Frozen Embers by D. S. Novis (books to improve english .txt) 📕

“Nope. No snow was on the roof at all. A full and roaring blizzard yet not a flake of snow lay on that roof. Yet another strange development.”

That proved Gabriel’s suspicion. There had been a cover-up. Was it the winged people? He pulled his thoughts together. The tape showed nothing. There was no tangible evidence of anything that happened on that roof. Gabriel would have to come up with a lie, fast. He closed his mouth.

“Well, it’s all quite hazy to be honest with you. One minute my sister Molly and I were lining up in the bank and the next we had a mask over our heads and were being carried up stairs. I remember hearing ‘hey I’ve got some hostages’ or something. Then we got loaded into the helicopter and that’s when the robbers turned on each other. One of them was yelling to the other to give him the money. Guns were fired. Next minute I was falling. It must have been two stories, maybe even three.” Gabriel tried to make his disbelief sound genuine.

“Three stories you say?”

“Yeah they must have lost height whilst they were shooting. I mean it’s not like I could have survived a fall from any higher.” Gabriel gave his best efforts into a chuckle. “My sister must have fallen from higher. Lucky we landed on a car, isn’t it?”

Gabriel forced himself to stare straight into Brody’s eyes. Brody didn’t talk for a long moment.

“Yes, very lucky.” Brody said with a smile. “There are, however, some inconsistencies between yours and the bank robbers’ reports.”

“Oh? They survived then?” Gabriel said with a shocked tone.

“Yes. Their helicopter crashed on the roof of the bank. They sustained only minor injuries. Michael Fisher was the name of the man in charge of the heist. His report was again very strange.” Brody didn’t break eye contact with Gabriel. “Mr. Fisher’s testimony involved winged men and women. He gave vivid descriptions of angel-like beings being present on the roof. The main angelic creature he spoke about, Mr. Hawks, was you.” Gabriel’s whole body went numb as he tried to look astonished.

“Me? Wings?” He let out a chuckle then revolved on the spot. He held his hands out as he said “Nope, no wings Sergeant.”

Sergeant Brody pulled out a chain from around his neck. It was golden with a matching golden cross attached to it.

“I’m a deeply religious man, Mr Hawks. I’m also an extremely good detective with extremely good gut instincts. At the moments these said gut instincts are telling me that there more to you than meets the eye.”

Brody and Gabriel stood rooted to the spot starring unblinkingly into each other’s eyes. Then a nurse came in and broke the tension that had been building to the point of bursting.

“Are you done in here Sergeant? Only Gabriel and Molly’s parents are waiting downstairs.” The nurse said.

“My parents?” Gabriel asked dumbly.

“Yes Gabriel. They’re waiting downstairs with the reporters and news crew.”

“The what and the what?” gasped Gabriel.

The nurse, looking bewildered, handed Gabriel the news paper that was sitting on the table opposite the chair where Gabriel had been sitting in. It must have been delivered whilst he was asleep.

“Turn to page four.” The nurse said.

Gabriel turned the pages over till he was on page four. Gabriel and Molly’s picture starred back at him in printed black and white. Written in big black letters above the picture was the title, ‘Mr. Indestructible’. 

4

Mr Indestructible

   Hands trembling, Gabriel read through the article quickly. It gave vague details about the bank robbery itself but vast amounts of information the bank robbers. It named Gabriel and Molly as hostages. It also mentioned their parents who gave a heartfelt quote about the near death experiences of their son and daughter. Gabriel highly doubted their remarks. Especially considering that they were in the building and hadn’t yet come to see Molly. Gabriel’s fists tightened around the paper at their words. He read on, finally getting to the heart of the article.

“Gabriel and Molly Fairway..." Gabriel clenched his jaw. He hated it when people called him Fairway. "...were carried to the helicopter. After this, details of what happened are still unclear. However, what we do know is that the robbers had only just made it off of the roof of the bank when a fight broke out amongst them. Gabriel and Molly somehow fell out of the helicopter at a staggering height of over one hundred feet..." Gabriel did a quick estimate in his head. It was around eighty five feet, not one hundred. "...surely to their deaths. But then something miraculous happened. Both Gabriel and Molly survived. That isn’t the most bizarre part of this enthralling tale. Molly received serious injuries and was in urgent need of surgery whereas Gabriel Fairway came off completely unscathed. This prompted the nation to nickname Gabriel as ‘Mr. Indestructible’."

Mr. Indestructible? It sounded like he was a superhero. Gabriel didn’t like this at all. It was enough trouble trying to convince Sergeant Brody, let alone the whole nation.

“Come on, dear.” said the nurse.

