Toxcity || Chapter Six: A New Day

The dawning of a new day symbolizes hope and change for most humans. For the Fallen, it is another reminder that they are on a mortal plane. It is, in most cases, agonizing. For Riddia, as he will later recall, it was one of his favorite times.

Riddia slid off the bed. It had been nearly an hour since Ali had wandered from the room. He was beginning to become concerned. He wandered the upstairs hallway, looking at the pictures as he went. The walls were littered with pictures of Ali and an older man. Some were of her as a small child, playing on the swings; some of her as she appeared now, smiling at whomever was behind the camera.

'That must be her father,' Riddia reasoned, pausing in front of one picture. This particular image was larger than the rest, by far. The man was the main sight in the picture. He appeared to be tall, with kind brown eyes set into an otherwise stoic face. A severe, thin lipped mouth was partially concealed by a full, silver goatee. He was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and a man's straw hat. A long, some-what pointed nose took up the rest of his face. For his age, he was a rather handsome man. Ali stood just to the side of the man, her small arms barely wrapped around his frame. In front of the two, a cake with the words "Happy Birthday Daddy!" was lit by two numeric candles. She was smiling, and the resemblance between the two was startling.

Catching himself staring, Riddia continued toward the stairs. Having checked everywhere upstairs, the next logical place would be the kitchen, at the base of the stairwell. Brow furrowed at her lack of appearance in the kitchen, he stepped outside, allowing the cool night air to wash over him. At night, it didn't feel like summer. He could see his breath. In the overcast darkness of the night, a small red glow caught Riddia's eye.

"What are you doing?" he asked, moving toward it.

Startled, Ali dropped her cigarette. "Well, I was smoking," came her voice from the dark. "When did you come back to Earth?" Her tone was teasing and light, but the phrase put her companion on edge.

"What do you mean by that?" he snapped, moving toward her. He stomped out her dropped cigarette, frowning down at her. He was considerably taller than Ali, at least a foot.

"Geez, calm down, Riddia. I just meant that you were a space-case, not an alien or anything."

"Sorry."

They stood there in an amicable silence; her eyes trained on the stars, his boring into the forest just beyond the driveway. Despite their differences, the two were comfortable. After ten minutes, Ali reached out and tugged on Riddia's sleeve. "Come on, it's getting late. You should rest."

She led him back into the house, up the stairs, and to the room Kyle occupied when he would come for a visit. "This is the room you will be sleeping in. There are pajamas in the top right drawer, if you're interested. I'll see you in the morning, okay?"

He nodded. "Good night, Ali."

"Night." She turned, returning to her own room, where she shed her day-clothes and donned a large white t-shirt and a pair of gray cotton shorts. She turned the T.V. to a random channel, listening to the quiet sounds of Discovery Channel as she drifted off to sleep.

Riddia, across the hall, lay awake in the bed he had been designated for the night, staring at the ceiling. He frowned, sighing heavily.

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As the sun rose that second day, so did Ali. She moved down the steps and out the front door, hoping to catch that peaceful time when the sun rose without the previous day's cloud cover. Stopping just beneath the doorway, half in the house and half outside, she sighed, seeing her father had once again departed for work. It would be at least a week before she saw him again. Stepping the rest of the way out of the house, she crouched next to the bottom step of the porch, withdrawing a pack of cigarettes and a small blue lighter. Ali sat on the bottom step, watching the sky change color whilst she smoked. This time of day was her favorite. Nothing else was showing signs of life yet, aside from the birds. It was so... still. Peaceful.

At that moment, as the bright pinks of morning began to thread across the pale sky, a crash resounded within the house. She chuckled, shaking her head. "Riddia's up," she murmured to herself, standing and putting the cigarette out. She went to the kitchen, intent on making coffee. As she entered the house, Ali caught the sound of Riddia speaking to himself.

"Just leave me be!" he yelled, his voice strained and full of anguish.

She frowned, returning the pot to its place on the machine. The silence was only broken by the quiet drizzle of coffee as the water passed through the grounds and filter, back into the pot. Quietly, Ali made her way back up the stairs, stopping in front of the door to the guest room. She pressed her ear against the wood, listening for any more sounds from her strange guest. When she didn't hear anything, she knocked a few times.

"Riddia? Are you awake?"

"Yeah, I'm coming," he sighed, running a hand through his shaggy black hair. Sometime in the night, he had managed sleep. For the most part, it had been dreamless, as all other nights were for the young Angel. The morning had brought on the voices of his brother once again. Taunting. Malicious.

He rummaged through the dresser, withdrawing a pair of jeans. Riddia had slept in only boxers the night before, making his half-assed attempt to dress in the morning much easier. Wearing only the jeans he had found himself, Riddia stepped out into the hallway to meet the aroma of coffee.

Ali met him at the base of the stairs, offering him a mug of the coffee. "Here. It sounded like your wake up wasn't the best sort," she said kindly as he took the cup. She headed back toward the door, "I'm going to watch the rest of the sunrise, want to join me?"

He followed behind her, silent. They sat on the porch, watching squirrels begin to emerge from their nests, and listening to the birds sing their cheerful songs. The sky showed no signs of the dour weather of the previous day.

After a while of silence, Ali turned toward Riddia, smiling. "Whatever your problems that landed you here yesterday, they're over now, you know."

He scowled at the girl, "What do you know about my problems?"

"Absolutely nothing. But, today's a new day. You can't let the happenings of yesterday affect your today. Otherwise, you'll always be living in the past, and... is that really living at all?"