Led far astray

“Well?... Are you coming?”

The words sounded so natural… Unquestionable. Yet Lucy almost couldn't register what they meant, or why the angel would be saying them to her.

She realised the rest of the choir were just about packed away. Not that it took much to gather together their few belongings. She spied one younger-looking devotee, licking her wide dish clean. It sent shivers down her spine… remembering that she had just let these strangers spew the mixed contents of such up into her most private depths. Yet, it was her angel who had done so… And who now held out her hand in askance. The allure of that ethereal marvel was simply too much for her small heart to bear, especially with the echo of those lips still upon her vulva. Lucy reached out and took that hand, unsure and uncaring of where it might lead her.

Where it led her was not so far as the slick city urchin might have imagined. She had thought she had paced near to every paving in this city by now. Wandering near aimlessly day to day as she scraped by her fugitive existence. Yet the naked choir led her casually down into the burrow of alleys and side-streets where even she had felt uneasy treading. Here were the dangerous places. Where wolves and business men crept, looking for diversions and perversions that even their society deemed unseemly. Not a place for a lone young lady to show herself. But the parade of bare angels walked through with confidence, laughing and joking with each other. Ignoring the dark looks they received from darker corners.

Lucy hung onto the hand she’d been offered and simply watched them with confusion and amazement. At one point a ragged hulk of a man even lurched out at them from a shadowed doorway, roughly grabbing hold of a dark-skinned girl who couldn’t have been much older than Lucy herself. The young lady’s companions turned to consider the situation, but she herself just continued laughing at a previous joke. Waving them on as if this was a regular occurrence. A minor delay. She would catch them up later... Lucy watched that door slam shut before she caught up to it. Offering no further sights... but perhaps the muffled sound of crashing furniture and high pitched yelps. Her handheld partner paid no attention at all.

Finally they reached their destination. A grand, carved wall of dark grey stone seemed to simply meld itself out of the simpler buildings around them. Seeming blank at first until you could pick out the intricate scenes of weaving bodies that seemed to cover the entire thing, picked out grimily, yet never chipped or broken, from the very stone of the building. It wasn’t a tall structure, but it announced its presence proudly and solidly. Looking out at the rest of the city with scornful forgiveness. Already opened ahead of them was a doorway. Simple and wooden. It gave the distinct impression that this was a workman’s entrance, a back door. While some further grand entrance lay on another side. Yet, this was where the personal headed. Their voices quieting now as if in respect for their home… or fear of judgement from those within. Lucy watched them disappear, one by one, into that imposing interior until only she and her personal guardian remained. She gulped and looked up into that perfect face. It offered only a smile, encouraging, but not demanding… With a deep breath… Lucy stepped over the threshold.