Lailah

Chapter Four: Starting a New Life 

I feel uneasy. Did I make the right choice by following these people here? I think I have heard about this organization before, possibly in a flier or a passing conversation. It's a bit weird that they have a demon on their side. I can feel silent stares at me. Am I ready to say what has happened? How much can I say? Brandy and the curly-haired girl go and speak privately for a moment. She says something to him and then he looks back at me worriedly. He says something quick to her and then walks over to me. She goes over and grabs something from his desk. He pulls three chairs and sits in one of them. The curly-haired girl comes over with a voice recorder. I can see that she hits play as she sits down. I can see that Brandy is trying to find the right words. 

“Well firstly,” he pauses “we have to learn your name, could you please state your name for the record” 

I nod “My name is Lailah 87” 

“Okay great! Again I'm Brandy and this is my cousin Marina we are both from town 12” 

Marina waves at me and smiles at me. She seems like a sweet kid. “Could you please tell us a little bit about your life before the attack” 

Okay, it's happening. I'm still unsure of how much to say the pain from it all is very fresh and these people are strangers to me. 

“I lived with my boyfriend Jason and his family and I have lived there for the past five years” I try to be as broad as possible. 

“Okay,” Brandy says, he looks as if we were expecting more “What about your family can you tell me about them?” 

I let out a sigh “I don't have a family well maybe I used to in the past but not anymore, I was raised by this lady who found me as a baby her name was Frances but she passed five years ago that's why I started living with Jason”

Frances was the only family I had ever known, I miss her more than life. The thought of her still hurts my soul. I know that if she were still here she would have found a way to protect me from all of the bad things that have happened. 

“I'm sorry to hear that, we can try to find where Jason and his family moved so you can be reunited with them” 

“That's sweet but Jason and I broke up days before the attack so I don't have anyone”. I looked up to see that both Brandy and Marina were just looking at me with sympathetic faces. “You probably need other information besides my dumb relationship,” I say in a joking manner trying to lighten the mood. 

I wish deep down that I could open up about how awful my experience with Jason was and how I was never the same after that. 

Marina stands up and puts her chair beside mine. She looks at me and puts her hand on my shoulder. I set my hand on hers and smiled at her. 

“We are going to get you some help, you have my word,” Marina says, growing more frustrated. “I can't even imagine how you must feel, you have gone through so much.” Brandy coughs and gives Marina a look. With that look, she calmed down and lowered her manner. 

“I apologize please continue,” she says 

As soon as she does the demon girl comes out of the bathroom with normal clothes and a hat covering her horns. She takes a seat and smiles at me. 

“Could you please tell us what happened during the attack? If you could give us as many details as possible it would help us greatly.” 

“On the day of the attack I was on my way to try and find a job the town was very busy people were shopping and going in for work the sun had risen for a couple of hours at this point and all of a sudden there was a terrifying scream it was a man his leg had been cut off some people rushed to help the man and when they did Viledorn soldiers fell from above and started stealing goods and money from the townspeople, blood was everywhere people's last cries were heard throughout the town. I ran as far as I could and hid myself inside a trash can. I waited for what seemed like ages until I heard nothing. Silence filled the air and I tried to get myself out of the trash can as quietly as possible, I saw nothing. There was nobody there, everyone's things were gone and the streets were clean, the people had just vanished. I know that the rational thing to do was to break into someone's house for shelter but my morals didn't let me do that. I decided to sleep in the alleys. I would occasionally hear soldiers moving around but apart from that nothing. I stayed there for around three days before you guys found me.” 

Marina stopped the recording, I had forgotten that she was, and my mind took over the moment reliving the events in my head. I tried to look up and all three of them were just staring at me. I couldn't help but wonder, what will I do now? I had nobody I'd never been outside of my town and even then I was confined in the little space owned by someone else. In the past, my future looked linear. I would get married, have kids, raise them, and then spend my last days with Jason but now my future's a mystery. I don't know what to feel. It is almost as if I feel so many different things that I feel nothing at all. As I ponder the demon girl sitting next to me, I then realize that Marina is helping Brandy do something. I look to see the girl smile at me. 

“You look lonely,” she says 

“I kinda am,” I say, trying to make a joke out of it. 

She thinks for a moment before saying “I don't think I introduced myself I'm Angie but you call me Angel” I think she saw my look of confusion because she followed it by saying “It's the nickname my siblings chose for me It's ironic but that why I like it” 

“That's sweet,” I say with a polite laugh “I'm Liliah” 

“Well, nice to meet you Lailah im- ” She stops herself. 

“What?” I ask 

“I was going to say that I was an angel but I already said my name is Angel” 

“Did you forget that you already said your name was Angel?” I giggle 

“Yeah!” we both look at each other and laugh, after awhile we just sit in silence 

“I can't imagine being in your shoes,” she says 

“What do you mean?” 

“Well from the little that I heard you say it sounds like you've been through some terrible things, I know I work for Lumidawn and help people who are being attacked. I never really get to hear their stories. I just kind of helped with the aftermath. You seem like you're my age and I just think to myself and what I would do if I were you.” 

We both look at each other in silence before Mirena comes in and interrupts. 

“Brandy is trying to see if there are any rooms here at the facility that you can stay in” 

“Wait, you don't have a place to stay?” Angel says shocked “Maybe we can trace your family, what are their names, I can look them up in our systems” Marina grabs Angel’s shoulder and simply nods no. Angel seems to quickly understand she pauses for a minute and says “We have an extra room in our house if you'd like” 

“Yeah, you can be our roommate!” Marina jumps with joy “We can each other's hair and play together it will be so much fun!” 

“You'd let me stay with you guys?” I ask 

“Of course, we would have to ask Johnny first…” 

“Nooo I forgot about Johnny” Marina’s mood goes down immediately 

“Who Johnny?” 

“He's our brother but I think if we explain the situation then he will understand” 

“Johnny likes to play dictator when dad is away, we just adore to boss us around” Marina rolls her eyes. 

“Stop that! Johnny takes care of us plus he's your older brother and has to respect him” Angel scolds Marina. “Anyways it's two against one so I'm pretty sure we have the winning hand. If you make a good impression then I think that's bonus points for us.” 

“Okay, make a good impression, I got it,” I nod. 

Brandy joins in “Hey I think that you can stay in room 923 nobody goes in there”

Marina cuts Brandy off “No worries cousin we figured it all out she will be staying with us” 

“Oh okay awesome well if you need it for whatever reason room 923 is available if you need it.” he grabs some of his stuff “I'm going to head out for the day please lock the door when you guys leave” 

“Okay, we will!” Marina says 

“I think we got to head out we need to get there early so we can talk with Johnny,” Angel says 

“He is something else girl you gotta prepare yourself mentally” Marina follows. 

At that moment one thought got into my head, what the hell did I get myself into? If this Johnny guy is as bad as they are describing then there is no way that I'll be able to convince him. Either way, I have a plan b, Brandy says that the guest room is there so maybe things aren't as bad as I thought. I've got to be optimistic. This is my opportunity to start a new life. Maybe things won't be so bad after all these people seem nice and I'm already warming up to them, kinda.