Chapter Text
The familiar blue eyes met her steel, blank stare.
“It’s time to go. You kept your promise, now help me keep mine.”
You stumbled out of the cell you’d been kept in. The lock easily broken by a glare of sunlight and arms around your waist. Your feet stuck to the red floor as you were dragged one agonizing step after another toward the blinding light the figure came out of.
Could this be Heaven’s light and this man an angel?
It seemed unlikely. With the countless sins you committed this would be the first taunt that waited at Hell’s throne.
“C’mon doll. Stay with me.”
You looked up, squinting through the light, finding blue eyes. Demons didn’t have eyes that fair did they?
You pitched forward, your blood staining the white that caught you. Striking cold jolted your sense into focus.
You stood. Straight, fighting the urge to shiver and cover yourself. “Ready to comply.”
The angel came to stand in front of you. He studied you, sadness in his eyes. Why was he sad? What was the target?
“At ease,” he said, not expecting you to move. He circled you, seeming to examine you. The blood dripped down your clenched fist. The stark contrast in temperatures almost made you shiver again, almost.
“This is an extraction mission. Target classified” He pulled few mismatched clothes out of the small duffel at his side. “Put these on.”
You took the black sweater and pants, obedient to the end. They covered your small, malnourished frame hanging off you to make you look sicker than you already were. You ignored the pangs in your abdomen for something not liquid and force-fed to you. Boots were thrown at you and you quickly covered your feet, the immediate warmth flooding your system.
The man took your arm, tearing some excess fabric from your hem and wrapping your arm in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
Watching him tightly wrap your wrist up brought ghosts from beneath the untouched snow. You squinted, confused at the deep brown eyes that met yours with concern.
Careful with that thing, you might cut someone’s finger off.
You shook your head, willing the ghost away. Willing the pang in your heart away.
“On the move, Soldier.”
You followed the fair eyed angel. Surrounded by the blinding snow, he now looked like a shadow now, more than an angel. The edge of the dense forest neared with every painful, heavy step. As the evergreen bristles neared, so did the blackened edges in your peripheral. Deep breaths and gritted teeth did nothing to stop it. It crept forward, your vision becoming a pinprick.
It’s alright darling. It’s alright.
The words echoed in your head as you blacked out, falling back onto the carpet of your home, screams echoing in your ears.
You screamed, swinging the knife in your hand. You frantically looked around the kitchen, clearing it. Checked the next rooms, the dining room, the living room. All seemed normal. Then the breeze hit your arms, the cool summer breeze pricking at your arms.
You surveyed the window sill, scuff marks that weren’t there before seemed to be leading into your home.
They were here again. Those people that followed you. Those men that watched you at the supermarket, at the school, and now, it seemed, in your own home.
A hand touched your arm, holding tight. You screamed again, swinging the kitchen knife toward the body that stood near you.
You stopped, just short of sheathing the knife into your husband.
He chuckled nervously, “careful with that thing, darling, you might cut someone’s finger off. Or worse.”
You dropped the knife, flinging your arms around him. “James,” you sobbed. “I-I’m sorry. I just heard something and it scared me half to death.”
Your husband held you close, his hands soothing the tension in your back. “Are you seeing them again? Him again?”
You pulled back, feeling nauseous. “I’m not imagining them. There’s a group of them. They just watch me.”
“I believe that you think you see them. Maybe you need to see some-”
“I’m not crazy James!” you took a deep breath, not wanting to have this argument again. “I have to go. Baby girl gets out of school soon.”
He sighed, “Would you like me to come with you?”
“No. No, thank you.”
You grabbed your bag and the keys to the car. With a glance over your shoulder at your husband and the fear in his deep eyes, you almost regretted the cold shoulder.
“Hey, hey, hey,” you opened your eyes, again seeing the angel above you. His eyes were surprisingly soft. “I know you’re exhausted. I know your body is weak and wants to give out, but I also know you can do make it. We’re almost there. You’ve been through so much worse and with so much less to look forward to.”
You blinked, your body aching, shivering, brain playing catch up to your body. You pushed yourself up, fingers nearly blue from the cold. Teeth chattering, you took each slow step forward, pushing through the darkness that again wanted to take over. His words echoed around you. They bounced off the trees, echoed deep in the mountain’s valley, rang in your ears, led your footsteps to keep from stumbling; You been through so much worse.
You couldn’t help but wonder what worse could mean. The man you’d seen, James, was he the worse? The people that seemed to be following the woman in your head? Him?
Your never-ending questions seemed to add up with every step you took.
The wind whipped around you, pushing and pulling you in the directions of your mind. A child’s laugh echoed from behind you, causing another pang in your chest. But still, you pressed on.
A child’s cry stopped you in your tracks. At this point, too numb to anything but moving forward and the ghosts that seemed to haunt you. This was the first cry you’d heard, and you turned. An instinct you didn’t know you’d had kicked in.
You were met with the empty footsteps you had left. No brown-eyed little girl carrying a beloved toy.
Confused you took a step back. And tripped over your own feet.
You landed with a grunt.
You were ready to lay down, become part of the forest floor. With the state that you were in, it wouldn’t take long.
An engine stirred you from your thoughts. You slowly turned and saw the small aircraft preparing for take-off. Snow rose with you as if the propellers lifted you up and into its body.
“Target acquired.”
“Who is the target?”
The angel strapped you into the co-pilot seat next to him, fitting you with a headset and checking the various gauges.
He didn’t respond, making you think you’d stepped out of line, asked the wrong question, asked too many questions.
The craft rose into the blue skies and you started to drift off, just before you let the darkness overtake you, a single word floated into your ears.
Soft and broken, you.