Goddesses Don't Get Sick: Full Version

Hello again!

My study must be really boring today.

But anyway. For those of you tired of reading this story one chapter at a time, I believe I've already pointed you to Jottify.com where you can read the entire thing.
Well, now you can also buy the ebook version there!

Goddesses Don't Get Sick: Chapter 26

26.

The rest of the day passed quickly for Angela. Her supervisor, Mr. Barton, had welcomed her with a warm smile, before introducing her to the marketing team she’d been assigned to.

They were friendly enough, and Angela was able to leave at the end of the day with the kind of exalted satisfaction one gets upon discovering that they can indeed perform the job they have been hired to do.

Unlocking the door to her flat, Angela entered her bedroom to find a bouquet of flowers on her bed, with a card attached.

8pm. Lumier’s. We’ll see you there. Jase.

PS – heard about the crash on the radio. Glad you were late!!!

Repressing a groan at the thought of having to meet Jason’s parents, Angela undressed and headed for the shower, brooding over the prospect of that evening’s date.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she stayed under the water until it ran cold, the sudden temperature change snapping her awake enough to wash the last of the shampoo out of her hair. Escaping the now-icy water, Angela dried off quickly, before wrapping the towel around her hair and going to get ready.

Her hands shook slightly as she put her hair up, the nerves of meeting Jason’s parents finally getting to her. Pinning her hair into place, Angela sat at her dresser and looked at the solemn reflection staring back at her.

I look like I’m going to a funeral, she thought. Why am I so scared? Is it just because it’s so soon? Am I worried they won’t like me?

Maybe, another voice muttered, you’re worried that they will like you.

Shut up, Angela frowned at the mirror, as if it were to blame for the voice.

It would be such a perfect excuse if they didn’t like you, wouldn’t it? The voice persisted. You’re not going to do anything if they like you but if they didn’t, it would make everything so much easier, wouldn’t it?

What would it make easier? Angela wondered dejectedly, collecting her things and moving out of her room. Keeping myself alone? I don’t want that.

But do you want him? The voice followed as she closed the door and got into her car.

“At least he loves me,” Angela murmured aloud, before sighing softly as she started her car.

“Show time.”

~

Jason’s parents had smiled warmly as Angela entered the restaurant and found their table, insisting she call them by their first names – Jonathon and Vera.

“Or, you could call us Dad and Mom if you wanted,” Jonathon had chuckled, drawing an embarrassed cough from Jason as Angela had blushed.

“Jon, don’t go pressuring the children!” Vera scolded him, before patting Angela comfortingly on the forearm and getting a nervous smile in response.

Poor thing, Vera thought, looks half scared to death. After the day she’s had, I’m not really surprised.

Angela couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being judged all evening; a feeling that only aggravated her nerves, making her jumpy and insecure.

It didn’t go unnoticed by Jason and his parents, but they brushed it off for one reason or another. First day at her internship, the near miss of the bus accident, meeting ‘the parents’ after only a week. All of them true to some degree, and all of them shadowing the stronger insecurities that ran deep in Angela’s heart.

It’s amazing how easily one can find an excuse to hide behind, so that others would not see the truth of what they felt.

By the end of the evening, Jonathon and Vera were convinced that Angela was a wonderful girl, if somewhat quiet and withdrawn. Even when Angela had accidentally knocked over her glass of red wine, nearly ruining Vera’s dress as she’d lunged to try and prevent the spill, everyone had just smiled and nodded knowingly to one another.

Poor thing, Vera thought again. Nerves, Jonathon had concluded. She’s never this clumsy, Jason had thought, she must really want to please Mom and Dad.

But yes, they all concluded, she’s wonderful.

~

“You’re quiet,” Jason broke the silence as he drove her home in her car.

“Sorry,” Angela roused herself from her thoughts and turned to give Jason a tired smile. “It’s just been a long day.”

“Yeah, it sounded pretty full on,” Jason admitted, before reaching over and taking Angela’s hand gently.

“They like you, you know.”

Of course they do, Angela thought (bitterly?).

“Yeah?” she asked, not really paying attention to the answer.

“Yeah,” Jason smiled. “They think you’re great. We all do.”

Angela had tensed then, sensing that Jason wanted to go on and say the words that she was expecting would come sooner or later, but still dreaded.

Mercifully, Jason was interrupted as he pulled into Angela’s driveway, allowing Angela to free her hand as she got out of the car and put aside her fear of hearing those words.

Until later that night, after they’d had sex, and Angela had rolled onto her side to try and sleep. Jason snuggled up to her, smelling her hair before he let out a happy sigh and murmured sleepily into her neck.

“I love you.”

…Of course he did.

The Beginning

Hi!

I'm not dead, honest!

I am insanely busy, though, so... um... here!

Goddesses Don't Get Sick: Chapter 25

25.

“Crap crap crap crap crap!” Angela swore as she struggled to put on her high heeled shoes without standing still. Barely missing the doorway as she slipped the last shoe on, Angela let the momentum carry her into the bathroom, nearly taking out Jason in the process.

