Ticket to Heaven

Woken up immediately by a squealing alarm clock, Riki threw the covers off his bed in a startled fashion, sitting upright in bed. As much as he would have loved to stay asleep, in his nice warm bed, he knew ad tad to get to school, even if it involved… He didn’t want to think about it. Instead, he thought about his parents in London and how proud they’d be knowing he was an honour roll student, and that he hardly ever missed a day of school. This was his only true motive for going and not skipping out to avoid unwanted trouble. Of course, avoiding problwasnwasn’t the best of his abilities, and the problem soon found him.

Riki took the shortcut to school, being in danger of getting there late. Normally, he didn’t take this route because most of the other students did, but he didn’t want detention for being tardy. Being the social outcast, he was sidestepped by most the kids heading to school. Taking the longer path always meant being alone and not having to face any of them, like they’d want to face him. However, this day he was forced to.

Hearing someone call his name, Riki turned around sharply, unused to anyone wanting his attention. It was Jack. Riki’s heart almost stopped in his chest; although most people avoided him, Jack just didn’t, finding nearly any way possible to provoke and make fun of the poor boy. Today was no exception. “Hey, Riki,” Jack started. “Thought you’d like to walk to school with me and my pals for a change. What do you say?” His smile was far from amicable, and Riki was sure his intentions were even less nice than his smile; but if Riki refused, it would lead to a bloody lip, or worse.

Putting on the most cheerful smile he could muster, Riki nodded and proceeded over to the intimidating boy. That was when two strong hands reached from behind him and pulled his hands back, allowing him no movement. “Be still,” Jack warned. “Or this will hurt more than it’s supposed to be.” Riki struggled to free himself of his bonds, but he wasn’t strong enough. Then, he looked around for someone that might help him, but no one was around. Giving up trying to escape, he looked at Jack, ready for the punch in the face.

As predicted, he received it. What he wasn’t ready for was the low blows in the stomach that came after, knocking the breath out of him. “Hey, Jack, I think that’s enough. His lip’s bleeding, man…,” one of Jack’s despicable friends intervened. Thankfully, Jack took the advice, and allowed his comrade who held Riki to let go after he administered one last punch in in the nose.

As the gang ran off, laughing in delight, Riki slumped to the edge of the sidew att attempting to wipe up the blood dripping down his lower face without it being anywhere too easily seen on his clothing. A single tear ran down his cheek as he vowed revenge on the black haired boy that caused him this pain.

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As if it were a normal thing, Jack kept doing this to Riki, enjoying the pained grimaces of the one he attacked so brutally. In fact, this day was no different. Riki was cornered in the school parking lot with Jack and his cronies advancing on him. This time, however, Jack seemed to have a more ferocious gleam in his eye, his face bathed in murderous intent. But… Surely Jack wouldn’t kill him? No matter how much you hated someone, that was just too unethical.

Actually, Riki second guessed that theory when Jack pulled something shining silver out of a pocket. Taking a deep breath, he sprinted past the left flank of the gang that surrounded him, surprisingly making it out successfully. Not stopping to celebrate yet, he practically flew in the same direction, nearly hitting people and inanimate things in his desperate escape attempt. Jack was on his tail, though, intent on maiming his prey. Riki was only about seven feet ahead of Jack, on the edge of the cracking sidewalk, when he heard a distinct screech of slamming breaks and a meaty thud.

Before turning around, he could sense what had happened. The beast who had hunted him was shot down himself. Riki knew he should have been joyous at seeing the crippled body lying by the side of some car, but he just wasn’t. He didn’t know what thoughts Jack had running through his head, but Riki was pretty sure that whatever sick fantasies Jack had of someone being dead certainly weren’t in collaboration with Riki’s thoughts.

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The news of Jack’s death was gossiped about all over the school. Even his friends shamelessly told their account of the events which unfolded, exaggerating everything for attention and popularity. Thankfully, Riki found he was not mentioned at all. But still, this entire scene caused him to feel sick. It was if no one cared that Jack had died, like he mattered less than his friends’ popularity. Riki found himself thinking about this far too often, and wondered why. Didn’t he hate the bastard’s guts for doing all that horrible shit to him? Wasn’t Jack about to even kill Riki, before his own ironic death? Yes. But still…

It just wasn’t right.

