The Winged Guardian - 17 The Portrait and The Decision

Notification sound from messenger woke me up and I rolled out of bed in alarm. Two horror events yesterday, the photos and the witch, had merged in my head and trigger my danger sense. But this time it was good news, mum’s coming home tomorrow.

I got up in that instant and cleaned myself. Adrenaline rushed through me and schedule of chores lined up for my day. I started with breakfast. The troop can only move with food.

I opened the kitchen window and called like I did yesterday. But the lawn was weirdly quiet, no flapping or tweeting. Where are Stix and friends?

Shrugged, I had the breakfast alone. But the tranquility of the morning annoyed me. What the heck? Something didn’t stop scratching at the back of my head. It made me go and open the front door.

I almost jumped. Umm…give me a sec.

I didn’t know how to react. Dylan was leaning on the panel. He teetered on his neatly-polished shoes when I opened the door, and said hi with unconfident, shy, and quiet voice. He didn’t even look to me in my eyes when I exclaimed his name in surprise.

“Dylan!”

Then, we stood hurting our legs in silence for a few more minutes.

Dylan’s taciturn expression astounded me. Is this the same demon I used to know? Usually he would just barge in without asking for permission. Is he waiting for me to invite him or something?

“W-why don’t you come in?” I finally managed to say.

“Thanks.” His voice was still very weak and he lingered.

“Well, come on in!” I said again.

He stood twitching, idling in the door way. I had just noticed the bandage on his left arm and recalled the witch attack. I was about to ask how he is when, unexpectedly, he pulled out from behind the most colorful bouquet of flowers I’d ever seen. “For you.” He said.

“Oh.” I took the flowers hesitantly.

Dylan quickly went away to his Porsche parking not far away. I was still stunned when he came back again with more boxes and bags wrapped in ribbons. He stacked them on the doorway adding up my chores for today.

“Wait, wait! What’re these?”

“Gifts.” said Dylan. “For you.”

“But it’s not my birthday!”

Dylan lasped into silence again. He seemed to be thinking hard about what occasion were these presents for. In the end, he said. “For defeating the witch.”

“But you defeated her.” I reminded him.

“Not without your help.”

“But I cannot take them.” I said a bit louder. “I ca…” Before I could finish what I was saying, a thought inserted in. If I were to argue with him about these presents, I would have to use a day to do it. “Whatever. Bother!”

Dylan seemed pleased. And he followed me into the kitchen.

“Do you want a coffee?” I asked politely. I needed one coffee to refresh my morning too.

The demon nodded.

I made coffees. And we sat in silence again. It was oddly awkward with him today. I have to say something!

“H-how’s your arm?”

Dylan looked at his left shoulder. “It’s not bad now. Thanks for asking.” And that same charming smile of his came back.

“Where are Stix and his friends?” I asked again, suddenly remember the reason I opened the door. Actually, I shouldn’t have.

“They are celebrating the death of the witch today. I give them a day off. They deserve it.” He said proudly and the smile broadened. “Leigh…are…are you alright?”

I stared at him. “I don’t feel anything wrong.”

He nodded. “I was worried. You know, I thought the witch must have blown your mind off.” Yea, she did. “But I was forced to party with the forest demons last night. I’m sorry I didn’t come to you right away. You should have been there too. Chane was crying to have you there.”

A child’s favorite is already a nightmare. When have I become a child demon’s favorite? “It’s alright.” I said. “I had a lot to think last night.”

Dylan’s relax and happy face thinned out again at that. He must be anxious and worried about what I talked with Conner too. It wasn’t much. Conner didn’t tell me anymore because there wasn’t any to. And I was left with all the information to decide for myself. The whole thinking process had taken all my concentration and energy, so in spite of the horrendous experiences, I totally forgot about the burying, the burning, and the insane witch, and wasn’t as scared as I should be. I had come to the end of it.

I smiled to him. “But everything’s alright.”

After saying that, I seemed to be able to relax for the first time after dad was gone. It was as if all the jigsaws were finally fit. My smile confused Dylan. And I was in exceptionally good mood all at once. I decided to drop the chores and asked Dylan out. “Let’s go for a walk. It’s a beautiful morning.”

