Wild Rides & Broken Wings

1.

** Switching points of view :p Sorry! It's gonna be easier to portray the story from here on out from Alex's POV. **

      Somber bell tolls echoed through the air as the tiny funeral procession reached the graveyard. I stood mutely beside the freshly excavated grave and listened silently as the preacher said his piece. When the preacher finished, he asked me quietly, "Are you alright?"

      "Not really," I replied quietly. My agile fingers loosened my tie, yanking the knot away from my neck. It felt too much like a noose for my liking.

      Silence stretched between them for a few moments before the older man sighed softly. "Well, if you ever need anything..." he allowed the words to just fade when he noticed that I wasn't listening. The preacher then patted my shoulder before heading back towards the church.

      When I knew I was finally alone, I produced a bouquet of ivory tulips from the inside of my jacket. The blooms were still perfectly formed and I lay them down beside the new headstone that now bore my mother's name. "I guess this is the end of the line for you, Mom..." I murmured to the headstone. Without a care in the world, I continued speaking as though I were casually conversing with someone, "You once told me that Dad was always watching over me in Heaven. I hope you find him up there... As you once said, I most of my looks from him too. Does that make me handsome, then?" A ragged chuckle escaped my trembling lips as I looked up at the semi clear sky. I could feel my composure crumbling. I needed to say my final goodbyes and leave before I shattered completely. As my tears finally made an appearance, I choked out, "Mom, I love you so much... ... Goodbye..." Once the somber farewell left my lips, I hurriedly fled from the grave site and headed towards my car.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

      Unbeknownst to him, Alex had had an audience for his shaky speech. The older man cautiously approached the gravestone once the younger man had driven out of sight, pausing to admire the freshly picked tulips. "You defended him as best you could. Now, he must learn the lessons you silently swore to never teach him... I promise you, I know the perfect people for the job. My colleagues will defend him just as fiercely as you did and they will teach him everything he needs to know about the life he must now live. May you rest in peace knowing your son is well taken care of." He then vanished from the graveyard with a gentle breeze, leaving behind a single black feather.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

      Several months passed by in a haze.

      A tentative knock at my front door shattered the crushing silence that had enveloped my now empty house. At first I tried to just ignore it. When the knocking reached my ears for the third time, I dragged myself from my bedroom and headed towards the annoyance. "Okay, okay! What do you want from me? I'm not interested in taking your... ... survey?" my words tapered off as I spotted the three men standing on my front porch. They looked as though they had just walked out of a horror movie! 

      The tallest one wore what looked to be a flannel shirt under his now blood-stained jacket and held a sawed off shot gun loosely in his hands. His longer hair was flung in all directions and he stared at me with a calculating look. "Can we come in?" he asked me abruptly and shaking me from my daze.

      "Uhhh... No," I sated flatly.

      "Let us in right now, or we'll do this the hard way," the second tallest man barked as he easily shoved me back from the doorway. He had an almost army styled haircut and also wore what I assumed to be almost a gallon of blood all over him.

      I shrank back as they stormed into my entryway, knowing I was completely inept to stop them. With a pistol now aimed at me loosely by the man who had shoved me, my anxiety made my thoughts race and my hushed voice barely made it to my own ears, "I... I honestly have nothing. Nothing of true value. If you want money... My money is on the counter in my wallet. There is honestly nothing else that you could want..."

      "We aren't here to harm you in any way," the third and final man said. His tone was gravely, but had a gentleness to it that the other two didn't have at the moment. He looked to be some sort of accountant or something with his three piece suit and the trench coat. Again, his voice reached me, "My name is Castiel. I'm an-"

      "Cas!" the man with the pistol stormed forward and stopped Castiel from saying anything else. His flinty green eyes were filled with mistrust as he looked me over. He murmured something in Castiel's ear before heading back towards the living room, growling, "Come on. We need to talk."

      My legs went numb. I mutely stepped into my living room and flinched as the taller man grabbed my upper arm, directing me to sit down on the sofa. Were they really going to kill me? Castiel gave me an almost apologetic glance as he blocked the doorway, drawing a horribly sharp looking blade from his trench coat sleeve. Yep. I was gonna die. "Please... please don't. I really have nothing other than the money in my wallet... If there are other valuables here, I have no idea where they are. You... You can toss the place! I... I..." 

      The taller, moose-like man now fixed me with a confused look. "We aren't here to steal anything from you," he stated, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

      I didn't believe a word of it. "Then, why do you all have weapons? Why did you force your way into my house? What do you even want from me?!" Questions flew from my lips as I desperately struggled to understand what in the world was happening. 

      "We want to know your last name, Kid," the man with the pistol stated. He made himself comfortable on the coffee table, not caring that he was staining the wood with blood.

      Now thoroughly confused, I grew slightly defensive, "My last name...? Why do you need to know that?"

      The pistol clicked ominously. A bullet now lay waiting in the chamber. "I'm not gonna ask again, Kid," the man growled. 

      Apparently, this guy wasn't too keen on answering questions. I shrank back from the gun and mumbled, "Ray-... Raynott. My last name is Raynott."

      This bit of information seemed to please all three of them and the man with the pistol abruptly stood. He grabbed me by the upper arm and stated, "You're coming with us."

      Wait, what?! There was no way. No way. I began to struggle now, resisting his grip with all the strength I had. He was caught off guard by my abrupt resistance and I was able to escape his hold. I dove across the room and sprinted for the doorway that led to the kitchen. Castiel and the other man lunged for me, but I just managed to slither past them. They were only seconds behind me as I lunged up the stairs and slid into the office space, locking the door firmly behind me. Angry voices sounded outside the door as I took a second to formulate a shaky plan of escape. This particular office space had several windows and I quickly utilized them. My trembling hands gripped the gutter with everything they had as I climbed up onto the roof. From there, I scuttled over towards the opposite side of the house and then re-entered the house through my bedroom window. I briefly saw my pursuers still at the locked study door before I slammed my bedroom door closed and blocked it with my bookshelf. 

      "Let us in right now, Kid!"

      "Open the door! We're trying to help you!!"

      I didn't bother shouting a response. Wasn't it clear enough that I wasn't going to go with them willingly?! Again, I used my past knowledge to evade them by dropping to the ground from my bedroom window. A black 1967 Chevy Impala was parked in my driveway, but I didn't bother trying to steal it. I sprinted for the thick grove of trees instead, knowing they'd have a tougher time finding me in there. 

      Tree branches tore at my clothes as I sprinted headlong through the brush. I couldn't hear much of anything over my gasping breaths, but I kept going. They couldn't be far behind me, right? Those guys... Why did they want me to go with them? What did my last name mean to them? The biggest question still lingered unanswered in the back of my mind: What were they going to do with me once they caught up to me?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~