Whispers on a Wing

Chapter Twenty Five

Thirty five minutes later we were sitting back in my room, both sitting cross legged with more food in front of us than I could dream of eating.

Alice had gone overboard, there was no doubt about that, but I couldn't be more grateful for her.

The chicken legs had worked with Harper. Alice had stopped off at a store on the way to buy all sorts of snacks for us as well as two freshly cooked pizzas and a small pack of four raw chicken legs. She said she'd gotten a weird look from the checkout lady, but Alice just laughed.

Harper was now happily chomping down on her treat outside, sitting in her usual tree just outside my bedroom window. I couldn't see her, being so high up in the branches, but I knew she was there from the occasional scratching and chomping I heard as her beak broke through the bones.

"So where did we get up to?" She asked, stealing a slice of pepperoni pizza, throwing her head back as she caught a bit of stray cheese that tried to slick to the other slices.

She was in another pair of leggings, bright pink this time, and the t-shirt she had on had the phrase unicorns are real on the front in rainbow font, an image of a my little pony underneath with a matching rainbow mane and tail, a horn sticking out of its forehead.

I'd laughed when I'd seen it, asking her if I was the one who made her believe in mythical beings or whether she'd always believed in them, but she'd just rolled her eyes and shouldered past me.

Her brown curls were in their usual super high ponytail, the died blond ends sticking out from a scrap of silk she'd tied around her head which she said was for protection, whatever that meant.

She finished the mouthful of pizza, looking over at me expectantly and I sighed, shoving in Doritos to try and buy myself more time.
Dredging up my past was hard, it made my body panic as if I was actually back there, reliving the entire ordeal, but I knew she wouldn't let me get away without talking.

Alice was like a dog with a bone, once she'd set her mind on something she was hell bent on getting it.

"When my parents tied me to the banister, leaving me hanging there from my wrists like some form of animal, they started saying all these weird words, drawing symbols on the floor in red paint. The air smelt weird, as if they were burning some weird candle, but I can't remember the smell of it, I'd blacked out shortly after smelling it."

Alice remained still and silent in front of me, not even reaching for another slice of pizza as she stayed locked onto me.

"When I woke up..." I trailed off, struggling with this part of the memory. "I woke up to my dad in front of me forcing my head down with the grip he had on my hair, and my mum behind me. At first I couldn't figure out what was happening, I thought it had all been some weird dream, but then my mum started carving into my back with a knife. It was right where my new wings had formed. She was slashing at my skin as if she was trying to somehow cut them out or something, but they had fused to my spinal cord, no way for them to be removed without the possibility of paralysis."

Alice lifted her hand to her mouth, covering her face as her expressions shifted from shock, to horror, to anger.

"Those bastards," she growled.

"Yeah," I chuckled. "Mummy dearest left me with some lovely souvenirs that day, thankfully they're on my back so I can't see them. I think if I had to look at them everyday I'd go insane."

"So, why were they trying to cut them off? Do you think it was to see if they could remove them?" She asked.

I shrugged, fiddling with a gummy bear as I pulled it taught before releasing it, repeating the pattern. "Honestly I'm not sure."