FALLEN ANGEL ➵ DARYL DIXON [1] ✓

11: The Innocent

11

"Man, why you gotta shit indoors!" I scold Sam, his tail drooping low. Plus his ears, his eyes not as sparkly anymore. I sigh, giving into his cute behaviour and cleaning up the mess before mum and dad gets home. Which will be in two hours! Why is today going pass so slow? Why is time all together going pass so slow? It seems like years since my last birthday.

I feel twenty.

I am seventeen.

Is this normal?

I don't know anymore. I don't even know what I want to do with my life. My dad says I should come work for the family business, to take over when he finally does retire. But I'm not sure. I'm not what you call a kinesthetic learner. Anything practical or to do with manual labour is a massive X to me.

I know a lot of people make fun of me for this, but I want to do something with fashion. Maybe a fashion designer. Not a retail worker. No. Designing clothes. That's my dream.

The only person I have ever told is Henri. I thought she would laugh at me, call me gay or just plain up insult me. Instead, she smiled and said "good for you."

Her response was positive. But I know for certain that if I were to tell other people, hers would be the only one. She's the only one who truly understands me. And that's why I have fallen in love with her.

And that's why I'm going over to her house with Sam by my side.

We've started talking again. Thank the lord. She calls me her best friend. Even though I've been friend zoned many times by her, I don't mind. I mean, it would be amazing if we did start going out. I'd be over the moon. But the truth is, I'm scared. What if we ruin our friendship and we can never return to where we were? It would kill me.

So I'll never probably will take that leap of faith. It's too risky. Maybe we were just destined to be only friends. Which is fine by me.

I knock on her door with my knuckle, immediately hearing Misty calling for Henri. Misty is basically a smaller version of Henri with black hair instead of blonde. She's more outgoing and feisty as well, insulting you face to face and telling you how it is compared to going behind your back. I don't know which one is worse. For me anyway. Other people might like that. I can see why.

Henri opens the door and I try to control my smile. It doesn't work. It's completely taken over my face, shifting my glasses a little bit.

We talk. Well, I mostly ramble, Henri telling me to stop talking and she agrees to hang out with me. My toes curl up inside my shoe, Sam wagging his tail happily and fast. Henri shuts the door behind her, calling to Misty that she'll be back in awhile.

We walk side by side until we reach our destination, The Lake Den. It's our childhood. Our past playground. Our first kiss which ended in a disaster.

I won't get too in depth with what exactly happened. Let's just say I've embarrassed myself for the rest of my life. Henri couldn't stop laughing. But for me, I could of crawled into a hole and died.

I give a piece of bread over to Henri so she can feed the swans in front of us. I let Sam free, him running and jumping about in joy, scaring of small birds.

"This is nice," I admit, to which Henri replies with, "yes. It is."

Henri sighs after that, causing me to get a bit confused with her sudden nature towards me. I bring it up, but all what Henri says is, "nothing."

I decide to let it go. Maybe it is nothing. Maybe it's not.

All of a sudden, Sam begins to growl and whimper. He's in the woods, and we both stand up, shouting his name out for him to come here.

Something isn't right. Sam isn't the one for growling and barking unless something is really wrong. The only time I've heard him like this is when that man broke into our home. Even then I don't think he was this aggressive.

The barking stops, it overtaken by howls and cries. Then nothing.

We both stand still, me and Henri frozen in our spots to see what's going on.

The next thing I know, we're both running back to our houses, me grabbing roughly on Henri's hand and pulling her along.

I've never been so terrified in all my life. Surely it's all in my mind. Right? But why is Henri acting like she just saw them inhuman and monterous things as well?

Maybe my mind isn't playing tricks on me. No, this is reality. And I think I've come too far.

Welcome to the apocalypse.