

"We're doing our homework together, right?" I stop to ask.

"Yeah, but I want out of this uniform," she explains, flipping the ruffles on her skirt.

Oh. Right.

"You know it's funny," I observe, "it was a little uncomfortable this morning when I put it on, but I sort of got used to wearing it. Forgot I even had it on."

"Gonna wear it all night?" Danni jokes.

"Hell no," I shake my head. "Comfy clothes, here I come."

Danni laughs at that.

"I'll be over in a minute," she promises.

"Okay," I nod before heading to my own room.

I drop my backpack near the work desk and quickly strip off the Bay Ridge uniform. I decide to go lazy-casual. I pull off my bra before putting on a pair of green sweat pants and a plain, white t-shirt. I set about sorting through my mass of homework when there's a knock at the door.

I open it, and giggle a bit when I see Danni standing there in black sweat pants and a gray t-shirt. She has her work desk chair in one hand and her backpack in the other.

"Looks like we had the same idea," I say, pointing to her ensemble. "Come in."

"Thanks."

We set about doing our homework.

A few hours later, and after many yawns from Danni, we're finished. I realize how hungry I am and offer to cook Danni dinner. She nods readily. I take a stab at spaghetti, using the hotplate to cook the hamburger and sauce while I blast the noodles in the microwave. The meal doesn't turn out too bad, and we eat at my work desk.

"This is really good," Danni comments after downing a few mouthfuls.

"Meh."

"Seriously," she says around another big mouthful.

"My mom's spaghetti was something to behold," I brag. "Fresh tomatoes and mushrooms with bacon and a secret ingredient."

"What secret ingredient?"

"A can of cream of mushroom soup. It made the sauce so creamy and yummy."

"You miss your mom a lot, huh?"

"Yeah," I nod wistfully. "I'll always miss her. She was an incredible woman. I love her a ton."

Though we fall silent a short while, it's still nice to have company while I eat. There were so many long and lonely nights right after mom died when I didn't have the motivation to cook myself dinner, let alone eat most times. I skipped a lot of meals those two weeks and would go to bed too depressed to care.

"Is something wrong?" Danni asks. "You look kind of sad."

"Oh, it's nothing," I wave it off. "I was thinking about something from right after my mom died, but right now I'm thinking how happy I am you're here having dinner with me."

"That's..."

Danni trails off. Her eyes begin to glisten, and a joyful smile graces her beautiful face. A single tear rolls down one cheek.

"That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me!"

She wipes at the tears, still smiling while she laughs with a light, airy sound. Danni had seemed so normal during afternoon classes, after our morning talk in my room, that I'd almost forgotten about last night. She's bound to still be in a pretty fragile emotional state.

I turn and lean over to give Danni a warm hug. She hugs me back, and I can't help but ponder on the set of circumstances that led to our meeting. I still didn't understand the strange compulsion that led me into her bathroom. I couldn't even begin to comprehend how I brought her back to life.

I decide it doesn't really matter. In less than a day Danni has become the most important person in my life, even above my own brother, Christopher. We need each other. I'm full of happiness when she's around.

"Danni," I say, still holding her tight as I speak from my heart, "Having you here means everything to me. Do you understand? I'll miss you terribly if you go away. Please don't ever try to check out again."

"I won't," she replies softly into my ear.

"Promise me."

"I promise."

Our embrace lasts a long time. I think Danni is just as reluctant as I am to let go. Eventually my stomach growls, and I realize how little of my dinner I've eaten so far.

"Our food's getting cold," I finally say.

"Yeah," Danni laughs softly as she leans back.

"Race you," I challenge, my eyes gleaming with an impish competitiveness.

"You're on! Ready..."

We grab our forks.

"Set..."

We stick the forks deep in the spaghetti.

"GO!" Danni says, already shoveling food in her mouth as she says the word.

"Cheater!" I say playfully around my first mouthful of noodles.

We go back to gobbling up the spaghetti. I wolf mine down quickly. Danni tries to keep pace but falls behind. I might be skinny, but I can eat like a damn pig when I feel like it.

I down my last bite before Danni and hold my arms up in victory.

"Haaaaaaaa!" I utter in my impression of an excited, roaring sports crowd. "And still reigning champion!"

Then I feel a rumble rising up my esophagus. I belch loudly.

"Gross!" Danni giggles, swatting gently at my arm.

"Mmmm," I hum. "Tastes like chicken."

"Ewww!" she laughs even harder.

Her sparkling laughter is infectious, and I can't help but join in. Our mirth slowly dwindles to be replaced by a pair of irrepressible smiles that are glued to our faces. Danni suddenly yawns deeply.

"You seem pretty tired," I observe.

"Yeah, I guess so," Danni nods, another yawn escaping her throat. "It's bad to sleep right after eating, but I should go to bed."

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"You sure will," she promises, trying to smile but only yawning again.

We both stand and give each other a quick hug before Danni grabs her backpack.

"Good night," I tell Danni.

"Good night."

I can't help but lean out my doorway and watch her walk to the other end of the hallway. She stops at her door, unlocks it, and looks in my direction. She smiles, and I wave and smile back before she disappears into her room.

* * * * * *

It was only about 8:30 PM when Danni decided to crash, but I wasn't even close to tired yet. I'd picked up the sci-fi novel I tried getting into last night and found, to my delight, that I was able to focus on reading. It's an interesting story, and before I know it the time is a little after ten o'clock.

I'm starting to get my own case of the yawns, so I turn off all the lights except the lamp on my nightstand. If I fall asleep reading then at least most of the lights will already be out. I barely plop down on my bed, book in hand, when there's a very soft knock at my door.

Danni is the only person I can think of who'd be knocking at this late hour. I squint and peer through the peephole. Sure enough, it's Danni. I swing the door open. Though her eyes are dry they look red and puffy, as if she's been crying.

"Everything okay?" I ask with concern.

"I...I had a nightmare," she reveals with a frown.

"Come in. Wanna talk about it?"

Danni walks in, and I close and lock the door. She yawns heavily, and I notice dark rings under her eyes. She looks so tired it's distressing me.

"Can...can I..."

She trails off, then shakes her head and says, "Never mind. I'm just being lame. I'll see you tomorrow."

She turns to the door, placing her hand on the knob. I step forward, putting a hand over hers to stop her from leaving.

"You can sleep here if you want," I offer, taking a guess at what she was about to ask.

"Oh, thank you thank you thank you," she murmurs softly, giving me a quick hug.

"Come on," I say, taking her hand and leading her to my bed.

She climbs under the covers, and I get in after. It's only a full-sized mattress, so we both fit rather snugly. It takes Danni less than a minute before she's snoring almost imperceptibly in a way I can't help but find cute.

The warmth of her body in my bed is strangely comforting and makes me really drowsy all of a sudden. This is the first time I've ever fallen asleep with another person next to me. I'm forced to confess to myself how safe it makes me feel having Danni right here. It's the last thought rattling through my mind as sleep claims me.

* * * * * *

I wake up the next morning after the best night's sleep I've had in a very long time. I'm on my side and snuggled up against Danni with one arm over her stomach and my head resting against her shoulder.

Oh shit!This will be awkward if Danni wakes up and I'm like this!