Wingless {Clifford A.U}

Chapter Twelve

Astrid sat in Luke's car now as they started driving home, Astrid faced the window the whole time while Luke tried to figure out what was wrong. They pulled into the driveway and she got out quickly and went into the house, and Luke chased after her.

"Astrid wait." he said but she ignored him and went straight upstairs. She shut the door and locked it, with Luke standing outside. "Astrid please open up the door."

"No." she said leaning against the back of the door, she couldn't tell Luke, she couldn't risk it.

"Just tell me what happened. I'm worried about you." he said. She swallowed the lump in her throat.

"It doesn't matter, it was nothing." she said and he groaned, leaning his head against the door.

"Please talk to me. It was something or else you wouldn't have left early." he said.

"I don't want to talk about it. Go away Luke, please." she said, her voice cracking. He let out a sigh and she heard his footsteps walking away. She leaned back against the door and covered her mouth to muffle the sobs that she had tried to hold in, and slowly slid down to the floor. What was she going to do now?

+++

Michael walked around town square trying to keep his mind off of Astrid, but no matter what his thoughts always wondered back to her. He thought about how they first met, how she was skeptical and frightened at first but how she trusted him, and he thought about when they were on the roof together when she opened up to him, but mostly he couldn't get the look that she gave him earlier during their argument when she told him to leave her alone. She made it clear that she didn't need him, it kind of hurt. No, actually it hurt like hell.

He didn't understand why, but he had grown very close to her, before she told him to leave her alone. He wanted to go back to her, but she'd probably just tell him to leave again. He ran his fingers through his hair as he walked, watching the other people go about their business. He walked over to a bench that was near by and sat down. The worst part of this whole situation was that he failed completely. Astrid was still depressed, he was supposed to help her, but he couldn't.

Maybe he should just give up, seems like the easiest thing to do, after all, no one needed him anymore. Someone walked up beside him and sat down, but Michael didn't look up, there was no point in it.

 "So, have you decided if you are ready to give up yet?" Michael looked up to see a good friend of his, another angel.

"Calum, long time no see." he said. "It's good to see you."

"You too, but I have to admit, I was hoping it would be a little longer before I saw you again." he said and Michael sighed.

"I failed. Astrid doesn't want me around anymore, she doesn't need me. I couldn't help her." Michael said. Calum sighed and looked at his friend.

"So, are you going to give up on helping her?" he asked.

"I don't know."

"It's not like the Michael I know to give up on something as important as this." he said.

"I don't know, giving up seems like the thing to do. She obviously didn't want me around, or else I'd be with her right now. I want to be with her right now, but she told me to leave her alone." he said.

"Are you sure she doesn't need you? She could've said those things only out of anger. Maybe she didn't mean what she said." Calum said and Michael shrugged.

"I don't know, she was angry with me for leaving, but the way she looked at me when she told me to leave, I can't get that look of hurt and anger out of my head. She sounded serious to me." he said.

"Maybe, you should find out instead of assuming. Apologize for leaving her, or for whatever you did that made her mad at you. Don't give up when it's not too late. She still needs you to help her whether you realize it or not." Calum said, Michael sighed.

"Maybe you're right, maybe I should go back to her." he said and Calum nodded.

"Then go back, and I'll leave." Calum said and Michael nodded and stood up.

"Thanks, for talking me out of giving up I mean." he said and Calum nodded.

"See you soon, but hopefully not too soon," he said, and with that, Calum was gone and Michael started heading back to Astrid.

+++

Astrid stared blankly ahead of her. She had spent the previous hour sobbing until she literally couldn't anymore. Now she was just numb. She was afraid, afraid of Ashton, afraid for the people she cared about. She should've listened to Michael, shouldn't have gotten so angry with him, she missed him.

She hated this feeling, the feeling of literally everything, but nothing at all. It was awful. Luke had come back several times and knocked on the door asking her to leave her room and talk to him, but she never answered. He gave up after a while, he figured she'd come out at least by dinner time, she didn't think so.

She glanced down at her wrists, Ashton's nail imprints still there causing bruises. She saw the scars that were healed now, but still visible. She thought back to when she tried to cover them while talking to Michael, and how he told her she didn't have to in front of him, and showed her his. He knew what it was like. She had stopped over the past few days because of him, because he made her happier than she was, but now he was gone.

She stood up and walked over to her dresser where her picture of her and Luke was sitting and took the back off the frame, but instead of finding her blade she found nothing. She shook her head and sighed to herself. "Dammit Michael."

She looked in her drawers, scattering clothes around the floor. She knew she had another one in here somewhere. Four drawers were emptied before she found her spare wrapped up in a bloodied cloth from a long time ago. She walked over to her bed and sat down with her legs crossed. She rolled her sleeves up and let out a shaky sigh with a single tear rolling down her face. Here's to old habits.

A/N: So here's Chapter 12, I hope you enjoyed. So some chapters that are coming up will be triggering so please I advise to read at your own risk, I'd hate to trigger anyone. Please vote and comment. Thank you for almost 300 reads.

-Xx E.J