Stained

Standing

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not the absence of fear.”

–Mark Twain

                I woke up in darkness with only the light of the moon filtering through the leafy roof the Chance had made for us. I breathed deeply, gulping in air quietly and could only think of how lucky I was that it was a full moon out tonight. I rose quietly, trying not to wake Sean, Ash, or Chance. I didn’t want to bother them just because I couldn’t sleep.

                I came out and saw Avery and Zoey on guard. Zoey nodded at me and Avery just turned his head when he heard my footsteps and grinned slightly when he realized it was me. “Hey.” He whispered.

                “Hey.” I smiled briefly. “Sorry. Couldn’t sleep.”

                “Don’t worry about it Nic, everyone’s been having troubles sleeping lately.” Zoey said with a small sigh.

                I stood beside the water and smiled at how the moon reflected off of the running water and was only slightly saddened by the fact that I couldn’t swim. I let my toes dig into the sand, or maybe it was mud, beneath the flowing water.

                “I didn’t think you’d be up.” Ash’s voice came from behind me.

                I sighed and looked up at the moon. There were no clouds holding the sphere’s light back tonight. I looked back at her with a small smirk playing on my lips. “Neither did I.”

                She chuckled and took a few steps forward and stood slightly in front of me to the right. “True. I wouldn’t have been up thought if it hadn’t been for you getting up.”

                “Sorry.” I muttered, feeling bad that I’d woken her from one of our few nights that we were actually able to rest.

                “It’s fine.” She played with the collar of her shirt and I let my eyes fall onto the wings once more.

                She shifted them slightly, like she always did when she was thinking, and I saw them The scars. Long and short, thick and thin, pale and pink. “Are they from the surgeries?”

                She knew what I was talking about without having to ask. “Yeah. I don’t remember most of it though; I passed out after the first few cuts every time.”

                I let a finger trace one of the long ones and I felt a hatred for the people—no, things— who had done this to her. And they call us monsters. I thought bitterly before saying, “Didn’t they give you something to take away the pain?”

                “They weren’t sure it they could without it affecting me. I’m the first they’ve done this on. They didn’t want to waste all that money on trying things that take away the pain inflicted upon a Stained.”

                I nodded, knowing what she meant. I had been through a lot without anything to take the edge off, all because they didn’t want to pay extra. Besides, the pain was supposed to make us tough, that was the idea at least. “We’ll get them back.”

                She looked back at me. “Don’t get them back for just this, do it for everything.” She said quietly.

                “I’m getting them back for any pain they’ve inflicted upon anyone. For creating people to act like monsters. For taking our lives from us and calling them their own.”