I wake up on the floor in my blue sleeping bag. I wiggle my way out of it and see my sisters still sleeping on the convertible couch/bed.
I take a few pictures of them, making sure not to wake them and walk up the stairs. My phone lights up with a white 7am on the top of my home screen.
I wait and see my angel appear before me. Intense up and almost fall backwards, but catch the railing before so.
"Mendel, it's me."
"Ugh," I sigh.
"You have seven days counting today to make amends with your-" his mouth moves, but nothing comes out. He sighs and changes his wording, "person who will cause your death."
I completely forgot about that.
"What am I going to do?" I whisper.
"I don't know," he says and snaps. A nail filer appears in his other hand and he scrapes it against his nails.
"Why did you even tell me about my death anyway?" I ask.
He raises his eyebrow, "Oh, you're still here?"
"Yes? You came to me."
"Well, it is true that I told you when you're supposed to die even if that is illegal, but guess what. I don't do it for you. I did it for me. I like seeing how people react to death. You're quite boring tho. You didn't do anything yesterday. So I'll help you. You will see this person in the following days before you die. I'll even push them closer to you. Conflict is fun, right?" He finishes one of his fingers and jumps to the next one. "Well, good bye and get ready to face karma."
"Wait, What?" I say reaching out to grab him, but my hand goes through him and he disappears with a smirk on his stupid face.
"Ugh," I growl and sit on the couch, crossing my arms. Who could I make amends with? Lacy, my ex? Bear, my elementary bully? I shutter at the name. The nickname still brings fear into me.
I don't televise that two people have shown up in front of me. Malaya and Father.
"Good morning," I quickly spit out and I get one in return.
"Good morning."
"Today we are going to this popular coffee shop I found. It has a high rating," Malaya says cheerfully.
"It's called Rosebud Café"
"That sounds nice, Malaya," our father comments.
We wait until Mother and Miriam are awake and ready to leave which is around 7:30.
"Come Miriam," I say, ruffling my sister's hair.
"Aye!" She swats my hand away and I run off to the car. She mumbles something then yells "Mendel!"
She runs after me and we run around the van.
Mother chuckles as she walks down the stairs with Malaya.
"Children," She says shaking her head.
Dad unlocks the car and we yank on the van handles causing them to both open. We dive in and race to the back.
I sit down and I lift up my hands, "Yes! I'm first."
"Ha! You forgot. You have to buckle your seatbelt for that you count," She says, showing off her seatbelt. "Go sit with Malaya, Golden Child."
I slowly walk up the short hallway, my head hangs low as I walk to the middle section. I look to my left and Malaya is sitting on her seat, with her seatbelt on. She smiles, or is it a sneer? Still, I sit down and click on my own seatbelt. My head looks down like a hunchback's.
"Mendel, cheer up. It's only the backseat," my mother says craning her head/neck from the shotgun to speak.
"But it's the backseat!" I say accenting the last word.
"Mendel, calm down," I took my eyes and sit back in my seat, "today is my day so can you at least act happy?"
I looked up to Malaya and with a sigh paired with a smile. "Okay," I say.
"Thanks," She says, returning my smile with a heartwarming one.
Father parks on the side of Rosebud Café and the five of us exit the van. On the outside Rosebud Cafe has double doors that are painted pastel pink. The walls are a birch wood going vertical while a dark oak goes horizontal closing in the doors. Also, did I forget to mention, the cafe is on the corner of the block. A light pink sign of a rose swings on the side of the doors.
I grab the doorknob and pull it outward, "Birthday girl first."
Malaya enters with her face matching the color of the doors.
"Thank you."
"Good on the manners."
Miriam just rolls her eyes.
I enter and join Malaya whois looking at the desserts, seeing which one she wants.
"Hello, welcome to Rosebud Cafe. Is there anything that catches your eye?" say a familiar voice.
I'm about to get up to see the girl when I see some blinding white from behind me.
"Hello again," the angel says. I turn around to see that he is sitting in one of the empty seats with a cup. He gets up and walks over to the counter.
