Watching my twin brother take his last breath, I truly felt I died with him. Part of me did die, while the other part no longer felt alive.
That all changed though, when he smiled at me. He smiled and I felt myself smiling back.
I had just come from Connor's service, when he found me sitting on the corner of the street, resting my head on a lamp post. I felt rather then saw him sit down next to me; my eyes being closed.
I looked over at the boy, when I felt a hand on my shoulder. He was giving me a concerned look, and if I'm not mistaken it looked like he was itching to hug me. Silly, huh; some strange boy that I've never seen before, wanting to hug me?
"Are you okay?" He asked, in a whispered voice, as if he was afraid the passing people would overhear him. That's when he smiled at me, his dark blue eyes showing his honest concern. I just couldn't help but smile back, seeing this angelic form in front of me smiling.
Seeing me smile must have set the boy at ease, because his smile grew, while his blue eyes shone brightly.
Finally finding my voice I shook my head no, "not quite," I whispered, for even though I was made to smile, I wasn't okay. I think maybe I was still in shock from what had happened to my brother Connor and what my family did to me.
"Oh," the boy frowned. For some reason I did not like that frown on his face.
"Don't worry about me." I sighed, looking up.
"But, how can I not!" The boy exclaimed, making a few passerbys stop what they were doing to stare. The boy frowned, pushing his brown hair out of his eyes, with the hand that was not on my shoulder. "You're sad; I don't like people being sad."
Again, I smiled. I just couldn't help it. Why did this young teen care so much about me, when we'd only met a little while ago? "Really, don't worry about me. I guess I'm going through things that do have me sad, but in time . . . they say you get over it." I didn't totally believe that, how could I really get over my brother's death and what my family did to me?
"Really?" The boy bit his lip, seeming to ponder over that for a bit, then nodded, "I see."
I smiled, relived he bought that line, even though I did not.
"But, do you want to talk about it?" The boy blushed, "I know we don't know each other too well. Haha, of course we don't, cause we just met, but it also helps to talk about things that are bothering us."
He certainly was cute when he blushed. Looking up, I shrugged. What could it hurt to talk with him about what I was going through?
"I'd like that," I said, smiling, "But first, what's your name?"
"Oh," the boy grinned, "I'm William. Please call me Will though."
"All right, I shall call you Will." Will was a small thing, probably would only come to my chest when we both stood. He had light sandy brown hair that hung in his eyes. And like I said, his eyes were the darkest blue.
"Sweet," Will smiled. "So what can I call you?"
Taking Will's hand in mine, I gave it a firm shake. "Call me Angel."
It's kinda ironic that I'm the one called "Angel" and he's the one who looks like one.
Will wrinkled his nose, cutely. "Angel?" He looked me up and down, making me blush. "That name doesn't sound like you." Will slapped a hand over his mouth, "not to say . . . um . . . that it's a bad name or something . . . just . . . "
I laughed. Seeing Will so flustered was adorable.
"Well of course Angel is not my true name." It was a nickname given to be by my little sister, Juno."
"Really?"
"Seriously. My real name is Liam."
Will snorted. "I like "Angel" better."
"Hey, "Liam" happens to be a family name, uh, it dates way back and everything."
"Sure it does," Will laughed. "Sorry, I mean, right "Liam" is a wonderful name."
"No it's an old outdated name." I smiled, thoughts of Connor nowhere near my mind. "That's why I'm glad my sister nicknamed me, even if it was a girly name she stuck me with."
"So how did you get that nickname?" Will asked, scooting closer to me. I noticed this, but didn't really mind it.
This was a good memory for me, and I retold it to Will with a smile on my face. "My sister was just learning to talk." I laughed, "for some reason, no matter what we did, she couldn't say "Liam" She said it more like "Leeann." After a while, for some reason she started to call me "Angel" I figured she liked Angels so much, and she liked me so she just decided to start calling me that."
"And it stuck; everyone started to call me that. At first I didn't like it, but now it's grown on me."
Smiling, Will removed his hand from my shoulder, putting it in his lap, "that's a nice story. I'm glad you stuck with "Angel" I like that name."
Looking over at Will, I blushed. He didn't notice, since he was currently looking down at his hands. "Thanks."
The name would suit you more though, Will, I thought.
Will smiled when he looked up at me, noticing I was staring at him. "So do you want to talk about what's on your mind now, or should we go somewhere else and talk about it?" Will looked around, "we are kinda in a bad spot to talk." He was right, we were sitting on a busy street corner and there were a lot of people and cars around.
