Noel had enough of getting slapped around at home, he didn’t need it in school…so that’s why he had to hunt…or be hunted. “Hey you!” Noel said, taking the back of the boy’s shirt, twisting him around. “Give it up pizza-face…” But this time Noel stopped, gazing into the frightened boy’s eyes. “No…” he said, letting the smaller boy go. Cadence’s perfect figure flashed through his head, Cadence’s perfect vision of how the world should be…and for once he saw the world through Cadence’s…and perhaps through God’s eyes. He backed away from the boy who was trembling slightly, looking up at Noel in a mixture of fear and anxiety. “Get…out of here kid…” he told him and the boy ran off, grateful of Noel’s small revelation.

He sat, his head in his hands on the cold ground. He didn’t care if his butt got wet, he didn’t care if the school’s bell would ring any time soon…it was the morning, he could skip the entire day…no one would notice he was gone. He ran, without knowing where he was going, somehow he ended up at the church…he looked up at its white bell tower, walking in the doors, wanting more than anything to see his angel again. He walked into the Sanctuary to find Father Nolan straightening it up.

“Father…” he said and the elderly man turned, his eyes wide.

The old man smiled a compassionate smile and Noel blushed. “Oh, it’s you…Noel correct? Your parents are very into their religion are they not? Let me guess you skipped school to see my son?” he asked with a soft voice, coming to the boy, taking his shoulders in his warm hands. “Well, he’s upstairs, probably still sleeping, why don’t you go up to see him son? It’ll make his day…perhaps you can stay with him and his tutor…as not to miss an entire day of education.”

Noel just smiled. He hugged the priest tightly then ran out the side door of the sanctuary, bolting up the stairs to find a door. As he opened it he gasped, a hallway of nothing but doors. Choose one. His mind told him but he knew he wouldn’t get it right, he wasn’t faithful; he couldn’t choose the right one. As if to prove this he tried the first door on his right to find a classroom with two chairs and a table in front of a chalkboard. “Damn,” he said, shutting the door, looking up and finding Cadence’s green eyes before him. He jumped, startled.

“Oh…I’m sorry if I frightened you Noel, I didn’t—”

“I know, I know,” he told him, “I just wanted to see you.”

To this Cadence did not have an answer. His eyes trailed to the ground and he let loose a small sigh. He was wearing a large, white, hooded sweatshirt that reached past his backside, down to the middle of his limber thighs, giving way to loose, cotton sweatpants. He looked up into Noel’s eyes and said suddenly, “My tutor will be here soon, are you staying?”

Noel nodded and Cadence smiled. He shifted his head down and claimed the smaller boys lips with his own, wrapping his arms around the slim shoulders and pressing their bodies together.

“Well then Cad, I guess you really don’t have a crush on me like I thought you did,” came a female voice and Cadence’s lips were torn from Noels with a gasp. A tall, blond woman perhaps in her late twenties was standing in the hall, a briefcase in her hand and the other on her hip. She wore thick-framed glasses, but not the dorky kind, the slim kind that some of the most attractive people can wear without looking like geeks. She was one of those people. She was slender with wide hips and nice legs. She was a dream. She was Cadence’s tutor.

Cadence backed away from Noel as far as the narrow hallway would allow him. “This is Noel, Miss Trelin, he’s—”

“I think I know who he is, is he staying for today?”

Noel nodded and so did she, leading them into the classroom that Noel had opened before, filling Noel’s nostrils with the smell of raw coffee. He assumed it was in the cupboard and this was confirmed as Cadence quickly got it out and started making it with the coffeemaker atop said cupboard.

Trelin waved to a seat and Noel sat down. Cadence sat with him and took his hand under the table as the blond woman got her things out and ready from the small case she held. She pulled out a Bible and Noel snorted but was quickly silenced by Cadence’s elbow. She noticed his disrespect however and stared at him with icy eyes.

“Do you have an issue Noel?” she asked, putting an unneeded amount of emphasis on the last two letters of his name. “Do you need a tissue or do you think you can control your atheism for the day?”

Cadence shifted uncomfortably but Noel stood up, not letting go of Cad’s hand but holding it tighter in fact. “Look lady I don’t care what you think of me or my believes but can this wait, I think Cadence here is waiting for his education and apparently you’re the only one here with a degree in idiocy.”

She slapped him. Hard and across his cheek, a small “eep” escaped Cadence and his eyes squeezed shut as he jumped a bit in his seat. She continued to stare at him for a few moments then replied, “Sit down, shut up, and give God a chance.”

“Why isn’t he taught by nuns huh? You sure ain’t a virgin are ya bitch?”

She slapped him again, harder this time. “Don’t you dare mock me! I don’t have to take this from you! You don’t believe anyway so why are you even here?! Get out of this church!” she screeched.

Noel just stood there, holding Cadence’s hand. He glanced at Cad’s face but couldn’t see a change; he’d bowed his head, hiding his face behind his hair. “Cadence?” he asked, “Do you want me to leave?”

Cadence shook his head and tugged his hand for him to sit down. He did, not meeting the eyes of his teacher. For most of the class he just sat there, staring out the window and watching the little birds jump from branch to branch holding little twigs for nests and things. Cadence was busy scribbling down notes and doing all sorts of strange things, like listening to his teacher.

“Noel, do you know who The Gift is?”

“Eh?” he asked, turning his head to Miss Trelin, making sure he had his trademark position of indifference.

