Angel Number

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I had been boarded up in this awful room for long enough, burning to spread my wings and fly. My Aunt and Uncle had fastened them to my back since the beginning of summer, concealing them in oversized t-shirts and jackets that I was forced to parade around in during the seldom times I was permitted to leave this dungeon of a suburban household. Most of the time I wore only a wrap of fabric around my chest as I stared longingly for the long stretches of days into the mirage of streets and trees that budded around them. Small children would frolic about, playing ball and kicking cans into the pomegranate hours of the night. I'd grown familiar with our neighbors without once uttering a word to them, watching the freshly married couple across the street enjoy the cool of a sprinkler, clothed in only their swimwear. I had never once gone swimming.

The date of the first day of the academy was etched over and over again on my calendar with a red pen. To amuse myself during these lifeless summer days I'd read and reread the pre-school requirements, feeling my heart flutter with each turn of the letters, inked perfectly by the headmaster of Cross Academy.

The only break in my day was when Delilah and Melody would swoop by my house, their wings glowing in the black cushion of the summer night. Delilah hoisted my window open, slipping through my window. Melody followed close behind.

"We should file a complaint to the Angel Corps for this kind of abuse," Melody grumbled, loosening the binding chains across my wings. I felt them fall down my back, their feathers brushing down my spine.

"Ready?" demanded Delilah, one booted shoe already propped on the windowsill. I extended my wings. "Of course." Delilah and Melody dove out the window, their figures glowing in the black of night. I followed.

Delilah would be a sophomore and Cross Academy, so she had already experienced the volume of the school. "It's incredible. You'll love it. The campus is huge, far different from this commercialized place." I could feel my heart throbbing with excitement. Opening day was tomorrow. Tomorrow!

"Delilah can we please see the school in person." Pleaded Melody, tucking her shiny black hair behind her year.

"Of course not, are you crazy? You should save it till tomorrow, Melody." Melody was Delilah's sister, and my parents were friends with their parents. That's how we became best friends. "But there's something I want to show you too. It's near the school. It's amazing. You'll love it."

"You say that about everything," pouted Melody, rolling her eyes. I flew over to Delilah, clasping my fingers through hers. "Oh, but you have to show us." I was so used to being locked up at home that any whisper of adventure made me shiver.

Delilah started north, and Melody and I followed. 10 minutes passed, and a tangle of forest came into view. We dove down towards it. The crisp air smoothed my auburn hair back. I arched my wings in preparation for landing, my leather boots now grounded on the forest floor. "For someone who never flies, you're quite good it at," admired Delilah. We hovered above the ground, tracing our way through the forest. I loved how free my wings felt.

The trees were sprawling, with barrel-like trunks and crowns of leaves that formed an archway of a tunnel above our heads. Moss covered every surface, lingering in the crevices of rocks and the burrows of trees. The flowers glowed a phosphorescent violet, seeming to lean with curiosity towards us. Green plants sat with their mouth like leaves hanging open, glowing strands of blue bolting out from their jaws. My hands clutched the silken fabric of the sisters's dresses. "Is this forest...magic?" I blubbered, never having touched the workings of magic.

"What do you think, radish-head?" said Delilah.

"Yes?" I hugged closer to the two.

"Yes!" Melody said at last. She plucked the spiraling head of a flower, tenderly tucking it behind my ear. "The flowers are harmless. Other things in the forest aren't." The snapping of one of the 4-foot tall plants mouth seemed to validate her statement.

"This is merely the outer edge of the forest surrounding Cross Academy," Delilah said. She pointed to a cottage nestled in between a cluster of trees, mushrooms sprouting across its border. I yanked at a few coils of ivy that clustered across the walls. Its leaves went for my hand, producing a high pitched scream.

"Careful!" Melody pulled me a safe distance away. I retracted my hand to my chest, feeling the thumping of my heart.

"Did those just hiss at me?" I yelped.

"They're called Screaming Maries. They produce a nasty bunch of scratches on your hand if you're not careful." Melody said.

Avoiding the masses of Ivy, Delilah clicked a skeleton key with a triangle-shaped talisman on its handle into the lock of the door, pushing it open with a grunt.

I ducked under the ivy, entering the seemingly small cottage.