Dawn Turner

Day by day, I found myself getting even more attached to Zach.

He might be very dramatic and immature but I learned to love that about him. I think I'd rather have him as my guardian angel than someone else who's probably way more boring.

I'll never tell him that though, he'd never let me hear the end of it.

Zach and I have been hanging out pretty much every day. He comes over to my house, we watch a new Disney movie, and then he opens up random conversations and gives me the confidence to face a certain someone.

If I'm being honest, I feel like there's absolutely no way for us to defeat Alexander. I'm not sure the two of us would be enough to handle him at all. I think Zach is aware of that too but still he comes over every day and gives me hope that we can defeat him one day and I appreciate it a lot.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still terrified of Alexander but at least now I know more tricks that I could use to distract him and get away.

Temporarily.

For how long do I have to keep running though? I find myself thinking about this often. The truth is, I had no idea.

All I know is that I have to get rid of that monster one way or another. This might be stupid of me but I sometimes think what if he eventually gets bored of chasing after me and finally gives up?

There's a very low chance of that happening but I'm still hopeful. He's been chasing after me for like a month now and if I was him, I'd be way too lazy to keep continuously chasing after someone by now. I'd just admit defeat and move on with my life.

Unfortunately Alexander is probably not someone who lets go of grudges that easily.

Besides worrying about Alexander, I've been also working at Funzel more often. I think my coworkers and boss actually like me now. I was also able to memorize a lot of things about artworks that I was struggling to memorize before.

The only issue is that when I first started working here, art was really starting to grow on me but after working here for over a week, I've been liking it less.

I don't know how to explain it but it's kind of like studying an instrument you love playing and then growing out of it and here's why.

Let's say you love playing a certain instrument. You practice playing this instrument every single day just for fun and you fall in love with it more. Then one day you decide to take actual lessons and it suddenly stops feeling like a hobby and more like a chore. You can no longer practice the instrument when you feel like it, you have to practice it when you're told to. You can't play the music you like, you have to play the music you're told to play. Eventually your interest in this instrument just slowly starts fading away and I feel like this is the case with art and my job.

It was interesting at first but now it's just something that I have to constantly study and perfect and it's getting boring.

Maybe I just need something to spice it up.

I spent the whole day explaining different art works to visitors and I was more than ready finish my shift and head back home to hang out with Zach again.

My shift was almost done and the gallery was almost empty by now. It was just me, my boss, and a few other employees.

My boss' husband passed away last week and she's been working overtime since then. Sometimes I stay at the gallery for longer hours to make sure she's doing fine but I was too tired today.

She seems to be doing fine now anyway so I figured it's fine to leave.

"Hello, may I speak to your boss please?"

Great.

Just what I needed.

I turned to look at the entrance of the gallery where Alexander was standing. He raised his brows at me innocently and flashbacks of him showing up in my dream and tormenting me made my blood boil. For a minute I forgot how mad I was at him but just seeing him for a second brought back all my anger and frustration.

I extended my hand in front of me to stop him from entering the gallery. "Angels aren't allowed here."

He scoffed, pushing my hand away. "Well it's a damn good thing I'm not an angel anymore then." I crossed my arms over my chest in protest.

"You're still not welcomed here, get out."

If he has something he wants to say to me, he should just get it over with already.

"Oh please, do me a favor and don't flatter yourself too much. I'm not here for you." I raised my brows at him, confused. "I'm here for..." He trailed on as his eyes wandered around the gallery. He smirked once his eyes landed on my boss. "Ah! I'm here for her." His smile widened and his eyes slowly turned red.

Oh hell no. This is not happening.

"You know, you've been a literal nightmare to me this past month but I still didn't think you had it in you to hurt innocent people. I don't know why I believed that but I did and I guess I was wrong for that, as usual. Leave, right now." He didn't acknowledge anything I said . I watched him ignore me and walk up to my boss, menacingly.

I looked around the gallery to call out for help but the gallery was empty.

I could've sworn there were people here...

My boss turned around when Alexander poked her shoulder. Her eyes widened before she jumped away at the sight of his red eyes and black wings. "W-what are you? What do you want from me?" She walked 4 steps backwards but Alexander took 6 steps forward and trapped her against the wall.

He seems to have a thing for playing with his victims before killing them and it pissed me off because I was one of his victims.

What did he possibly want from this poor woman?

