Fading into time

chapter 3

"Oh my god. You have wings."

"Yeah. I knew that a long time ago so uh...you don't have to keep rubbing it in you know."

"I...you..."

"Sixth time you said it, going to the seventh."

"No, I mean, you -"

"Going to the eighth."

"No wait listen, I just don't-"

"Ninth."

"WOULD YOU STOP COUNTING!"

A pause.

Thank god.

"Hey, so uh, d..do I start from zero again or something?"

I had never yearned for silence this much before.

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Shit.

This was a really well-thought plan, huh?

Flying into a girl's room in the middle of the night while being chased by a helicopter and now I had managed to make the only person who maybe could give me a little help mad.

Actually, scratch that.

She looked kind of out of it.

"Um...are you okay? I'm sorry-"

"No, I'm fine. It's fine." She took a deep breath and continued. "I thought wings don't exist anymore. Not after we lost them many years back."

Another deep breath.

"You're real right?"

I spluttered. What kind of a question was that? But honestly, if I were in her shoes, I would probably be taking it much worse than her. Probably having an aneurysm from the shock of it all.

"I am," I said slowly, thinking my next words through. "This is going to sound totally bizarre and I know you have no reason to trust me because people don't like anything that's new and unfamiliar but um...I'm being hunted down and I could really use some help. I swear I'm not a bad person okay, I mean-"

"Drunk people think they're not drunk. You know that, right?" She lingered in the shadows, arms crossed over her chest, though I could faintly detect a hint of dry amusement in her voice.

"Takes one to know one," I replied, keeping my voice as casual as possible. "I just..." Goddamn, this was much harder than I thought.

My eyes remained trained on the floor, not daring to look around too much. After the helicopter left, I had almost gotten screamed at and attacked with a baseball bat before I used my wings as a last defense. And now, I didn't know what to do. Hell, being in a different world was already bad enough, I didn't ask to come here. Sighing, I reached up a hand to tug at my hair, wincing at the matted and greasy locks. Geez.

The silence in the room was palpable, save for the noises of breathing. This was a mistake. A terrible terrible mistake. I should never have approached any of the people here for help.

"Look, I'm really sorry for just barging into here and springing all of that onto you. Please don't tell anyone okay...I...I'll just go now."

I backed away, looking towards the closed window. The moonlight illuminated certain parts of the street while stars twinkled in the velvet sky. A real perfect night.

"Wait."

I paused, hands ready to lift the sill.

"There's meatloaf in the kitchen. I'll get some for you. The bathroom's over there," she jerked her head towards another door in the room I didn't notice. "I'll get some of my uncle's old clothes for you. They're going to charity anyway so no one will notice."