My little angel

So many followers, wonder how that would feel like. I guess it will take a long time before I can see that. Christina is a social media influencer, who posts dance videos. Most of her followers are boys and they comment on how cute she looks. I wish they could see her in real life, she is arrogant and often demines others using her videos. Almost all of my classmates post videos online but none of us have had any success. I started posting videos because I love dogs and feel like they are some form of angels, I used to upload videos for fun. I don’t even remember when I became like everyone else, caring only about likes and followers. 

My mother is picking me up from school today, which is a good thing because I get to spend little time with her. 

“You read his diary a lot, don’t you?” 

I actually do, it reminds me of him. 

“Are you not happy about it?” 

My mother believes that the diary prohibits me from moving on to my father's death. What she doesn’t understand is that I don’t think he left me, I feel he is here among us. Why would he leave us, he was so happy.

It’s been 14 days since he died in a road accident yet, it feels like yesterday only. 

I read his diary which contains his life lessons, and things he learned in his life. I believe reading this will help me connect with him.

“Angels and Demons are around us, they talk to us, whisper into our ears, and offer us what we want. In return, they ask something from us, like a deal, and it's up to us to whom we listen.”

“Look Mom, what an adorable puppy. Looks like someone just abandoned it, can we take it with us?

“No honey, I don’t think we can handle it”

Mom doesn’t like dogs, of course, she said no. 

Once we reached home, our landline rang. Mom picked it up and talked to someone in a very professional manner.

“I have to travel to a different country for some work, I will be back in 3 days”

Although it's not for many days, it made me a little sad.

The next day Christina made fun of my videos and how they would never fetch me any likes. She calls me ugly and always makes fun of me.

While coming back from school, I saw that cute puppy from yesterday.

I guess it's not such a bad thing mom is not at home, I mean I can do whatever I want. 

I took the puppy to my house. It looked scared but I caressed it and gave it a bath. Although the puppy fought a little, it eventually calmed down. I gave it some food, I bought from the market. It looked so cute while eating that I started making a video of it. 

After spending the whole day with the puppy, I felt so relaxed. Surprisingly this is the first day I have not missed my dad, after his death. However, as the puppy is sleeping next to me I have started to miss him again. I think all the negative thoughts about my dad and how I don’t have a lot of followers are coming back to me. 

“I know I can’t have my dad back, I wish I could get as many online followers as Christina's”

I did not feel sad while the puppy was awake. I named it Angela, as she was an angel.to me.

The next day at school, I could see students staring at me. I felt something was off, they looked as if they were in shock. 

“Hey congratulations on your success, how did you do it?”

I guess they have found a new way to make fun of me. 

Arvind, my only friend at school, told me that my video of Angela has gone viral and my follower count has increased significantly. 

I was treated like a princess, just like Christina.

Speak of the devil, Christina was not happy about the whole thing. She mad fun of me and Angela. 

I felt like punching her but she has lots of friends and followers in the class. 

I came back home and hugged Angela with joy. I told her everything but looks like she doesn't care much about it. I guess she is hungry so I gave her some food. I then petted her a lot, played with her, and finally went on to sleep next to her. 

“It was a wonderful day, feels like my dream has come true. Everything was good until Christina showed up and talked ill about me. She never lets me enjoy and always reminds me of the negatives things in my life. What makes me feel worse is that I don’t stand up to her. I am scared as she has a lot of friends in the class. If I say something to her, they will all turn up against me. I really wish I could stand in front of her.”

The next day at school I was enjoying my day. I could feel how everyone was nice to me. I am also trying to be nice to people and help them whenever I can, it feels great that people are looking up to me. Some of them are even asking for tips on how to post good videos. People are praising how I have gained so many followers without showing my face in any of my videos, I guess everything you do is praised if you get success. 

“She doesn’t show her face, in her videos, because looks like a pig” 

As usual, Christina is talking shit about me again, she looks at everyone with a smile while making fun of me. It makes me want to tell her that, she just knows how to demine. 

“ I would never post a video of such an ugly animal. No wonder, someone threw it away. Only a toad-like you can adopt such an ugly-looking dog”

She keeps talking about my Angela, Christina doesn’t know how Angela has changed my life. I can tolerate her spitting on me but can’t tolerate it with Angela. 

