Earth Angel
Chapter Nine
Chloe
drove straight home after her confrontation with Phillip at Dot.Com.
Her back and neck had begun to ache severely and she managed to drag
herself up the stairs without any interference from Benjamin or the other
servants. She threw herself on
the bed in her room and took one of her prescription pain pills.
It may still have been light outside, but she knew her medication would
send her straight to sleep. A
small price to pay for pain relief, she thought to herself.
Chloe
sighed heavily and muttered, "My doctor is going to kill me for running
like that... I just know it."
A
male voice rang out from the corner, "Not going to happen.
You're already dead."
Chloe
jumped straight up and saw Keyes sitting in Jan's desk chair.
Chloe
gasped in shock, "KEYES!?! You
scared the crap out of me. What
are you doing here?"
"Sorry
kiddo, didn't mean to scare you. Just
wanted to check up on you, that's all. So,
is it as bad as you thought it would be?"
Chloe
shook her head. "No, not
really."
Keyes
smiled satisfactorily and asked, "So, it's good then?"
"No,
definitely not."
His
expression dropped and he sighed softly.
"Well, which one is it? Good
or bad?"
Chloe
shrugged in confusion. "It's
a little bit of both. I mean, not
everybody hates me like I thought. In
fact, there may be hope for me yet to actually have friends.
But, the person who counts the most won't even look me in the eye,
unless it's to yell at me."
Keyes
nodded sympathetically. "I'm
sorry, Chloe. I know this is
tough for you, but you're handling it a lot better than most people
would."
"Yeah,
well... I live in Salem, I've gotten used to dealing with even the most
unbelievable situations."
Keyes
half smiled at her and winked. "Well,
I'm proud of you. You're doing
pretty well."
Chloe
smiled back at him, but hesitated for a moment. "Keyes... can I ask you something? Something a little bit weird sounding?"
Keyes
raised his eyebrows expectantly. "Weird?
Chloe, I've been around thousands of years, I've seen just about
everything there is to see... You can ask me ANYTHING."
"Okay
then... Is it possible for people to know that I'm Chloe and not Jan?
I don't mean because I tell them or something, I mean... is it possible
for them to just know? When
someone who knew me really well looks in my eyes... can they see the real
me?"
Keyes
sighed thoughtfully and replied, "Honestly... yes.
It's extremely rare, but it is possible.
Granted, we haven't had much field-testing on this theory because we
don't make mistakes like this very often.
But, it is possible. If it
was someone who knew the true Chloe before you passed away, then it's possible
for them to see your soul even in another body."
"The
TRUE Chloe?" She wrinkled
her brow in confusion, "What do you mean by that?"
"Well,
it's like this... In life, you meet a lot of people and you think you know
them, but sometimes you don't really. You
might only see what you want to see, and maybe you don't pay attention to
what's really going on inside. Like
how you might have felt about Jan, you saw the way she acted and the way she
presented herself, but you didn't really know what was going on inside of her
or why she acted that way. But
then there are people... friends, family, lovers, whoever that see the TRUE
you, even if you don't tell them. These
are the people who can see through whatever you put out on the exterior and
see what you're REALLY about."
Chloe
paused to take in his words. She
mulled over them in her head for a moment before letting out a depressed sigh.
"So... Shawn and Belle... they knew the real me.
But, Phillip didn't? Because,
when they look at me it's like they see through Jan and they see Chloe.
But, Phillip... he just sees Jan.
I thought he loved me, why wouldn't he see me?"
Keyes
frowned and laid a reassuring hand on Chloe's.
"I don't know. But,
it's also possible that he'll eventually be able to clear the haze from his
brain and see you in there. I
couldn't say if that's the case though. But,
I'm sure he does love you..."
"He
just might not love the real me. He
only loves what he's made me up to be in his head," She continued.
"Not
necessarily... only time will tell."
Chloe
groaned in frustration. "This
is so irritating. Everything I
thought I knew about him, I guess I don't... I'm not sure if I even know
anything about ME anymore."
"You'll
figure it out. I can promise you
that. And don't second guess me,
I do work for the man upstairs, you know."
Chloe
chuckled softly. "Well, I
feel reassured now. I
think."
"So,
how's the new body holding up?"
Chloe
winced as she was reminded of the pains that sometimes shot through her.
"Well, besides being shorter than I used to be... it hurts.
I made the dumb mistake of trying to run something akin to a marathon
today. Thank God for prescription
pain medication."
"I'll
send him your regards."
Chloe
paused for a moment to figure out his reply.
"Huh? Oh yeah, I get
it... I said, Thank God... very funny. But
seriously, I'm less than great, but better than terrible.
Does that sound acceptable?"
Keyes
nodded and grinned. "Yes,
but only because I know you'll get better."
Chloe
smiled widely and impulsively hugged him.
"Thank you... I'm glad you stopped by."
"Hey,
I'm always here if you need me. I
helped get you into this stupid mess, and I want to make sure that you get
your fair shake. Besides, I have
an eternity ahead of me... I can waste 10 minutes here and there in
Salem."
Chloe
leaned out of the embraced and smiled again.
"Good... I'm glad."
"I'm
glad you're glad. Now, I'm gonna
go because I have a feeling that pain pill you took is going to work it's
magic and send you into dreamland any second now."
Chloe
grinned slyly and nodded in agreement. "Yeah,
I have a low drug tolerance."
"Catch
ya later, then." Keyes
winked slyly at her and disappeared in a quick flash of light.
Chloe
nodded and looked around the room. "Wow...
impressive."
Chloe
laid back down on the bed and nuzzled her head into the pillow.
She could feel the effects of the pills beginning already, and although
she tried to fill her head with thoughts of Phillip, she could only hear
Keyes' words echoing in her head. Chloe
yawned and mumbled quietly as she drifted off to sleep, "He doesn't see
the real Chloe..."