THE INKLING

THE INKLING


Angel's Pov

We get back to the apartment and, using the spare key Anna retrieved from Andrew's office, I let us in. Of course, Andrew has a spare key.

As the apartment door opens to reveal the empty room, I'm gripped by a flash of joy and gratitude. There was a real chance I'd never see this place again, the place where Angel Hills was born, and I don't realise how deeply I felt this way until a few tears pricks my eyes.

The moment we're inside, I close the door behind us, making sure to confirm the click. Then I bump it with my shoulder just to make sure.

Hank is standing, looking around in amazement although there isn't much to see, which is probably why he's amazed. I giggle to myself.

I've barely taken two steps when there’s a firm knock on the door.

My pulse gives a small, startled jump. Who is it? It can't be the people who took me, I'm just a random girl they picked up. It can't be can it?

This apartment door doesn't have a peephole. Why doesn't it have a peephole?

I tell myself to breathe. They can't get me in broad daylight. Besides there's too many people for them to get me out of the building. I'll scream my head off. It also help that Hank is here.

I walk over to it as the knock sounds again. I take a deep breath and pull the door open.

Sadie standing there, cheeks flushed from and eyes wide. Without warning, Sadie throws her arms around me squeezing me tight.

“Oh thank goodness,” Sadie says into my shoulder, voice muffled so I can't be sure I heard that right.

I blink, a little taken aback by the sudden affection. “Yeah, you wouldn’t believe it.”

She disengages, looking caught by her surprise from her show of emotion. “Yeah. It's just you haven't been back for days. I, we, were worried.”

I nod, feeling warmth blossom in my chest. They were this worried about me?

From somewhere behind me, Hank steps into view, leaning casually against the doorframe hand over my head. His gaze flicks between us, and then he smiles. “Hi, sorry to barge in. I'm Angel's boyfriend.”

I'm a little flustered by the easy way he says it especially as Sadie’s concerned look morphs into a teasing one. “Boyfriend eh?”

I groan, remembering Sadie teasing me about meeting a man. That's not what happened but that's what she must think happened. I can feel my face getting pinker. “Yes but it's not like that. I'll tell you about it later.”

Sadie grins. “Okay,” she says in a sing-song voice. “That dinner is still on the table. Anytime you can pull yourself away,” she throws over her shoulder as she turns and walks back to her apartment.

I smile, waving to her and she waves back. As her door closes, I walk back in to see Hank smirking. “That's the first time I introduced myself as your boyfriend,” he says, almost smugly.

I smack his chest playfully, and duck away to the kitchen so he doesn't see my face. Ever since I agreed to date this man I haven't stopped blushing. Hanks wanders into the bedroom.

Already in the kitchen, I decide to get some water. I face the fridge. I don't know it feels like I've sort of been avoiding it somehow, as of it would be disappointed I don't have the magnets I promised. Which is silly.

It's still clean, still feeling like it's a temporary fixture that's to be packed in a box soon.

I don't even have real cups. I've been reusing the bottles that came with the food Andrew bought me. The labels have peeled off under the sink faucet, leaving them smooth and unbranded, again almost temporary.

My phone pings from the counter. It’s Andrew.

“Are you safe, Angel?”

I frown unconsciously. The question is straightforward, but something about it makes me pause.

“Yes,” she types back. “I’m in the apartment.”

My thumb hovers over the keyboard. I consider adding something about Hank, his new shiny title, still sitting unspoken in my mind but somehow I decide against it.

A few seconds later, Andrew replies. “And how are you feeling?”

I glance around. How am I feeling? ‘I’m really good,’ I type, and it’s not a lie.

Another message comes through. “You’re welcome to visit anytime.”

I stare at the text. There’s no reason to believe anything is wrong and yet. . .

“Yeah, thanks, Andrew,” I reply, my fingers slipping over the keys and spelling his name wrong. I rush to fix it.

When I set the phone down on the counter, I don't move right away. I stare at the screen, the small glow fading as the display goes dark.

A noise from behind me pulls me out of it; the quiet shuffling of feet, the shuffle of Hank moving around my bedroom like he's familiarising himself with it. I turn her head.

Yes. I have a boyfriend now.

The thought feels both solid and yet strange now, like there's something in my pocket I keep forgetting is there until my hand brushes against it. There’s comfort in the weight of it, in the way he’s here, but there’s also the faintest edge of unease. Not about him, exactly, but about the suddenness with which my world now has this new label.

And somewhere under that, quieter but persistent, is the thread of worry about Adam. He hasn’t said anything wrong, no reason in his words to set off alarms, at all but I can’t quite stop the weird way I feel.

Hank’s voice pulls me back again, as he steps back into the living room. “What do you want to eat?”

His expression is open, waiting. I have no reason to be this anxious about everything but yet. I wonder, fleetingly, if maybe it’s not the label that unsettles me
in areas of my life; it’s the way having one changes the way everything feels.