“Don’t talk about Angela”

I yelled with a shaken voice. 

She laughed at my cracked voice, I guess not saying anything was better than this.

“Hey does Angela come from heaven, where your dad had gone?

 Why don’t you ask her to bring him back, if she is an angel”

Listening to her talk about my dad triggered something in me, I punched her in the face.

She fell to the ground in shock and pain with a bleeding nose. I mounted on top of her and punched her again and again, I didn’t stop before I punched her 3 to 4 times.

Once I stopped, she stood slowly crying and cursing me in pain and agony. She screamed how I was a monster and don't deserve any love. 

“She is not a monster, she helps us, she is humble and kind to us.”

They all surrounded Christina, my classmates took my side. I was surprised, happy, and felt so good as they praised me for standing up to her.

Once I came home, I hugged Angela, and cried. I was so happy everything that I wanted was coming true. I petted her and started remembering all the good things which happened in the past couple of days. I couldn’t believe how everything had changed since Angela came to my house.

All of a sudden, I heard my phone ring. It was Arvind, I didn't want to talk with anyone so I rejected the call. 

I started scrolling my phone before I could sleep, a bad habit I want to leave. 

I looked at the number of followers, it looks so great to see this number. 

I used to wish I had as many followers as Christina. 

Wait, do I have the exact number of followers as Christina?

I am certain of it, after all, I have seen this number with so much aspiration. 

I checked again and confirmed it, I was right about it.

“Isn’t it an amazing coincidence Angela? I used to wish this”

My phone started ringing again, it's him again, Arvind is calling me again. I disconnected it and looked at Angela, she was woken up and looking at me.

“Hi, did my phone wake you up? I am sorry, I will put it on vibration”

"Hey, do you remember me wishing to have the same number of followers as Christina, do you remember Angela? I once wished it when I was with you.”

Now when I remember, it is not the only thing I had wished in front of Angela. I wished to stand up to Christina as well and it came true. Even though I had never done that before, I was even supported by my classmates who always laughed at me and supported Christina. Something is off, why did all of this happen only after Angela came to my house? 

"Is it happening because of you, Angela?"

I remember what I read in my dad’s diary: “Angels and Demons are around us, they talk to us, whisper into our ears, and offer us what we want. In return, they ask something from us, like a deal, and it's up to us to whom we listen.”

I looked into her eyes and felt it. She was a real angel. I took care of her, helped her while others abandoned her, loved her and she fulfilled my wishes in return. 

"Can you fulfill my wishes?"

She barked as if saying yes.

I couldn't contain my joy and hugged Angela with all my strength.

“Wait, you can fulfill any of my wishes. Let me think, what I can wish”

There was plenty that was going through my head, I wanted a lot of things. The more I thought about it, the more it came to my mind. 

I was in my dreamland thinking of so many things that I could ask when I realized that Angela was not there. I started looking for her, calling her name. I finally found her near Dad’s diary, she looked at me and then looked at the diary. I guess Angela already knew, what I wanted the most. 

“Can you somehow help me connect with my dad?”

I knew wishing to bring my dad from the dead was not possible, even for an angel. So I wished for what I thought was possible.

Angela started walking and after some steps, turned towards me as she was asking me to follow her. I followed towards the hall where she was looking at the house landline.

I understood what she wanted to convey, she wanted me to call my Dad.

Is this possible? I don’t know but Angela is an angel for sure, she had fulfilled my wishes and understood my connection with my dad. 

I crossed my fingers once and called my Dad's cell phone. 

“Hello Jannet, is that you?”

I was stunned. I know that voice, I recognize it, I don’t believe it but I want to believe it. It felt like my whole body went numb. I sat on the ground, with the phone receiver in my hand. A tear of joy ran down my cheek.

“Hi Daddy”

It was like one of those dreams where you wanted to speak but couldn’t because it was a dream

“Jannet listen carefully, I don’t have much time. I want you to know that I am in heaven, everything is amazing over here”

I always knew my father would go to heaven, he was so nice and caring. 

