Dark Wings

Dark Wings Chapter Two

Dark Wings

2

The cracks and bellows of the sky continued along with the deepening silence inside our yellow shelter. Only it wasn’t really a shelter in substance but a cage: a cage full of sheep with a hungry wolf thrown in.

We knew, I knew, that something darker than the falling night sky was just waiting to happen. So we waited, afraid all the time that that something darker would explode in our faces by a cough, a sneeze, a tap, or a twitch of a muscle. Nobody dared make the slightest of movements than the rising and falling of our chests as we took in deep calming breaths to force our hearts to still. I was almost certain that the wolf could hear my panicky heartbeats despite my expressionless face judging from the frequency of his glances.

There was nothing in the world I wanted to do than to gulp, but I was too scared to risk it. Call me chicken-shit, but under the circumstances being called awful names was a better alternative than waiting for the something darker to happen to me…to any of us.

Uh-uh, no sir. Thank you very much.

Then a phone rang. Loudly. Horrifyingly. Deathly. I bit my bottom lip to contain a gasp, but some others got the excuse to relieve their bottled-up tension with a shriek.

I winced, expecting the sound of gunfire and another dead or dying body sprawled down the floor.

It was as if we were suspended in time, waiting, my mind already imagining what could take place.

Nothing came.

The ringing persisted like an unreachable itch.

“Hey!” The wolf called, motioning with his weapon. I stared at his face; not bothering to avert my gaze knowing my life depended on it. “Hey bitch, answer that fucking phone or I’ll blow your fucking brains out!” A sob came from a girl near the back. I still refused to look away, keeping my gaze straight. “I said answer it! Didn’t you hear me, huh, bitch?! Answer the fucking phone!” The gun was jabbing at the air, the arm holding it flexing and unflexing menacingly. I gripped Misery tightly for support. “Answer iiiit!” Spittle was flying everywhere. More sobs ensued. A child bawled. Voices from hell and the helpless cries intermingled hideously. My skin crawled as the wolf shot me a fierce look.

“Quiet!” The wolf screamed. He was close enough for me to see the veins bulging in his neck and the sweat covering his skin. If I could only concentrate, I knew I’d catch his scent: unbridled murder.

Cries were muffled behind wet, shaky palms. The girl answered the phone, barely managing to conceal her emotions. I didn’t need to look to know. The sound of her voice gave me a perfect picture of her inside my overworked head.

When the wolf was not looking, I took the much needed gulp, feeling tremendously guilty afterwards that I wanted to vomit. And that was when I saw a man crawling his way to the closed door while the wolf was busy pointing his gun at the girl. The image was enough to drive me breathless and messed-up. My throat was closing in and the façade crumbled.

After three seconds of the change of expression in my face, the man was shot at the back of his head totally crushing his skull and spilling his eyeballs rolling a few inches from his face, held back by a sliver of muscle and nerves.

I heaved, but nothing came out but air.

“Thanks, Darrel. That was a close one.”

I was too far gone with what just occurred before my eyes playing over and over in my head that I didn’t hear a thing but my soul chanting that I had killed a man...killed a human being...by mistake.