"There's an Angel on my shoulder looking after me..."

Friday. 26th of September, 2008.

It should've been a happy day. It was the beginning of a one-week holiday, two weeks after which were the end year exams. But then, my dog died.

Yes, my very adorable Angel girl. A Golden-Retriever and Cocker Spaniel mixed dog, she came to us about five years ago, given by our opposite house neighbour. That time the biggest decision we had to make was what to name the dog: Angel (sis's choice) or Frisky (mine). She had been hiding under the couch, so we each threw out our names at her. She came out when sis called Angel, probably because it rhymed with Girl. (Somehow, Malaysian speak lah).

Earlier in school today, I was being super moody (dunno why) and everyone commented, asking why I looked so sad, and I went, 'No I'm not! What made you think that?'

But today, I came home, had lunch, and Dad said that Angel had a huge gaping wound on her chest. I wasn't really that shocked. She had several lumps on her chest, and caught maggot infection for quite a while already. After lunch Dad called the vet and got me to help him get Angel to the vet's office, which was in Section 14.

We pushed the front passenger seat forward, and laid a huge plastic sheet and newspapers on the space/floor so she could sit there and not get the car dirty (she was bleeding, mind you). We had the windows down, and Angel was evidentally enjoying the ride.

Then at the vet's office, they told us she had breast cancer, and it was a call between putting her down or giving her medication, which will treat the maggot infection but not the cancer, and that she only had 6-8 months more to live.

2. 45 pm. Went back out into the lobby, Dad called Mom and Sis who were at home, and decided to put her to sleep, and then I started crying.

The vet took us to the back room (when they diagnosed her they muzzled her and put her on a metal table but she didn't bark or anything; then they put her in the back room where there were a few dogs as well) and Dad and I patted her and I was crying at the same time. They explained that they will feed her, slip her a couple of sleeping pills and give her the injection when she's asleep. And I looked at her and she looked so sad, like she know her time was almost up.

Then Dad paid the vet for putting her to sleep (RM 100) and to dispose of her body (RM 180, depending on body weight). And we took her leash, and went home, and I was crying all the way. That was almost 3 o'clock.

Showered and got ready for chemistry tuition. Then remembered that we wanted her collar (that had her license and little dog bones on it) so Dad dropped me off at tuition and went to pick up the collar. By then they'd already done it. Went back home. And the whole family cried. I couldn't stop crying.

Goodbye, sweet Angel girl. My first brush with death. But at least she's now with God in a better place. There's an Angel on my shoulder looking after me...and that Angel is you.

The Helix Assignment [Part 9]

Ok people before I start, I'm gonna put this on hiatus for a while coz of the upcoming exams, but I promise to start it again when it's done. Btw, the telekinetic thief (formerly known as Drew Quincy, currently known as Edmund Darcy, is now changing his name to.........Jack Cedric Russell. Please ignore any other versions and simply replace them with Jack Russell.)
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Hiro spat his milk out. Jen blinked as splatters of white liquid dropped onto her table while Pierce reached out a hand and pulled her plate of toast away to avoid the milk. 'Gosh, Hiro,' Aqua said, wrinkling her nose disgustedly. 'I know you're quite stunned, but there's no need to do that.' She grabbed some tissues and threw them at Hiro, who wiped the mess he made with a halfhearted gesture of "sorry".


Joye looked at Jen seriously. 'I didn't know you had a sister.'

Jen shrugged. 'She's my half-sister. I think she was about eleven years older than me. Mom doesn't really talk much about her. According to Dad, Carol was placed into boarding school in Switzerland. They haven't met since Christmas last year, which was the only time we've met personally. But she's super cool.' She shook her head in despair. 'I can't think of anyone that would do this to her. Who are these people?'


Elsa frowned. 'That's what we gonna find out.'
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'Have I mention how much I hate dead bodies?' Aqua complained. Joye rolled her eyes. 'Not since two seconds ago. Gosh Aqua, what's the big deal? You're not the one touching it.'

