Authors: Lindsay Bassett
“Tell us.” she said.
Rambling, I did my best to tell the room my life story as I paused occasionally to calm myself, because the sights in the room were overwhelming. From sitting in the woman’s lap, I could see the brassy blond bearded man and the gigantic Egyptians couple to my left. On my right sat a beautiful, gentle looking Chinese woman. To the right of her sat a woman on a padded stool, bearing a set of large white feathered wings, like an angel. To the right of her sat an Indian woman with four arms and long wavy dark hair flowing down her back. She held one of her arms to her chin, listening, one resting on the arm of the chair, and the other two in her lap. Next to her sat a large, athletic looking man with light brown, short ringlet hair.
Selene sat at the very end, with her expressionless face. If she was anything like my dad, I could read that expressionless face as a deep concern for the events transpiring - most likely for her son.
No one interrupted me while I spoke, and all sat patiently, listening. The bearded man appeared to be flirting with me, casting me a wink here and there and reaching over to touch my hair. The blond woman, whose lap I sat in, kept batting his hand away like a protective cat.
I told them about my education and my career in as a scientist. After that I spoke to them about how I’d always believed my dad had died in a car accident and had not even seen a picture of him before I’d met him just recently. I told them about my superstitious mom.
I then began to tell the story of walking into the Jewelry store and meeting Peter. I looked over to see Selene leaning forward in her chair, listening intently with her lips closed tight.
“I felt connected to him, from the first time I saw him.” I said. “It was like we knew each other, already, before we’d even spoke to each other.” I told them of all the days Peter and I had spent together, talking late into the night.
“Have you shared a bed together?” said the bearded man, interrupting.
“No.” I responded reflexively, stunned at the question. Selene sat back in her chair as though relieved by the news. I didn’t know how to feel about her body language but I assumed it was because she saw me as not good enough for her son, being mortal and all.
“Emily,” said the man with light brown ringlets, sitting next to Selene. “we are going to put you through some tests now. Some of this will be…” He cleared his throat. “uncomfortable.”
He rose out of his chair and guided me from the woman’s lap to the center of the room. He asked me to sit on the floor, and I complied by sitting with my legs folded under me. He then guided me to place my arms out in front of me, palms up. Before I could even protest, or know what was happening, he had a knife out and violently slashed open my wrists.
My blood began pouring out all over the floor and I felt faint. The room seemed to be turning sideways as I panicked and looked at all the expressionless faces doing nothing to help. I looked down at my blood oozing in waves down to the floor, began seeing stars, and felt like I was about to throw up.
I was pissed. They all just watched on while I was about to die. I thought “this must be their solution to my dad and Peter breaking the law.”
My heart began pounding in my ears, building up a rage. I looked down at all the blood and wanted it back. It was my blood, after all, and they had taken it from me. So I took it back. The air around me assisted as my blood returned back up through my open wounds and into my veins as if the whole scene were rewinding. My skin rapidly healed and sealed in the blood.
I stood up and onto my feet, still enraged, my heart beating wildly, shooting daggers from my eyes at the man that had torn open my wrists. He charged at me, grabbed me by my wrists and then flung me high up into the air.
My back slammed up against the ceiling that was about twenty feet in the air, and I looked down at the floor, imagining the impact cracking my bones. Time slowed down, and I felt suspended against the ceiling in the air with my arms spread out like a bird in flight.
Holding on to that timeless state, I shifted my body mid air to push off of the ceiling and used the force to make my body spin like a whirling dervish in the air. I watched the room go by in a swirl of colors and then positioned myself to land softly on my feet at the end of the hall.
“Stop this!” I shouted, seething with anger, my chest heaving up and down. I felt myself roaring, and a guttural sound emerged from my throat. The adrenalin rushed through me, and I felt the flight or fight instinct take over.
I chose flight, and darted off to the right, rising a foot to kick out the glass in a window, and then out into the chill of the outside air. With heavy waves of rain pounding against me, I ran into the lush forest, and tore off my coat mid run.
I didn’t look back as branches and ferns tore against my legs while the forest blurred by in waves of green. I lost my shirt to the branches, then my shoes to some mud, and the remainder of my clothes peeled away in flying tatters as my skin was slashed and whipped. Running naked, I ventured deeper and deeper into the woods, in an instinctual trance.
When my body could take no more, I dove with outstretched arms, hands first, into a large sea of ferns and burrowed my way into some springy moss. I rolled over onto my back, onto the moss. I felt the rain lick at my naked skin and allowed it to sooth me. I slowed my breathing and fell into a deep sleep.
I woke up in a bed, and could feel and hear the crackling warmth of a fire. Opening my eyes, I looked sideways to see the fire in a fireplace. I was laying in a bed, and could feel a warm body pressed against the back of mine. I looked down to see that I was wrapped in a blanket, embraced by two soft arms just under my chest, and then soft white feathers arched over us like a tent. It was the winged woman from the hall.
I felt like fleeing, but I felt too tired to move. She stroked my arm and said “You are safe here.”
“Was that a dream?” I asked.
“No.” she said, with a high pitched voice.
“The forest?” I asked.
“You went far.” she said. “About thirty miles, but it wasn’t difficult to find you.”
I stared into the fire, while she continued to soothe me by stroking my arm gently. “How long have I been asleep?” I asked.
“Three days.” she said.
“Peter.” I said, suddenly feeling panicked.
“Peter is fine.” she said. “Do not trouble yourself about Peter. Shhhhhh. He’s in the hall, they have been in there speaking for days.”
