Wingless

Pt. 1

{{The 2 names I used for this actually have a very significant & deep meaning behind why I wrote this, so:
Angelette: comes from a Spanish origin meaning 'Angel'.
Aubrianna: Strong/Noble}}

Sometimes a person leaves and it just hurts. Still, there's the rare occasion where a person leaves and you're left with a strange mixture of joy and emptiness. Ironic how that same joy and emptiness was there when they walked into your life. You aren't handed a person for no reason. You're handed them because you need them.

*****
She'd been broken for a little too long to automatically see who was picking up her pieces. She'd been working in an office for almost a year, taking coffee to those who were apparently far too busy to get it themselves. The whole morning had been a blur as she ran back and forth between meeting rooms. As she poured what seemed like her 8 thousandth cup, her elbow hit the cup beside her, sending the steaming liquid down the front of her teal blouse and down the cabinet. A woman ran over grabbing a wet cloth from the counter, handing it to her.
"Thanks." She muttered, dabbing at the stain.
"A little vinegar will take that right out." The woman smiled. "I'm Angelette by the way."
"Aubrianna."
It was silent as the woman wiped down the counter and poured coffee back into the cup. Aubrianna admired her while still cleaning her shirt, wondering why the woman was helping her.
"Are you new here?" Aubrianna finally asked.
"Been here a couple weeks." She replied.
"Why've I never seen you?"
"I try not to ask for coffee. Not with all those important business people running you mad to get it for them."

Aubrianna chuckled and tossed the rag on the counter before carefully grabbing the two cups.

"I guess I should let you get back." Angelette smiled.
"I'm sure I'll see you around." Aubrianna replied, smiling. They each turned and walked separate directions.

****//60 years later
"Aubrianna, your daughter is here to see you." The cheerful nurse said, moving aside for the woman to enter the room.
"How is she?" The woman asked the nurse, as if Aubrianna couldn't hear.
The nurse was silent, "Her memory is worsening. She seems to lay awake most nights. As if waiting for something."

"Hey, mom." The woman said, taking Aubrianna's hand. "I was here a couple days ago and you were telling me a story. Do you remember? About the-"
"Yes, yes, love. I remember. Seems to be the only thing I'm actually remembering these days." The old woman chuckled, carefully sitting herself up in bed.
"What happened with Angelette? Did you see her again?"
"Many times, dear. Angelette and I became quite close, despite our few, but many differences.
"What made you two so close, mom?"
Aubrianna again chuckled, her wrinkled fingers twisting together as her mind spun backwards in time.

*****
"Hope's a funny thing." Angelette said, as she sat across from Aubrianna at her work station. "It looks you straight in the face and somehow your eyes go blind and you see everything but hope."
"It's so much easier to see darkness, to just give in. Hope almost seems impossible. Like a fairytale."
"Almost, yes."
"People have always said that humans take the easy way out..."
"Blinding out hope is a lot easier than searching for it."
"That makes two of us."
"I suppose, we're two of a kind."

*****
"What happened to Angelette?" Her daughter asked, intrigued more about this woman. "Did you stay friends?"
"Oh, of course. She left a couple years after me and your fathers wedding. Quite a party thrower." She smiled, again remembering.
"Why'd she leave? Did she get a new job?"
"Eventually, yes. She'd fulfilled her purpose and it was time for her to move on. She'd never admit it, but she didn't have a reason to stay there anymore."

*****
The work day had just ended as Aubrianna waited patiently at Angelette's desk. She sat spinning in the chair when something caught her eye. She leaned down and picked up a small glass ornament reading "Pain is real, but so is hope." She smiled to herself and blinked away the tears, feeling a strange feeling of warmth and serenity. She carefully sat the ornament back on the shelf as Angelette walked up with a smile.

"Ready to go?" She asked.
"Course."