CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Interweaving - O.F.R 8
Inside the lobby inn built of sherwood, where sections in the floorboards were removed and an abbreve window let in what little fresh air it could, a cacophony outside is heard. All these elements from the windows to the wall were used as backdrops, like the set for a Broadway drama and everyone in the scene was a part of this play.
The wall had been sanded down. The translucency of the paint was worn and thin. The first layers of many more were to come. Patches of creamy beige were here and there on the walls, surely the employee testing their roller, soaking their equipment and drying it off by slathering the paint on small spots next to the entrance door by the window.
Delilah cleared her throat, she gave a small "ahem" and apologized, "Sorry, my liege," as she went to bow again.
Jehovah asked, "What are you doing?"
Delilah looked at him and then at everyone in the room, all of whom stared back alienated. She said, "Isn’t that obvious?”
The room watched silently as Jehovah replied back, “Oh, no. This is going to be a problem." He foresaw the events about to unfold.
Delilah, almost perplexed, said. “What? Why is everyone looking at me like that?” She tried to defend herself. “The first bow was for a greeting and the second is for an apology.”
Lucifer intervened, saying to Delilah, “How many times have you kneeled today, for any reason?”
Delilah immediately answered, like she was waiting for the question to be asked. “Once he wakes up, I do my daily bows. As soon as he wakes up, every day for the past all my life I've done that. When we ate this afternoon and now... when else?”
Jehovah chimed in, “When I offered to open the general store's door for you.”
Delilah giggled. “Yes, I remember! You’re so funny for that.” She arched her head and bent her knees in the same direction, about to bow.
Jehovah and Lucifer stopped Delilah together. “Woah! It’s fine, no need.”
She was confused about why she was being stopped. Delilah said, “What? It’s true. You are a very funny man.”
Jehovah clarified, “That’s not why we're holding you back Delilah.”
The streets of Ellenstein were as busy as they could be. Copious amounts of traffic packed the roadway. Restaurants normally do not entertain charred pork belly, but today was the exception, and beer spilled on the floor of the game halls, as if a toddler had passed through carrying pitchers full of ale.
Registers were crammed, schooling was over, and happiness washed over. Breathing into Ellenstein and its people reinvigorated life.
Ladders were propped up and scattered. People on those ladders hung ornaments just abaft the sidewalks. Low-hanging wires tethered convenience stores, apartment complexes, and homesteads. A handful of birds on cue, as if reading from an imaginary conductor, sang harmoniously.
Jehovah said. “It was nice of the innkeeper to let them off the hook.” The twins were with Noa, Litcht, and Delilah up ahead. Jehovah and Lucifer hung back walking and talking. Jehovah put his hands behind his head leaning backwards using them as a hammock and said, “It’s not your fault, you know.”
Lucifer was unclear about what had been said. “Huh?”
Jehovah closed his eyes, rolled his neck towards Lucifer and opened his right eye back up. He spoke. “Back there, at the inn.” He returned to his laid-back posture, staring toward the sky. “You said it was your fault when it wasn’t. For not informing the twins of the rotted floorboards. That was definitely something I would've done. Thank you. Your kindness does not go unnoticed.”
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Lucifer replied. “Not too much gets past you, I'm guessing.”
Jehovah said. “No, it's just—I appreciate the little stuff.” Jehovah joked around, saying, “Normally, people would respond much more gracefully.”
Lucifer said, puzzled, “Do you think I should be more graceful around you?”
“What I'm trying to convey is, that I don’t really get to speak with people my age.” Jehovah said, grieving. “Not much anymore.”
Lucifer looked at Jehovah and back at the sidewalk they were on. He said, “What do you mean by that? And not anymore?”
Jehovah took his hands from his head, rubbing the back of it. “Did I say that?” He tried to laugh it off.
“Come on.” Lucifer replied, “Don’t leave me in the dark now.”
Jehovah scratched his cheek with his index finger. The glove on that hand contrasted with the bare one. The young man's outfit was a vibrant assortment of colors, resembling a kind of carbon-based armor. Predominantly white and blue with yellow accents. White and blue were the two primary colors of the attire, while yellow and white peeked from under the carbon garments that appeared visibly in the spaces between the armor and fabric.
The boy with eyes of blue. Some say ‘tis was the window directly into the soul. And the sun seemed to burn within that boy. Timid yet talkative, Jehovah exuded both youthful energy and a sense of shyness.
His short white hair on the sides and longer top, styled by combing the hair over to the left, added to his overall youthful and mellow natural appearance. He was taller than Lucifer by a few inches. He stood six feet tall already at such a young age.
Jehovah said it in all honesty. “This war against demons. It's taken those closest to me.”
Lucifer apologizes, “I’m sorry for asking. I didn't think.”
“It’s fine. That needed to come out sooner or later.” Jehovah said it with preemptive pain. “The war’s taken from us all. What did it take from you?”
Lucifer was mystified at how he knew of his loss and his pain, but the young boy knew. Probably a lucky guess, Lucifer thought. “My mother and father.” Lucifer said. “They were taken. They tried to protect us, my sisters and me, from demons. Lucifer paused, trying hard to get the rest out.
Jehovah said. “Now I should be the one apologizing.”
Lucifer shook. “No.” He smiled a bit, making a lighthearted joke out of it, he said. “It needed to come out sooner or later. Am I right?”
Jehovah slapped Lucifer on the back, bumping him forward a bit. Lucifer was off balance by the push but regained his footing and laughed alongside the other boy.
Jehovah said, “It’s nice talking to you. It feels like I've always known you. I feel like I’ve met you before now that I think about it.” He realized something, saying, “I just realized something. I don’t know your name.” He stopped walking, folding his upper body to a 90-degree angle and bowing. “I’ve been talking to you the entire time and didn’t even greet you appropriately.” He stuck his other hand out. “The name is.”
“Jehovah,” Lucifer interjected. "Yeah, I know who you are, but you don’t know me. I'm nobody. I actually don’t know one person who doesn’t know you.” Lucifer thought about the people he knew. “Yeah, literally no one. This town talks about you like you’ve always been around. Guess that’s how most places are nowadays.”
The boy lifted his head up and scratched his cheek again with the glove hand—a quirk of his. “I’m that famous, huh?” His other hand was still out, unshaken. “And your name is..."
Lucifer stared at Jehovah's offered hand. Originally, he was going to read his books, go grocery shopping, and discuss something that had been confusing him for a long time with Herald. He never thought his day would end like this.
He shook the boy’s hand despite all the consequences tied to it. It was a tight grip, and Lucifer could feel the hardness of that hand. Then a slight pressure was applied to the shake itself. There was enough force to almost break his hand. Lucifer pulled his arm away.
Jehovah asked worriedly, “Oh, are you alright?” Jehovah explained. “Sometimes I don't know my own strengths. I avoid shaking hands. Sorry if I hurt you.”
“I’m fine,” Lucifer said, holding his injured body part and masking the pain as best he could. “The name is Lucifer, by the way.”
“Lucifer… Odd name, sounds demonic.” Jehovah spoke suspiciously.
After so much time spent walking around freely, he had forgotten the most obvious of things. He was a demon speaking with an angel that was soon to become God when he came of age.
Lucifer didn’t have a response. Jehovah continued on, “And I like it! Very unique name.”
Lucifer exhaled, wiping the sweat off his forehead.