Katerina Diamond - The Angel

‘What the hell are you wearing?’ Michael Webb, Gabriel’s father, had an expression like thunder, but that wasn’t unusual, it was the standard greeting these days.

‘Clothes.’ Gabriel grabbed an apple and started to eat it. He had a foot on his father, but he was still uneasy. He wouldn’t say what he wanted to say, he never did. It was always better just to let his father rant and then leave anyway.

‘You’re a bloody man – when are you going to start acting like one?’ his father sniped. ‘Who’s going to employ you looking like that? You’re nineteen years old for God’s sake. Isn’t it time to grow up?’

‘A job like yours, you mean?’ Gabriel said. ‘I should be a drone?’

‘My drone job pays for those god-awful trousers you are wearing! I mean what the hell are all those straps and chain things hanging down? What kind of message do you think you’re putting across with those?’ His father tugged hard at the cord that linked the trousers together, ripping it. He looked at Gabriel with a sneer.

Gabriel smiled back with a pinched mouth. He was contemplating punching his father in the face – and not for the first time.

‘Anything else?’ He leaned down closer to his father, locking eyes with him – making sure he didn’t look away first.

The anger in his father’s eyes faltered for a moment.

‘Don’t even get me started on your face. Men don’t wear make-up, and what’s with the star? You look like a fucking communist.’

‘Michael! Language!’ Gabriel’s mother Penny said.

‘I’m off to meet some friends, I’ll probably stay out tonight.’ Gabriel walked out, shaking his head, his father’s insults getting fainter as he got further from the house. It was the most disrespectful he had ever been but he couldn’t tolerate this nonsense today. He was in a good mood and he wasn’t going to let his father ruin it. He was going to see Emma; he had texted her before he left, so she should be waiting outside. She lived three streets over. He had first seen her working in his local supermarket sometimes at the weekends, she’d always stood a little straighter when he walked past and so he knew she had seen him too. One day he just asked her out; she had said yes immediately and the rest was history.

Emma was standing outside her house with her new friend, Leanne. He saw Emma’s eyes light up as she saw him approaching, sucking in her breath in a way that turned him on. He knew what she was thinking about as she glanced at his body for a split second. He was thinking about it too. There had always been a certain electricity between them, he felt an involuntary breathlessness around her that only abated when they were locked together. He was always anticipating the next kiss.

‘You changed your hair again.’ He pointed to her roots which were a neon red, the rest a trailing black tangle down her back. She chewed on the back of her labret lip piercing and smiled at Gabriel. Leanne was obviously clueless about personal boundaries as she hung onto Emma’s arm. Emma’s eyes said later and he found himself excited at being forced to wait.

‘We’re going to go meet Leanne’s mates, they’re coming too.’

Gabriel didn’t know Leanne well but she had attached herself to Emma lately. They worked together at Tesco on Saturdays. Together, the three of them walked up through Heavitree and past the bus station. They kept walking, past the town, up towards the prison and beyond that, to the fencing that separated the railway tracks from the road, keeping local kids and cats from sliding down the bank and wandering into the path of an oncoming train.

It had started to spit. As they approached the fence, Gabriel saw two guys in their late teens standing waiting for them, hoods pulled up against the rain. Leanne yanked up some of the chicken wire fencing and disappeared behind it. Gabriel and Emma followed. The disused signal box near Exeter Central station was a known hangout for some of the less savoury characters that Leanne was friends with. As they made their way down, Gabriel heard a commotion and the sound of glass smashing; he was kind of excited at the rebelliousness of it all. In Gabriel’s eyes, the only thing worse than being bored was listening to his parents either fighting or fucking. Tonight was going to be far from boring, he would make sure of it.

Gabriel had seen the boys by the tracks in town before; they were Laners. Laners were the scum of the city as far as most people were concerned. Burnthouse Lane had a reputation for being home to some of the more violent members of local society. Between the ASBOs and the muggings there was little love left for the Laners. The kids were left to fend for themselves and the adults just did what they wanted. There was no community feel to the Lane, except among the teens. Several of the boys claimed to be the offspring of the Sly crew, the firm of football thugs that supported Exeter FC and made a name for themselves in the eighties. The Sly crew were not only well known for their random acts of violence, but also their almost myth-like status. None of the teens were sure if they had ever actually existed or not, which somehow made them even more terrifying to boys like Gabriel growing up. Everyone from the Lane had a story about the Sly crew, usually exaggerated to the point where they had witnessed a murder or were owed a massive favour that they could call in at any time.

Inside, the signal box was set up like an office, with all the levers chained to the wall, although most likely no longer connected to the tracks. There were three large chairs facing the centre and various wrappers, bottles, needles and other rubbish lying around the place. Gabriel stayed standing, aware that they may need to start running at any moment if anyone figured out they were in there. Emma wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing her arms as though she was cold and huddling up on a chair, crossing her legs to stay warmer.

‘This is Trey and this is Chris.’ Leanne pointed at her friends, who took the other two chairs. ‘Fucking hell, it’s freezing in here!’

Gabriel didn’t like the way the boys were looking at Emma, as though she were somehow there for their entertainment. He hated the idea that just because she wore a short skirt and fishnets that somehow that was for anyone other than herself. It was a mindset that people who weren’t part of the alternative scene didn’t appreciate. You dress for yourself. It would never occur to Gabriel to tell Emma what to wear and yet she had the same problem with her parents that he had with his. Today, she was wearing a very short black denim miniskirt with a bustle, fishnet tights and knee-high boots. He could see what these boys were thinking. They were making assumptions about the kind of things Emma would or would not do just because she wore black leather and studs. Gabriel hated people sometimes.

Emma shifted uncomfortably in her chair. Gabriel wished he had a coat he could take off and give to her.

One of the boys pulled out a crack pipe and Gabriel clenched his teeth. Why the hell were they here? This was a little more rebellion than he liked to engage in. Gabriel had smoked weed a few times, he had even had some skunk, but this stuff? No, this was not his place at all. People often assumed Gabriel was on something because he was so slim and he had long hair, and because he sometimes wore make-up; it was just the way people operated. They made assumptions. But this really wasn’t Gabriel’s idea of fun.

Emma looked up at Gabriel with an apologetic face. She knew how much he hated these kinds of people.

The Laners grunted and looked Gabriel up and down.

‘Want some?’ One of them held the black, stained pipe out towards Gabriel.

‘No thanks,’ he replied.