“Woah, there,” Jason backed out of the way and removed the razor from his throat as Angela bumped him out of the way of the mirror.

“I’m late,” Angela muttered as she hurriedly applied makeup. “It’s my first day and I’m fucking late.”

“No, you’re not,” Jason soothed, “You’ve got plenty of time to get there, and you’re nearly ready.” Jason paused at this, and took in Angela’s dressed form in surprise. “Almost completely ready,” he amended. “Wow. How’d you get dressed so fast?”

“I spent some nights last year working double shifts before class,” Angela paused long enough to apply lipstick. “I learned to change clothes quickly.”

Pausing for a moment, she stepped back and scrutinised herself in the mirror.

“How do I look?” she asked Jason. “Professional?”

“Beautiful,” Jason reached to kiss Angela but she ducked back out of his way.

“Gotta run, sorry.”

Jason shook his head good-naturedly and returned to the task of shaving.

“You’ll be fine!” he reassured her. “Don’t forget we’re having dinner with my parents tonight!”

“That’s tonight?” Angela froze in the doorway, fear creeping into her expression. We’ve only been dating a week it’s too soon to meet them…isn’t it?

“Yeah,” Jason paused again and glanced over, missing Angela’s expression as she hurried to blank the fear from it. “They want to meet you, and we figured celebrating your first day was as good an excuse as any, remember?”

“Yes…?” Angela vaguely remembered the conversation with Jason a couple of nights ago, but not the specifics. “Are…you sure you want them to meet me? Now?”

Too soon! Her mind wailed quietly, even as Jason finished shaving and towelled his face dry.

“Babe, they’ve wanted to meet you since they saw you at the graduation.” He smiled as he left the bathroom and went to collect his clothes from her bedroom. “Now go on or you really will be late! I’ll lock up.”

Angela checked her watch and yelped.

“Gone! Bye!” she yelled as she escaped out the door, setting off at a fast trot in her heels for the bus stop.

Please please please, Angela prayed silently as she raced for the stop. She couldn’t afford to be late, not today. The last thing she needed was to blow her chance with the internship; not while she was on her trial month.

No… Angela’s heart sank as she turned the corner and saw her bus pulling away from the stop. She put on a burst of speed in a desperate attempt to catch it, before a warm gust of wind hit her, blowing her bag off her shoulder.

“SHIT!” Angela clutched desperately at the contents of her purse as they went spilling onto the sidewalk. Even as she was scrambling to collect everything she could feel the bus speeding past her, heading up the road she’d come out on.

Dejection filled Angela as she stood and slowly finished her approach to the bus stop, her mind envisioning the worst case scenario as all but a foregone conclusion.

Terrific. Everything you worked for, down the drain just like that…maybe you should have just sucked it up and taken your car – city parking isn’t that expensive…

Angela’s brooding was cut short by the miraculously familiar rumble of another bus approaching. Not quite daring to hope, she pulled the folded timetable from her purse and checked it against the one printed on the wall of the bus stop.

Of all the…Angela couldn’t believe her luck: an express had been added to the circuit, pulling up now. Thank God, Angela cheered silently as she got on the bus and paid her fair. Something about that thought rang ironic to her, and Angela let out a short bark of laughter as she found a seat.

She wasn’t laughing five minutes later, as traffic slowed to a crawl and sirens began to ring in the distance. Accident, Angela thought, as her bus turned off the main road onto its express rout and bypassed the gridlock. Craning her head to see, Angela felt a cold chill as she saw the twisted wrecks of the vehicles involved in the accident.

           The bus she’d been so desperate to catch minutes earlier now lay in pieces on the road.


The Beginning

Back to School

Today marks the start of my return to university - I have orientation.

Why I need to attend two days of it, I'll never know, but it's a requirement for international students. My guess is that it is probably going to be more relevant to the ESL students, but I do have a couple of questions.

Still - two days? Really? Obviously you haven't considered the people who aren't going to be living on campus.

Oh well. Such is life. Orientation today and tomorrow, and then next week I start my classes.

Thoughts on the whole thing so far: My textbooks are weird.

Thank is all.