The bell rang just then, as that last thought popped in his head. Dashing for the doorway, he made it out of the school and back home unscathed, but only because there was now no Jack to torment him, and his friends had lost the heart to continue Jack’s work. If everything was fine now, save for the typical avoidance he received from his fellow students, then why did Riki have a nagging feeling that something just wasn’t fine?

Jogging through the park with his heavy book bag swinging threateningly up and down his back, he slowed the pace to ease the pain of the falling and rising heaviness. Only when the normally pale sun turned a rich golden did Riki notice the time was close to sunset. It was so unlike him to lose track of time, so he made up for it by rushing back in the quickest pace possible. But as usual, there was no one there to worry about him getting back home on time.

With Riki’s parents away in London, and his aunt and uncle at work until late at night, Riki was always alone. His mother’s sister and her husband never had a child and readily agreed to allow Riki to stay with them until further notice. But they were never there, just like he had no friends at school. He didn’t blame his family, though; work was necessary to make money and live comfortably, and he was, indeed, grateful for them.

Suddenly, Riki was torn from his thoughts as he heard a muffled noise coming from his bedroom. Unsure whether it was a break-in, and pretty sure it definitely was not one of his relatives, he took tentative steps towards the direction the offending noise was drifting from and gasped in shock when he revealed what was behind his very door.

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Almost certain that this was a joke, Riki called out to fake enemies. “Ha. Ha. Ha. I hope you had your fun, but everyone, including myself, knows that Jack is dead.” However, this did not cause anyone unseen to appear, or the image of a wide-eyed Jack to vanish. “What the hell kind of joke is this?!!” Riki tried again. “Who are you really?” he asked Jack, staring in disbelief.

“You know who I am, Riki. I’m the one who kicked the crap out of you, remember? This is no joke, and I am still dead. I’ve been coerced by a higher authority to be your fucking guardian angel because of what I did to you while I was alive. In exchange, I get into Heaven, so don’t think I’m doing this out of sincere, unadulterated kindness. Got it?” Riki nodded, giving a strange smile. Jack swallowed a little, afraid that Riki might know what displays of kindness guardian angels were supposed to show towards the one they were meant to protect. Of course, Riki knew.

Jack had to be kind to Riki or else he would get his free ticket to Heaven taken from him. This meant no beatings, unfriendly words or badly feigned kindness from Jack. What Riki didn’t know was that Jack had to end up genuinely fond of Riki before he would be granted access to Heaven. Because this task seemed impossible, Jack almost opted for going straight to Hell, but changed his decision when he thought about the many times he could freely kick the shit out of Riki in Heaven. Besides, had he chosen Hell, there would o wao way in, well, Hell, he could go back. By doing this, he was able to redeem himself, even if he deplored doing so.

While Jack was in his reverie, Riki left to think about the situation, ending up in the bathroom with the door locked. Apparently, he had been gone too long because he heard an intense knocking at the door and loud, angry shouting from behind it. Grinning at his reflection in the mirror, Riki responded by merely stating simple words, in the form of a harmless, yet powerful, inquiry. “Hmmm,” Riki hummed in mock thought. “If you get on my nerves, can’t I just send you away, and then you go to Hell?” It was asked quietly, but loud enough for the frustrated Jack to hear.

Knowing this was true, Jack calmed his tones and asked politely, if somewhat stiffly, for Riki to come out and discuss terms with him. Riki decided to oblige, thinking he tormented the angel enough for the moment.

Jack wasn’t liking the way things were turning out; he was hoping that he could torture Riki, when Riki himself obviously had the upper hand. Nonetheless, he sat down on Riki’s bed, while the other took a seat at the desk chair, and told Riki what he was supposed to tell him. ‘Like a good little slave,’ Jack thought bitterly.

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Apparently, no one but Riki could see or hear Jack, but since Riki was still alive, and therefore could be heard by anyone, they agreed in only speaking in private. Jack was supposed to be around Riki at all times (any exceptions being when he was using the restroom, or any other private stuff like that, of course), and if he ever lost sight of him, he’d get a warning. If he got too many of those, he’d get sent straight to Hell. Fearing this, he begged Riki to not run away from him, getting a sly ‘maybe’ from the manically grinning Riki. ‘What a sadistic bastard,’ thought Jack, before remembering the torture he performed on Riki before his demise.

