Page 50 of Fallen Angels

I eye her real knowin’ like. “That ain’t gots nothin’ to do with you an’ Mask makin’ goo-goo eyes at each other, do it? ‘Cause I don’t think you can do much to help him. He too far gone.” I flys over to the tub an’ poke at the water, watchin’ the bubbles pop.

“No. This has nothing to do with Pyre. I just feel like the Veil is… it’s just a nice place to be and I wish we… I wish we didn’t have to leave so soon.”

“That say somethin’ if yer comforted by death, Pretty. Death ain’t nothin’ good neither.”

She close her eyes an’ I helps her wash her long-ass hair. Not ‘cause I’m her slave or nothin’, but jist ‘cause I wanna. Pretty is my friend. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with helpin’ friends, right?

After awhiles, I leave Pretty to her own self, ‘cause she seem lost in her thoughts anyway and weren’t talkin’ much. Soze I walk back into our community room an’ what do I find? Noni pickin’ through my stuff. Or least it look like that be what she doin’.

“What you think yer doin’?! Snoopin’ through my stuffs like a little thief!”

Her little squeak an’ smile don’t make me feel bad ‘bout scarin’ her neither, as I yank her outta my shit.

“Noni not snoop,” she say in a real dignified way—like she angry I be accusin’ her o’ snoopin’ which be exactly what she doin’.

“If you ain’t snoopin’, what are ya doin’?” I demand.

“Noni fix.”

“What?!”

The fuckin’ brownie lift up a bag with my name stitched on it all wonky-like. It sayMr. Fluffin scraggly little letters that look more like a vulture flew by an’ happened ta shit white diarrhea all over my knapsack.

“Noni fix you bag, Mr. Flumph. No snoop.”

“Ya spelled my fuckin’ name wrong!” I say real pissed-off like. “I ain’t Mr. Fluff!”

Noni hold the bag up an’ inspect it, like she ain’t sure what I be talkin’ abouts. “M. R. F.,” she start callin’ out the letters real slow like.

“It’s Flumph! F. L. U. M. P. H.! It ain’t Fluff!”

She nod her head real fast. “Noni fix it.”

I reach over an’ grab that knapsack right out her hand. “You already done enough!”

Then that fuckin’ elf walk over an’ kicks me right in my big ass an’ I fall over.

Dick.

“Be nice or else,” he says.

“Yoube nice!” I rail back at him whiles I rub my sore ass cheek. “Prick!”

I cross my arms an’ sit on the floor, feelin’ all sorry fer myself and my achin’ butt. I can tell that stupid brownie’s lookin’ at me with them creepy ass eyes o’ hers. I look up an’ sure enough, she be starin’ at me. Can’t no one get no privacy ‘round heres?

I look away from that butt-ugly brownie who can’t spell worth shit. She don’t leave me alone, though. Instead, she put her face right next to mine, not makin’ a sound, but scarin’ the livin’ fuck outta me. “Go away!”

“I bring you present,” she say in that weird voice.

Usually I like presents an’ if I had a tail, it might start semi-waggin’ at her pronouncement that she got one for me. But I ain’t got no tail. An’ after that vulture diarrhea shit she already gaves me, I ain’t sure I wanna know what else she got for me. “What is it?”

“Mr. Flumph like Noni present,” she say an’ she nod her little head an’ I roll my eyes. Then she reach behind her back an’ hands me a weird lookin’ crossbow made o’ wood an’ a funky thing with bolts in it.

“What the fuck’s this?” I ask.

Noni nod like she super excited to tell me. “For when Mr. Flumph go to the naughty king’s castle,” she say, makin’ me mad ‘cause she ain’t explained what the fuck the thing do.

“What the fuck this thing do?”

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