"I'm here for a meal, of course. " His laugh echoed across the gallery. Seeing him threatening her made me visibly shake in anger. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Not only is my boss kind and innocent but she also recently lost her husband. She did not need to have a heartless fallen angel hurting her as well.

I ran towards them and pushed Alexander away. I don't care if it makes him mad anymore. I was done letting him torment me and other innocent people.

This isn't hell. He can't just walk around like he owns the place and do these things to people.

He tried to grab her again but I stood between him and my boss, stopping him again. He let out a tired sigh.

I watched him grab a glass vase near us and before I could even react, he smashed it on ground. Glass shattered all across the floor and I jumped away at the ear piercing sound that echoed throughout the empty gallery.

I tried to act strong but I was trembling on the inside. He's definitely good at scaring people.

"Get out of my way while I'm asking nicely, Dawn. This genuinely has nothing to do with you." His voice was calmer now. He sounded like he was begging me, his expression was desperate.

I looked at him straight in the eye, trying to match his desperation. "She did nothing wrong, please don't do this." I stepped between him and my boss and pushed him away lightly. "This world is already painful to live in, please don't be like this. It's not too late to change." I tried to reason with him.

"Change?" He asked calmly but I could see his hands shaking in anger. I think I hit a nerve there.

My boss took this as a chance to run away and I sighed with relief.

I hope she makes it far.

I thought this would be enough to make Alexander give up but he pushed me away and tried to go after her.

"STOP DOING THIS, YOU MONSTER." I yelled out urgently, desperate to make him stop.

Alexander froze.

It's summer but the air was cold around us and I knew it had something to do with our argument somehow.

He turned around to face me again. His face displayed no emotions at all. "What did you just say?" His eyes were darker than before. I'm worried I might've pissed him off too much this time.

Still, I stood my ground. "You heard me."

He stood up straight and towered over me. "A week ago, this innocent victim you're talking about lost her husband, didn't she?" I was taken aback by the fact that he knew that but remained silent. He scoffed, "The man was hit across his head with a solid object. It's a tragic way to die, isn't it? But, oh wait. Who could have possibly done that to him?" Alexander let out a fake gasp.

I shook my head violently.

There's no way. She wouldn't.

"You're bluffing. She has no reason to do that." I tried convincing him but it sounded like I was convincing myself instead.

"Oh, allow me to give you a reason then." He leaned against the wall comfortably. "Poor old woman lost all her money while gambling. The gallery was barely making enough money for her to begin with but she couldn't just close it down, could she? It was her dream to open this place up!" He exclaimed.

"No..."

"Too many choices in front of her. Do you think she'll work another job to get more money? Or perhaps she will ask her husband to lend her some money, even though they both have their kids to support. " He paused for a moment, bringing his face closer to mine. "Or perhaps, she will kill her own husband after he refuses to give her the money she needed?"

I backed away from him in disbelief.

She would never.

I've been working with her for almost 2 weeks now and staying at the museum for extra hours to check in on her. There is no world where she would do that.

I continued backing away from Alexander but he gripped my arm harshly and brought me closer towards him. Our faces were almost touching now. I could feel his breath against my ear as he continued speaking.

"You called me a monster, right? Why am I the monster? Because I take matters into my own hands with punishing people instead of waiting for them to live a long, happy life before dying and THEN getting a punishment from my dear old father? Why should innocent people have to die and suffer while their killers continue walking around us and living their lives normally because the police is just too fucking dumb to see the evidence right in front of them?" He was now shaking in anger. His hold on my hand tightened. "Tell me, Dawn. Since you're so wise in this matter, why am I the monster when you yourself just let a killer get away?"

"I-I didn't know-" I tried to form a sentence but the words were caught in my throat. I didn't know what to say. There were so many things running across my head at once and it was too much to handle.

He let out a humorless laugh and proceeded to back me up against the wall.

"Since you think I'm a monster, I think it's about time I stopped playing games with you and actually showed you the kind of monster I really am." His face was still pressed to mine, his eyes were now glowing with a red beam.

"What do you mean?" I whispered, even though I knew I was going to regret getting an answer.

He extended his right hand upwards and I watched as a blade flew right into his hand out of nowhere.

"I will break you like a stick," he said while running his fingers across his blade. "Suffocate you till you can no longer breath," his fingers suddenly went to caress my throat. "And I will enjoy every second of it." Our eyes finally connected and my heart pounded against my chest at the promises that were held in his eyes.

I'm dead.