"If you would like, we could go to my place; I just live down the road." I stood up, reaching a hand for Will. He blushed, reaching up to take my hand. I just smiled, pulling him up.
"That's fine."
"Okay, but won't your parents worry about you not coming home?" The last thing I wanted to do was have his family worry.
"Nope! My mom is at her friends house doing some Avon party, and my dad's at work. I'm basically allowed to come and go as I please. They trust me and all that jazz."
"What about siblings; do you have any?" Surly someone was at home to keep Will company when his parents were out.
"Yep, I have a brother and a sister. My sister is twenty-one and she just got married and lives a couple blocks away. My brother is eighteen and he's at basketball camp."
"How old are you?" He looked around sixteen, but you never can tell these days how old people are.
Will pouted, "I'm the baby of the family; only sixteen." So I was right. "How old are you, Angel?"
"Just turned nineteen, a few weeks ago." Connor and I turned nineteen a few weeks ago, though he had a party and I was all alone in my apartment, eating from a bag of stale cheetos.
Will broke out in a cheery smile, "Well then happy late birthday, Angel," he exclaimed, hugging me. We both blushed, as Will let go of me. "Hehe, sorry. My family have always said, I'm too affectionate."
I didn't mind the hug; it felt nice actually. I can't really remember the last time I was hugged by someone who seemed to care about me. I know that I'd just met Will, but I really felt he did care about me; he probably was the type who cared about everything and everyone.
"That's okay, I don't mind."
Will's blush grew, "really?"
"Really, now lets get a move on." I smiled at Will's shocked face; he seemed to be figuring something out. Maybe he noticed my blushing as well.
We started to walk along the street. As we walked, I kept finding myself looking down at Will, a soft smile on my face. Hearing the screech of tires, I looked behind me, seeing a car swerve off the road, coming straight for me and Will.
"Will!" I grabbed Will by the hand, pulling him out of the way just in time. Looking down at him, I put my other hand on his shaking shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"I..I..." Will's eyes went wide, realization just coming to him. "I'm fine. Angel, you saved me."
Sighing, I hugged Will, "I'm glad I could at least save you . . . "
Pulling away from me, Will gave me a confused look, "what do you mean, "At least?" Who did you not save?"
"All in good time, Will. I will tell you when we get to my apartment." I looked over to the car that nearly hit us, cursing under my breath at the young person behind the wheel. She was talking on her cell phone. That had to be the stupidest reason to almost kill someone.
"Okay," Will whispered. We started to walk again, but this time I did not let go of Will's hand. I saw Will look down at our clasped hands, blushing, but he didn't try to pull away.
Smiling, I lead Will down the street, coming to my apartment. It was a run down building, but it was all I could afford. The outside may have looked like a tornado hit, but on the inside; at least inside of my apartment, it looked homely.
"This looks nice," Will said, looking at the building. The look on his face told me otherwise. I knew he was only trying to be polite.
"Ha, sure it does," I said, rolling my eyes, "it's the most rundown building around here. I think it has a few building violations going on." I nodded to the sinking floors in the main lobby. "Don't worry, my apartment looks way better then this."
"I'll take your word for it, till I see it for myself." Will looked around at the doors leading to the apartments. "Which one is yours?"
"Oh, I'm on the third floor," I pointed to the stairs. "I'd take the elevator, but . . . " I shivered, "last week the electricity went out while some people were in the elevator and they were stuck inside for six hours."
"Six hours! Really?"
"Yeah, the super intendant was out and nobody could figure out how to get them out of the elevator till he came back."
"Okay, then I understand you wanting to take the stairs." Will shivered much like I had earlier.
"Yeah, I'm claustrophobic."
We quickly went up the three flights of stairs. It was no problem for either of us. I was in pretty good shape and looking at Will, I could see he was too.
I walked over to my door, taking out my keys. Unlocking the door, I opened it, and stepped aside, allowing Will to enter first.
Smiling, Will turned to me, "this is much better." It was a simple apartment. A living room, bathroom and one bedroom. The living room was pretty bare, with only a couch, tv and a recliner. There was also a small desk that had a photo on it.
"Yes, I said it was."
Will smiled, walking over to the desk, looking at the photo. His eyes went wide, seeing that the picture was of me, a little girl and another guy who looked just like me; my twin brother Connor.
"You're a twin!" Will exclaimed.
I smiled, sadly, "was a twin. I'm ready to talk about what has me so depressed." I walked over to Will, taking his hand, leading him over to the couch, sitting him down. I set down next to him, still holding his hand in mine. "Here's my story."
Chapter 2