It was long after dark when their talk was finished, and Riki heard footsteps by the door, meaning it was past midnight. “Oh, shit!” Riki exclaimed. “I’m supposed to be asleep before they get home.” As Riki rushed to his bed, Jack found out who “they” were when two adults who Jack figured were Riki’s parents stepped through the threshold of the bedroom and checked on the not-really-asleep Riki. Satisfied that he was in his room, they retired to their own. “That was close,” Riki rushed out along with a breath he had been holding. “Well, yeah, so I’m going to sleep. Hopefully, this has been a nightmare, and I’ll wake up to my normal mundane life, and you’ll be safe and sound in Hell, where you belong.”

Although Jack really shouldn’t have cared less for his enemy, the last few words he spoke stung. ‘…and you’ll be safe and sound in Hell, where you belong.’ Did Jack really belong there?

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Despite it being a Saturday, Riki’s trusty alarm clock sang out its sweet tune as it violently shook the boy from his sleep. Knowing what day it was, he ignored its annoying chime and rolled over, placing a pillow over his face. Jack, on the other hand, thinking he was doing a service, yanked the pillow from the loose grasp of Riki’s hands and threw the warm blanket from the half-asleep Riki. “’S’no school today, ma. Lemme sleep s’more,” he slurred in his unawake state.

“Get up, dumb ass,” Jack commanded, then suddenly changed his tone to something so sickly sweet, ouldouldn’t believe it came from his lips and into Riki’s ears. “Your alarm clock rang, so I’m waking you up. Wouldn’t you like a shower?” Jack flinched as he heard his voice; he wanted to be more aggressive towards this stupid human being that was his only ticket to where he desired to go. The only way he could possibly achieve this, though, was to practically be his slave. Groaning in defeat, he decided to check if Riki’s parents were still in the house, which would decide whether or not he’d fix breakfast for the brat.

They must not have been there, for Riki smelt the salty scent of bacon in the air as he headed for the kitchen, finally roused from his deep slumber by the second ear-piercing whine of the alarm clock. Sitting on a chair at the head of the small, rectangular table, unnecessarily sized for there being only three people residing there. Riki’s mouth was watering, his stomach growling simultaneously, as the plate of eggs and bacon was set in front of him. He was about to hungrily dig in when he realized that it was made by Jack, and so had second thoughts about sampling the dish.

“What the hell is wrong?” Jack asked angrily, seeing Riki’s fresh face of disgust.

“Oh, as if you didn’t, like, poison this or something.”

“Don’t be an idiot! If I do that, I’m dead. Well, figuratively speaking,” he coughed. “I was just trying to be nice, you ass.” Riki scoffed. Jack? Nice? Yeah, sure. But his appetite got the best of him and he gobbled down the food anyway, despite any previous suspiciousness.

“Why aren’t you eating anything? If you’re forced to be here, you might as well mooch off of me and eat my stuff.” Jack inwardly seethed.

“Eating’s a pleasure I no longer have, you inconsiderate jackass. And when you put it that way, you make it sound as if I actually want anything you have.” In truth, Jack was a bit jealous of Riki’s lifestyle. He never had such luxuries, like his own room and breakfast, but it wasn’t as if he wanted to discuss it with the other boy; far from it.

“I’m sorry,” Riki apologized, sounding almost genuine. Jack’s features almost softened, but held their cold demeanor only to cause Riki to think that he was still pissed at him. It wasn’t like he cared what Riki thought; it was just the satisfaction of making him uncomfortable.

When Jack was pretty sure Riki was finished, he took the plate from him and began to wash it at the sink, cynically thinking that he was more like a nursemaid than a guardian angel. Meanwhile, Riki exited the room to take a shower and change his clothes, emerging about forty minutes later, hair still damp. Jack ignored him and continued facing the window, which was what he had been doing the whole while the other boy had been away.

Riki checked the clock; it was only 8:30 A.M. It was going to be a long day.

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“So, whatever do you do on a weekend?” Jack half mused, half asked.

