In the Dark of Night – Part 12

It happened. It actually freaking happened.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are now President-Elect and Vice-President-Elect, respectively.

I cannot believe I have the privilege of typing that sentence.

I started this website in the yesteryear of 2015. That might seem like a short time ago, but if you’ve been living in America during the last five years, you understand that I might as well have said I started it in the Cretaceous Period.

We have been forced to endure four full years of gross incompetence and negligence at the hands of an orange would-be dictator, culminating in a completely avoidable pandemic which will consume our lives for the next year minimum.

His nightmarish leadership ends now, however. Well, roughly ten weeks from now, but he’s been booted from the job.

It was not the repudiation many of us were hoping for, but it has been much-needed catharsis despite the failure of so many to see the obvious decision before them.

Morality was on the ballot this year, and the majority of our fellow citizens chose decency and democracy over their own personal beliefs.

Trump, for the first time in his entire life, is facing some consequences for his actions. Lawsuits and prosecution of his misdeeds will haunt him for the rest of his days. History will show the full and staggering cost of his dishonest and disinterested approach to governing. His sycophantic toadies who were so happy to put children in cages are about to face their own reckoning as well.

For the first time since I’ve started writing, I feel like I can breathe again. Biden isn’t perfect. Biden isn’t even who I wanted on the ballot. I wanted Warren / Harris or vice-versa on the ticket. But! But, Trump and the yawning chasm he has in place of a soul no longer require my daily attention once January comes along.

My apolitical lifestyle was one of the many casualties of 2020. I have a choice to make, and I think that I’m going to move forward without it. That phase of my life is over now. 2020 has awakened me to the reality that even if my voice is small, it is still my voice. I have an obligation to use it, because silence in the face of the abuse and malpractice that has become synonymous with Republican governance is complicity by another name.

Using my voice to speak truth to power is the very foundation of our Democracy.

I shall never again cede the power that I have been given as a citizen of this nation. I shall wield the powers of the ballot box and the soap box henceforth, ‘till the day I die.

Story time.

In the Dark of Night – Part 12

The angel which had bound me with invisible cords upon my own mattress just because they could while I was neck-deep in my most desperate hour was staring down her honey-colored nose at the pair of us.

I hugged my knees to my chest again, afraid that I already knew what Tim was about to ask me to do. Mostly, I was terrified because I knew myself well enough to know that I was going to say yes, regardless of how dangerous it would be.

“Claire Anthony Miller, Heaven respectfully requests that you protect and house Anizaniza’ish while she does her penance amongst God’s children.”

He turned his head from the haughty gaze to my pensive one. He leaned and continued in a low whisper.

“You don’t have to say yes Claire. However, I think this will help the both of you. Please give it a chance.”

I was calmed by the sincerity in his words. He had shaken a star loose from Heaven to get me off the ledge they’d been trying to strand me on. I looked back at him for a moment before I turned to consider the young woman Anizaniza’ish had become. I was struck by how severe her posture was. Back straight, chin high, arms crossed under her chest, one leg bouncing atop the other as she sneered.

Yet, I could talk to her. About everything.

She might not be the most attentive audience, but I wouldn’t have to beat around the bush with her either. I loved mom, but if I have to tell her one more time that I was just ‘troubled’ or ‘concerned’ when she caught sight of me with my guard down I would lose my mind. It was all I could do to keep my silence in the car ride with Jacqueline. Her silence was full of all the questions she was dying to ask but far too polite to voice.

No amount of youth and reduced stature could wipe away the casual cruelty that I had been given. Yes, I would be able to talk to her, but…

I made up my mind and looked back at Tim.

“I have a few requests. First, I need absolute assurance that Cruella de Angel over there…”

I hooked a thumb at Anizaniza’ish and continued.

“Isn’t going to try and skin me for a new coat. Second, mom is already stretched thin caring for the five of us. I’ll do what Heaven asks from me, but I can’t do it for free. Mom has been through enough on my behalf; I refuse to add one iota to her burdens.”

I crossed my arms in imitation of the angel, wearing my sternest expression as I stared at Tim. His lip trembled trying to contain his laughter, but he managed to win the struggle and maintain a professional demeanor as he reached into his desk once more.

“But of course Miss Miller. Just a moment and I’ll… yes, here we are.”

He pulled forth a jade-encrusted scroll this time, resplendent with golden hawks on either end. Lip quivering still, he grabbed the pen and slashed a few lines along it before rolling it up and sending it hurtling into the heavens via the invisitube he had used before.

He did not take his hand back this time. Instead he splayed his fingers wide and winked at me.

Moments strolled along nonchalantly, then without warning a sword came plummeting out of the ceiling. It slapped into his open palm with a meaty thwup. Anizaniza’ish recoiled like Tim had caught a nuclear bomb instead of a shrunken version of the sword she had used to menace me.

Tim, flipped the sword around and proffered it hilt first towards the young angel. She was standing on her chair, her back arched cat-like as she hissed through clenched teeth. If looks could kill, Tim would be plastered across the opposite wall.

Tim waggled the hilt a little. Anizaniza’ish followed the motion like a snake following the charmer. A snarl replaced the clenched jaw, ugly and menacing. Her whole face twisted around it as she realized Tim had her cornered. Whatever promise the sword represented, Anizaniza’ish had no choice but to make it.

