The Devil’s Angel

cident. Her first impulse had been to tell Sam to quit playing around, that she was tired, her day had been

te with them and now, he wouldn't have to anymore. Or rather, he wouldn't be able to, not even if he wanted to. A cab came to a stop in front of her and she threw herself into the back seat, breathlessly muttering the name of the hospital Sam had told her. It was a miracle she still remembered it or maybe, her brain had not yet come to terms with the reality of the situation on ground. Yes, that was it. What other explanation was there to this sudden clarity that had befallen her? That she had griefed the loss of her own father for exactly ten minutes? It was then that it hit her that she wasn't with her bag and that she did not have money to pay the cab fare. She was in a bind but she wanted to believe that Sam had somehow managed to grow up in the past few hours and would be willing to part with a few bucks to help her out. With this thought, she leaned back on the seat and brought her head to rest on the headrest. She tried to remember what it was like for them growing up. Had her father been different, happier? Where exactly had things started to go wrong? When had her father started to come home with two boxes of cake sometime in March to celebrate their birthdays even though her birthday was not until May and was months apart from that of Sam. When had they started to notice that her father was putting less and less effort into their Christmas presents, gifting them the exact same type of sneakers in the exact same size as that of the previous year? Was she twelve or thirteen when he had come home with Chinese nougats for Sam even though he was allergic to peanuts and afterwards he had broken out in hives and vomited on her palms and she'd had to carry him on her back to their neighbor who ran a clinic down the alley. It was probably weird that she was thinking of all these at this moment. That she was replaying all the unflattering moments with her father in her head instead of otherwise. But the truth was that she was trying. She wanted to think of the happy times with him too but nothing seemed to come to mind. Maybe if she exhausted all the unsavoury memories, she could get to the good part. Maybe there was really light at the end of the tunnel of her dark mind. Perhaps she would find the good memories she had hidden at the bottom, the ones she had with him before he turned loveless. Sam was waiting outside when her cab came to a halt in front of the hospital. He looked disheveled, like he had been caught off guard with the news. His eyes were sunken and maybe it was just an illusion but Tiana thought he had lost s