Black Wing [Watty Awards 2012]

Chapter 4

I walked through the woods, which were just over the road from my house; I knew exactly where I was going. I came here at least three times a month to tell my mam what I had been up to, I hoped she would be able to hear me, I knew it was highly unlikely, but it didn’t hurt to hope.

I reached my spot, it was a secluded area, surrounded by tall trees, where I was sitting there was a rare cluster of tulips, I mainly chose this place because of them, my mother loved tulips more than any other flower, so it was perfect.

I sat on a sturdy log, which must have fallen from the tree I was leaning on. I sighed heavily a looked at the picture of my mam, she looked as radiant as ever, cradling me in her arms when I was only a few hours old, she was still in her hospital gown, her hair was still sticking on her face after giving birth, but no matter what the circumstances were she always had a smile on her face, and I admired her for that.

“Mam, you don’t know how much I miss you. Me and dad still haven’t spoken about what happened, I'm hoping that will change soon, I can see he is holding it all in, no matter what he said to you, he loved you, I know he did.”

I started to cry, my voice was unsteady but I continued. “I saw Gabriel at school today, he was still unpleasant, but we did speak to eachother, some would call it progress, I call it one step forward two steps back. I don’t know what he wants from me, mam. I wish you were here; I would give anything to have you back here with me. Sometimes I wish it was me who died”

All of a sudden a gush of wind blew in my face, and I knew she could hear me. “When you left, it was like you left a gap that can’t be filled, but I hope I can make you proud me mam, and I hope you have found peace, wherever you are. To say that I missed you would be an understatement, I love you, mam”

I sat there a little while longer, looking at her photo, all of a sudden I was struck with a sudden blow of sadness, it was unbearable,  that’s when I heard some sort of crackling. I froze and looked around, but I couldn’t see anyone, I looked behind me, and there was a dark figure strolling in the woods, it looked like it had something hanging from its back, but I couldn’t be sure.

Not knowing whether I was safe or not, I stood up walked back the way I came, the sadness was still hovering over me like a permanent cloud, but as soon as I reached the edge of the woods, towards my house, it was gone.

*

The next afternoon, I was sat at the table during lunch, talking with Katie and Jack, they were discussing the prom, I didn’t really have any interest whatsoever in the subject so I didn’t say anything, I just sat there and listened.

“So, who are you taking to the prom?” asked Katie, her face flushed a rosy red.

“I was thinking about asking this girl in my Mathematics class, but I'm not sure she interested” Jack said. “What about you?”

“Well, I was thinking about asking someone, but I think he’s planning on asking someone else” I saw Katie’s face drop when she realised Jack hadn’t taken the hint, she had liked Jack for a while now, and it was starting to get on her nerves that he hadn’t even noticed her, that was pretty much how I felt about Gabriel.

“Who are you going with Lia?” Jack asked, it annoyed me when he called me Lia, after all that wasn’t my name.

“No-one, I'm not planning on going, and my names Amelia”

He was taken aback by my straight forward answer, but I knew he wouldn’t have taken it to heart.

“What do you mean your not going? Are you for real? You’ve got to go! I tell you what, if I don’t find a date, why don’t we go together?” Katie asked.