I Bring You Tidings

A kind of sequel to Old Time's Sake.

~~~~~~~~~~

The church was packed, and not just with the usual excess of ‘holiday Christians’ that only came out for Christmas and – occasionally – Easter. There’d been a number of nasty murders in the area this past week; mostly on the streets, but there was at least one home invasion that was being associated to the killers (although the odds were just as likely that it was opportunists taking advantage of the current manhunt).

A lot of people had come to pray for their safety.

Nevertheless, they managed to get a seat near the front, cramped though it was. She was nestled in the crook of his arm, eyes lidded as they listened to the melodious Latin hymns, and almost missed it. He didn’t, though, tensing immediately and alerting her to the new person that had entered the church.

That was watching her.

“Damn it,” she hissed, making as if to straighten in her seat. He tightened his arm, stopping her.

“Don’t,” he warned under his breath. “Don’t let him catch on.”

“Why tonight?”

“Didn’t you say he often came here?”

“Only when it served his own ego or purpose.” She almost growled, but he soothed her with a gentle kiss on her temple.

“Enjoy the music, Love.”

“That’s the only reason you come to these things, isn’t it?” She chuckled softly, and felt him shake with his own laughter.

“Not the only reason.”

“Oh?”

“I like the way you smile.” His words rewarded him with the very thing, and she relaxed minutely in his arms.

He didn’t get up for communion. He never did, but she stole a look as she moved along the pew.  The watcher’s gaze never shifted from her, and yet for all his attention, he didn’t see her glance. But then, he only ever saw what he wanted to.

“So what do we do?” She asked when she returned to his side, hands demurely clasped in her lap and head bowed in silent… something.

“What we always do, Love,” he murmured, before his voice dropped another octave, until it seemed impossible for anyone to hear him, let alone her. “Don’t engage. Let me speak to him.”

“But-“

“Love,” he cautioned, silencing her protest as another hymn started. “Please. Let me.”

“If you’re seen talking to him…”

“I won’t be,” he purred, smiling in her ear. “It’s high time he paid the price for what he did.”

“He’d tell you he committed no crime, you know.”

“From what I know of him, he always has been good at lying, even to himself.”

The priest invited them all to stand for the final blessing, before encouraging the patrons to wish their companions and neighbours a merry Christmas. He embraced her, eyes flicking to the back of the church.

“White shirt, by the fire exit?”

“Yes.”

They turned and smiled to the people next to them, shaking hands and wishing well, before quieting for the recessional. They waited until most of the crowd had left, chatting idly with some of the people that recognised her from days of old, while he carefully watched the back of the church. The watcher never moved, though his attention was occasionally pulled by his own kin.

Eventually, they began to move towards the exit. And past the watcher, who – for all his attentiveness – didn’t see her walk past him. Once outside, they moved to the shadowed parking lot, where he embraced and kissed her.

“Go on. I’ll catch up soon.”

“You’d better not be late for our date,” she warned. He laughed.

“Perish the thought, Darling.”

Kissing him again, she parted reluctantly from her husband and began to walk down the shadowed path towards the park. It was quiet, this year – not many people wanted to go to such an isolated place with a killer on the loose.

He watched her go, before turning and walking back to the church to speak with the man who had raped her.

And if it went the way he suspected, there was going to be another death that night.

And on Christmas Eve, too. What a pity.

Goddesses Don't Get Sick: Chapter 24

24.

Birdsong woke Angela early. Too early, especially for a Saturday. She opened her eyes and stared at the unfamiliar wall opposite.

The room had an almost military neatness to it, a drastic contrast to the organised clutter that made up Angela’s own room. She lay where she was for what felt like an age, trying to decide if she should stir and risk waking Jason.

As if reacting to her thoughts, Jason rolled over and slung his arm across Angela’s midsection. Waking up enough to notice his bed wasn’t empty, Jason cradled Angela’s stomach and slowly pulled her across the bed towards him.

“Good morning,” he mumbled sleepily into her ear as he snuggled closer. Angela resisted the urge to squirm from his grasp – she’d never been one of those people who could snuggle after sex (or the morning after), usually waiting long enough for the guy to fall asleep before moving to the opposite side of the bed – this time Angela settled for a slow stretch that woke her body up enough to tell her she had an excuse to escape his grasp.

“Bathroom?” she asked, carefully untangling herself from Jason’s arms.

“First door on the left,” he yawned, watching Angela move as she got out of the bed and snagged a shirt from his laundry basket.

Closing the bathroom door behind her, Angela combed her hair with her fingers as she took care of her body’s more pressing needs. While she was washing her hands, Angela caught her reflection in the cabinet mirror and paused to look at herself.

Did she always look this tired? It was hard to tell behind the makeup she hadn’t bothered to take off the night before. Taking advantage of the moment, Angela scrubbed her face with cold water until the dark smudges were gone.

Better, she thought to herself. Not great, but better.

Another, smaller voice attempted to intrude:

…is this right?

Pushing away the thought, Angela left the bathroom and padded quietly back to Jason’s room.

“That’s a sight I could get used to,” Jason smiled as he took in Angela’s body underneath his shirt.

“What, a girl in your clothes?” Angela grinned wryly as she returned to the bed and lay on it without getting under the covers.

“If you want to see it that way,” Jason shrugged. “I didn’t just mean any girl though…”

He gave her another Look then, as subtle with its hidden meaning as a brick to the side of the head. Something twisted inside Angela, tried to complain, but she growled at it silently even as she dazzled Jason with another of her fake smiles, causing his own face to brighten with a level of hope that was both endearing and heartbreaking.

“So,” Angela broke the silence that had started to build. “How about some breakfast?”

The Beginning