Black Wing [Watty Awards 2012]

Chapter 16

My body felt battered and I was still light headed from my encounter with Casey. It felt like time had passed me by, like everything was moving around me, but I remained still. I hadn’t opened my eyes, but I could feel some sort of presence, a powerful, but caring presence. I wasn’t alarmed, but I was curious. I can remember lying in the meadow, after Casey had thrown her last punch at me, seeing a bright light coming from the sky, and someone taking my hand, and guiding me towards heaven. I couldn’t help but think that I was in heaven now, and the presence was some sort of guardian angel.

My eyelids felt like they were secured shut, I wandered how long they had been closed. I managed to pry my eyelids open, everything was bright at first, but after blinking a few times, I was surprised to see that I was in my bedroom, lying in my bed. I wasn’t able to move my body, which made me think that I had been here for a few days. I tried to rumble through my brain, trying to figure out who brought me here, and what happened after I left the meadow. But I got nothing. I couldn’t remember a thing. I looked to my right, the muscles in my neck tightening in the process, I could see something on my pillow, but I couldn’t make out what it was. My whole body felt stiff, but I knew I couldn’t stay here any longer. I needed to see my father, I needed to see Ollie and make sure he was ok, but most of all I needed to see Gabriel, to have him hold me again.

I lifted my arm out from under my duvet, and reached for the mysterious object next to me on my pillow. It felt silky and smooth when my fingers touched it. I lifted it into my view; I was startled to see a black feather clutched in my fingers, the light from my bedroom window reflected off of it, creating a magnificent rainbow across the feather. Gabriel had been here, he was the only person I knew that would leave this.

I managed to lift myself out of my bed, I found it hard to stand properly, I felt like a newborn animal, struggling to stand on its legs for the first time. After standing on the spot for at least five minutes I managed to gather the courage to walk, I took a few steps and eventually found my feet. That’s when I noticed a note on my bedside table; I walked a few more steps around my bed, and grabbed the note. It read:

Please wake up, Angel.

I love you.

 

So Gabriel was here, and I must have been asleep for a long time. Instead of sitting around in my bedroom, I decided to go downstairs and see if my father was in. Then maybe I would get some answers.

 When I got to the top of the stairs, I heard voices coming from the living room, I could make out my fathers voice, but the other voice I didn’t recognize.

“How is she?” the mystery voice said, a hint of sympathy in his voice.

“I don’t know, some people have told me that she may never wake up, but I refuse to believe it” my father said, his voice sounded tired and drained. This must have had a massive effect on him, after losing my mother; he must have been going through an unbelievable amount of grief knowing that he might have lost me too. I couldn’t believe that someone had told him that I may never wake up, who was it that told him this? A doctor? If so, then why were they giving him false information? I couldn’t have been in a critical state, seen as though I’m not in a hospital, and apparently have defied all the odds.

“I wouldn’t expect you to give up so easily Michael” the mystery voice said “I am sure she’ll pull through, you’ve got to have faith. It might help to pray” At that moment a faint recollection of the voice came to me, it was Father Green, the man who held my mother’s funeral.