Revenge

Fabrice sighed. "And why would I need help?" Fabrice asked, "My life is fine, I don't need any help." She turned around, and looked at herself in the mirror, hanging in her room.

Nightmare stood behind Fabrice, not worried about her abscence of reflection. The angel tapped Fabrice's shoulder lightly.
"That's not what I would have thought."

"And why not?!" Fabrice retorted, turning around to glare at the angel. "Look, all I have to do is drop this feather, then you won't bother me anymore. So give me a good reason why I shouldn't."

Nightmare sighed, stepping back.
"If you drop the feather, the only thing that chances is that you can't see me, but I'll always be there, even when you don't want me to be, unless you tell me."

Fabrice stared back at the fallen angel. "Yeah, well, I don't need your help. Why do you say that I do?" Fabrice asked, "I mean, you just come in, like that, not really presenting yourself, saying that you're supposedly my guardian angel... There must be a reason for that, and I don't think it's Alex."

Nightmare rolled her eyes.
"Listen, I'm dead, ok? You really don't want to know my name, and I don't really know what I'm doing here. When someone asks an angel to watch over someone, they have to do it." She said, making it up as she went along.

"Then I don't need your help," Fabrice replied, closing her eyes, and walking over to her desk calmly, "I guess I have no reason to keep this feather in my hand for now." She laid her hand on the desk, and lifted her hand off of the feather, letting it lie on the desk. Fabrice stared at the fading angel.

Nightmare swore in her mind. She used her wing to gently touch Fabrice's face before turning and leaving, flying out into the night, back to Alex's flat. She thought about everything that had just happened, trying to sort it out in her head, and planning her next moves.

Fabrice put her hand up to her face as she felt the feathers brush it. She frowned slightly, muttering something.

Alex was lying down on his bed, with his eyes closed. His math book was on the floor. Alex had his hands on his face, and his lips seemed unemotional. He breathed slowly.

Nightmare landed in the room, tucking her wings into her back.
"Hey Alex, what's up?" She asked, leaning against a wall. She observed the boy, guessing that he was just tired after dealing with the other wierd ghosts.

"The ceiling," Alex answered quickly, wanting to avoid the question. He sighed deeply, and let out a deep breath very slowly. He was trying to calm himself down. "What happened now?" Alex asked, "If it's to tell me more secrets, you can just keep them to yourself."

"Don't worry, I won't tell you any more details about her private life, all except one. She now has a guardian angel." Nightmare said with a smile.

Alex turned his head to Nightmare, and let out a huge sigh once again, sitting up on his bed, with his hands clasped.
"Oh, Christ," he muttered, "Don't tell me you're the guardian angel..."

Nightmare put on an innocent smile, looking up at the ceiling.
"Well, what else am I going to do with eternity?" She asked quietly, looking at Alex again.

"Well," Alex answered, "Good for you. You've found something to do throughout your life... Death... Whatever. But how is that going to help me get closer to her?" Alex asked, "And don't reply 'you'll see', or else I'm really going to do something."

Nightmare opened her mouth, about to say 'you'll see', but she shut her mouth again.
"I'm going to drop hints, that's all." She said after a few moment's thought.

Alex didn't seem very convinced. He stared with half-closed eyes at the fallen angel, and sighed. "Right," he muttered, "How can you drop hints to someone who can't even see you? They'll just think it's coincidence. Humans are really thick, you know."

"Yeah, I worked that out myself, thank you," Nightmare said. "It would seem that any human that holds one of my feathers can see me." The angel thought back to the girl dropping her feather, and shook her head.

"She'll most probably not believe what she's seeing," Alex replied, silently, "I mean, humans don't like to see what they don't believe. And Fabrice isn't Christian." Alex thought a bit, and said to himself that he shouldn't really talk about the problems in her family.

"Well, it might help if I knew some more about her, and I know that you know more than you're telling me." Nightmare said, her face stern. "So, might as well spill the beans."

Alex sighed. He had hoped that it wouldn't come to this.
"Okay," he muttered, "I'll tell you only what I know." He paused for a moment. "After a working trip, Fabrice's father became catholic, you see. And, Fabrice, not wanting to become religious, is against her father, who mistreats her and her little brother back. I said that she should maybe try to get help, but she answered that she could work it out by herself. That's all I know."

Nightmare paused, thinking.
"That's probably why she didn't like the idea of having a guardian angel..." The dead angel said, thinking aloud.

"Yes, most probably," Alex said, "She's almost against christianity by now, and I can understand that. For her... Well, she didn't want it. But now she seems to be forced to accept a religion. But she's fighting against it."

"Hm, I'll need to think up a way to show her that she doesn't need a religion to have a guardian angel," Nightmare said. "Well, that's given me something to do."

"Yes, and something to think of," Alex replied quickly, leaning back on his bed quietly, closing his eyes and trying to rest. He thought about what had happened today.