I continued the following days with my new routine. I woke up early and then went to work. I would find Lucy in deep sleep. It would be in the early mornings, so I didn’t blame her. I wish I was still asleep, but I was disciplined enough to get up in time.

“David, don’t forget the ice cream.”

Lucy would sometimes talk in her sleep.

“We have enough in the freezer. Go to sleep.”

Work wasn’t as bad as the first day as I got the hang of things. Alex would help me out from time to time. It’s come to a point where I could work on my own.

“Good job David,” Said Rick the manager. He gave me a compliment whenever he got the chance to.

“Thanks, Rick.”

“I think I might give you a raise.”

“Even though I don’t plan to stay here for long?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

He patted me on the back and went back to business. And by business, I mean all he ever does was walk around and compliment people. Mainly whenever they’re actually doing their job. He was genuinely a nice guy. I was supposed to be just a bag boy but I guess I exceeded his expectations.

Raphie would sometimes ask me to join her to go visit the church from time to time. I got to talk about a bunch of things with Phoebe. Turns out she loves to read. Mostly the bible though. There wasn’t much to say whenever we talk about books. We both have different tastes in what we love to read. I like to read manga and fantasy novels while she loves to read contemporary novels. Somedays Phoebe wouldn’t show up. But I didn’t mind being alone in the silence. I had a good time enjoying the silence by myself for that brief moment.

After all that I would come home right before the sunset. Raphie would walk with me home since we were neighbors. I associated the orange sky with the walk with Raphie. It was always a quiet walk but sometimes we would get a conversation here and there. Sometimes it was about school or work.

“David, how are you today? I haven’t gotten the chance to talk to you yet.”

Raphie seemed concerned. Since I spent less time as a bagboy and more of an actual worker in the grocery store, I’ve been speaking with Raphie less and less. Not that I have anything against bagboys.

“I’ve doing well. I just had a headache today. There was this old lady that couldn’t hear properly. So it took forever to assist her.”

“Other than that, I hear you’re doing well.”

“I can handle everything by myself now.”

“Yeah…”

There was a slight frown on Raphie’s face. I didn’t notice it at first but when I did, I tried to cheer her up.

“So, want to head to church?”

“No, I got things to do.”

We both went home.

Another thing was my problem with my insomnia. Night after night, I would stay up really late. Since I couldn’t fall asleep, I would either play video games until I was ready to pass out or just lie down.

I barely had any sleep because of my insomnia. Sometimes I was so tired that I was able to fall asleep early. Otherwise, I would just wait to fall asleep only to wake up a few hours before work.

Lucy wasn’t as annoying at night. She knew how valuable sleep is. And if I don’t enough sleep for work then our flow of extra money would go down the drain. She’s typically bothersome when I come home in the evening though. So life wasn’t perfect at the moment.

I got used to this new routine. The thing was my day was separated between spending time with Raphie and Lucy. Between the day and night. And the trend was that I never got to see them together. Ever. And this went on for about almost three weeks. I had enough money to pay for the air conditioner and more. It was worth it. I plan to quit my job after a month since I started working. By the time it was August, I had plenty of money to not worry about food and the bills.

Soon, it was my last week on the job. I had a plan of some sorts. But most of it involves improvising on the spot.

I wanted to bridge this gap between Raphie and Lucy. I didn’t know how but I was going to try. I don’t have experience with siblings. This will be my first attempt.

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But they both have something I don’t. An eternity spent knowing each other. Unlike me who has yet to know them for more than a month.

There was no information for me to work from. They both don’t talk about each other. I mostly know their lives here so far in the past month. Lucy was just a freeloader and Raphie was a good student studying medicine. Do I unite the freeloader and the student or reunite the two angel sisters? What am I supposed to be looking for?

Do I just ask ‘what was it like being an angel?’ It felt like an awkward question to start off. ‘What was your sisters like?’ I asked that question once and both tried to dodge the question. Do I just forcibly ask both of them to make up? Do I have to break through my comfort zone just to get what I want?