Aqua snorted. 'Hello, remember the time we dissected Pau? It was so cute, and I wanted to keep it.'

'But you dissected it anyway, so who cares?' Elsa replied shortly. 'Besides, it's a frog! Get over it!' She heard Pierce call out her name. 'There. That's the morgue.' She pointed to a white building on her left. 'And there,' she turned ninety degrees, her hand still outstretched. Elsa followed her finger until they saw Caroline's apartment several blocks down.

'And Backstone Park, where she was found,' Pierce continued, pointing out the direction. 'And there,' she stopped suddenly. 'That's the alley where she was found, again. This time in the duffel bag.'

Elsa shrugged. 'You know what they say, divide and conquer. But problem is, there's only six of us.'

'Maybe I can help.'

Elsa recognized the voice instantly. 'Jack Russell.'


The gentleman thief smiled at her, this time wearing a sweater and jeans. 'Hello, Elsa.' He smiled at her companion. 'And you are?'

'None of your concern,' Pierce snapped back. 'So, this is the man you were after?'

Elsa inclined her head. 'Jack Russell, this is Pierce.'

'The pleasure is mine,' he said charmingly. Pierce's eyes flickered to him once. 'Unfortunately I can't say the same.'

Jack smiled. This one was cool, too cool. He had a feeling he'd enjoy ruffling her feathers. 'I've come to offer my help.'

'And why would you help us? If I remember correctly, you were against us.'

'Elsa, Elsa, ye of little faith. Can a man not change his ways once in a while?'

'Hey Pierce, what's that old adage about a leopard not changing his spots?'

Jack had to give it to her. She was tough. Pierce on the other hand, took a longer time to figure out. He decided to change direction. 'Look, Pierce, is it? The only reason why I'm helping is because in helping you, I help myself.

'The people who are doing this, they're obviously targeting mutants. Caroline Victor was the first mutant to fall. How many deaths do we need before the mutant world goes extinct? I don't know about you, but I don't want to end up Slushie like Ms Victor, God rest her soul. Are you willing to join forces? If not, I can always go solo. But sticking together in times like this fares better. So what say you?'

Elsa and Pierce exchanged looks. 'Fine,' Elsa finally spoke. Pierce hadn't said a word. Then her eyes shifted behind him, and Jack swung around as Aqua came running. Her eyes widened initially at Jack's presence, but ignored it as she turned to Elsa. 'You guys gotta come quick.'

'Why?'

'There's been another murder,' Aqua panted breathlessly. 'This time, it's a kid around our age. His name is Jonathan Hewley.'

Pierce stiffened. 'God help us,' she muttered.

The Helix Assignment [Part 8]

Joye was already seated at the table when Jen walked in, yawning. Hiro had buried his nose in a large glass of milk, while Aqua was flipping the newspaper pages idly.

'Morning?' Jen asked tentively. Aqua looked up and smiled. 'Hey. Thanks for letting us crash, by the way. This is a beautiful home.'

Jen smiled over her mug. 'Thank you. How did you guys get involved with the whole--' she waved her hand, and Aqua knew she was talking about their mutant issue.

Aqua shrugged. 'I'm not that sure. I guess it started when I was a really young kid. I was at summer camp, and they had this swimming competition.'

Joye cut in. 'And long story short, she found out she was hydrokinetic. As for me, I was born in Boston. My mum and dad got divorced when I turned six. Since then, I've been living with mum and her new boyfriend, Walter.' Joye gave a snort of disgust. 'And now they want to have a baby! Can you imagine that?'


Jen shook her head laughingly. Joye was a dramatic, that much she knew. She turned to the sole remaning member who hadn't spoken. 'And you, Hiro?'

The boy looked up at her blankly, and returned to his milk without a word. Hiro loved his milk. Besides, he couldn't speak and the only person who could act as translator wasn't up yet.

Just then, the door to the dining room opened and Elsa walked in, followed by Pierce who was already dressed in her customary redingote coat, with a red scarf wrapped around her neck, which made her look so much older than her real age. She looked around the dining table. 'Hello,' she said politely, more than anything out of habit instead of actually wanting to make conversation.

