Lullaby

Chapter 13 - Pain

“But…”

“But what?” he had caught his breathe finally now but he still didn’t look fit to stand so I made him sit down where we were.

“But we still haven’t talked about… certain things…

“Like what?”

“The fact that I have been watching over you your entire life… especially in your dreams”

“How do you...” I began, how could he possibly know that? But then… how was any of this possible?

“I know about your dreams because I was there Jen. Now please, don’t freak out… but I had to make sure… I had to see if you shared the same soul…” I pulled back, he didn’t care about me… didn’t care about how I felt… it was all about her, his long dead girlfriend as I was getting up I felt him grab my wrist and pulled me back down on top of him “Just stop, stop this!”

“Stop what, I’m not Isabella! I’m not any of those women you might have followed and tricked!” I scolded

“Tricked!? I never tricked anyone Jen, don’t you get it… you ARE Isabella and all of the others… you are one in the same” he was trying to trick me, or maybe he WAS trying to explain. The grip on my wrist tightened and I winced in pain, he folded his wings closer around us… bathing us in a cooling light “Jen, your soul... is reborn… recycled even, but that is what makes you so special… eventually you remember me… but to be taken away… I got selfish this time Jen; I couldn’t lose you… so three months ago… when your accident happened… I was there… it wasn’t an accident”

“Are you blaming me?”

“Heavens no! I cannot tell you what it is… not yet… you’re not ready, but I saved you… I couldn’t let you die… I just couldn’t” the raw emotion that choked his words drove me insane, I just wanted to comfort him, let him know everything was going to be ok… why did I find it so unbearable to be away from him “I was… so selfish…” slowly I saw tiny droplets form on his lashes but he wiped them away as soon as they appeared “Jen you need to know the full extent of the curse… you have the ability to break it…”

“How?”

“By embracing the angel within”

“You’re crazy! I can’t do that… there’s no actual proof that I am what you believe me to be… there’s not any proof that this is real… I’m probably in a psych ward and hallucinating” I began to cry, not bothering to fight it… I wasn’t even going to hide it… I felt so foolish; this couldn’t be real… could it?  He raised his hand and wiped the tears flowing from my eyes, I looked up at him just wanting to believe all that he’d said… just wanting to reach out and touch those wings to confirm I wasn’t crazy.

“No you’re not…”He whispered “Your perfectly sane, Jen I know this is a lot to take in and accept… but I assure you that this is all real.”

“I may sound crazy… can I touch your wings?” He rose a brow at me “It’s for reassurance… I need to know I’m not crazy...” he leaned back slightly before slowly nodding, as I reached out I felt this… this strange feeling… sort of like the feeling you get when you have radiator pants,  you feel snug and all happy inside… well that’s what it’s like for me anyway. The wings were light and cool to touch, reflecting the colour of the feathers “BeautIful…”  I muttered under my breathe

“You know… no one has ever touched my wings before…” I turned to him and smiled wryly “No I’m serious, I never let anyone see them… let alone touch them…”

“How are they urmm…?” I began, not sure how to phrase it correctly

“Going to fit back?” he sighed “With great difficulty… and a lot of pain… I have to practically snap them into place… well dislocate them… no younger generation can do this…”

“How old are you exactly”

“I was there at the beginning…” he tilted his head to the side then asked me to stand back as he said it was time to hide again, so we both rose from where we were sat and walked away from each other, as I was turning around I heard the most deafening screech which was followed by the cracking of what sounded to be… bones.

“Leo!” I shouted, as I stared at him I realised the shiny metallic fluid flowing along the floor…it was his blood… it was one of the most horrifying things I had ever seen… He was hunched over, clutching at his stomach… the wings that spanned wide a few moments ago were now broken in multiple places and bits were scattered on the floor… I felt sick; the sight repulsed and killed me inside.

“D...Don’t… W-Worry…” he managed to say whilst gagging, I didn’t know how he could keep doing this to himself, he must have done this for centuries… it was disgusting… horrifying… I began to take a step toward him “No!” he screeched “Please… I’ll be… I’ll be fine… trust me…” He straightened up as if to prove he could cope with the pain that was evident on his features before making what were now spines of wings, once more snap in two before retracting under his shoulder blades, his face was covered in sweat and he was deathly pale. Leo  looked at me with the most weakest of expressions, I knew he wouldn’t last long on his feet if I didn’t go to him, as I walked closer he began to sway on his feet before lurching forward… quickly I darted forward, holding out my arms to catch him

“Leo…” I whispered as he fell in my arms, he was surprising light for someone so strongly built…

“Mmmm... Mrmm…” He moaned in his unconscious and fever like state, id was getting increasingly cold by the minuet and as much as I didn’t know if he felt the cold or not… I certainly wasn’t going to risk it so I rummaged around in his back pocket for the keys to his car, put them in my mouth so I could hold them and then began to yank and pull him to the door. I lay him down in front of the back seat whilst I shoved the key in the door, twisting it to the right side to unlock it. Once unlocked I moved him out of the way again before climbing in the car, thus pulling him in with me… laying him on the seat, I opened the other door so I could lay him down correctly before shutting before doors again then running to the boot to try and see if I could find a blanket or something ‘This is so tiring..’ I thought to myself, and it was too… I was really working up a sweat doing all this.

  Looking in the boot all I managed to find were more ‘spare clothes’ of his ‘It’ll have to do’ I thought and grabbed the leather jacket and black t-shirt, I then remembered the top that he had on earlier and ran to where we were sat earlier, picking that up I ran to the car, opened the door and carefully placed the clothes over him to keep him warm, I thought I had better turn the heating on low too… Just in case.

“Mmmm… J-Je…Is-Isa-Isabe…” He was murmuring her name; I let out a sigh… I was glad he was ok, even though saying her name made me insanely jealous...

“Ssshhhh…” I cooed to him, whether he could hear me was a completely different matter… but it felt nice to assure him in any way I could, I couldn’t drive him anywhere... A: I didn’t know how, B: No licence anyway… so I would have to sit it out with him and hope to God that he would be ok.

  I looked at my phone it was nearing 6:00pm, Leo had been passed out for almost two and a half hours now… maybe I should do something… deciding to follow my own instinct for a change I got out of the front and walked around to one of the back seats, I climbed in and shut the door behind me… I was practically lying on top of him… but I needed to check his vitals and see if the fever had either gone… or if it had gotten worse, feeling my cold hand on his warm head made him flinch a little… but it was a start I guess.

“Leo… Leo can you hear me?” I softly whispered into his ear

“Y-Ye…” He croaked, his eyes were still closed but his fever seemed to have faded

“You ok?”

“Mmm…” I felt a bubble tickle around my head as I gazed at him, he looked so innocent and beautiful… just lying there… slowly I leaned forward, taking in his scent… the strong musky smell of his sweat mixed with the cologne he had worn that day and then… taking a breath, I kissed him fully forced on the lips, savouring the moment and making a mental picture… his lips were soft and fit perfectly against mine, my heart fluttered like the butterflies that swam in my stomach… no matter how hard I wanted to avoid it, wanted to deny it… I couldn’t…