Broken (Broken Wings) (2 page)

I smile
as I watch her. “Don’t worry, Cordelia, I will save you,” I whisper. “I will not let this pain you are experiencing go on any further.”

With that, I start to walk
toward the cabin. The cabin is a great place for us to stay, and is only about 5 minutes from Cordelia. My sister and I rented it from an old couple. The couple adores Kaleigh. I mean, who doesn’t? My sister has a heart of gold. She ran into the Browns when we first came into town. She overheard them talking about renting out their cabin. Kaleigh used her charms to get us the place. I really think the old couple is scared of me. They rarely talk to me when they see us and they don’t see us much. The cabin came furnished and Kaleigh got us a good deal; the couple told us since I am here to finish High School we didn’t have to pay. I wonder if Kaleigh has the power to control minds, because I don’t think many people would let someone stay rent free. The cabin is a decent size with three bedroom and two bathrooms. I really do enjoy staying here. But the reason why I do isn’t because of the house; it’s because of Cordelia.

Chapter Two

Cordelia

             
I was running away from the horror that was behind me. I have no idea where I was or what I was doing here. All I could here was screams. Loud screams; people crying out for help. I looked behind me to see the village was engulfed in flames. The houses burned; people were trapped. I wanted to help them, but I could not; I was too afraid. Babies cried out for their mothers. This place looked different, like nothing I’ve seen before. In the distance I saw a castle on a hill, but something about it looked creepy, almost evil. Clouds circled around the top of it. It looked like crows were flying around it as well. It looked as if it was its own city up there. Then sounds of people running toward me snapped me back to attention.
              I hid behind a tree as two men ran by. “She ran that way!” one of them yelled. She caused this; she is the reason our city burns to the ground. GET HER.” I think they mean me. Oh great, what did I do?

             
“Kill her! She’s a half breed, and her father is a traitor. I said, kill that bitch.” I finally see who was yelling, Oh, she was beautiful. Long black hair, grey eyes. Something about her was familiar. She walked up to me and grabbed my arm.

             
“Cordelia, you will find out the real truth soon, and I will tell you this- you will hate it and hate me. You have to do me a favor; end your life before things get out of hand. You do not want to continue on after the truth is out.” I tried to break free from her grip. Her nails were digging into my skin. I let out a scream.

             
“Someone please help me.”

              I wake up, wondering what that was all about. I look around, noticing I am still in the woods. It’s getting dark.
Great,
I think,
I will pay for this
. I grab my bag and start walking to the house. As I’m walking, I think I hear something. I turn around, and I would swear on my life that I see black and blue wings.
Great, now I am going insane.

As I come to the house, I s
igh. I had better go in so I can get my back beaten by the devil known as my drunken father. As I walk into the house, someone grabs me hard and yanks me. All of a sudden, my father’s belt cracks against my back. I scream and tears fall done my face. This is much worse than any other day. I have flashes of black and blue wings, and I just want to go to them. I want to be safe. My back feels like it is on fire. He strikes me again. I fall to the ground, whimpering.

             
“You listen here; you are to come straight home after school. If I find out you are in the woods again, you will regret it. You hear me, Cordelia Rose?”

             
“Yes, sir. I am sorry; I just wanted to see the flowers.”

             
“Shut your mouth, and make me dinner. Then go straight to your room. No dinner for you.”

             
“But I am so hungry.” I start to cry.

             
“I don’t give a rat’s ass! You disrespected me, and this is your punishment. Now make me a cheeseburger, and then get out of my sight.”

             
“Can I please take a shower? I got coffee spilt on me, and I feel gross”

             
“FINE! Now, shut up, my show is on. Cook my dinner.”

             
I go to start prepping the hamburger meat as tears flow down my face.  He is so mean to me. I should poison him, but I will not sink to that level. They would know it was I. I finish making his dinner. I take it to him. He does not say another word to me. Thank the gods.

I go and grab my p
ajamas and head for the bathroom. As the water heats up, I get undressed and look at my back. It looks so bad. He managed to hit each shoulder blade. I look closer, and I swear I think I see purple feathers. I blink and look again, but there is nothing there. Great, at this rate I will get locked up and they will throw away the key. Then I notice my arm is a little sore, so I look down and see I have claw marks, like fingernails. I knew it was not from my blade, because they looked fresh. Then I remember the woman in my dream; she had a death grip on my arm.
How,
I think
, it was just a dream?

Sighing
, I get in the bath. I take the razor blade, and this time I decide to cut my thigh. As the blade kisses my skin, I let out a whimper. This time I cut my skin, because I have to prove to myself that I am still a normal human being; after the things I  think I’ve seen over the last couple of hours, I feel like I’m in some weird nightmare. I wince, letting it slice my leg just enough for it to bleed. I feel the pain and hiss through my teeth—there goes the nightmare theory; this really is my life. I wash my hair and body, the blood washing away with the running water.

