Well, here is the start of the sequal...
Story Two: "Angelfire."
1.
She looked about the park. She missed her new costume, with it's cape and tight feel, and it was lighter than her original costume. Oh well, the modifications should be ready by tomorrow, and then they'll have to make spare costumes... this superhero business was more engrossing and complicated than she had first thought. They were still arguing as to some of the finer details. What alter-ego name should she adopt? And the costume still looked a little unfinished.... they were still debating as to what to do to complete it. Lorna sighed, and then smiled. At least it's quiet- if it stays like this, she's have covered the town, and could consider going briefly to the nearby towns.
As she walked through Prince Albert's wood, she got a sensation that something was wrong. As her whole body tensed up, Lorna noticed what it was that was wrong. It was hard to miss the large gentleman harshly whispering to the weeping small blonde haired girl. Lorna crept up on them, just to make sure that it was innocent.
"But I can't anymore- they're getting suspicious! Please, can't you leave me alone? I don't want to blow my chance with them," the girl pleaded hysterically. The gentleman grabbed her by the throat.
"Look, you do as your told, or I'll reveal your past activities. Then you'll definitely blow your chances with them!" he snarled. He suddenly felt a tapping on his back. He turned around and looked at the girl behind him. Even with the old costume, he guessed who it just might be. He deftly punched her, and badly winded her. Instantly, however, she had recovered, and had leapt up over him, and kicked him in the back. She was being careful not to hospitalise the man. Now she had her guard up, she was more than prepared for having to deal with the elder person in front of her. She tackled him to the ground, and in the blink of an eye, she had him rolled over, and was straddled over the terrified man.
"Leave her alone. If you have heard about the riots the other day, then you've heard what I can do. If you want a demonstration, annoy me. If you want to be in a coma, harass the girl again. Am I clear?" She snarled at him. The man just nodded. She leapt off him, and stood up.
"Get lost," Lorna said to him. The man couldn't escape fast enough. Lorna looked at the girl, and immediately felt sorry for her. The girl was bawling her eyes out, her body shaking ever so slightly, the shock and fear inking into her. Lorna went and hugged the girl. How old was she? Well, if she recalled correctly, she should be around twelve... and if she’s like the Katie from her timeline, then she’d need a friend- Chloe befriended her, and was crucial in helping her out with something. Probably from the blackmail she was under from that bastard. Katie lifted her head and looked at Lorna, her bright blue eyes wide with sorrow, guilt- and gratitude.
“You’re Angel, aren’t you?” she asked. Lorna looked at her, and smiled. She was glad the she didn’t have her balaclava on, but her cowl and pony-tail wig- it helped for people to know who she was, and the balaclava was a nuisance... Katie smiled timidly back.
“Yes, I am. You’re Katie, aren’t you?” Katie looked at the older girl, startled.
“Er, yes. How- how do you know my name?”
“It’s a long story..... We’d best get you home,” Lorna said, looking around her. “Get on my back, and hold on tight. I’m going to give you an express trip home.”
And with that, Lorna felt the skinny girls limbs wrap tightly around her small body, and she started to run, making sure that she built up her acceleration slowly and smoothly, and that the younger girl could take the speeds.
* * *
They went up to the varnished oak door with it's brass fittings. Lorna rang the doorbell, and a moment after the musical tune of the bell had started, the door opened.
"Oh, thank God!" Mrs. Osbourne screamed as she rushed out to hug Katie, who tearfully returned the gesture. Mr. Osbourne appeared, wondering what was going on. His eyes widened with releif when he saw the two girls on the doorstep.
"I didn't beleive the news, but seeing you here.... Please, feel free to ave a cup of tea, or something," he said, his voice shaky with emotion. She looked at him sincerely.
"Thanks, but I've got a bit of the town to patrol yet..." Katie turned quickly to face her saviour.
"Please! Just for a couple of minutes at least!" She regarded the younger girl. She was the one who needed help at this time... and with everything so quiet.....
"Okay, just for a few minutes," she said to the sounds of cheering.
* * *
"He's done WHAT!" Mr. Osbourne bellowed. Katie immediately cowared. Lorna immediately tensed up for conflict. Mrs. Osbourne immediately spoke to pacify her husband. Mr. Osbourne was a well built man, with owl rimmed glasses and a bald head, giving an appearance of a man in his forties
"Listen! Angel's saved her- he'll not hurt her again!" she pleaded. Lorna nodded in agreement.
"Over my dead body...." she said darkly. Everyone looked at her, and upon seeing her eyes, realised that she meant it.... She looked at the others.
"He's used her. In my book, he's raped her. I've had it done to me- the bastard had better keep away from her," she explained. Tears of anger were welling up in Lorna's eyes. She could remember clearly the incident well.....
* * *
She realised, perhaps too late, that she should stop smoking. Because because of her heavy smoking, she was breathing too hard, and her body could feel the fires of exhaustion. What made it worse was that Beth had only just gotten away, and if she was to survive, she had to get more distance between us. Her heart was happily promising to explode out of her skinny chest. She couldn't keep on running like this- she couldn't breath, and her heart was pounding too fast.Beth tried to run as fast as as her thin little legs could, despite the need to stop, but her short school skirt was stubbornly hindering her, as well as all the trees....
A bird fluttered madly in front of the young girl, startled, scaring her even more. She trippied and fell, the stinging of her hands replaced by the sharp, vivid pain of her ankle, which from the pain was either twisted, sprained or broken. Beth continue forward, the pain spurring her faster. Her co-ordination was shot apart, and as a result, her bad foot hit a root.