“I am happy for you, I miss you so much. I miss the time when you me and Mom used to eat and you used to tell funny stories from your office. I loved those times, I was not ready for all that to end so quickly. Nothing is complete without you. I want you in my life again”

I said a lot within one breadth, I guess it was just pure emotions that were talking.

There was no response from the other end, he was silent for some time. 

“You can join me if you want”

I was surprised that something like this could happen, I got mesmerized by the idea that I would be with my dad again. All those happy images of him flashed in front of me. 

“Is that possible? How?”

Just follow your Angel, she will guide you.

You have taken good care of Angela, and in return, it will help you in fulfilling your wish. 

I looked at Angela, she was looking at me without breathing so fast as dogs usually do. She started walking and I followed her. We reached the rooftop of the house, she stood close to the rails and started looking down. 

“Do you want me to jump?”

I was a little scared of the whole idea but Angela is my angel. If she has suggested it and my dad asked me to follow her, then it must be good for me. 

I mean they always have my best interest.

As I stood close to the rails, ready to jump it. I realized that I had missed something. Yes, I should bring my dad a present. I knew exactly what would be the best present for him. I ran downstairs and searched for my dad’s diary. He will be so happy to see it again. Wait, he doesn’t like surprises, let me tell him about it as I didn’t want him to be mad at me.

I went to the hall and dialed his number again. 

“What happened? Why didn’t you jump?”

I can’t wait to tell him about his diary.

As I was about to tell him about his diary, my phone vibrated. 

“It must be my friend Arvind again, let me tell him not to call me right now”

The display of my phone showed my Dad’s name and mobile number on it.

How is that possible, I am just talking to him. 

Who is this person calling me from Dad’s cell? 

I answered the phone call.

“Is this Jannet’s number? Hi, I am Victor, I found this phone in the trash. I wanted to return this to its owner and you were in one of those speed dials.”

I don’t need the phone anymore so I asked him to keep the phone and resumed my call with Dad on Landline.

“Sorry for the disturbance. So I was saying…”

It was already disconnected, looks like Dad disconnected the call. I was not worried as I was about to meet him. 

I turned around, only to find a weird vibe in the house. I started looking for Angela but was unable to find him. 

As I reached in front of the living room, I got a glimpse of the living room

I was shocked and confused to see so many dolls around a chair. The chair also had my school uniform on it. I remember owning lots of dolls but don’t remember keeping them in the living room or the uniform. Confused, I started looking for Angela again.

My phone vibrated, this time it was Arvind, and for some reason I answered it.

“What is going on with you, why are you not answering my calls? First, tell me what is with your videos, I remember your love for dogs but this is too much”

I had no clue what he was talking about, I asked him to calm down and told him that I would call him again. After the call, I checked my recent video which gave me so many followers.

The video was the same as when I saw it last time, with only one scary difference, there was no dog in the video. I am playing with an invisible puppy, giving it food but no one is eating it. My followers were also gone.

Unable to understand the situation, I started walking towards the stairs which were connected to the rooftop, I realized that I had seen Angela on the rooftop, last time. I quickly ran upstairs and started looking for Angela. She was not there but there was a locket on the ground near the rails. I picked it up and suddenly lots of thoughts crossed my head.

I could see it all, me putting those dolls over there around the chair. I sat on the chair and talked to the dolls as they were my classmates, I laughed as they were praising me, and I kept my head low just like how I used to when Christina used to bully me. After the class, I used to keep my uniform on the chair. There was no success of any dog video, there was no call with Dad and there was no puppy from the beginning. I just brought this locket to my home and nothing else. Everything which happened, was just me talking to myself and those dolls.

I just don't understand, why would this locket make me feel all those good things. Why would it make me feel that I talked to my Dad? Why would it ask me to jump from here?

I felt a chill in my spine, and I just realised that mentioned that we can make deal with anyone, Angel or Devil.

I never met any Angel, I met a devil. I never did anything for it, the devil gave me happiness and in return asked for my soul. 

I made a deal with the devil when I brought that locket home, it will make me feel like all my wishes are coming true and will take my soul in return.

Once I realized all this, I immediately threw the locket to the river connected to my house. 

Hopefully, I will get rid of it.