             
I get done with the shower, get out, and dress. I head to my room. I shut and lock my bedroom door. I sit on my bed and pull out my journal. I hope they find it when I exit the earth.

             
I open it and start to write:

Monday October 16

It is almost my 18
th
birthday, and I cannot wait. Maybe I can run away from this horrible place. Today was a weird day. Of course, I got a beating. It is always in the same place; my shoulder blades. I don’t get it. My dumb father will not even let it heal. And today I swear I saw purple feathers popping out. That happened after the horrible dream I had when I fell asleep. I want to know who that woman is, and what she meant by the truth. Maybe I will snoop around the house when my father goes out to get more booze. I will have to be careful, though. I almost forgot to mention I thought I say black and blue wings in the woods. Was it an animal? Or something I could not explain. I will get to the bottom of all this. Well, I guess I better get rest so I can start this all over. Or maybe the gods will take me when I am fast asleep! Please do, I beg of you.

Delia

              I shut my journal, and put it in my bag. I never leave it here. I know my father searches my room when I am at school. I look around my room; it doesn’t have a lot of things in it. I am not allowed to hang up posters or pictures on my wall, so they are just plain white. I have one window that looks out toward the woods. My curtains are a dingy yellow color. I have one dresser that holds my under garments and shirts. My bed is a single, and the springs are popping up. It hurts my whole body. My blankets are so old, like from 1977. I can’t even get new ones. It is like I live in a prison; I cannot watch TV, nor have anyone over. Like that even matters, I have no friends. I’m not allowed to listen to music either. How sad is that? 

My stomach growl
s, so I look in my bag and grab out the power bar that the gym teacher gave me today. I swear she thinks I have an eating disorder. I’m so skinny and probably low on all my vitamins. She’s the only one that is nice to me. At least one person cares about me. I start to eat it slowly, trying to enjoy it. There’s no way to enjoy it. It tastes like a rock. I finish it and put the wrapper in my bag. I don’t want my father to find it and give me another beating.  I climb under the old blanket and lay there. I look at my nightstand to see it is only 7:45pm. I reach for the lamp and turn it off. I watch as the moon rises up in the sky, wishing I could just disappear. I start to doze off and everything goes black, except the wings that I see in the corner of my room just before I close my eyes; they’re black and blue.

Chapter Three

Cameron

             
I walk back to the cabin to meet up with Kaleigh. As I grow closer to our temporary home, I watch her through the window. She is decorating for the upcoming holiday of Halloween. She is placing carved pumpkins in the window in the kitchen. I notice she had our little kitchen table set up with Halloween plates and cups. She had black and purple lights hanging all around the kitchen, and it got me wondering what the rest of the house looked like. She always loved all the holidays and decorating. She and our mother would sit around planning what they wanted to do months before. It always made her happy, but now our parents are gone. This is the first time in 5 years she has done something for the holidays. My sister has the biggest heart of anyone I know. She would have made a great mother. I could just see her sitting around with her children, planning the holidays. My heart starts to ache for her, knowing that we are stuck like this; we can never love or have babies.

But, a
t least we are not dark angels. Dark Angels are never to see day again. There is a place in our home country where the sun never shines, called The Dark City. Creatures are stuck in the dark; creatures such as Vampires, Evil Witches, and Werewolves.

I am a fallen angel and have been since I was 13
years of age. My parents were white angels. Then they acted out—something about The Law of the Coven. They did something horrible. I do not know what happened; all I know is that The Old Ones killed them. Sadly, my sister and I had to watch as the Old Ones ripped and cut out their beautiful white wings. The blood was horrible. I can still hear their screams. The Old Ones watch over everyone in the country of Ithaca, and some are over 5,000 years old. They’ve seen destruction, they are used to devastation, but my Kaleigh and I would always have that image in our minds.

             
“Cam, are you okay? I’ve been talking to you for like five minutes.” I blinked, the soft voice pulling me from the memory. Kaleigh was standing there with her hands on her hips.

             
“Sorry, I was lost in thought. Kaleigh, do you think Cordelia will ever find out what happened all those years ago?”

             
“I hope so; she needs to know the truth and know what she is. We can’t tell her, she has to find out on her own. I know you want to be the hero, but it’s not in your cards.”

             
“I know. Let’s go in and eat. I’m starved, and tomorrow I start my day at Summers High School as a senior. YAY!” I say, excitedly like a little child.

             
Kaleigh laughed and playfully punched me in the arm as we walked into the cabin. “You’re a dork. Just think, all the snobs will want to jump your bones. Oh, and I hear homecoming is coming up. I bet you will have a line of slutty girls wanting to talk to you.” She starts to boil the pasta.

             
“Please; there is only one girl I want to go with.” Shit, did I say that out loud? Kaleigh drops the spoon she is using and sighs.

