Before the Angels Fall

Chapter 14~ A Timeless Cruise

Stephanie walked down the dark gray corridor of her house. This time, she stopped to notice the pictures hanging on the walls. They depicted a better life, one that was long past and too far behind to be remembered and picked up and reminisced about.

Smiles. That's all she saw in that dark hallway. Baby pictures and family pictures, but most of all, smiles. Too many to count. It seemed to light up the hallway, but only momentarily. Then it went away in an instant and disappeared like some faint memory.

Her eyes were blue, a clear blue, the one that matched the color of the sky. However, no light was reflected in those eyes now. The dark hallway eradicated all the passing light. Somehow, Stephanie could still see the pictures on the wall. As if she memorized them from staring for so long.

The first picture depicted her first snow. It seemed insignificant now, however the more Stephanie thought, the more she realized that it was on that day where everything changed. And it started out on a pretty insignificant day.

It had been snowing. A lot. More than the usual amount of snow in winter. Stephanie's brother, Evan, was there, scooping up snow and launching it at Stephanie, who was merely three at the time.

"Evan!" A sharp voice cut through the air, icy as the frigid wind. "Stop hurting your sister!"

"Tch," he muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets.

And this was only the beginning of a huge crack that would split the family apart.

Stephanie hoisted herself up from the pale snow, only to stumble back down. As she lay on her back, she saw a feather drift down, perhaps from a nearby tree. Eyes prodding, she inspected the feather while her eyes followed its every movement, as though it were to escape any moment.

She heard her parents yelling about something and then heard her brother's voice join in. And the only thing that Stephanie did was block out the sound, all of it, until she heard nothing more. All was silent in her own, peaceful world. She was alone.

Her house had thick walls, best suited for when fights arose and shouts increased in volume. That happened quite frequently, the fights and the shouting, too frequently for delicate Stephanie. And to defend herself, she created a hard shell around her, to protect her fragile self. And only then, could she finally move forward.

"Oi, Stephanie!" Stephanie turned around, only to realize that it was merely a phantom voice inside her head. She spun around, facing a picture of her smiling with her friends, Cassandra, Nanae, and Ariana. Smiling slightly, Stephanie remember vividly all the memories of being with her friends, their fights, their arguments, their idiotic friendship, their smiles, their laughter, their jokes....

But happiness can't last forever. Just like how a snowflake melts, its beauty lasting for only a fleeting moment, happiness can last like that, too. Stephanie knew that much.

In fact, she probably was the happiest with her friends, and the worst when she was with her family. Her demented family with its many holes and problems, blacked-out imperfections. On the outside, they were simply a happy family. So simple, so neat. However on the inside, there were too many gaps to account for. What's the point of a family if there is no happiness, no love, no togetherness? What's the point of living a life like that, a life where there is no point in living in? Where family doesn't mean happiness or acceptance or love?

Another one of Stephanie's memories floated by, obscuring her vision with only the scene playing. Ariana and Louis had taken her out one day, as a nice "play-date". They had reached the park and sat underneath a tree. Louis suddenly stood up and ran to the center of the park, atop a round hill that appeared gargantuan from where the tree was. Grinning widely from ear to ear, he closed his eyes and inhaled. "What a swell day it is, isn't it, Stephanie?"