I stand up to see Lacey, my ex. We lock eyes and we both jump a little.
I knock into Father, "Woah there. Mendel are you okay?"
"Yeah," I instinctively say as I stand back up, eyeing my guardian angel.
We tell Lacey our orders and she gives our sweets. Malaya and Miriam share a huge cinnamon roll and Mother gets me a cake pop.
We sit down on one of the tables and Father grabs a chair to sit in from a different table.
I stare at Lacey taking bites of the cake pop once in a while.
Is she my killer?
We did have a toxic relationship, but would she really kill me?
My thoughts get interrupted by Malaya, my sunshine sister, "Mendel do you want to try some?" She has a piece of the cinnamon roll on her fork. The frosting slowly dripped down with specs of common mix in.
I'm about to say my answer when Miriam eats it right in front of my face. She sits down and says "This is ours. Besides you don't deserve this deliciousness."
"Miriam," Malaya whines.
Lacey comes to our table and sets our drinks down.
"Thank you," Malaya says when she receives hers.
"So, Malaya, what are we going to do for the rest of the day?" Mother asks as she places another drink down.
"I'm planning on going to a tour guide around the town. I've heard that this cafe gives some," she looks up at my ex.
Lacey slowly says, "Yup, we do tour guides for the whole day starting at 12:00."
"That's great," our father chimes in. "How much do they cost?"
"$70 per person," Lacey answers, placing the last drink in front of Mother.
"That's cheap for a half a day, where do we pay?"
"You can pay when you're done eating and make any final purchases at the counter."
"Okay," Father says and Lacey glares at me, making sure not to be seen by my family.
I look to my guardian angel who is just leaning against one of the cafe's walls and is filing his nails once again. I look at my phone, it's a little over 9 o'clock.
"I'm going to the bathroom," I say while standing up and motioning for the angel to come with me. We enter the one room bathroom and I lock the door.
"What am I going to do?" I ask him.
He just shrugs, "I don't know. Talk to her."
"Also, what's your name?" I ask with an ulterior motive.
"My name?" he says. "I thought you wouldn't ask. I am Gabriel the Great guardian ang-"
"I hate you Gabriel. You suck."
"Says the boy who is going to die in four days."
"Ugh," I growl, "I can never win with you."
I unlock the door and leave hearing a snap behind me. I sit down at the table and watch Lacey glare at me. She must really hate me. How am I supposed to make amends with her? I get up from my seat and porch the counter.
"Lacey I'm sor-"
"Just, shut up, and get away from me," Lacey snaps. "I already have to spend enough time with you so I'd appreciate it if you leave me alone."
I am taken aback. Where did my Lacey go? Where did the nice, awkward freshmen go? She definitely got prettier, but I guess I didn't realize she changed so much in the three years we were apart. Wait, was it that long?
"Okay," I say and walk back to my pastel painted chair lost in my thoughts.

***

It's ten until noon and Lacey is in the back room. From the two rectangle windows on the doors I see Lacey and another blonde. She looks older, I assume it's her mom. I've never seen her since our relationship never went to meeting our parents. I didn't even tell my sisters about Lacey. She looks like she is begging, but her mom says something that causes a scream to emit from her. Her mom clovers her mouth and sas something. She sighs or huffs out a breath and leaves the backroom stomping, not before saying something to her mother. A dagger is thrown at me from her eyes and I quickly look away like from those cringy scenes where the main character looks at their crush and looks away so the crush doesn't know what they were doing. That's my case, but she clearly knows what I was doing and hates me even more.
She walks over to us and I see that she isn't earring her light pink and brown aporn anymore.
"Hello," she says with no trace of anger on her face. She's a pretty good actor, she's always excelled at everything that she did. Even when I forced her to join the freshmen play she got the female lead while I got one of the extras. "It's almost time for your town tour if you come with me we can pay for your food, drink, and tour."
"Okay, that sounds like a great idea," Father says, getting up from his pastel seat and following my ex to the counter, pulling out his card to pay.