Sitting down, she refilled Hiro's glass of milk, much to his delight, and started buttering toast for both Elsa and her. Everyone raised their eyebrows at this. Had Pierce and Elsa reconciled in the middle of the night?

Aqua had continued reading the papers when she stopped on a page. '"Mystery Murder: Authorities Baffled."' The headlines caught everyone's attention as Aqua continued reading. '"Last night, a young woman was found dead several blocks from Backstone Park, near a housing area. The woman, identified as Caroline Victor, 27, from Houston, Texas, was an accountant for Wilcox Pharmaseuticals. After the post mortem, Medical Examiner D.G. Horth discovered something strange.

No one noticed the way Jen paled. Pierce inhaled sharply, sensing something from Jen, but kept silent.

'"Horth said in his report that the victim "was found with no injuries on her body, except for two small marks on her arm that appeared to be teeth marks." He also remarked that the victim did not suffer from any other cuts or bruises, and no evidence of trauma was found. However, when Victor was cut open, it was revealed that she was "totally devoid of blood", bringing forth the theory that the killer is a New-Age vampire."'

Elsa grabbed the papers and glanced through it quickly, Pierce reading it over her shoulder calmly while taking a bite of buttery toast. Everyone else was staring in stunned disbelief as Elsa picked up where Aqua had left off.

'"The mystery thickens when the body, which was left on the autopsy table in the morgue, was stolen in the middle of the night despite the presence of guard patrols. Authorities assume the body was taken away by the killer when it reappeared in a duffel bag. Upon unzipping the duffel bag, police and medical examiner alike were shocked by the contents. Sources say that Caroline Victor's body was a mass of flesh and skin. The bones, however, were missing. And again, there was no sign or evidence of a cut or tear to show how the bones were removed."'

'Yep,' Joye gave a quick, oh-yeah nod. 'Sounds like something more super than natural going on to me.'

'It is,' Pierce spoke up. 'Caroline Victor was a mutant. And Jen knows something about her,' she looked up. 'Doesn't she?'

Jen swallowed as four pairs of eyes looked at her expectantly. Then, she knew she had to tell the truth. 'Caroline Victor,' she began haltingly. 'She's my sister.'

The Helix Assignment [Part 7]

Caroline Victor walked out of the cafe warily. Sniffing the air surreptitiously, her feral nose detected two men who was following right behind her. At this point, Caroline was ready to let out a good roar of frustration. Those two men had been shadowing her for the past week, and she'd been ignoring them for the most part. But now, it was going way too out of line.

She'd have to teach them a lesson they'd never forget.

Quickening her pace, Caroline stepped jauntily onto the street. Thanks to her feral senses, she could hear the two men falling into step right behind her. Hiding a smile behind her hand, she started jogging, forcing the two men who were following her to hurry up as well.

Oh, it was just too good. How gullible.

She led them around 4 blocks of buildings and past a deserted park, finally managing to loose them at a dark alley just walking distance from the cafe they started. She figured they'd find their way back soon enough. Grinning, she skipped down the road to her house when someone blocked the road in front of her. Looking up, Caroline watched as the taller of the two men neared, his palm outstretched, his mouth open.

No one heard her scream.
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Elsa sat up in the middle of the night again, unable to fall asleep. They were crashing in Jen Lophat's house, which was far bigger and much more private considering Jen's parents had migrated over to Canada six months back. The only reason Jen was staying was because she wanted to finish high school before going to college in Toronto.

Shaking her head, Elsa threw the covers back and got up. She walked to the door and let herself out carefully, trying not to wake Aqua, who was snoring from exhaustion.

Making her way to the kitchen, Elsa poured herself a glass of water before a dull thunk caught her attention. It sounded like leather on leather, a noise that was out of the ordinary on this silent night. Everyone else was sleeping. How could it possibly be?