Gabriel walked with the nurse out of the room without a second glance at Sergeant Brody. He, Gabriel, was escorted downstairs. As the automatic doors to the front of the hospital opened Gabriel was bombarded with flashing lights and roaring applause. The street was full of people. There was a microphone on a stand in front of Gabriel. Gathered directly in front of the microphone were the reporters. Behind the reporters were normal civilians that had been cordoned off by policemen and a barrier. Some held banners reading ‘Mr. Indestructible’. Others had banners with the Superman 'S' logo. Gabriel spotted one man that was dressed in all tin foil and wore a strange hat that had a TV antenna attached. This man was holding a banner that read ‘they walk among us’.

Gabriel stared open mouthed at the site. Beside the microphone stood a very attractive man and a gorgeous woman that Gabriel hadn’t noticed at first. Cecilia and Braxton Fairway. Mum and Dad.

Cecilia ran over to Gabriel, dramatically wiping away a tear from her eye, and gave Gabriel an almost real-feeling hug. Gabriel noticed she was tilting her head away from him. This, most likely, was to avoid her messing up her makeup. She squeezed him tight and then let go. As she stood she exclaimed loudly, sounding more like Dr. Frankenstein than a mother, “My son is alive!”

Then Braxton strode forward briskly. “Son,” he boomed so the microphone could hear “I’ve been so worried!”

He then mimicked Cecilia and hugged Gabriel firmly. The crowd erupted in applause.

Braxton guided Gabriel over to the microphone. The reporters immediately started barking questions in their direction.

“Please, please. My son Gabe has been through a lot and so I will be talking on his behalf.” Braxton said, sympathetically.

“Cecilia and I could not be more relieved that our Gabe and little Mole are okay.”

Gabe and Mole? Gabriel’s jaw tightened.

“When we heard the news we of course flew straight home. As many of you know, we are currently in a hard negotiation with Tokyo in regards to making our business, Fairway Limited, a more green and earth friendly business.”

The crowd applauded even louder. Braxton talked for several moments and at great length about his business and its current dealings. Gabriel couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Typical Mum and Dad, using what had happened to Molly as a way to publicize their business. 

“Thank you, thank you.” Braxton said as they crow applauded again. “But this day is not about Cecilia and Me, it’s about Gabe and the events that unfolded yesterday. Now I’ve talked to Gabe, giving him all the emotional support that I could. What happened yesterday was strange but by no means supernatural.” As the crowd started to give an upset grumble he chuckled, showing off his dazzling teeth.

“I’m sorry to disappoint everyone. Yes, Gabriel was taken hostage, but no, he did not fall from the roof. There was no death defying fall or any paranormal events. He stumbled down the steps outside the bank whilst being taken to the helicopter. The robbers, obviously in a bit of a hurry, left him there. Mole, however,” Braxton took a moment to wipe away a nonexistent tear from his eye. “did fall from the helicopter. We believe it was as they were taking off. The pilot, it seems, lost control. Somehow in the scramble Mole fell through an open door and landed on a car.”

“But there are witnesses stating that the bank robbers took off from the roof!” shouted a podgy reporter in the front row.

“I’m afraid that they are incorrect on that point. I don’t mean to call anyone a liar, no, by all means no. But the one thing that we know for certain is that the helicopter took off from the ground. I understand that this has been a great ordeal for everyone, not just us, so it is completely understandable that people may be... confused.” Braxton paused, waiting for more questions.

“What is Molly’s situation?” shouted another reporter further into the crowd.

“Mole, thank God, will make a full recovery. Though she is not awake now, the doctor’s say that she will pull through.” He smiled even more dazzling now. “Cecilia and I have been by her bedside all night-”

“Liar!” Gabriel screamed. He had had enough of their lies. “You haven’t been to see Molly!”

There was a stunned silence where Cecilia tried to pull Gabriel away from the microphone, passing it off as another loving hug. Gabriel shrugged her away staring fixed eyed at Braxton.

“You don’t care about us! We’re just here to make you look like you have a warm side. You haven’t talked to us in months. Molly deserves better than this!” Gabriel yelled.

Braxton stared back at Gabriel with pure venom in his eyes and then replaced it with a smile that showed quite clearly pity. He turned back to the crowd.

“My son has been through a very dramatic experience, bless him, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” Braxton turned back to Gabriel and said loudly in a condescending tone, like talking to a Grandparent with dementia.

“We waited up all night with you, don’t you remember Gabe?”

Gabriel was speechless. He turned around and began to walk back to the hospital doors. Then, spinning on the spot faced Braxton again. He wanted to scream something that would put them in their place, something that would have them drop to their knees and weep uncontrollably but all that came out of Gabriel's mouth was “Her name’s Molly!”

He then turned back around, feeling like a child having a tantrum, and went back up to Molly’s room. He then pulled the curtains closed around her section.

Gabriel was so angry. He felt like ripping the furniture to shreds and like breaking walls to rubble. He stood there shaking. He clenched jaw and his fists as he let out a loud moan. He then realised he’d been squeezing his hands too hard because they all of a sudden hurt. He relaxed them and sat down in a lump on the chair by Molly's side. But the pain didn’t ease, instead it intensified.