Black wings, Snow, and Sand

Chapter 5: I'm not alone

It takes just about as long as it did when we were collecting but we managed. We course through the continents and finally start in America. We decided to split up and soon I'm home.
I glide through the streets of Burgess. I think about how no matter what, this place will always be my home. I remember each road, and building like the back of my hand.
I'm about to enter a home to plant my gift when something stops me. It's Victoria, I can't see her face but I'd know her wings anywhere. She's on both knees, facing a child's bed. Flurries swirl through me again. She starts to sing a lullaby.

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy, when skies are grey
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine way...
The other night dear, while I lay sleeping
I dreamt I held you, all through the night
When I awoke dear, I was mistaken so I laid my head down and cried...
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy, when skies are grey
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away.....

Her voice flows through the air into my ears, I've never heard anything so...heart-warming. I find myself touching down slowly on the ground and quietly walking toward her.
I'm about to put my hand on her shoulder to let her know I'm here, when she gets up and turns around. She almost screams from how startled she is, but before she can I quickly put my hand over her mouth.
" it's ok. It's just me." I say while smiling, her skin is soft in my palm. She relaxes, so I release my hand from her mouth.
" you scared the daylights out of me" she whispers.
" I'm sorry I didn't mean to. I heard you singing. Your amazing." She blushes and looks down embarrassed.
" thank you" She looks up at me then looks down again to her feet. I realize I'm very close to her and don't want to make her uncomfortable, so I move to the other side of the bed. I look down and see a familiar face. Jamie. She looks at him too.
" Tooth told me he lost his tooth in a snow sledding accident... You wouldn't have anything to do with that would you?" She smiles and asks, kind of sarcastically.
I quietly laugh, then look over to the wall and see a picture that Jamie had drawn of himself gliding through the air as his friends watch from bellow.
"It was a good day for him apparently..."I say.
She smiles again then looks at Jamie with blue eyes and lightly strokes his short brown hair. Now might be my chance.
"North told me that something happened between you and Pitch.... And I don't-"
" You want to know what that something was." She say without skipping a beat. I'm baffled how calm she is about it, but I don't say anything. She sees my bewilderment and starts again,"it's ok. North told me you were curious. Its kind of a long story though."
" I think we have enough time."
" true. Well I'll explain something's real quick before I tell the story. I do remember somethings of my past..."
" like what?" I press on.
" I remember who my father was, that my mother died giving birth to me, I was mute because I was born with deformed vocal cords, before I became me, and that song was the same lullaby my father used to sing me when I was little." I process this all in. I feel confused yet still wanting to let her tell her story. She looks at me with deep blue eyes.
"I can't remember really anything else it's all very blurry. I remember waking up in the middle of the forest you found me in... I was shocked at the fact that I could talk." She laughs emptily. " Anyway, I get up, but I feel very heavy, I look behind me and I have huge raven wings. I couldn't believe it! I then get worried about I think a royal monarch of some sort, I started calling out, Your highness! Your highness! But no answer. Then I think about my father, and start running toward what I think was my village. Of course I realize I can fly but I still didn't know how to. Soon I get there and I see my father. He has his face in his hands and he's weeping heavily and umm..." Her voices kind of cracks and she looks like she's trying her best not to cry. " Umm... I run toward him and I... I try to hug him, but I...I go right through him..." She sniffs, trying her hardest not to cry.
"And I... I start to panic and I remember screaming 'Papa, Papa', but he wouldn't look at me."
She can't hold it back anymore, tears run down face, but she quickly tries to wipe them away. " I...I... Look down and he's leaning against a wagon...and...and I look and I...I see..." She pauses as the tears roll down her face. It starts to rain hard outside. She breaths deeply trying to calm herself down, I move over to the her side of the bed and put my hand her shoulder. "Me. I see myself laying in the wagon. Dead." She tries to calm down," the man driving the wagon tells my father that I died, falling out of a tree and I bloody broke my neck." She tries to stop crying, but the tears roll on, and so does the rain. She continues slowly,
"my father walks slowly home... And he walked in... He...he grabbed his gun..." She start closes her eyes.I can't believe it... I watch, my heart is tearing as she proceeds.
" ....And...and he....he..." She burrows her face in her hands. She whispers, to herself mostly," I couldn't do anything, I couldn't do anything, but just hold him in my arms..."she looks up again, her face is damp. I look over to a bedside table, that's right beside her, it has a box of tissues. I grab a few and give it to her. She takes them, and tries to smile," thank you. I'm sorry. I don't mean to be like this, he wouldn't want me to cry..." She wipes her face and the rain stops.
"Soon our neighbors came and took him away, they were such nice people. I ran to the forest and cried for what seemed like hours. That's when Koz- Pitch apparently heard me... He comes out of the shadows and I'm startled at first, but I slowly started to trust him, he told me that he can help me. He looked more human back then, his eyes where brown and his skin was as pale as mine. We were the bestest of friends. He taught me everything I know, flying, fighting, I'll admit it he took care of me. One day it all changed." She looks up at me with a sort of serious look. " That day I was sitting under an old oak tree, just closing my eyes, listening to the sounds of nature, when I hear running. I turn around and see Pitch running and gasping for breath, he spots me and yells 'FLY! FLY!', I hadn't a clue what he was running from, until I saw them, fearlings....demons. I start to fly as fast as can toward him, but the fearlings had already engulfed him in darkness. They fled as I came forward. He laid on the ground unconscious his skin turned this sort of silver, as you obviously have seen. Like my father I couldn't do anything but hold him. I started to sing to him that same lullaby... It always calms me down. It was about bloody nighttime by the time he finally woke up, but when he opened his eyes they were a piercing yellow and filled with so much hatred, he pushed me away, got up and started pacing, then looked back at me, I was speechless nor could I move. He moved quickly toward then he...he kissed me, I tried to push away but he's always been stronger than me, he whispered in my ear, 'you will be mine'."
" how did you get away?" I ask.
" I did what any woman would do in that situation, I kicked him in a place where no man should be kicked, well of course unless he deserved it..." She responds. I try not laugh, but utter a snicker instead. She smiles sadly at me.
" what happened after that?" I press further.
"We fought. You gotta remember he's the one who taught me how to fight, so of course he beat me. Then with one swipe of his hand on my head..... He took them... Most of my memories, and abilities, because of this, the children can't see me either." She frowns and looks down to her hands, then balls then in fists.
"You know, I don't know why I'm telling you all of this," She chuckles at herself, " I... I guess it's because, you have the same eyes as he did, my father. Handsome, and blue."
She gives a small smile toward me. I never had anyone trust me like she does. I've never talked, nor listened to anyone like this. I reproduce every word that she told me, in my mind, and each rips at my heart.
Without thinking I hug her tight. I can tell it surprises her, but she slowly hugs me back. We sit there for a few seconds, before releasing one another. I want to tell her that Pitch doesn't deserve her, and that I'd never let him hurt her, that her father loves her, to tell her that everything will be ok, but I can't form the words.
" I'm sorry" I say instead.
" Oh, don't be. You didn't do anything. But thank you."
"For what?"
" for listening." The feeling I get feels unfamiliar. Its like I don't feel alone anymore.