A spacious classroom with walls covered in white wavy paint, half covered with purple stars. Too many eyes pointed toward Konny. And they were solely focused on the movements of her lips, disregarding her flared cowboy jeans and the nicely contoured rear in them. Not even the pair of shiny little yellow Saturn earrings with conspicuous rings that she boldly wore were noticed.
And definitely not the yellow crop top adorned with two adorable green ice creams. She was in front of everyone, presenting something. The professor was listening so carefully that you would say she forgot to blink. One girl with purple glasses in a pink shirt with a rainbow-colored unicorn was avidly listening to her colleague.
Konny's face turned red as she passionately expressed her opinion about the movie Deeply in Love but Dove Set Us Apart:
“While it is true that Johnny never wavered throughout the entire psychological tyranny she inflicted upon him, I do not believe that he ultimately did the right thing. Lucy acted that way solely because she was confronted with a very difficult challenge, and undoubtedly, she did not know the best way to handle it. Well, how would you, professor, react if your horse, which you had personally delivered from its mother's womb and raised to become a beautiful white stallion with an admirable temperament, got bitten by a venomous snake 10 kilometers away from any urban area; for THAT time! I must emphasize that.”
The professor agreed that she would also be in fierce doubt, and ultimately, the inclination towards attempting to save her beloved white stallion with a silky mane would likely prevail. Veronica, her best friend, congratulated her on the well-argued debate that was as engaging to listen to as it was to present. With a smile and a sense of contentment, Konny invited Veronica for a creamy milkshake topped with 3 cherries.
The two girls were sipping on their creamy shakes through a straw and gossiping about the new teaching assistant they were both dying to meet when Konny noticed that the waiter had come to their table twice in a row, asking them what they would like to order. She responded both times that they had already ordered their milkshakes and didn't need anything else. Then she noticed that there was nothing in front of her. There were no large glasses with milkshakes on the table. There wasn’t the cute tiny black ceramic ashtray with a little white skull on the table anymore. Even though they didn’t smoke, she fancied it.
Let’s be real: a bright mahagony table with a nice ashtray looks much nicer than the one deprived of it.
Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.
Or so she thought. She raised her hand intending to call the waiter, and after a few moments, he noticed her. One thing, though, seemed quite ridiculous. The waiter moved so slowly that it was unbelievable, as if he was in slow-mo, with pauses where his arms, legs, and even his whole body would momentarily disappear. At times, she only saw a floating head in space, slowly and seemingly laboriously moving towards her with a smile on its face. She tried to think carefully about what she was seeing, but her thoughts were jumbled, jumping over each other in her mind, not allowing her to gather herself and focus on any logical explanation.
She simply couldn't find it. When she redirected her attention back to the waiter's floating head, she saw that it was now frozen in place, like a gelatinous mass in the freezer. It wasn't just his head that was peculiar; all the other people in the pastry shop were frozen as well. Suddenly, she felt sick, whether from the sight or something else, she couldn't tell at that moment. Her head dropped and hit the table.
Beautiful wings, feather-like and elegant. She felt the strength of the hands that were carrying her. She felt how they both landed, very gently, without any resistance from the air. The intense light prevented her from seeing the face of the person holding her. It was... an angel. In a long white dress with a silver trim. Suddenly, she felt the urge to vomit.
“Yes, I will reduce the brightness of my radiance, I forgot, I'm sorry,” said the gentle voice full of comfort.
“I'm sorry... Who are you? Where am I? Is this heaven?”
“No, not at all. I am in your mind. Or on your shoulder, whichever you prefer. To be semantically clear, you see me now because you are allowed to, because I am trying to warn you of a danger that I cannot directly influence...”
“Danger? Can't you prevent it? Am I going crazy? What is going on here? I must be ready for a psychiatric institution. Oh well, definitely!”
“Don't be afraid! Just listen to me carefully. The outcome depends on your upbringing... go to the public library and look for the book about Devon, page 87, towards the end of the page. Try to remember the recipe. Farewell... and take care!” the angel said and disappeared at the spot in one bright starry implosion.
“A recipe? What kind of recipe?! For what? How can you say goodbye like this? Angel!”
“Hey, Kon! Wake up, girl! Don’t do this to me. Wh at happened? Kon!”
She then felt Veronika's gentle shaking on her shoulders and lifted her head from the table. She didn’t have time to pay attention to Veronika's concerned questioning, but she opened Google Maps and started typing “Public Library”. Veronika, with a pale face and a sweaty forehead, watched her colleague as she rushed out of the pastry shop in an unreasonable haste for books, or so it seemed to her at that moment.
“That girl must be on something…” Veronica said in disbelief.