Mother leans towards me and whispers in my ear, "She is quite the looker isn't she? She also seems nice. You should talk to her."
No no no no! My mind screams, but my logical side slaps that part and makes me say, "Maybe..."
"It's too bad that we will be leaving on this tour..." my mother says. I look at Miriam who is whispering to Malaya. A frown forms on her face.
I gently push Mother away and say, "Miriam I swear-"
Father interrupts us with Lacey by his side, "I hope you're ready for a tour from this lovely lady." He points to my ex.
Wait.
Wait?
My jaw drops as I hear my mother say something about a coincidence and being all giddy about it. She closes my mouth and pats my shoulder. My gaze reaches Lacey who looks uncomfortable with her left hand rubbing her right tarm. Is this what she was talking about before and why she was arguing to her mom?
My dad swings his left arm to not hit Lacey who is on his right, "Well, let's get this show on the road." We all stand up and push our chairs in. "Lacey, lead the way."
We follow Lacey outside. I'm not looking forward to this.
"This is a walking tour in which I, Lacey, will show you some places you might want to go to tomorrow. We will stop at some spots for you to explore," Lacey says.
"That sounds good," Father says and we begin the tour.
I look to Malaya who is being whispered to by Miriam.
"Miriam," I say with a warning in my voice.
"What?" she spits out, raising an eyebrow.
"Stop whispering to Malaya, you keep on making her frown."
"Really, you care about her when she frowns. Geez," her rolls her eyes, "I wish I got your attention when I frowned."
I huff out a sigh, "Miriam what's your deal?"
She opens her mouth, but slams it shut like a bear trap and moves her head to the side to not look at me.
"Whatever drama queen," I say.
"Mendel," Malaya stretches out my name.
"Fine," I say. I grab one of Miriam's arms which are crossed, "Look, I'm sorry."
"No, you're not."
"Whatever, if you're not going to accept you don't have to," I let go of her arm and join back in the front where the rest of our family is plus Lacey.
"Over here is the best retrospective diner in the town," Lacey points to a restaurant with bug windows. You can see bright colors ranging from yellow, red, cyan, white, and turquoise. "They sell great fast food options, mine being their Big Edith. Which is a huge burger with fried cheese instead of normal cheese."
Lacey and I meet eyes. Does she remember our dates? We always would go to this retro ice cream shop. We would always go there because it was cheap and close to the high school.
If she does I don't see it because we quickly turn the corner and see that this entire block is packed with vegetation.
"Wow!" Malaya says.
A smile creeps up on Lacey as she explains, "This is the town's weekly flea market. Where you can find anything. It doesn't just sell food, but also soap, clothing, jewelry, metal and wood workings, and flowers..." the smile disappears. I look and see that at the sentence someone is selling sunflowers. That was her favorite flower. "We will take a break now so you can explore the market. We will meet up at the entrance at about an hour."
Malaya runs into the market like a kid being released to go to lunch/recess; Miriam drags behind her attached at the elbow.
"Malaya!" She yells angry.
My mother drags my father to the flower stand where the sunflowers are, but not without giving me a wink of good luck.
Now Lacey and I stand in front of the arch that stands as an entrance to the farmer's market.
I turn my head, "Lacey, I'm sor-"
"Stop, please leave me alone," and with that she runs into the crowd.
A sigh escapes me and I lean against a pole. What am I going to do?
As on cue a familiar selfish angel appears and walks to me. Leaning on the same pole, but in a different direction.
"Having lady troubles?" Gabriel asks.
"What am I supposed to do?" I ask turning my head to look at his stupid face.
A shrug, "Do I look like I know what to do? I'm just here to see the show."
"I hate you."
"The feeling is mutual."
I stand up, "Why do I have to be cursed with you? You don't do anything. You are supposed to help me. Instead you are just bored, selfish, and rude!"
He stands up and walks in front of me. Stooping down making our faces centimeters apart. I push against the pole trying to get away.
"What are you doing?" I push his chest. He doesn't move a muscle.
