Above the Clouds: Night

Chapter Four: The laws of the Clouds

Avery's P.o.V

The Laws of the Clouds were made when the 11th family of angels turned bad. They were made to ensure that it never happened again, that we were safe. Every angel leaned them by heart, and I recited them to myself now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~THE LAWS OF THE CLOUDS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following statements are hereby the laws that shall be followed by angels and other non-human beings to the letter, no matter the circumstance, unless approved by the Flock of Abidance. Breaking one-two of the laws shall result in deprivation of certain privileges, appointed by the Flock of Abidance. Breaking three-four of the laws shall result in deprivation of privileges, or monitoring of law breaker by member of Flock of Abidance. Breaking five or more of the laws shall result in constant monitoring, or out casting appointed by all members of the Flock of Abidance.

1. No angel or non-human being shall be seen by a human unless given written approval of the Flock of Abidance.

2. No angel or non-human being shall exchange conversation or dialect with a human unless given written approval of the Flock of Abidance.

3. No angel or non-human being shall give their identity to a human under any circumstance.

4. The trade or owning of human goods unlawfully is prohibited. If a human good is found, it must be given to a member of the Flock of Abidance.

5.Theft of human goods is prohibited.

6. Contact with a human of any kind is prohibited.

7. Becoming a Guardian Angel is prohibited unless given written consent by the Flock of Abidance.

As seen by:

Flock of Abidance }/F.o.A\{

Then a bunch of signatures. When a new member joined the F.o.A they had to sign, meaning the bottom of the page was likely just one long 100 metre sheet of paper. Gulping, I realised that my friends and I had broken most of them already. Four.

'Are you ok?' hearing a voice, I started, before realising it was only Ash. I wondered how long he'd been watching me.

'Fine. You should sleep.' I answered.

'I can't sleep. I've got too much to think about.' He replied. 'And you look worried. It worries me.'

I pondered his words for a moment. In the greenish light, his pale skin seemed to glow.

'Tell me why you ran away.' I ask eventually.

Ash hesitated, and the feeling of walking on the edge of a cliff overcame me. He could just shake his head, and we'd help him the never speak again. Or he could tell me, and we'd have thrown our lots in with him and there was nothing we could do but follow the tide. I saw he was about to speak, and knew what s coming next, even though it seemed like a lot to tell a stranger.

Ash took a deep breath, and told his story.

'When I was 6 I think, my family and I were moving house. It was me, my parents, and my brothers Jameson and Tobias. We were laughing, watching the snow fall, and generally having a good time. Anyway, we saw a huge ice puddle in the middle of the road. The car drove up to it, got halfway across, and then... Well, we'd slowed down and I was bored... I leant forward, then just started trying to make the car go faster by rocking back and forth in my seat. My parents told me stop, and I-I did, but James and Toby had picked up on what I was doing. They started doing what I had, and I joined in a bit...' breaking off, Ash gave a sniff quietly. When he continued, it was in the voice of someone with a head cold.

'I stopped when the car started skidding. So did my brothers, but it was too late. The car was out of control. It skated along the ice, and i-it hit a fence. The windshield blew in. The hood crumpled. I had ice, or glass maybe, in a cut. I'll never forget what I saw next. My parents... Dad had been driving. His head was all wrong, floppy, hanging against the seat. Mum... The roof had collapsed on her, it had cut her head... There was a crack or something in he-er head. I could see past the blood. There was something there, glistening, throbbing... And then it just stopped. I knew then, I'd lost the two people who would always be there, who'd seen my first steps, and been my first word... They were gone for good.' He stopped again, and I moved forward, but he shook his head, wanting to continue.

'My brothers... They're older than me, they were looking for someone to take their anger out on... We were put in social services, and down the road from where we were being looked after was a girl, she'd have been 6 at the time... They bullied her, she was miserable, and one day i-i stood up t them, told them to stop... They've blame me for our parents death ever since. The worst part is, I know they're right.'

'Don't say that.' I say fiercely. 'It's not your fault.'

'It is! I started it, I'm the reason Jameson and Toby started, I just couldn't sit still for two minutes. If I could, they'd still be-' I cut him off.

'Maybe it's the cars fault for skidding, or the puddle's for freezing. Maybe it's your parent's for driving over it, or your brother's for joining in. Maybe it's the weather's fault for being cold at that moment or the ice's fault for being slippery. A lot of things could be to blame, but pinning the blame, especially when it isn't your fault and it won't bring them back, is pointless.' I tell him. I know what it's like to lose your parents, and blame yourself, and for others to blame you. It's taken me 10 years to get past the loss of my family, and while I'm better than I was, I still have and always will have a huge hole in my life where they should be. I don't want anyone else to have to go through what I did, for so long...

And I didn't realise I'd said that out loud until i saw Ash staring at me, understanding and sympathy in his eyes.

'What happened to them?' Ash inquired.

I heard wing beats, meaning the return of my friends.

'Sorry. Story time's over, my friends are back.' He looked about to protest, then decided better of it.

I walked outside, my eyes barely adjusted to the sudden moonlight, when i was bowled over by a mass of purple.

/-\\//-\ clampettie your character is up next! Bit of background info on Ash, explaining why he left. If anyone was thinking 'Hey, that's weird, he knew her what five minutes and he already told her everything,' it's understandable. I had this written out on story bird so I didn't want to change it too much, but let's just say after so long being hated and ignored he was desperate to be accepted and understood. Is that ok? Don't be a lurker, if you're reading this leave a comment about...What your wings would be if you were an angel! Would you be a bird or have colour? Tell me here! Anyway, not giving anything away but they might be used at some point in Atc day. Rachymelon, you already have a character, so don't try making anymore XD.