Born In Hell

22

"Cow Bells, get up," Al said raising me up in my bed.

I flopped back down and crawled under my covers. I was in a tight ball, but he still managed to get me uncurled. So he huffed and picked me up.

"Fine I'll just carry you there."

I grumbled and tried getting out of his arms, but he held his grip. "Alastor, mama is going to be upset if I'm not in my room."

"Yeah, well I have a present for you so she's just going to have to deal with it."

I told Al I didn't want a present. My birthday is not a big of a deal. That only meant I spent one more year here in this hell hole. Even mama doesn't want to celebrate it or even try to acknowledge it, so why bother. It only upsets her and hurts me.

Plus I've been doing good this week. This might actually be the first week I've gotten no punishments. That was a gift enough. I didn't need anything else but that.

Al took me to his room and shut the door, placing a chair under it. He told me to keep quiet like I dared to talk in the first place. I'm not going to be happy if I get in trouble for this. I just wanted to go back to bed and dream about something more satisfying like I don't know death or something along those lines.

He dug deep in his closet and pulled out a small box and a huge dress bag, placing that on his bed. He smiled at me and nodded for me to open it.

I picked up the small box and opened, but immediately threw it back down. Inside was a small gold locket with a cross on it. After the whole drowning thing, being around crosses wasn't a pleasant feeling for us let alone gold anything. I'm not even sure why he got it in the first place.

"No, no, it's okay, I promise."

He picked up the locket and placed it around my neck. I flinched expecting it to burn me, but it didn't. Not even a bit. It was cold, but a kind of cold that made you want to lay your head against it.

"It will protect you. Some say it was made from a fallen who wanted to get on the right path again. I just hope it'll keep you from harm, but go on and open the second one."

I smiled at him and opened the bag. Inside was this huge feather. It seemed almost translucent, but bright and made from a cloud. It was the softest thing I've ever touched. At the same random moment a shiver ran down my spine. I pulled away and stared at it in awe.

"Where did you get this," I asked him.

He smiled and draped his arm around my shoulder. "That little sister is a secret. One that I will tell you when you're older."

I shook my head at him and looked at the feather one last time. I hugged him tight, pressing my head into his side. I wish I could feel his heartbeat on my temple like I used to, but sadly I can't. At least I knew that I wasn't in this whole thing alone.

I looked at him and he frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Do you think God hates us?"

"No, He would never.... Don't say things like that." I wanted to say more but he wouldn't let me. "Listen, Belle, somethings just have to get screwed up for it to know how to handle the bad stuff. You have to know how to hate to love, just like you have to crawl before you walk. We don't come out of the womb excited about being born when all we want is to stay somewhere safe.... You're just being built up for something the world has yet to see. So don't think for one second that He hates you, because as far as I know you're the best thing that's stepped foot in my life and if people can't see that in there's than that's too bad. God loves you just as he loves everyone else, He doesn't need to go through the rocky road like some people. You're special. We both are. Okay?"