“I tend to go to the park and read by the lake, or go to the movies, but I don’t have any spending money today, so I guess the park,” Riki replied. The two were leisurely sauntering from the house, the entire day ahead of them.

“Hey, I got money. Let’s just go to see a movie.” Jack grinned and held up a few bills that appeared from nowhere.

“How the hell’d you get that? I thought there’d be no use of money where you came from.”

“Benefits of being a guardian angel,” Jack smirked. “Now do you want to go, or am I going to have to pretend I don’t have any money after all because you’re the slowest sunnuva bitch to ever respond on the face of the Earth?”

“Yeah, yeah, let’s go. Just get that stick out your ass, and buy me a manga afterwards for your rude behaviour,” Riki answered, in a joking tone.

“Smart ass,” Jack muttered. “What do you want to see…?”

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Jack almost died when he found out that Riki wanted to see “Yu Gi Oh the Movie”, but went nonetheless. Surprisingly, it was rather good, but he wasn’t about to admit to Riki he liked it. They headed to the book sore next, as per Riki’s request, and the angel bought him a manga, despite thoughts concocting in his head to make the money suddenly disappear. Carrying his prize in a bag, Riki skipped ahead of Jack, who had trouble keeping up with the hyper boy. Inwardly, Jack smirked. Could it be possible Riki was happy after spending a day with his enemy?

They entered the border of the small yard, which forced Jack to tear from his thoughts. The sun was almost below the horizon, casting purple and gold streaks on any close by clouds. At the furthest part of the sky from the sun, stars began to appear, weakly glowing in protest to the dying sun. It was an almost breathtaking view, but not overly great as to sit out and continue watching. The two rushed indoors.

It was already dark after Riki finished his scrumptious television dinner, but it surely wasn’t late enough to bother going to bed. Thus, with all the free time he had, Riki took out his violin, and began to play. The sounds floated from the bedroom to the living room, where one pissed off Jack sat staring out the dark window. Intrigued by the pleasant sounds, he left the couch and made his way to the room where he found Riki practically immersed in the violin’s eerie tune. Jack’s face relaxed, and he almost even smiled; he liked this, he liked the way Riki played. It was beautiful. No… He couldn’t think that anything his enemy did was beautiful. Even if it was…

Still stuck in his rumination, he hardly noticed the other boy stopped playing, nor did he realize his glazed over eyes were staring at Riki. “Dude, are you okay? It’s just a violin.” Jack started, then scowled at Riki.

“Sounds okay,” he lied. It sounded far better than ‘okay’. Riki nodded in a silent thanks, then stretched and yawned, putting away the instrument.

“Yeah, so I’m going to bed. Night!” Riki declared, pushing a slightly disgruntled Jack out the door and slamming it in his face.

“Yeah, good night to you, too,” Jack rolled his eyes, brooding in the living room, pacing back and forth the entire night.

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Since Riki thought to unplug the alarm clock the night before, he wasn’t awoken by its ungodly pitches Sunday morning, and was granted a few hours of sleep. Jack, discovering the other boy’s door unlocked, tiptoed in and prepared to wake him at noon, but stopped dead in his tracks in the middle of the floor.

The site that greeted him was pleasurable, indeed. Riki’s relaxed body stretched luxuriously over the bed, shirt pulled up slightly to show tanned, olive skin beneath, mouth slightly open with each intake of breath. His tousled dark brown hair amidst the pillow he was slackly clutching, legs partially spread on the lower half of the bed, almost tempting and begging…

“What the HELL?!!” Jack shouted at himself for such thoughts. Recalling his voice level, he glanced at the now wide awake Riki. Blushing furiously, he attempted to redeem himself. “Oh, I was, uh, coming to wake you up?” Jack stuttered.

“Nice method,” was Riki’s sarcastic reply. Still, he sat up on his bed, checking his watch. “Gah, it’s 12:30 P..M. already.” He walked past a still half stunned Jack to the kitchen, turning off the light in the process so as to leave him in the dark, snickering lightly.