"You have to get vulnerable, get real with her. Give her a sincere apology," he whispers into my ear then slaps me twice.
Gabriel removes his hands and he walks into the market like nothing happened. What did happen?
"Wait!" I yell and run in after him. In the crowd I hear a loud snap. Ugh.
What was he talking about vulnerable? Get real? Sincere apology? What did he just give me good advice?
"Are you okay?" Lacey asks, touching my face.
Huh?
"I've never seen that man in my life? Does your face hurt? He's probably a prevert. Don't let that man get close to you ever again," Lacey spams me with questions.
"Lacey calm down," I push her off holding her by her shoulders, my arms straight.
A smile forms on my face then a chuckle comes out of me.
"What's so funny?" Lacey cokcs her head to the side, raising her eyebrow. "Tell me! Ugh whatever. Stay hurt, I don't care."
I remember how Lacey was in freshman year. Whenever she was with me her emotions would flip on a dime. Just like now. I thought it was cute then, but it was just another sign.
I watch as Lacey leaves me on the ground. I get up and lean back on the pole. Gabriel is nowhere to be seen.

***

"Lacey, do you remember freshman year?"
"I don't see why that has anything to do with you getting hurt." She drags me through the crowd.
"Just listen."
"No, you listen to me. You're hurt," she looks back at me. My pleading eyes make her stop. "What?"
"I'm sorry Lace," I use her nickname, "I'm sorry for making you into this angry person. I'm sorry for hindering you. You deserve better."
"Mendel," she says softy.
"Lacey!" a young man yells. He runs to us.
"Hell- oh my goodness. What happened to you!?" he says to me. What did Gabriel do to me exactly?
"Kaden, Can you fix him up?" LAcey asks. He nods his head and opens a small bag in which he has with him for some reason and grabs some bandages and other things and gets my face bangged up.
"There," Kaden says, putting the last touch on, "what happened?"
"This man hit him in the face or something," Lacey explains. "Oh, I forgot to mention. This is Kaden, my... boyfriend. Mendel is my..." I shake my head slightly, "...highschool friend."
"Nice to meet you, Mendel!" Kaden says shaking my hand.
So Lacey has a new boyfriend. I wonder how long they have been dating. Is this her second? Third? He's at least two years older than us. Does she like older men?
I shake that thought out of my head. Stop thinking about that.
"Nice to meet you too," I quickly stammered out.
"Well, nice talking to you I wanted to talk to Lacey-"
"No!" I interject. Lacey and Kaden look at me. "I-I uh mean I have to say something very important to her and I don't have much time. I hope you don't mind."
He takes his hands off her, "No problemo. I can talk to her tonight." He does finger guns and leves back to a clinic looking building.
"Lacey, I know that we can never be together again. I'm sorry for making your freshman year at least twice as hard since you had school work and me to juggle. You put your work in front of me and I did the opposite, playing games and wasting my time." I breath out with a small wheeze. "I hope that you achieve everything that you want and more and you don't have to work at a Cafe for the rest of your life."
"Mendel," she takes a breath, "I... need some time to think."
And with that Lacey walks back into the crowd and I make my way back to the pole where Gabriel and I were leaning on.
Our time at the farmers market drindulls down as I retrospect about Lacey and I's relationship. Slowly all my family members return to the entrance and see me.
"Oh my gosh, Mendel, What happened to your head?" Mother comes rushing to my side checking out the bandage as I see Lacey walk to the group; I cannot read her face.
"It's nothing," I reassure her.
"I'm not dumb, Mendel what happened?"
I look to Lacey for help and she just looks down.
"Mother, can we just get on with the tour," I plead.
"No!" She yells.
Our family members come in with arguments about how they paid and it would be a waste since it has only been about half the tour and I am not that badly injured plus I have been treated.
I look to Lacey who is in the background. I wonder what she's thinking about. Does she hate me like what she prorated in the Cafe or do you think she will be reasonable?
"Okay we can continue the tour, but Mendel, I want you to stay close to me," says Mother? wanting to end the argument. "Come here."
