End of Days

Grace

Key Eleven: Grace:

She had to survive. Her family put her in that situation.

Kit and Grace lay on the sand, panting. She looked up at him.

"Are you okay?" she asked. The other angel quickly nodded.

"Yeah, just give me a minute," he said. Grace sat up and looked around. Nothing. Nothing at all. The quiet only made it that much worse. Grace held her breath for a moment. They had to keep moving even if they were going around in circles. Resting would equal death. Grace crawled over to Kit.

"Climb onto my back," she whispered. The other angel lifted his head.

"What?" he asked.

"We can't stay here," Grace said. "We have to keep going. You don't have to walk for now. Just climb onto my back and we can just go. Now come on." Kit stared at her back for a moment. Grace gritted her teeth.

"Get on already!" she snapped. Kit crawled forward and climbed onto her back.

"Thank you," Grace said. She began her walk through the sand. Kit clung to her back wordlessly.

She was the only daughter in the family. That led her father to pay attention to her. Too much attention.

It started when she was five. He lingered on with his hugs. Almost to the point that he wouldn't let her go. Did her mother know? Did she even care? Her father was a mean man. He ruled the house with a liquor bottle in hand. Her mother took the worst of the abuse. Maybe that's why she just shut down.

Grace hated the quiet. It told her that something bad was about to go down.

"How are you doing back there?" she whispered. Kit mumbled something on her back. Good, he was still with her. If he dozed off, it would get quiet again.

Grace sighed to herself.

"I'm still here," she said to herself. Saying that left a bad taste in her mouth. She was one of the few angels who remembered her life as a human. From one hell to another. Grace should be used to this.

She let out a dry laugh.

"Have I finally lost myself?" she asked. She asks herself that every day. The angel looked up when she heard mumbling behind her.

"Hm?" Grace asked.

"I don't think you have," he said. The angel laughed to herself.

"Do you really think that about me?" she asked.

"Yes," Kit said. The angel shook her head. This poor, poor soul. He has no clue, does he?

Hide. That was all she could do to survive. Her brothers knew it too. Their mother wasn't so lucky. She was busy hiding them from him. They couldn't scream. They couldn't cry. Just stay silent and hide. Maybe he won't find them.

Sometimes, that wasn't the case.

Where else could they go? They practically lived in the middle of nowhere. Just a small house on the hill. They could go into the woods. But the others would suffer for it.

Still, she had to try. All to survive.

"There are so many things you don't know about me," Grace said. Kit lifted his head.

"What do you mean?" he asked. The other angel shook her head. He wouldn't understand. They never did. It wasn't her fault. She had to do what she had to do.

"I have killed someone," Grace said.

"What do you mean killed?" he asked. "Like killed-killed. Like they are really dead?"

"Yes," she said. The angel sighed. "Do you want to go left or right?" Kit didn't answer.

"Kit?" she asked.

"I don't know," he said. "We're just walking, aren't we?" He did have a point there. Where were they going again?

"Hey Kit," she said.

"Hm?" he asked.

"Who are we looking for again?" Grace asked.

"Our crew."

"Who is our crew?"

Kit takes moment to think. "Harry, Tyrone, Ophelia, and... and..." He paused. "I can't remember who else."

"I think it was Ellen. Ellen or Allen. I can't remember."

"Allen."

Grace glanced over at him. "You sure?"

"I think I am."

The other angel thought about that and nodded. "Let's just go with that."

"Okay."

She keeps walking through the desert.

So much blood covered the house. Strangely, she felt nothing. Grace had blood on the face and clothes. The ax sat on the floor in front of her. Her heavy breathing could be heard in the dark. The crickets were going silent. The sun would be up soon.

She couldn't stay in this house of death.

But where could she go? The road and the river were both miles away. Still, she couldn't stay here. Her body wouldn't move. It didn't feel real. Almost like it's a bad dream.

But Grace knew otherwise. They did this to her. They only had him to blame.

"Can you put me down now?"

Grace looked up. "Huh?"

"Please put me down," Kit said. "I can walk by myself." She didn't want to stop. It's still too quiet. Something could be out here. If she took the time to stop...

Grace stopped in her tracks.

"You have to keep up with me," she said. "We aren't stopping until we start to see something familiar." Kit shrugged before he climbed off of her back.

"What else can we do?" he asked. He held out his hand. Grace took hold and walked ahead of him. They couldn't stop moving. Stopping equaled death.

She left in the morning. The sun was just coming up. How long would they find the bodies? She didn't care. She had to keep moving. To stop would equal death. Not even the blood on her body and clothes would stop her. Just a little water would be fine.

Other than that, keep going.