The Wings That Hold Us Down

Chapter 1

I kick the ball hard, getting it about 3/4 of the way down the field. My teammate, Randy, receives the ball, 'dribbling' it down another eighth down the field as I worked my way towards him, ready to get the ball back assuming he misses. Randy kicks the ball into the net, having it deflected by the goalie, coming back and hitting me hard in the side, knocking the air out of me.

The ref. blows his whistle, waits for me to get off the field, then blows it again, resuming the game. "Rogers, walk it off." He gruffly says, waving me towards the bleachers. The other team scores, causing my teammates to send angry glares my way, You shouldn't have been in front of the ball, it's your fault that we're short a player. It was written in their eyes.

"Ref, I'm going back in." I stand, brushing off my shin guards, running towards the field, getting into my position.

Another shoulder hits mine as I'm running, hard, I look back only to see Vic, an asshole on our team, low grades, 'DrEaMy' appearance, top of the social pyramid, he has like 4 girlfriends a month. "Pass the ball, Rogers." I don't.

Deciding to be a ball hog, I take it down the field before kicking it to my best friend, Conor, who kicks it to the goal, only to have it deflected again.

Vic, a guy named Todd, and a guy everyone called 'Crow' because of a tattoo of a crow illegally obtained, approached me after the match, or rather, they cornered me.

"You made us lose." Crow states, "We don't appreciate people who drag others down."

I knew what came next, and I wanted to avoid it, "Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get hit by the ball. Plus, I got right back in." I start to try to walk off, saying, "You don't need to be an ass about it." Goddammit, Nel. Why'd you say that?

"Excuse me?" It was Vic, grabbing me by the wrist. He laughed as I tried to pull away my wrist. "I'm the ass? Says you."

He punches my face, splitting my lip before grabbing the collar of my shirt, pulling my close to his face before shoving me hard to the opposite wall and walking away chuckling, his hands in his pockets. Crow and Todd follow suit, but not before getting in a couple of hits, resulting in what was probably a bruised hip and rib, and what would become a couple of nasty bruises.

While walking away, Todd steps on my hand, resulting in a sharp pain to shoot through my arm, hopefully it didn't break anything. My nose was painful too, not broken luckily.

I stand, checking the time, 7:45. I think it best to hurry home, not wanting my dad to hit me for being late. On the way out the door I see Jess, Vic's current girlfriend, talking to Kylie, his ex from, oh, 3 girlfriends ago? So less than a month. I leave anyway, not caring if it escalated into a fight.

I get home to see dad, sitting on the old porch, drinking a beer, looking cross. "Nel! Come here now." He slurs it out, sounding drunken beyond belief. "Where were you?"

"Soccer"

"You finally get the beating you deserve. Ha!" He was very drunk, he crushes his can and tosses it... at me. I dodge and go inside, it was already 8:00, I grab the plate of cold sesame noodles off the table. "Get back here!"

I run to my room, setting an alarm for 11:00 so I can wake up. I eat my noodles quickly, clean up my face, looking at the bloodied pocket knife in the drawer where I kept bandages, picking it up, I look at the blood, cleaning it off and putting it away. I don't wanna cut before meeting my guardian.

I drift off into a restless sleep, having a nightmare where instead of the common angels people get, it was more likely to get a demon covered in an angel's blood. They'd cause mass destruction, sadness, and sin. The world was in chaos.

My alarm wakes me up at 11:01, a minute late, but it was ok. I put on clean bandages and some concealer over the bruises forming on my neck and face. I also cover the angry red on my hand and nose, feeling for anything broken. Crap! I feel a slight shift in two pieces of bone, followed by an intense, sharp pain.

I bandage it, making a make-shift splint. I get on a nice pair of clothes, it was a custom to appear in formal clothing in front of your guardian for the first time. I can't wait, I need them right about now.

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