It was the demon’s turn to be stunned. But he was happy after recovering.

We went out and the Porsche started my conversation as we paced up the street. Birds were still singing in this early morning, and the sunlight was still that beautiful golden yellow. “I don’t think that car is necessary. You can fly.”

“I’d like to try human’s stuff.” Dylan reply. His tone was brighter and livelier by this time. “And I’ve got too much money to spend on.”

I would usually roll my eyes at this. But I thought I already got used to his conceit. Rich spoiled brat.

“You know.” Dylan pressed on. “Human are so funny. They gave me so many of these money-things when I showed them rocks I brought with me from my home.”

“Rocks?”

“Yea, blue rocks.” said Dylan. “I heard they called it gems.”

Gems! So that’s where he got all the money!

This made me shudder though. A home with lots of gems. If it doesn’t mean somewhere under the earth, where could it be? And under the earth is something like-hell? But Chane lives in the forest?!

We came to the end of the asphalt street and instinctively took the left into the brick path surrounded with trees. The shades sheltered us only briefly and we emerge into the white sand land that almost half of it was swallowed by great blue churning water.

The briny strong breeze greeted us here. It freshened my already refreshing mood. The ripples of the white-crowned waves came crashing as if bringing new hopes. The scenery seemed to be projecting the image of my feeling by some means.

And I started feeling like drawing. “I should have brought my sketch book!” I said to myself without knowing.

Dylan disappeared in that moment. I didn’t know where or how he went. I would just ignore it and enjoy my kind-of new life.

I was bending over observing a hermit crab when he reappeared again with…my sketch book, the portrait of him I left under a sheet, my water color set, my acrylic color set, my oil color set, my pencil box, my easel, and more. The whole lot of them?!

“You went into my room?” And bring all these? -I adopted an angry tone.

“You said you want to draw!” the demon said. “It took me quite a while to search in the labyrinth of yours.”

It’s my room and it’s a girl’s room, you know!

Okay, okay, calm down, calm down, Leigh. You can’t get angry. You’ve decided on this. This is the new life you have to live with. It’s gonna be like this for the next ten, twenty, thirty years. Get used to it now. The life with the demon. The life with Dylan.

I managed a slightly twisted smile. “Alright!” Since he brought them all here. “Let’s do this.”

“Oh, oh, and,” Dylan handed me the books and put other things on the sand. “If you have time, please finish this.” He pushed the portrait of his forward.

Well, he even said please! “I’ll paint that one then.”

We set everything and I sat down on a small stool that he brought too. Dylan quickly scuttled to the seaside and put on a pose, the one exactly the same as in the portrait. I couldn’t hold my laugh.

“Stop that.” said Dylan, face turned crimson.

I painted the picture, didn’t bother to make an excuse about the person on the canvas anymore. It was Dylan to begin with and I didn’t want to waste energy and mind on trying to win him on stupid stuff all the time. I had to live with him in harmony.

It wasn’t a bad day. And I actually had quite a lot of fun with the demon. We had light lunch together at a restaurant on the beach. Dylan kept making jokes on the foods and they were funny. In the afternoon, we sauntered on the other beach and had a little swim with tiny fishes. We watched the sun set and went back home having dinner, watching telly, teaching him how to play board games. I unwrapped Dylan’s heap of gifts and found that all of them they were drawing supplies. I thanked him tremendously and the demon and I spent more time on that portrait at night. And I had just had a chance to check on my i6. A whole lot of messages and missed call on there from Dale, Michelle, and Sonnia jammed the screen. They were checking if I was ok with the burning. I called all of them back saying I was fine and that I didn’t get admitted. They agreed to give me another quiet rest tomorrow. Dale’s conversation was strangely curt today though.

Dylan was flipping through my drawing collections when I finished with the calls. He didn’t stop praising my works. I began to like him even more! Late at night, we watched ‘The Walking Dead’ together. Dylan couldn’t stop laughing and making fun at the zombies and said that human are very imaginative. He assured me that zombie doesn’t exist.

What a day! Having Dylan accompanying was even more entertain than I had thought. He could be like Stix and friends, only if he didn’t have that gorgeous face, lovely smile, and the world’s most magnificent eyes.

Is my heart beating faster?