Dragonfly

Chapter Nineteen

The most optimistic person I had ever met, a person with warmth and compassion. The closest thing to a flower child if I ever saw one. That was who Lola was, the nicest -if not easily irritated- person you could ever meet. But even though she was so warm and kind, her words felt so cold. No longer did her voice sound as though it belonged to her.

“Haven’t you seen the news?” Asked Lola, the light-hearted hint of laughter leaving her voice as her eyes grew dark, “This,” she motioned around us all with her hands, “its everywhere. It’s all over the world,”

“I can live in hope, Lola. We can live in hope,” I replied as I look Lewis’s hand in mine, his grip was firm as he held onto me, almost as though he were attempting to borrow my strength for a moment, “and if there isn’t a place then I swear to whatever deity actually exists, I will fight tooth and nail to create that place,”

“And I’m with her. I want to be with the girl I love without having to worry about what other people will do to her,” said Lewis, “I will fight as well until we gain the life we both deserve,”

Gemma, Alice and Lola stood in silence as they stared at us, their faces blank of all expression until finally, Gemma smiled.

“Then I’m going to help. Even if it just means that I help you get away from all of this, I’m going to help,” said Gemma.

“I’m behind you too,” said Lola with a soft smile, her eyes sparkling with life and hope once again, “we all deserve a world where we can live in peace and if you both are going to fight for that, I’m going to stand behind you all the way,”

“I’m in,” said Alice with a sigh, “but you two are sickly sweet when you’re together, you know that right?”

“Ugh…”

“I know,” replied Lewis.

“You romantics, you’re as gross as they come,” said Alice as I looked to the floor, “but you’re probably two of the best friends I’ve ever had,”

“Though I complain and rant a lot?” I murmured.

“Hey! Listen to you ramble and rant is part of who you are and it can be pretty damn funny,” said Alice.

“So, what do you need help with?” Asked Lola.

“Well, we’re as sorted as we can be. We have some money collected together, we just need to be able to get out of the country,” said Lewis.

“We need transport,” I murmured and a brief moment of silence passed between us,

“Okay! I have an idea! Wait here! Pack your stuff! Do whatever you need to do!” Said Alice as he rushed both Gemma and Lola out of the house.

“Bye!” Both Lola and Gemma called as they were forced out of the door.

“What is he doing?” Lewis murmured as the back door slammed closed behind them.

“Goddess only knows but I’m worried,”

“Me too,” replied Lewis with a soft, comforting smile, “I stand by what I said when you first started college, you have the strangest of friends,”

“I guess that a girl who is surrounded by the strangest of friends must be the strangest of all,” said I and Lewis laughed as he pulled me into his embrace, holding me close to him,

“But it seems that the strangest of girls seem to hold the most mystery,”

“Mystery? I would say this is all far from mysterious. Its all too complicated,”

“Hey,” said Lewis as he placed his index finger under my chin and forced me to look at him, “if she’s easy, she ain’t worth it. If she’s worth it, she ain’t easy,” I couldn’t stop myself from playfully tapping him on the chest,

“You and your bloody Bob Marley quotes!”

“You love it!”

“You’re such a hopeless romantic!” I said whilst giggling before he pressed his lips to mine and instantly, I felt every muscle in my body relax before I felt something unusual in my shoulder blades and for a moment, I felt certain that I could feel, whatever they were that had grown out of my back, flutter.

Lewis pulled away, his eyes opening as his moved before he spoke,

“Erm, Riley…” said Lewis as his eyes grew wide with shock.

“What’s wrong?”

“I think Gemma’s right,”

“About what?” I asked feeling incredibly confused. Couldn’t people just be blunt and say what they wanted to say without having to beat around the bush?

“I think they are wings,” said Lewis. I sighed and pulled myself away from his embrace, silently wishing that one day could pass where they weren’t haunting my every waking moment.

“They’re not wings,”

“Then what are they?”

“I don’t know,” I muttered as I walked up the stairs and into the bedroom before sitting on the edge of the bed, not wanting to think about what I was and how different I was from everyone else.

“Riley, what’s wrong?”

“Can I just have a few minutes alone please?”

“Is it because of your wings?”

“Can you please stop talking about them?”

“Riley, I-” Lewis began but I cut him off.

“I just want to forget, for a few minutes. I don’t want whatever the hell these damn things are to rule over my life,” I murmured quietly.

“I understand, I’m sorry,” replied Lewis but he couldn’t understand. There was no way that he would ever understand, he could imagine what it was like but he would never understand. I sighed as he approached me and pulled me into his arms. The warmth radiated through his chest as I rest my head against him, listening to the soothing sound of his heartbeat. “One day, you’ll be able to accept yourself for who and what you are and until that day, I will just have to be here to comfort you,”

Silently, I began to hate him for knowing me far too well and at that moment, it felt as though he had somehow read my mind. It seemed as though he knew me better than I knew myself as my mind registered his words and I realised that though I had tried to convince myself that I was happy regardless of everything, I was anything but happy,

And it was all because I was unable to accept myself for who and what I was. A part of me was afraid of who I was, of what I could do.

Could you blame me?

I had already proven that I could stop a bullet from hitting me. Freeze an entire elevator. What if I gave a person hyperthermia? What if I hurt someone? What if I killed someone?

As I sat there with my head resting against his chest, I began thinking about everything that had happened over the past few weeks. It felt like a miracle had occurred, stopping me from seriously injuring or even killing someone but it wasn’t a miracle. In the previous weeks, I had concluded that miracles didn’t exist, they couldn’t exist in a world like the one I lived in.

I had merely been lucky and that was it.