Chapter Four

A sudden shock-wave and what sounded like a background choir marked the coming of an angel. After landing like a comet, a divine being with eyes like glass stood in my front. She look at me with her tanned eyes. It calmed my every fibre and made me feel drowsy. 

Her slender and muscular body glided in a careful manner and was covered in various markings. She carried a weapon of bright energy.

I looked at her gentle face once more; a pained expression was visible. A halo suddenly flared brightly above her head, and consumed her. The angel was… Maisie and it was all a nightmare.

**

I woke up gagging on a cough. The winter was maliciously cold although the heater was working just as it should – but yet, I was sweating profusely.

I sat up on my bed for a few minute nuzzling my blanket closer over my body to keep me warm as I recollected the nightmare. 

An angel? Maisie? D… dea… death?

I wanted to clear my head a little so I left pulled off the blanket and sank my cold legs into a warm Dunlop.

I went to my dad’s room where he was snoring barely audible and very peacefully, the room was warmer than mine and then I went out – out of my room, took the stairs and off our storey. I passed a lot of rooms, most probably empty unto and got to the ground floor – out of Hotelgenix unto the streets, not too far.

The avenue was silent. Not that I expected to hear any noise on a moonlit night around one a.m. but my guts told me something was terribly wrong and yes, something was.

The snow started again and I had left my beanie behind so I was about heading back to my room when my eyes caught the shadows of something, or someone, or… people. Yes, people.

I tiptoed closer to them, trying not to stir as much as a leaf in case they heard. They were whisking boxes away – contraband items I guessed.

I stumbled forward a little causing one of the five man gang to come in my direction – armed with an handgun.

Without thinking, I started bolting for Hotelgenix with fright emanating out of every cell of my body. I stumbled a few times as the moonlight wasn’t enough and the snow was only making matters worse. He came after me but I had the element of surprise and I took good advantage of it.

As I turned into Hotelgenix, he shot at me and I felt the bullet pass my by a few meters. Dear God.

I panted but didn’t stop moving as I climbed up the staircase to my room – he didn’t come with me and I only stopped when I got to my dad’s room. I went into mine and collapsed on my bed breathing heavily and then I knew that I couldn’t tell Maisie about the night’s event or the dream either.

**

I met Maisie the next day at a standard coffee shop. We picked up from where we left it off the previous day whilst warming our organs with coffee. Hers was a demitasse ( a small cup of strong black coffee without milk or cream) while mine had equal parts of espresso and hot milk topped with cinnamon and nutmeg and whipped cream too. Mine was a cappuccino coffee and with our coffees we had delectable coffee cakes. 

“You wanna see my parents?” Maisie asked parting her pink lips a little redder than usual for a smile that revealed her graceful teeth after about an hour of sitting in the shop. We never ran out of things to talk about.

“Okay?” I replied, pulling my fine white with a few black swishes sweater towards myself to generate heat as Maisie picked up her phone and arranged for an taxi to pick us up – there was no Uber.

It was a few weeks before Christmas and the spirit of Christmas was almost at it's peak- the beautiful snows, the felicitous yuletide, the merry Christmas played in local shops and Christmas trees, too. If only I got to spend Christmas there – with Maisie.

**

The cab driver smiled in an extremely welcoming way. While on the road, I stopped over and bought her an elaborate bouquet of glacier lily for Maisie

We got to Maisie's house – her house was a bungalow with quite a large chimney that was visible from where we stood. The cedar coloured roof held a lot of snow from last night and an addition of the natural cotton snows that was falling at that moment.

We stepped into her compound when cutest puppy golden retriever I had ever seen in my entire life began to bark lovingly and wag it's little tail in glee. It was a shame my mum was allergic to dogs.

"Let's go in" she said as she lifted her retriever in a cute cuddle filled with little whines.

Maisie’s house wasn't very big but it was super duper tidy. I sat on a light green sofa and Maisie sat opposite to me. Her parents came in after a few minutes- Mr. & Mrs. Ileana.

Mr. Ileana had a cigarette holder in his hands and he appeared to have just smoked to keep himself warm. Mrs. Ileana was wearing an apron and that explained to me why the house smelt of luscious, home made pizza. 

I spoke to her parents for a while and they were great talkers with a very high sense of humour, it was no wonder Maisie was an awesome conversationalist. 

They soon excused the both of us and went about their business.

"I have something to show you", Maisie said as she dragged my lazy self off the couch. We went through their passage where a beautiful Christmas tree stood with glittery ornaments accompanied with the soft Christmas tunes in the background that couldn't be called anything but "euphonic".

Her room was beautiful and pretty larger than I'd have thought. She had a wallpaper of butterflies of different colours and sizes. Her room was really warm and it's fragrance was like orange blossoms. Her bedspread was pink and she had a brown teddy on it. To my right was a piano that lay against the wallpaper and very close to it was a pink and white wardrobe. The tiles were the rough, rubber kind and they were light pink too. I could easily tell that pink was her fav. colour. She had a pretty small davenport- not one that could be converted to a bed and a writing desk with a few books and white papers spread abroad. She drew the white draperies apart and it was already snowing outside. Blissful!

"Nice room, heaven can't be much better!" I said with a radiant beam I didn't even know my face could depict. 

"Thank you" she said with a priceless smile 

"Have a seat over there" she said as she picked up her keyboard and came to sit on the bed beside me. 

She placed her keyboard on her laps, turned it on, tuned it to the tone of a guitar and Tam!, she began to play it. She played it extremely dexterously that I was astonished at the fluidity then she began to sing a song she formed too that was an ally as the harmonious melody paved its way to my core.

She ended the song superbly and by then, the mood of the room had drifted from what it was before. The desires I had been suppressing for sometime now had reached it's peak. I loved her. I don't recall how it all happened but in less than a minute, our lips, tongues and heartbeats were interwined. I explored as much as my tongue could and she did the same with the same intensity. Her breath was hot, rapid and they intensified more as each second passed and I had goosebumps all over as her hands ruffled my hair in a rapturous delight beyond measure.