If two siblings have some kind of conflict that results with them ignoring each other then what makes me the right guy to be the middleman? How do I properly become the medium between two angels?

All sorts of thoughts raced through my mind.

It was then on a late afternoon that I said something Raphie.

Raphie and I were walking home one day. The sun was ready to set and we had passed by the church already. Phoebe wasn’t there so I spent the time thinking about what I was about to say. By the time we had walked by the park, I spoke up.

“There’s something between you and your sister. I want to know.”

I saw the orange sky behind Raphie as we both walked up the hill. She tilted her head in confusion. Maybe because I caught her off guard.

“There’s nothing-”

“There has to be.” I interrupted her.

I looked at her with a straight face. I could feel my eyebrows wrinkle. I couldn’t control it but my fists were balled up hard and my teeth clenched. There was no way I was going to leave her without hearing her answer me.

“Oh, okay.”

Raphie stopped walking and turned away from me. The only sound I could hear was the cars passing by and the kids playing in the playground in the distance behind me.

“You see. Lucy and I had a fight.”

“What kind of fight stops you from talking to your sister for a month?”

Even if she was the devil.

“Part of it involves your death.”

She paused. I couldn’t bring any words out of my mouth. My eyes widened and my jaws dropped. Raphie turned to me. She locked her hands together and looked at me sincerely.

“Lucy needed a place to stay. So I brought her in. We lived together for a year. But then Lucy would sometimes leave from time to time. Sometimes for days. Other times for a month. I didn’t know where she went. If she caused problems for others or got in trouble herself. I found out she had been traveling between this world and the afterlife. Lucy had been wandering around bothering people. I told her to stop. But she didn’t. And then one day she came to me. She knew there was someone dead in the apartment across the hall from me. I didn’t believe her at first. But when I remembered she had been crossing to the afterlife often, it would explain how she knew in the first place.”

I remembered my first conversation with Lucy. When I was about to be brought back. Maybe that was how she found me?

“I was against it in the first place. I wasn’t allowed to meddle with humanity. But I was allowed to anyways.”

“What do you mean?”

“I have the power to heal people. But I’m not supposed to.”

“Because of meddling?”

“Yeah. Something like that.”

I was confused. Maybe Raphie was hiding something from me. But I didn’t want to press any further.

“So it was you who saved me.”

“Yes. It was Lucy who found you and told me about it.”

I sighed. In front of me was the woman who saved me. I felt like I owed her my life. I should’ve talked to her more. I could’ve shown more gratitude towards her. Raphie was my savior.

“Why did you end up saving me?”

“Because I couldn’t leave you alone.”

“You and I never met before. I’m a complete stranger. Just a random human who was destined to die.”

“Even so. I wanted to save you.”

“So-”

I choked on my words. I couldn’t think of what to say.

Raphie was a kind-hearted person. She was the embodiment of what an angel was supposed to be like. She even broke the rules to save someone like me.

“Is that why you felt responsible for me?”

“What was that?”

“You saved my life. Twice. You gave me a job. You walk home with me every day at work. Like you’re looking after me.”

It was like as if she was looking after me. I felt like a pet even though I knew that wasn’t her intention.

“Just because you saved me, doesn’t mean you’re still responsible for me.”

Raphie looked down at the ground. She tried to speak up but I interrupted her.

“Even so, thank you very much.”

Raphie smiled at me. It was a genuine smile. It was almost contagious too. I found myself curling the edge of my lips. But as much as I tried to contain it, my whole mouth curved.

“What did Lucy do afterward?”

“She was against it. That was where our argument started.”

“I see.”

“In the end, we ended up saving you.”

“So why was Lucy staying with me? It has to be more than just over my death.”

“I wonder why. She could’ve just left this place altogether.”

Even Raphie was unaware of it. I think Raphie was still hiding something. Or maybe there was something else. Maybe she felt responsible for me. Maybe she was just taking advantage of me. Lucy was a strange entity. Who knows what goes on in the devil’s head.

I don’t know what to make of it. What I know for sure is that I’m kicking her out. And hopefully, I will reunite the two sisters.