Death Has Wings

The Pact

I was six when I started primary school. On the first day, I had gained only one friend. Alice. She was so kind to me. Even after she saw what I could do.

*****

I stepped through the double doors that were the entrance to the school. I was hit by the sound of laughter. It wasn't the other children. It was the demons. They'd followed me from home. They were here. They would never leave me alone.

"C'mon, Clark. Let's go to your new teacher." A woman said with a smile. She offered me her hand but I just stared at it. I didn't want anyone to touch me. "C'mon, Clark. Let's go." Her smile wavered a little. She was uncomfortable. Let her be.

"Can you hear them?" I whispered. "Can you hear the laughter?" I looked up at her. Her smiled had disappeared completely. She shook her head.

"No, I don't hear the laughter, honey. Now, let's go to your new classroom." She grabbed my hand and started to pull me through the corridors and into a relatively large room. I shook free from her grip as soon as she pushed me through the doorway. Children turned and stared at me. They fell silent. Their eyes burned into me, just like the demons'. I stood there, motionless. I was too frightened to move, in case one of them would attack me. The years spent watching wild animal documentaries at home had really taken their toll.

"Miss Wattson, there's a new kid here." One of the children shouted. A rather tall woman emerged from behind a board, a grin on her face. She walked up to me and knelt down.

"Hey there, you must be new." She tried to take my hands but I stuffed them in my pockets. I felt like using bad words, just like father did. I decided not to, since I didn't want to get in trouble. I nodded. "Great!" She stood up and motioned for me to sit between two children. "Here, sit with Alice and Jay. They'll help you."

I sat down between them and removed my hands from my pockets. Jay kept his back to me, shifting slightly at my presence. Alice, however, was far from ignorant.

"Hi. You'll be fine sitting here. I'm Alice by the way." She smiled at me, then pointed to Jay. "That's Jay. He's less friendly but once you get to know him, he's really kind. He's like that with everyone." I nodded, not wanting to speak. "What's your name?" She inched closer to me, now perching on the edge of her seat. She was really eager to hear what I had to say.

"Clark." I looked at the table, my stomach dropping as if I had revealed a massive secret.

"That's a nice name. I'll show you around later. There's loads of spots that're interesting. I like the little lake at the end of the field the best. It gets really magical in the summer, when all the flowers bloom and the fish thrive." Her eyes began to go glassy at a memory. I cleared my throat but she kept staring right through me. I didn't know what was happening. I tried to touch her but she started to speak in Latin.

"Angeli dicunt tibi fili mi. Eundum est. Respondeo dicendum eorum vocet mea parvulus." Her voice wasn't hers. It was more like a demon's. I stood up so fast that I knocked the chair over. Everyone turned around to see what was happening. Alice kept repeating the phrase over and over in the demon's voice. My head began to hurt. My heart felt as if it was going to explode. Jay was shaking Alice, shouting her name. The demon's laughter grew louder. Closer.

I ran out of the room, not bothering to stop until I got out of the school. I needed to get as far away as I could. I heard footsteps. Someone was running after me. I didn't care as long as it was human. Jay turned the corner and looked around. When he saw me, he ran up to me, out of breath and eyes filled with fear.

"Clark, you need to come back. She's okay, she doesn't remember anything. We need you to tell her what happened." He gasped for breath. I shook my head and stared at him.

"No. I can't go back. The demons will laugh at me again. I don't want them to laugh. It's driving me insane." I turned to walk away but Jay grabbed my arm and pulled me back. "Let go of me." I growled. It was not my voice. Jay didn't let go, he just pulled me back towards the school. "I said let me go."

Jay stopped and let me go. He was staring at me, as if waiting for a command. I decided to have a little fun. I smiled. I thought of Jay getting ran over. I smiled even more. I heard more footsteps. It was our teacher.

"Okay, boys, time to go back in." She went to Jay but stopped about two metres away. His pupils had taken over his eyes. My smile widened. I couldn't control myself. I willed Jay to walk into the road and lay down. He did just that. The other children came sprinting out to see the commotion. They were silent, which was all the better for me. I saw the car coming before the others did.

It sped over Jay's body, breaking bones and crushing organs. There was nothing anyone could do to save him. The teacher rushed over to his corpse, tears streaming down her face. The driver of the car backtracked to the two of them. He was a sorry excuse for a man. He kept rambling on about how sorry he was and how it was an accident. I could tell he didn't care about what happened. Just like me.

I turned and started to walk back to the school. I wormed my way through the crying and screaming mass in the doorway. The smile remained on my face as images of Jay's mangled body stuck in my mind. I started to laugh.

"Y'know, it's not good when you laugh at a time like this." It was Alice. I turned back round to see her with her own smile.

"Why aren't you crying? You should be dev...de...deva...stated. Yeah, devastated." I couldn't say big words that often, but this word seemed fitting. She giggled.

"You're cute." She stared into my eyes. I felt uncomfortable. "Now, let's go. I need to show you something." She offered me her hand. I took it. I decided right then and there that she'd be my best friend. I just needed to ask her.

"Will you be my best friend?" The words fell out of my mouth. She looked at me and smiled.

"Of course. In fact, let's make a pact. We'll always be best friends and if one of us moves school, the other will follow. Okay?"

"Sure." I smiled back at her. For the first time in my six years of existence, I felt happy.