Hostility oozed from her like an oil slick as she retook her seat and reached out a hand to the sword. The hand shook for a moment, but once it was wrapped around a hilt the tremors ceased. The sword was steady as a rock when Tim took his hands away.

Anizaniza’ish snapped. She pulled back the sword, leaping from her chair in a wicked two-handed strike aimed directly at Tim’s skull. She was screaming, tears flowing down her face as she put all of her weight and skill behind the blow.

The sword came to a bone-jarring halt an inch above Tim’s bald pate. Tim didn’t even flinch.

Anizaniza’ish crashed into her own sword, breath leaving her in a wheezing huff as her blow rebounded into her chest. She dangled over the hilt of her sword as it hung suspended in mid-air, trying to get her breath back as she looked daggers at the unharmed man below her.

Tim wore the politest ‘well what did you think was going to happen?’ expression in the whole of human history. I was trying my best not to laugh at how ridiculous Anizaniza’ish looked, struggling to climb off her own sword and back into her seat.

At last, Anizaniza’ish managed to get down. She wrestled at the sword between gasps, eventually pulling it free of whatever force held it fast. She fell backwards into her seat, the sword sticking point-down into whatever invisible surface kept us all off my tacky shag. Her other hand was clutching her ribs as she wheezed. Somehow, she looked even more incensed than before.

Anizaniza’ish was used to the body of a god-empowered angel, not a diminutive sixteen year-old girl. It was clear she would need a lot of help to make the required adjustments.

I grinned. Here I was, staring at a being that had just tried to murder a dead man, and the only things I could think of were ways to help her. I must’ve inherited madness alongside my magic. First Karen, now a wing-clipped angel in a white shift. Jacob was going to have a field day when he found out.

“Well Claire, I certainly hope that demonstration has removed any anxieties about a surprise skinning.”

I snorted in reply.

“That just leaves us with the second part of our bargain. Are you willing to honor the request of hospitality?”

I nodded. It was going to be a lot of work, but with Mr. Cushinberry stripping me of my mediocrity, a demon nipping at my heels, and the usual chaos of life in the Miller household, what was one more thing on my plate?

“Excellent! You may expect steady remunerations for your care beginning tomorrow morning. In the meantime, I suggest you get a good night’s sleep.”

He looked over at Anizaniza’ish. All of her prior hatred had been drained by the pain which now clouded her face. Her breathing was labored, and sweat shone bright along her honey forehead.

Tim did not seem to be in any rush to grant her the same healing boon that he had given me. He surreptitiously leaned across the desk towards me.

“Don’t worry, the only thing that’s permanently damaged is her pride.”

The whispered comment drew out a snort. Then a belated thought struck me.

“Where is she gonna sleep?”

The question had barely left my lips when the smallest, most uncomfortable looking cot imaginable appeared opposite my bed on the far wall next to my dresser. Just looking at it made my back hurt.

Anizaniza’ish’s face as she spotted it and put two and two together was priceless. She’d only been a human being for a little over five minutes but even she could see how miserable sleeping on that pile of planks was going to be. Laughter filled my voice as I took my first action as Anizaniza’ish’s caretaker.

“Please Tim, she’s suffered enough tonight. A regular bed, if you please.”

Tim flashed his impish grin at me, but a moment later the shanty-cot disappeared and a perfectly serviceable twin took its place.

The relief on Anizaniza’ish’s face was palpable. Without a word, she used the sword as a crutch to get off the chair and shamble over to the bed. The sword clattered to the ground as she unceremoniously flopped into it. Gentle snores filled the room as soon as her head touched the pillow.

“I believe that’s everything sorted for now, Miss Miller.”

He pushed himself to his feet, walking over to the angel and tucking her in with surprising kindness. He reached down, lifting the sword and setting it against my dresser before taking his seat once again. His face was wreathed in a smile of paternal pride.

“Too many excellent wizards such as yourself have been lost in the draconian deals of Anizaniza’ish and her ilk.”

Tears filled my eyes as I realized the pride that filled him to bursting was all for me. I blushed, unable to meet his eyes as he let the silence stretch.

“I look forward to working with you, Miss. Miller. I believe Management has gained a powerful ally this day.”

He reached a hand across the desk, palm out. Eyes red and sniffing, I reached out to take it. If I meant I could work with Tim again, maybe having an angel underfoot wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all.

“Anyone willing to face down a demon from hell to save even those that hate them is a powerful ally, indeed.”

After a final squeeze, Tim, his desk, and the chair I was sitting on all vanished.

I let out a startled yelp, but managed to get my feet under me before my butt thumped onto the shag. Time had returned to its normal flow. Mr. Bigglesworth fought with Anizaniza’ish’s snores for background noise dominance.

I rose from my awkward landing, grabbing my abandoned bat from the floor and replacing it against my bed-frame. It was the mirror of Anizaniza’ish’s sword. It was strange, but in that moment I felt a tiny spark of kinship form between us. Even facing the end of everything we once had been, we were both gonna go down swinging.

As I lay down once more, I figured it would take some getting used to the sound of Anizaniza’ish sleeping.

Instead, I found the snores oddly comforting; they were a constant reminder that I was not now, nor would I ever again be, alone.

In no time at all, I was snoring in harmony with her.

To be continued…