Page 9 of Eyes Like Angel
“Eva,” I said, not knowing on lengthening the brief exchange.
She huffed. “You’re a weird girl, Eva, but you’re nice, so does your necklace. See you later,” she said, in a casual tone as she shoved the church doors.
Throughout my lifetime, she was the first person to compliment me.
***
Around the nearest time before seven o’clock, I went straight to a residential spot of Fort Heaven, where the paradise welcomes you—a motto for this quaint and provincial side somewhere in America, In a compacted neighborhood, house after house, were closely and eerily identical, and quaint, adorned in simplicity and fraudulence, like these settings I’ve set foot into weren’t authentic, like in a feverish dream entrapped forever. As I trudged on block to block, hanging with the rest of the Fort Heaven, a three-story pearl-white house that belonged to the religious family who are known as the Divine family, their house stood tall and alone atop on the highest hill towards the end with hillside steps in between red, white and blue wildflowers on a meadow grass behind the golden and black metal gates.
The Divine family were as prestigious as the people can recall and picture. Both cleansed in divination and a spectacle of aura that draws people in. The only thing that a Divine household differentiate from other households is their residential spot. Theirs was a slight taller, grander and wider,designed in an old-fashioned Victorian house, pointed roofs, but with a twist in a modernized render. Windows were colorful stained glass with the ordinary two-story red-bricked houses were entirely decked with a transparent glass, and the residency resided atop of a slopped hill and barricaded gates. Once upon a time, it used to a cottage house, or a similar design, red-bricked rooftop with white and black wood paint, and a wooden fence surrounded with lush trees and became almost industrial.
An immaculate sight to behold as the neighbors grew with envy, something I can’t comprehend, grandiose and gaudy, artificially immaculate despite all attended to the Divine Miracles Church every Sunday.
Who on earth would have a whole ivory house? The Divine family, apparently, it’s luxurious I questioned if it was real or not. The house resembled more like a doll house, and the life-sized dolls were living in it. According to the neighbors, the last rumor I overheard was a member of the Divine family demanded to have an extension of privacy and spacious area to settle then miscellaneous items and junk they’ve tried to make their place immaculate.
As I approached the illuminating residency, I recited the words that the family given me. Never enter at the back door. For what reason, they never trusted me entering the back door.
My hand balled to a fist, fighting against the vibration in my gloved hand, and tapped on the ivory door with my knuckles. I prayed they wouldn’t perceive a faint volume with my knuckles stuffed into my gloved material. Coming here to a Divine household, has entered and overclouded its, pressing its weight in.
No answer came.
So I knocked again, this time with a golden lion door knocker, and it pounded it louder, the material weighed a ton.
The door creaked, revealing a young woman behind a wide door frame, a young girl clad in a tight turtleneck sleeve workout jacket, and tight black leggings with studded with fake sequenced diamonds lined up on the side and latest sports shoes she wanted and gotten to purchase online.
Her eyes gave a look at my direction from head to toe.
“Ma, thenunis here,” Sister Jane shouted boringly, and given no second thoughts to slam the door on my face.
She liked doors, closed doors. She hated visitors, so she’d slam them anytime she gets.
I supposed I was late, which is why she slammed the door on my face.
“What did I say? I told you to not fucking slam the door, dear,” an older woman’s shout muffled behind the wooden frame.
“It’s just a door,” Sister Jane retaliated.
“That door cost a fortune,” an older woman remarked. “Open the fucking door and close the properly! Now!”
Beneath the lion head door knocker, the thick and bold scriptures engraved on a gold metal plate.
Ephesians 4:2-3:
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond ofpeace.
In other words, “All for one, and one for all”.
Stepping in, the interior house was quite copious and extravagant compared to the neighbors. While the neighbors have simple red-bricked walls, the Divine family has the interior where it almost cost a fortune as the same price as Mrs. Divine’s designer bags and heels.
The interior was a complete opposite to the exterior design. While on the outside, it was designed as a Victorian house, on the inside was modern but with ornate golden frames with mural paintings of Leonardo Da Vinci’s most famous biblical work, covered from wall-to-wall, on each and every corner and wall in this place. If you inspect it up close, the ornate frame is mostly carved in detail, from animals to vines and Adam and Eve. Others were carved in biblical references from the stories and some were carved in most famous angels ever named in the biblical scriptures.
As for the surfaces in their residential space, it was all checkered. But the ceilings were ornate, too. But more crystals and pearls aligned and shaped, overshadowing the gold accents. When stepping inside their place, their place was a smell of eucalyptus and sandalwood. Sometimes floral-scented wax warmer they’ve set up from the living room.
As for me, I don’t know how the technology works or how the concept works, but seeing it at firsthand made much more sense, whether it was small or big object, like wax warmers or industrial chandeliers, can make someone’s life better.
Steamed food wafted in the dining room, and I followed the flavored scent, greeted me like a warm hug, welcoming and inviting.
Peace soon came to an end when I spotted a younger woman in the kitchen, cackling with a boy with wavy dirty-blond hair from watching a video on her device, and an older woman staring at her phone screen, too. Both have dark-ginger hair, long and frizzy, though the younger woman has a smooth texture while the older woman has a frizz and dryness, as if she dyed it many times.