             
Oh boy, she looks pissed off. “Cameron Ethan Douglas, stop it right now. I don’t want you to be one of those sad melodramatic guys, walking around stalking innocent girls. Girls you know you can never be with. You are
not
to fall in love with her. You hear me? You are making me repeat myself, and I hate that. I will hit you with this rubber spoon across your nugget.”

             
“Kaleigh, chill. I won’t. It might be hard, though. She’s gorgeous.”

             
“Just eat, and go to bed. You need your rest. I’m going to head to my room now and read, before you say something else that’s stupid. Good night, Cam.” She storms off toward her room.

             
Great, I pissed her off
, I think as I munch on the food she had prepared. I’m just glad her wings didn’t come out. When that happens, I know she’s
really
pissed off. Her wings are beautiful. They are black with purple on the tips. That’s the perks of being a fallen angel. Our wings have color to them. But, you still have to have some darkness to them, to let everyone know that you are being punished. I really miss having those white wings, because it gave me hope that I could one day fall in love and start a family. Maybe a family with Cordelia. I don’t know why I’ve been thinking of her lately. Today, while I was watching her sleep, it felt like she was the one for me. I can’t explain that feeling, but it felt real. I feel so close to her when I’m near. I wonder if she feels the same. The last girl I felt like this with was Anna. Anna was beautiful, also with short red hair and green eyes. She was a natural beauty. My thoughts go to the night she died.

             
“Cam, I can’t do this anymore,” she had said. “You came into my life, telling me I’m a witch, that I’m adopted, and my real parents died because of someone called The Old Ones. How could you be so damn cruel? I was falling in love with you. You have destroyed me, ruined me.” She was standing in the pouring rain and tears were running down her face. What had I done?

             
“Anna, please look at me,” I urged her. “You are a white witch. That means you are good. Your family lives in a country called Ithaca. Here, take my hand and I will show you the truth. Please Anna, I don’t want to lose you. I love you.” After those words, Kaleigh grabbed me and spun me around.

             
“Cam! Cam, look at me, please. You can’t take her there. She had to find out on her own. Now you will be punished, and I don’t want to see that. They will kill you like they did Mom and Dad. I love you; you are my brother. The only brother I have.”

             
I slapped her hands away. “You have no right, Kaleigh. She is who I want. I need her.” I turn in time to see she took out a bottle of something and drank it.

             
“No, Anna! What have you done?” I ran to her, but it was as if everything was going in slow motion. I caught her before she hit the ground. Tears filled my eyes as I watched her cough up blood. Blood was coming out of her eyes and down her cheeks.

             
“Cam.” She started to cough harder. “I love you, but I can’t live like this anymore. Goodbye.”

             
With that, she died. I held her lifeless body as I cried and screamed. Kaleigh came over to hold me, but I pushed her away. I was so mad at her. If she wasn’t there to distract me, I could have saved my love.

             
“Cam, please we have to go. We have to go back and tell the Old Ones what happened.”

             
“Just go, and leave me the hell alone. This is your fault!” I screamed at my sister. “I hate you!”

             
She turned, and her wings came to life and she flew away. I sat there holding Anna’s lifeless body, tears streaming down my face. All I wanted to do was save her. Why did this have to happen?

             
I come back to present day and realize I have tears running down my cheeks. I miss her, but she’s not Cordelia. I will not let what happened to Anna happen to her. I will stop all this hurt she is experiencing. I get up and head to my room, thinking I better get sleep. Tomorrow I start my first day as a senior. I lay in bed thinking about when Kaleigh and I were told we needed to take on Cordelia as our new charge.

             
Kaleigh and I walked up the white spiral staircase to go see The Old Ones. It almost looked like we were walking up to heaven. White doves flew around us, creating a peaceful space. I was wondering what they needed us for. I was felling nervous. I hoped I wasn’t being punished for what happened with Anna. They had told me that things happened for a reason and dismissed me. That was a couple of months ago. Kaleigh and I entered the huge room, and in front of us sat the seven Old Ones. They were sitting in huge chairs, wearing white robes and looking wise. I only knew one by name; Abem. He’s the oldest of them all.

             
Abem stood up. “Please approach us, Miss. and Mr. Douglas.”

             
We walked toward them and bowed. “We have a new task for you two. It will be a difficult one at that. You are to go to Summers, Georgia. A young girl there is like us. She has no knowledge of this. Your task is to watch over. She is a troubled young lady. Cameron, don’t repeat what was done with young Anna. Do I make myself clear?”

             
“Yes sir, I promise. What is this new charge’s name?”

             
“Her name is Cordelia Rose Newton, and you will be able to sense her when you arrive. Keep your distance, watch her, and study her. Then, Cameron, I want you to attend her school in October. Then, and only then, may you talk with her. But, this is your only warning—you don’t want to cross us again.”

             
“I won’t let you down again.”

             
“You both are dismissed. Goodbye and good luck.”

             
I brought myself to the present day once more. I sigh. Why I agreed to this, I will never know.