Golden Wings

Chapter 7~ 1941, The Blue.

I stared around the corner at the boy. He was standing in the hallway near the library, shoulders hunched, standing awkwardly, glancing even more awkwardly at John Maddsen, head of the royal guard. His sandy blonde hair reflected the light, and his green eyes were full of fire. He didn't look any older than me.

"You're..." The boy began, looking anywhere but at John. He huffed, then stared John straight in the eye. "You are my dad."

John hesitated, taken aback from the boy's defiance and urgency. "Yes." He said slowly.

"And I'm here now because..." He glanced at his hands, then at his shining silver wings. "Because I'm- I'm dead." His voice cracked on the word.

John flinched, looking away from the ragged boy. "Yes." He whispered.

"And you've been here, relaxing, for 12 years?" He raised his voice, tears threatening to fall. He stepped towards his father, fists clenched at his sides.

"Kyle, what you have to understand is-"

"No!" Kyle howled, "What you need to understand is that I've been living for twelve years, with that- that witch- while you've been up here, chilling in limbo!" His voice broke, and he looked away. "Do you have any idea of how hard it was for me?" He said quietly.

"Kyle, I-"

"Why didn't you say something? Why didn't you do something?" Kyle asked, still looking at the floor.

"Because I couldn't!" John bellowed, a vein throbbing in his temple. "I couldn't! I don't know how, nobody knows how! There is no way to get back to earth. There was no way to get back to you." He gripped his son by the shoulders, and, after a moment, pulled him into a hug. Kyle tensed, knowing this was a rare gesture of affection from the General, but slowly gave into his father's arms.

"Since you died, every day has been the worst day of my life." Kyle whispered, face wet with tears.

"I'm sorry."

Kyle pulled away, smiling at his father. Walking slowly away, he turned the corner, and smacked straight into me. I fell back, bracing myself for anger, or embarrassment, but instead, this boy switched between two opposing emotions for the third time.

"I'm sorry! I didn't see you there!" He smiled holding out his hand for me to take. Reaching up, I took it hesitantly. "What's your name?" He asked politely, either ignoring or not realizing that I had been eavesdropping.

"Clarisa." I told him, slightly out of breath. "Clarisa James."

"Hm." He looked at me sideways, tilting his head to the right. "Are you British?" He said it as a joke, in the mocking way that sounds as if he replaced the 't' with a dash, making the word sound more like 'Bri-ish' than 'British'.

"Yes." I smiled, still holding his hand. "And you are...?"

"Sorry. I'm Kyle, not of Brittan." He shook the hand that he was still holding, "I'm- Well, I'm new here, I guess you could say, so..." He smiled, eyes glistening."Would you mind giving me a tour?"

"Sure." I gaped, taken aback by this boy, who had definitely known I'd been eavesdropping, wanted me to give him a tour. "Sure." I repeated, trying to figure out exactly how to give a tour. "Uh, shall we go this way?" I pointed behind me awkwardly.

Kyle smirked, sticking his hands in his pockets. "I guess we shall." He said lightly, "Lead the way, Clarissa James."

~

"So you've been here for how long?" Kyle asked.

"Four years." We were walking outside the palace, through the gardens. Our tour had lasted longer than expected, and the sun was getting low, though we hardly noticed. We kept laughing and talking, until I noticed that he'd stopped. "Uh, Kyle? What's up?"

"It's so beautiful." He whispered. I turned to face him, noticing where he'd stopped.

"That's the summer garden." I said lamely, coming to stand beside him.

He stepped inside, awestruck. I followed him, linking my fingers behind my back. He suddenly stopped and turned to face me, a smirk on his lips. "You heard my conversation with my father." He said simply, not accusingly or angrily. He just stated the fact.

"Yes." There was no point in lying to him, he wasn't accusing me.

My answer made him smile more. "Lovely." And with that statement he walked away. I stood there blinking for I moment before I rushed after him.

"What- What do you mean?"I asked. He chuckled, and left the garden. Sighing, I gave up on getting answers.