I squirmed in her arms, not believing her. “I don’t believe a word of it.” I said. “Peter said you’d never hurt me. He said it would be okay. That man nearly
killed
me.”
“Oh Emily, we would have never let you die.” she said in a little girl sounding voice. “We would never hurt you, he is right.”
My heart began beating fast “
That
hurt,” I said. “Slashing my wrists!”
“Oh.” she said gently. “It was so fleeting though, just a tiny moment in time. I don’t understand why it troubles you.”
“That was a nightmare,” I said. “that I will never be able to forget.”
She sat us up in the bed, her wings still spanned around us like a little fort. The blanket that was wrapped around me fell from my body. I could see that I was completely naked and instinctively tried to cover myself up. I looked over to see her bare breasts and felt panicked. “What is going on?” I demanded.
“Are you ashamed?” She asked.
I didn’t answer. I just looked looked around me, at the feathers wrapped around us. “You are beautiful, Emily. You have nothing to be ashamed of.” she said, still sounding innocent.
The image of my blood spilling out onto the carpet flashed through my mind before I could even process the bizarre scene I was sitting in. I remembered the wild, animal like feeling of running through the forest. I felt sick.
“Immortal children,” she said. “come into the hall to face those same tests. I’ve never heard one describe it as painful. I think most of them enjoy making a show of their abilities.”
I felt tears trickling down my face. She reached up and wiped my tears with the back of her hand. “You are so fragile.” she said, moving my hair back from my face and then stroking it. “Should we find you something to eat?”
Nodding, I watched her wings retreat from around us and back behind her back. She looked like an angel, and she grabbed my hands and led me across the room. Grabbing the blanket, I held it against the front of my naked body, feeling a chill on my backside.
“Now let’s find something for you to wear.” she said.
She helped me get dressed and then brushed my hair. It was soothing, and dreamlike, to look into the mirror in front of where I sat to see what appeared to be an angel brushing my hair. She doted on me like my own mother.
She dressed herself, finally, much to my relief. I wasn’t used to prancing around with naked women, and it was as uncomfortable to me as a high school locker room. I followed my angel down a hallway, down some stairs and into a dining hall. There was what looked like a banquet on a dark, long, medieval looking table with boards of cheese, bread, sliced meats, and grapes. There were bottles of corked wine and wine glasses about.
She made me up a plate and poured me a small glass of a white wine. I ate and drank. The wine went down smoothly and filled my belly with warmth. The warmth of the wine doused out my feelings about the place seeming dangerous, and my angel seemed, well, angelic. I calmed down and trusted her sincere, reassuring words that “Peter was just fine and simply in the hall in the middle of talks.”
After we ate she beckoned for me to follow her. I followed her and her wings up two flights of stairs, where we entered a small study. The study was dimly lit, and there were some curtained windows at the back. She motioned toward the windows and said “take a peek.”
Pulling back one of the curtains, I saw the hall down below with the same immortals that had been there before, minus my new angel friend. Peter and my dad were sitting in two chairs at the end of the hall, and everyone was silent.
“They are deliberating now.” She whispered. “Everyone has spoken their points. It shouldn’t be much longer.”
She smiled at me, and I couldn’t help but smile back. I felt exhausted again and followed her back into the room where I’d been sleeping before. She gave me another small glass of wine while I sat up in bed and then got in bed next to me. She pulled me close to her and wrapped me again in her arms and her soft feathery wings. I fell into a deep, comforting sleep.
I became conscious of the winged lady stroking my temple. “Emmm-ily.” she said, in her tiny girl like voice. “Wake uuuup.” I opened my eyes. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, leaning over me. She was smiling, and I felt thankful that she was clothed that time.
“What do I call you?” I asked, sleepily.
“You may call me mother.” she said.
“Does everyone call you mother?” I asked.
“No, my name is Mikella,” she said. “but I have adopted you.”
“I have a mom though.” I said, confused.
“A mortal mother,” she said. “that can only teach you mortal things. She will pass away long before you do.”
I had never considered that. The thought of my mom leaving the world at any point sickened me. She had been the closest person to me throughout my entire life. I never even had a best friend, just my mom.
“But my dad.” I said, confused by the whole situation.
“Your father has agreed to it.” she said.
I sat up in bed, searching for what to say. “Why?” I asked, wondering why he would agree to such a thing.
“I haven’t had a child in thousands of years.” she said. “No one interests me enough for me to make a child with them. I want to take care of you and keep you safe. I care for you so very much already.”
She was so sweet, and so sincere. I thought about my dad, and what it all meant. I wondered if it meant he would be abandoning me again, for his idea of “the greater good.”
“Is my dad leaving me?” I asked.
“No, no.” she said. “Not at all. It has been decided that you are going to leave with him tomorrow.”
“And Peter?” I asked. “I miss him terribly.”
“He will be leaving with you as well.” she said.
“So if you adopted me,” I said. “what does that mean.”
“It means,” she said. “That you will come stay with me from time to time, and I will look in on you. I have sworn an oath to nurture you and be your guide for all your days upon this earth.”
“When did this happen.” I asked.
“While you were sleeping.” she said. “You slept another two days.”
“Oh.” I said. I suddenly felt ravenous, and a little gross for not having showered in days. “Is there somewhere I can take a shower?” I asked.
“I will take you to the baths.” she said, in a bubbly voice. “And then I will bring you something to eat.”
She led me down the hall, down some stairs and into a dimly lit room that contained a large pool, with several small bathtub sized pools surrounding it with steam rising from them. A nude man lay back with his eyes closed in one of the tubs, and a woman appeared at the edge of the pool, naked, and dove in. I averted my eyes.