“The Gift. He or she is our hope for the future. I don’t want you distracting Cadence from finding said Gift. You are a distraction and I don’t want you anywhere near Cadence when he could get a sign telling him where The Gift is, see God works in ways that we can’t control and if he misses his chance to find this then he might not get another one! I want you away from him got it?”

“Miss Trelin I—” Cadence started but she stopped him.

“No Cadence, I don’t want you around him, he could ruin the only chances you have to find The Gift and convert him to our ways!”

“You said ‘him’” Noel told her and she stared at him again.

“The only reason I say that is because most of the heroes of the Bible were men.”

Cadence perked up and looked at Noel expectantly, “Then doesn’t that mean that Noel could be…”

Noel turned to him and took his hand again. “Me? The Gift? I don’t even know what the heck you’re talking about Cadence! What’s The Gift?”

“You don’t believe; you could be The Gift!” Cadence squealed, hugging Noel tightly. Noel was still dumbstruck.

“Do you know the chances of that Cadence? One in infinity,” Trelin said, crossing her arms with disapproval. Cadence didn’t care, all he did was hug Noel harder.

“Do you know what this means?” he asked, “Maybe my attraction to Noel was the sign! Maybe he is The Gift and I just don’t realize it! God works in strange ways and this,” his face lit up with a certain radiant light that Noel shied away from. “This could be my time to shine.”

“I think you already are buddy, you got a bulb in your brain there, ‘cause if ya do, shut it off, it hurts my eyes.”

Cadence looked at him with inquisitive eyes. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re so Goddamn bright, jeez, shut off the sun, man.”

Trelin frowned and looked at Noel with a look that told him this wasn’t such a great thing. Or maybe it was and she just didn’t want it to be. “Noel, you only see this when you look at Cadence?”

“Yeah, I mean, I don’t see one over your head or anything,” he told her and she ran over to the filing cabinet, flitting through papers and finally pulling out a binder that was labeled, The Gift in black marker.

She rifled through it impatiently but soon she found what she was looking for, her eyes lighting up instantly. “The Gift is to be able to determine who is pure in the spirit of the Lord, the method by which is uncertain but he or she should also be able to determine who is pure in the spirit of evil as well.”

“So are you saying that I’m the Gift and Cadence is pure and you’re not?”

“The method is uncertain, and you were only able to do this for a short time, after Cadence freaked out…”

“Well, maybe I wasn’t able to do it yet.”

Trelin narrowed her eyes, “We’ll test it then, your new found ‘gift’ or whatever, come on, we’ll see if you can see Father Nolan glow like a candle.”

“A roman candle…” he muttered and Cadence giggled, planting a small kiss on Noel’s cheek before they left the room.

“I think you’d make a wonderful Gift Noel, and just think, your name means Christmas, and you could be the Gift!” he said as they walked down the stairs to Father Nolan’s office. They walked in and there sat Father Nolan going over papers for the next Sunday. “Father! Father, I think I’ve found The Gift!” he squealed in excitement and Nolan stood, a bright halo of light flooding Noel’s eyes and causing him to turn away and shield his eyes with his hand.

“Ack! Turn it off!” Noel told him, pointing to Father Nolan’s head.

“Boy, you’re joking correct? Noel’s so close; I was thinking that The Gift could be miles and miles away, perhaps even all the way around the world! Did you do a search Cadence?”

Cadence shook his head slowly, “No…but Father, those don’t work anyway, I always seem to be pointed in a different direction.”

“In his defense Sir, they might be working and the closer The Gift is, the easier it is to switch directions, at his home he could be one way and at school he could be another and could switch from North to South in the course of a minute,” Trelin said, eyeing up Noel, who stood indifferently, trying to avoid the Father’s eyes for when they met his the light seemed to be stronger for some reason.

“True…Trelin, hide Noel somewhere in the church, I wish to have a private lesson with my son.”

Trelin nodded and tugged Noel’s sleeve. He followed, wishing he could stay with Cadence to find out what they were doing. He figured he’d find out in time however. She led him into the sanctuary then down to the basement, then up a few flights of stairs, then into a room with one window that was bare of any type of furniture and the only thing to light it was the sun. “Sit.”

He did, “What are they doing?”

“Testing you.”

Author's Note: And WHO saw this coming? One, two, three...all of you? That's what I THOUGHT!!! HA! IfI can't be predictable in at least one what the Hell am I supposed ta do? Haha, you guys, in the original version of this I had Noel say, "Burn in Hell lady." Then I remembered he's an atheist...Damn...well, I've got another story going for my dearest daughter (not really, it's a joke people), Jak that has to do with a cult and a prostitute...you think I should type it and post it? I'm too lazy though, I'm not sure if I could finish it AND get it up here by Christmas, especially since I have to mail it to Jak...sob...oh well, I'll give you a different story I guess, and if anyone reads this and reviews, I believe I'll be taking Caramel off of here. I just don't have any more to offer it really, it's sorta dead. I'll see if I can salvage it later. BUT...if you read this and decide that you'd rather see me burn in the firey depths of Hell forever before you see Caramel taken off...then just tell me cause I can see if I can arrange something with you...besides burning in Hell.

Thank you, Gaki

AH! And as a final note, the church is modeled after the one I used to go to...I can't tell you where it is and no one from my church would be reading this so...I don't know why I'm saying it.