As slow as Jack was, he noticed the change in lighting and glared at the dark as he, too, walked to the kitchen, expecting to play cook for Riki. This wasn’t the case as he found the other rinsing what appeared to be grapes and a kiwi. ‘Sniff’, Jack thought. ‘I miss kiwi’. And with that, Jack jealously watched Riki eat.

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Ever since yesterday, Riki was beginning to become fond of Jack, even after all the horrible shit he did to him while he was alive. But things were now changed, and Jack couldn’t hurt him anymore, no matter how he tried, or the time he spent here would all be in vain. So, Riki determined, he was going to start to at least be a little nice to him. Maybe then it would help Jack get where he wanted to go sooner, which meant less time here.

Finishing the last of his lunch, he pulled Jack back to his room. “What’re we going to do here?” asked Jack.

“Well, I’m going to do my homework. You can just sit there.”

“Homework is for losers.” Jack pulled a face. Despite the insults he made over it, Riki simply ignored him and started typing on the keyboard of his computer. Finally shutting up, to Riki’s pleasure, Jack tried focusing on something else - that something else being Riki. He gazed at the long, slender hands rhythmically typing, the serious brown eyes that bore into the screen of some dull report on the effect of plants in different water temperatures. The sneeze he made that was oh, so cute… What?!!

There was no way in Hell he thought anything Riki did was cute, especially not a sneeze. Then why was he starting to think that way? He needed a walk. Bad. So as not to arise suspicion, he asked Riki if he’d like him to go out and pick up some doughnuts from the local convenient store. Riki agreed, wanting a snack, as it had been a couple of hours since lunchtime.

Jack rushed out the house and around the corner to the closest store, allowing himself to become visible to the common man’s eye as soon as he ducked behind an abandoned isle. Picking up some glazed doughnuts and paying for them at the register, he cooled down some, hoping he could keep like that for the next few hours.

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Still typing his report, Riki smirked. He knew that Jack was starting to like him, either in a friendly, harmonious way, or some other way. He was determined to find out once Jack came back from the store, and he knew exactly how.

As if on cue, Jack barged into the room, bag in hand and a plastered grin on his face, hopefully a good enough of one to mask the nervousness he felt at the surreal gleam in Riki’s eye. “Hey, Jack,” Riki slowly began. “Can you do for me whatever I want?”

“Yeah, as long as it isn’t too, you know, impossible, like a million dollars.”

“Ah, well, this isn’t impossible. Set down the doughnuts, on the nightstand. Thanks.”

“I-Is that all?” Jack had the feeling it wasn’t.

“No. Sit on the bed. Good. Now, take off your shirt.” Jack’s eyes widened at the request, but did so anyway. “Simon says…” Jack gave him a ‘wtf?’ look. “No, no, I’m just kidding! But seriously. Don’t move any.” Riki strode over to the bed, pushing Jack lightly in a gesture to lay down, of which the request was fulfilled. Sliding one of the doughnuts out of the bag, Riki laid it on Jack’s chest, then more in a line either going up or down from that one. Next, Riki parted Jack’s legs and nestled in between them.

Thanking God that these were the mini doughnuts, Riki started with the doughnut nearest to Jack’s neck, and took it in his mouth, chewing on the sweet pastry and suckling the skin that it came off of in the process. Jack was really trying to hold in his moans of pleasure at that point, afraid of letting Riki know he was enjoying this, but by the fourth doughnut, Jack was beginning to lose himself to the sensations of Riki’s teeth and tongue on his chest and stomach.

Eventually, the doughnut trail led to the zipper of Jack’s pants, which Riki slowly undid, pulling the pants of with a flowing motion, Jack almost gasping at the cold air that rushed to his skin, but then… Riki took Jack’s swollen erection into his mouth, licking the tip as he heard Jack moan and squirm a little on the bed. Smiling to himself, he bobbed up and down, slow at first, then faster until Jack came in his mouth.

Leaning back besides Jack, Riki let his arm land softly across his chest, muscles relaxing and eyes drooping, about to fall asleep. However, before he could accomplish this, Jack turned to him, as if he wanted to speak. Nothing came out for a while, but then he heard, in a low, almost whispering voice, “I got what I came for. I’m in Heaven now.” Then, he placed his arm around Riki and fell into a deep sleep, before disappearing and going up to Heaven.

Owari.