Bracing herself, Elsa crept as silently as she could along the corridor, unknowingly levitating herself as she tried to be unnoticeable. Turning around a door, she found herself looking at a room that was filled with various exercising equipment. There was a state-of-the-art treadmill and weights, and the floor was padded with some sort of material. One of the walls had various weapons and swords attached to it.

There. There it was again, the dull thunk, followed by several soft, barely audible grunts. Dropping lightly to her feet, Elsa watched quietly as Pierce hit the punchbag, dealing it with a roundhouse kick before throwing another punch. Her breaths coming in pants, she steadied the punchbag before speaking. 'I told you I don't appreciate trespassers.' She sounded stern, like a teacher who had repeated herself one time too many to an overly curious student.

Elsa snorted. 'Don't flatter yourself. Don't you sleep at night?' No answer from Pierce. Well, she'd expected that. 'Wow. Would you believe the Lophats actually have a gym here?' She neared the punchbag and eyed Pierce warily, who was removing the boxing gloves from her hands. 'Where did you learn how to fight like that?'

Pierce looked up, with a glance that reminded Elsa of Pierce's earlier sentence, but she answered anyway. 'I grew up in the worst place you could ever imagine. There, you get two options: fight or flight.' She gave a dry laugh. 'Which wasn't much of an option after all. At first, I chose to run. All I earned were broken fingers and a dislocated shoulder. They kept on pushing, just pushing,' her eyes darkened. 'One day, I snapped. I fought back.'

'And?' Elsa asked. Pierce shrugged. 'I learnt how to defend myself. And you? What's your sob story? Oh, wait, let me guess. Rich family, loving parents, with dreams of going to Harvard or Oxford or whatever, getting a job in Daddy's company and whatnot until something happened to change your life forever?'

Elsa raised an eyebrow. 'I don't supposed you'll tell me how you got that?' Pierce's look of scorn was all the answer she needed. 'Well, you hit it right on the head. Yeah, I have loving parents and all that, and it was going to happen exactly as you said. Ivy League Colleges. A degree in business.' Her voice softened. 'Then Mom and Dad died in a car crash. And that's when I found out I was adopted. Been trying to figure out who my real parents are. I'm living off on my allowance from my inheritance, so I get by. But I've always wondered if they'd ever...' her voice trailed off.

Pierce sighed, and leaned forward, one hand on Elsa's arm. 'I bet they have,' she said quietly, finishing the sentence as she sent waves of comfort to Elsa, who visibly relaxed after a while. When she figured time enough had passed, she got up and headed for the door. Elsa's voice held her back with a question. 'How were your parents like?'

Pierce turned away. 'They don't deserve to be mentioned.' She gave a dry laugh as she looked back. 'Sounded bitter, didn't it?'

Elsa shrugged. 'I guess. What did they do to you that made you hate them so much?'

There was silence for a while, before Pierce spoke again. 'You know what your problem is, Elsa? You're too trusting. You're apt to like people in general, but sometimes they just turn around and betray you in a split second.'

Elsa's eyebrows raised. 'Is that why you're so cynical? You were betrayed once, weren't you? As for me, I'm a nice person. I don't like hating other people because of something wrong they did to me. I'm not spiteful. All I can do is erase the memory of whatever they did and let bygones be bygones.'

'Really?' An amused smirk played at Pierce's lips as she turned around and glanced at Elsa. It was the first time she'd noticed that Pierce's eyes were blue. 'Even to those low-life scum who made your life miserable?'

'Yes,' Elsa replied firmly. 'Even to them. I know, you're thinking that there is no true justice in the world right now, and I agree. I'm just not that vindictive.'

'Well, I am,' Pierce countered back coolly. 'I get even. I get my revenge. And if it were up to me, I'd make sure that each and everyone of them die a painful death. But that's just me. Little word of advice. Don't let anyone in too easily. It's a good way to get yourself killed.'

Elsa swung around. 'Not even friends?'

'Especially not friends,' Pierce said. 'Your most dangerous enemies are the friends you've double-crossed. They'll always come back to bite you in the behind.'

She left the gym without another word, leaving Elsa behind, wrapped in her thoughts.