John's P.O.V
"John...?" Jade murmured groggily, like a child after a long sleep.
Her black eyes blinked slowly, her dark lashes batting against her pale cheeks.
'She has lovely eyes., John thought quickly before shaking his head as if it would get the thought away.
"You're alive!" John exclaimed before crushing her into a hug.
He could hear Jade laughing softly. But he could also feel a damp spot on his shirt where Jade face rested. He pulled away gently to look into Jade's teary eyes.
"Why are you crying, what's wrong?" he asked.
"I nearly died, oh God, that felt horrible," Jade choked and John pulled her back into the hug.
"You didn't though, and you won't for a long, long time. I'm here to protect you." John held her tighter.
"I know, thank you, John," Jade's words were muffled into John's shoulder, but he heard, and could feel her smiling.
John finally allowed himself to relax, and a burst of warm happiness spread through his body like wildfire. Jade was back, and safe. And that was all that mattered.
Jade's P.O.V
She awoke suddenly and she felt like she had been asleep forever. Her eyes refused to stay open, so she blinked repeatedly, probably looking very weird to John, who was looking down at her with a strange expression. His eyes burned into hers, greener than emeralds, but warm and soft like velvet.
'He has lovely eyes,' Jade thought before John pulled her up for a hug.
Jade laughed, but she felt tears forming in her eyes.
'My parents, I left my parents!'
"Why are you crying? What's wrong?"
"I nearly died, oh God, that felt horrible," she lied, but it seemed to be a good enough excuse for John, who pulled her back towards him.
She wished she could tell him what had really happened, but she had been sworn to secrecy by Ariel.
***
"Well?"
Jade swallowed hard.
"I want to... I want to go back. I want to live."
Ariel's mouth dropped in surprise, and Jade wondered how many other people rejected this offer. Or how many people had even had the offer! Not many obviously, as Ariel look completely shocked.
"What?! You would rather go back down there?! Everything you could ever want is up here, why would you want to go back?" Ariel questioned, her voice rising higher and higher as she spoke.
"My friends are down there, and Blue."
"Ahh, I see, your sister," Ariel said, composing herself. "The lovely Blue, she misses you y'know. Hasn't stopped looking for you since Christopher took you."
Now it was Jade's turn to gape.
"Christopher? Is that his name?" Jade said venomously.. Ariel tutted under her breath.
"Sorry, I realise the two of you weren't really on a first name basis, or any name basis. The man who took you from your school, Christopher Zeflen. Such a promising young child he was, before he came to hate humanity."
Jade was speechless.
"Well, child. I think it's time for you to go now. But if you breathe a word about this to anyone, your next trip here will be very soon and not nearly as pleasant," Ariel threatened casually with a voice as sweet as sugar. "We can't just have any old person attempting to die and get here. You're the first person to arrive here for a very long time. I'm glad you came, actually, I was quite bored."
"How long?"
"Oh, a few hundred years, I guess? in all my 631 years of life, I have never seen anyone else get the choice of whether to go through or not," Ariel admitted.
Jade nodded slowly, flabbergasted.
"Well, technically I'm 131, seeing as every 500 years an angel dies and then is recreated, or 're born' as you humans would say. I miss having red hair. I used to have the most beautiful, fiery curls, but now they're all gone!" She tugged a pale hand through her golden hair mournfully.
"Er, sorry for your...loss? But what-"
"Well, goodbye!" The 631 year old angel announced cheerfully.
"Wait, will I come here again, next time I'm about to die!" Jade yelled to no avail. A loud ringing invaded her eyes, pushed inside her head and shook her brain.
"Goodbye, Jade Laurdia Jamieson."
***
Then she had woken up in John's arms.
"JADE!" She heard someone shout.
John let her go so she could stand, but she was instantly knocked down again.
"Jade! I'm so glad you're alive!" Imogen squeaked, squishing Jade into the ground.
"Me too!" Jade chuckled.
"Jade! You're awake!"
"You're alive!"
A chorus of voices surrounded her as Imogen bounced away. Melanie and Amory grabbed an arm each and yanked her to her feet. She looked around and her eyes locked with Isabelle's. The girl looked like she had been crying for ages and her body was crumpled slightly, a far cry from the straight-backed, talkative girl she was before Jade had saved her life. Jade approached her, and Isabelle's eyes widened, glittering with un-shed tears.
"Jade! You're alive! I'm so, so sorry, you nearly died and it was all my fault!" Isabelle bawled. Please forgive me!" she pleaded, and Jade did something she wouldn't have imagined herself doing a few weeks ago.
"Of course I forgive you. It wasn't exactly your fault anyway." Jade smiled, and leaned in to hug the girl that had accidentally, nearly killed her.
"Rob can take us home now can't he?" Isabelle sniffled, as Jade released her.
"Er, who's Rob?"
"Oh, sorry, um, Rob's the ferry's captain, or whatever it's called," She explained vaguely.
"Then yeah, Rob can take us home," Jade assured her.
Jade heard footsteps behind her and turned to see a young looking man with a captain's hat on. He looked a bit jumpy, and in Jade's opinion, far too young to be in charge of a ferry.
"You must be Rob. Hi. Um, you're taking us home now, right?" She saw an uncertain, nervous look cross his features.
"Urm, yeah..." he stuttered, scratching the back of his neck, "about that..."
YOU ARE READING
Black Cloaks
Short Story'In a room with no windows or doors the girl sat, leaning against the wall. She had been there so long that the sound of dripping water, or maybe blood, became all she knew...' Jade was taken captive on her 16th birthday by what the kidnapped all ca...