I walk to our mother and catch a glare from Miriam.
What's her deal?
Mother wraps an arm around her waist. She always babies me which makes no sense. First, I'm the oldest. Second, I'm a boy. And finally, I get into trouble a lot so she shouldn't be shielding/protecting me. I can do that myself. It's also weird since she doesn't baby Miriam or Malaya so why she babies me I have no idea.
"Okay, come with me," Lacey says, waving her hand for us to follow. We follow Lacey up a hill and as we defend down you can she trees. A bunch of them. Ranging from high, shape, and type.
I see an open mouth smile in gulf Malaya's face. He likes nature and with all these big trees, it's like heaven for her.
As we reach the bottom to one of the main entrances Lacey begins, "This is Red Clover, our national park," Lacey says, addressing the large park with her arm.
Mariam whispers to our father, "This is the place we are going tomorrow."
"What a coincidence," he proclaims.
Lacey goes on, "This national park is the biggest park in the whole state. It has a wide range of activities that they have and host. You can go horseback riding in the trails, or go swimming in the lake. Tomorrow we have a concert which will be free to attend," she takes a breath, "You can go explore like we did in the flea/farmer's market."
We all nod our heads and go. Mother doesn't let go of my hand.
How am I supposed to talk to Lacey privately if I have Mother as a shadow?
Then a thought came to me.
"Mom," I say, giving her a little bit of puppy eyes, "I've thought about what you said and I think I will give it a shot."
A smile sprang from her face, "That's splendid, dear. We can go talk to her now." her feet are already walking to Lacey's direction. I put all of my body weight to the ground and fall.
"Ow," I groan.
"Oh my! Are you okay?" she asks, coming to my aid.
"Mother, you have to stop babying me. I don't need your help," I say standing up and dusting myself off. "I would really appreciate it if you give us some alone time; just the two of us."
"Oh, of course," she wipes a mimes tear from her eye. "My baby has grown up."
"Mother!" I say moving my hands outwards to say that I am embarrassed.
"Go on, be with your girl, I'll plan your wedding."
If only she knew...
I walk up to Lacey, she's just sitting on the black rails that make up the promoter of the paths.
"Is that enough time to think about what we were?" I ask, jumping up and on the rail. It was about an hour and thirty minutes from when she left me to think and now.
"Yeah," She says, swinging her legs, "We were freshmen when it happened. Being each other's firsts I-"
"We," I correct.
"We learned a lot about relationships."
"When you first say that it sounds like we did it," I point out.
"Eww!" Lacey says slapping my hands which were making the sex motions. My left hand being a pointer finger and my right being an okay sign. "This is why us dating didn't work." Lacey jumps down from the railing and turns around to face me.
"Why can't you act mature for once? I'm being dragged around by you. I see why your sister hates you. I don't even want to think about living with someone like you." She turns to walk away, but turns around. "Make sure to ice to your face."
Her feet carry her further anf further away from me. My ex, my first girlfriend, my murder. How is such a good thing turned into something so bad? I picture my bloody body, on my hotel bed. Me, I'm simply laying there, postisioned in the poses they put people in coffins. Blood is sparled all across the room, even reaching the ceiling. Multiple spab wounds and a bit of something pink in my blood. What is it?
"Mendel!" Gabreil says snapping his fingers infront of me.
I shake out of my vision. What was that?
"Y-Yes?"
"What was that!?"
I stare at him with my eyebrows swinting my eyes and my mouth a bit agape.
"What!?" He looks angry and my conusded look doesn't seem to help. "Mendel, for the love of all that is holy. I am trying to help you! Why did I have to be assigned to you?" He whines in the last sentence looking at the sky. Gabriel takes a breath and lowers his gaze to me.

***

We reach the pastel pink building and say our goodbyes.
I look at my ex; she stares holes until the floor. "Bye, Lace," I use her nickname, "Hope we will see each other soon."
Her eyes dart to my feet. "That will probably happen since this is such a small town," she says with gritted teeth. With goodbyes said, we board our car and drive away.