Fragments

II

Inspired by an X-Men movie - I can't remember which one - where there were kids trying to rid themselves of their powers and that included cutting their wings off. So yeah, slightly creepy and disturbing, but enjoy (aesthetic-y and vaguely creepy picture up top 😄).

***

The girl screamed - again. She couldn't pinpoint exactly where the pain was coming from, although she knew. She knew because she was doing it to herself.

I need to be normal. Rid myself of the abnormality. I can be desirable again, be a pretty and normal girl. She repeated this like a mantra, over and over in her head. She would have said it out loud, maybe whispered to herself, but the pain coming from between her shoulder blades was too extreme for her to do anything but scream and whimper and sob.

If she was smarter, less hurried, she might have stolen some sort of painkiller to help her - but she was too hurried, once she made her decision. And perhaps this was her way of punishing herself for becoming an abomination, a blight on humankind.

Blood coated her hands, sticky and warm, and flowing from the wound at an alarmingly fast rate. It didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was getting the things off her, because they weren't a part of her. She wouldn't let them be.

Animal sounds escaped her lips as she writhed on the ground. She lay in an empty cornfield in the dark, having taken herself as far away from civilization as possible, to do what she needed to do by herself and without interference. Low groans and moans came from deep in her throat, evaporating in the cool night air, with none to hear them. The knife in her hands grew slick with blood, making her task all the more harder, but she persevered as she knew she must, biting her lips hard enough to draw blood and curling her toes in her shoes.
Her throat grew raw from screams and moans, and ragged breaths that caught and choked her. Blood, sweat and tears had mixed in a sticky mess on her hands and face and in her hair - but none of that mattered. The blade in her hand worked as her face contorted in pure agony, and indescribable sounds were torn from her lips.
She didn't know how she kept going - but she did, she had to, or she would remain a freak, a disgrace to humanity.
The girl threw her head back, eyes glassy and mouth open with ragged breaths escaping. The stars gleamed above, untouched by her struggles, twinkling on, oblivious to her pain. Her profile was illuminated by moonlight, a hunched and twisted form, wracked with sobs and short breaths.
And yet, she continued. Almost there... Almost done. Come on - and, finally, the deed was done. With a shuddering groan, she slumped to the ground, exhausted and broken.

Blood seeped into the dirt as she closed her eyes and sobbed in agony ad relief. Her panting gradually slowed and although the pain was unbearable, it was not enough to stop her from slipping into a numb unconsciousness.
Hours passed, as the bleeding slowed and then stopped, drying on her arms and hands and back.

And as the sky paled with dawn, revealed was a pair of bloodstained wings, white as snow, laying on the ground next to the girl, and bloody stumps on the girl's shoulders where they were once attached.