Beth spat out the dirt and dead leaves out of her mouth, looking around her. She looked up- she had fallen down a steep embankment, and in the state she was in, she'd never make it up again. Beth could see him come down the slope, her blurred vision telling the schoolgirl that the escape attempt has made him angry. She did the only thing she could- roll over onto her back, and open her dirty legs, making release a recently familiar stink all the more, submitting totally to him
"I give up! Do it- screw me senseless, as many times as you want, or all night even- just don't kill me!" she pleaded. Beth could hear his breath was heavy from running, just like hers.... He roughly picked her up, and pins Beth to a tree.
"Strip, you little whore," he says, producing a knife to my throat. As she undressed, Beth knew this would be the last time she'd have sex with anyone else ever again.
2.
"You okay?"
Lorna blasted out of the past in an instant. She saw all three surrounding her, worried. She looked up at them, and smiled.
"Yes. I was remembering the past..." Lorna's last words were little more than a pained whisper. Katie looked at her with an understanding sympathy.
"Well, I think that we should look on more positive things- thanks for saving our little girl," Mrs. Osbourne said. Katie smiled, embarrassed by her foster mother's words.
"I'm glad I could help..." Lorna looked at the girl as she was leaving. Katie needed a friend now, more than a superhero protecting her. She took only a split second to decide what to do.
"Katie, can you be at the swings at the park at one o'clock tomorrow?"
"Yeah- definitely! Why?"
The older girl smiled.
"Trust me." Katie asked her nothing more. She would be there. Ever since her appearance in town, stopping the riots, and helping out when the community centre was on fire, not to mention countless other acts she had done, had meant that Katie looked up to the Angel in the same way she would any other role model. She continued to look at the young hero as her foster mum and dad showed her out, thanking her for her intervening to stop the foreman who had been renovating the house from harming further their foster child. She gazed out the window as the older girl left at speed. Mr. and Mrs. Osbourne entered the sitting room again. Mrs. Osbourne spoke up.
"Honey, how long has this been going on for, and what is this "past" you're so afraid of?" she said softly, her Hispanic origins betrayed by her accent. Katie looked at her as she sat down. After a moment of silence, she decided to speak.
"It's been happening during the past couple of weeks- but I had no choice- I wanted to stay here!" She paused to regain control of her emotions. Once she was in control again, Katie continued.
"When I was on the streets I had no choice but to resort to prostitution." She saw The Osbourne's shocked faces. "It was that or I starved," Katie tearfully says.
"The foreman used to be a client of mine, and said that if I wanted my past kept secret, then I would have to offer 'freebies.'" Katie was now crying heavily now, her shoulders hunched up, rocking slightly to and fro. Mrs. Osbourne, feeling a motherly instinct well up inside her, gently put her arms around the girl, her grip gentle but reassuring.
"We would never have rejected you because of that!" Mrs Osbourne said to her foster daughter. Katie looked up, and with tears streaming down her face, hugged her back.
* * *
"Mrs. Knightwood, why do people call me 'Angel'? Am I an angel?"
Mrs Knightwood looked up from the novel she was reading in her favorite chair in the expansive sitting room, to regard Lorna's question. Mandy also looked at her.
"Lorna, why the weird question?" Mandy asked, her crisp American accent contrasting against Lorna's. She winced at the fact that they were still calling her Lorna. Mrs Knightwood spoke up after a moment of reflection.
"People call you an angel, because despite the black costume, you are a spear of light. You showed to people that was what you are when you faced the thugs the other night alone. A riot that should have destroyed much was stopped, and instead of leaving, you helped the officers- trying to heal the wounded, and boosting morale in those still okay. These are dark times, and people are looking for a beacon to call in day again.
"And I regard you as a form of angel- a human angel, if you will. But don't forget you can still make mistakes, and do wrong," she warned. "Why do you ask?"
"Oh, it's nothing really. I met a girl tonight who was in trouble, and she kept calling me 'Angel.' I wonder if everyone sees me as divine," she answered hesitantly. Mrs Knightwood just smiled. She saw the young girl look at her, clearly uncertain as to what to say, or if she should say anything.
"When it comes to that girl you met tonight, you have to do what you feel is best. Sometimes in life you have to do what you feel is best at the time, without knowing what the outcomes might be, or have the facts you need to properly weigh up the situation."
Lorna just smiled appreciatively at the older and wiser person.
* * *
She looked nervously about. She didn't like being out in public with the clothes she had from her home time, but Lorna, or Bethany as really was, didn't have any other clothes: she was meant to get a few things at the shopping centre with Katie, assuming she showed up...
She spun around when her sharpened hearing heard the distant footsteps of a running person, young, a older child or early teenager at the latest. She was rewarded with the sight of Katie. The younger girl's suspicion of Lorna dissapeared immediately when she gave her one the warmest smile she could muster.
"Hi. You must be Katie," Lorna said, surprising the young teen. She smiled again. "We have a mutual friend," she continued. Katie understood immediately.
"Your friend of Angel! Cool!" She exclaimed. Lorna regarded the younger girl warmly.
"Yes- yes I am. She said that you had some problems, and that I might be better suited to help talk them through?" Katie looked at her with stinging hurt.
"You can't help me! You havn't a clue! How can you help me when you know nothing about what I've gone through!" she shreiked. Lorna calmly regarded her.
"How can I know? You havn't said a thing about what you've suffered. You havn't given me a chance."
"You want to know? You want to know? I've been a prostitute on the street. I've been forced to have sex by that bastard Angel stopped last night. I've been beaten up in foster homes. I've lost both parents. Does that help? Can you understand? CAN YOU?" Katie screamed with pained anger. Lorna turned around to face her, tears streaking down her face.
"Yes, I can," she whispered.
To Be continued...
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This page was created on 05 June, 1998
This page was updated on 06 June, 1998
ByMichelle Laura Kinane, the only person mad enough to mix Psychic powers and rape into one story....