Dying Heaven

Chapter 2

Holly sat in a dark grey room, staring at nothing in particular, as was her thoughts. What had she been doing all day aside from sitting here, she thought. What was her use as a water angel, where did she even come from. Before she could expand on these thoughts, a great pressure formed in her temples. Something was suddenly squeezing on her head. She curled into a ball and gripped her hair tightly in response.

"Ugh.." Holly groaned as the pain faded away and she sat back up to look around. She thought perhaps her sitting in this room for so long was causing her stress and aches, so she stood up lethargically, her knees and back slowly straightening. She felt her blood even out throughout her body as she prepared to stand completely straight, a little light headed from sitting so long. She started to walk outside of the dark and humid cloud she was rested in, meshing through the fluffy walls and meeting the outside air. It was cold and icy, and the sky was dark blue with little dots of light. Holly just stood there looking at the sky for a moment unsure what to do next now that the day was ended. She felt as if it had gotten dark far too fast for her to have been awake all that time, so she assumed she must've fallen asleep. 

All she knew was she felt better than that morning, when all she could think about was how useless she was as a water angel. Appreciated by no one, not even herself. Joanie even said it herself, 'No one likes it when you talk,' and Kath might've said something afterwards, but Holly didn't hear. She was already in her thoughts by that point, contemplating her futile existence. But there's no use in complaining about it, she thought, that would just make her uselessness more painful than it needed to be, just accept it and move on.

"Holly!" Joanie said, hovering just behind her. "I've been looking for you. You gonna help me finish this work?" Joanie asked. Holly clenched her fist in anger at the thought of Joanie asking for her help after treating her the way she does, but then she took a deep breath. Maybe her anger was unjustified, she thought, she knew Joanie didn't malicious intent and just had an abrasive personality. Holly bit her tongue to snap herself back to reality and look normal in front of Joanie, like she hadn't been thinking about anything and was just relaxing. She turned around and forced a small nervous smile.

"Yeah, sorry." Holly jumped up and levitated next to Joanie and they went on there way upwards. There were plenty of clouds that night to farm water from.

"What were you doing all day Holly? We had a lot of work today!" Joanie asked.

"Oh, I was just..." Holly said as she attempted to make up an activity to cover up for the lost hours, but there was no use. Joanie would just drill her with more questions to continue the conversation. Something Holly noticed was that creating conflict was how Joanie liked to started conversations, and expecting anything different would lead to disappointment. Holly suddenly began to felt anger rise up within her again. A burning fire in her blood making her twitch with anger. 'Why her?' She asked in thought, why did she have to be subject to this routine. Day by day it seemed as if she was just there to suffer at the hands of her colleagues, ignored or asked stupid questions until she accepted defeat. She was still clenching her fist, tighter and tighter as thoughts of anger poured through her mind.

"I barely even began to ask questions and you already sound guilty! It's fine I know you were just sitting around being useless anyway." Joanie stated looking the other way, unaware of Holly's wrinkled forehead and furrowed eyebrows, expressing her anger in rigid silence. Suddenly, Holly felt it, what once contained her anger had burst inside her, releasing every ounce of rage through her veins. She pounced on Joanie and scratched her on her arms, breaking her skin. 

"AGHH, HOLLY-" Joanie felt an indescribable feeling on her broken skin and in her arms that had never been presented to her before as Holly scratched at her, causing them to soar and spiral through the air. The entire Earth spun around them as Holly switched between clawing and strangling Joanie. Red stickiness soon stained Holly's nails as they got closer and closer to a stratus cloud.