Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Escape ❯ Story ( Chapter 1 )

There are creatures of divine joy and unholy rage.

 

Those of joy wait. They watch. They serve.

 

In silence they hear. In darkness they see.

 

They have bore witness to humanities triumphs and failures. They have seen the deepest depravity and greatest joy.

 

They guide the innocent. They guard the weak.

 

They are angels.

 

Those of rage seek to destroy. They meddle and create chaos.

 

They sow only discord and hatred.

 

They are demons.

 

The earth is their battlefield, the souls of humanity their masters' prize.

 

Among the millions there is a child. She is small. She is young. She is one of those that they fight over. Innocence, trust, and purity pour out of her like an endless rain. Those of rage seek to break her, to make her one of their pawns. Those of joy protect her. Each will follow the covenant and judgment given.

 

She gave her trust freely and she was quite the social little thing. There was never a drop of hatred in her. She had a father and step-mother who loved her dearly and she had siblings with whom she could fight with and laugh with each in their turn. Her birth mother lived in a place where only two seasons come to pass each year, winter and not winter. Every year, after school let out, this little girl and her siblings would go to visit her and her husband and their two children.

 

Now, she didn't get along with her step-father and the house smelled so heavily of cigarette smoke that it made her sick, so every day she would take her bike and go to her friend's house. They would go from place to place playing games, laughing, and talking about different things. Every day just before it got dark, they would say their good-byes and go their separate ways.

 

One day, her friend wasn't home and she went riding around the upper neighborhood, just enjoying the silence and the feel of the wind on her face. She could almost make believe that she was flying. The gravel crunched beneath her wheels and around her, on invisible wings, the creatures of joy flew. Just beyond them, those of rage hovered, awaiting their chance to snatch her away.

 

On her third or fourth circuit she stopped to chat with an adult woman. She pulled her bike to the side of the gravel road so they could talk a while longer, but it was getting dark and she couldn't stay long. They parted in good company and she went back to the house of her birth mother and half-siblings.

 

The trap was set.

 

For a number of weeks that time would erase from her memory, the little girl was groomed. It was a kind word here, a smile there when she was feeling particularly lonely after she and her friend parted company. Too soon, the woman invited the little girl in for dinner, but she had to ask permission of her birth mother first.

 

When she turned her bike to head back to the house to do just that, the woman offered to let her use the phone in her house. The angels whispered words of caution to her, but she ignored them and set her unease aside. With trust in her heart, she parked her bike in the woman's driveway and led the way into the house. They passed stacks of magazines and piles of trash as they made a beeline straight for the kitchen. The phone call was short as her birth mother informed her in a crisp tone that she was to be home in twenty minutes as it was getting dark.

 

The trap was sprung and the demons howled in triumph.

 

Her smile was bright as she hung up the phone, informed the woman of her birth mother's words, and told her that she would see her the next day. As she slid around the woman--out of the kitchen--the woman followed her, blocked her way, and stood between her and her only exit. This was when she truly realized that something was wrong. Her smile faltered.

 

She was ensnared. Those of joy and those of rage clashed.

 

She tried to smile again and walk around the woman, but the woman blocked her way and grabbed her wrist. She looked up into the woman's eyes and saw them shift from brown to black, as if her true nature had finally been revealed. Words were exchanged between them that made the little girl afraid. They struggled, the little girl trying the yank free and the woman holding firmly on. The little girl may have screamed, she may have yelled, “I want to go! Let me go!”

 

Somehow she got free of the woman and bolted past her. She judged in an instant that the front door would take too long to open and shot into a side bedroom and into the small bathroom. She slammed the door shut, locked it, locked the other door, and sat down with her back to one and her feet to the other. The door at her back rattled and shook as the woman tried to get in. When the rattling finally stopped, she looked up at the window and judged it too small for her small body to fit through. With this in mind, she got to her feet and opened the door her feet had been against and was met with the sight of the woman advancing on her from the darkened room.

 

The woman charged when the door opened and the little girl slammed the door shut as her fingers reached the doorway. There was a howl of rage and pain as the fingers were yanked back and the door locked once more. The little girl sat down and hugged her knees to her chest, trying not to shiver with terror. It could have been an hour or a day she sat on the grimy floor, but after a while she worked up the courage to crack open the first door and peer out once more.

 

No woman standing there, waiting for her. Angels wrapped her in their wings as she opened the door a little more. They soothed her fear and shielded her from the demons that lurked within the ever lengthening shadows.

 

She crept out of the bathroom and along the wall, hidden by the darkness and trembling with the terror and adrenaline. Ever so carefully, she peered around the doorframe and into the living room. Her heart leapt into her throat.

 

The front door was open!

 

The woman was talking to someone, a concerned neighbor who had heard the screaming or an accomplice she would never know. She couldn't make out the words, but none of this mattered to her as something in her screamed, “NOW!!” And she was off before she realized it, ducking around the woman, under her reaching fingers, and bolting past the second woman's shocked look. She was out, she was free. She kept running and running, she didn't look back. Terror drove her, fear kept her moving.

 

Demons snapped angrily at her heels, but she could not see them. No! No! NO! Their quarry was escaping. Must hold onto the innocent. Must break her and take her joy. Not let her escape. They howled once more as the angels closed around her and drove them back. Those of joy kept her hidden, kept her safe. The demons broke, dispersed, regrouped.

 

She didn't stop until she reached the house, sweating and panting. Here, here she was protected even if the people within weren't very fond of her. There was no way for her to know that those of rage held one more trap. She ate dinner, took a shower, and went to bed. That night, still feeling shaky from the attempted kidnapping, she got up and went out into the living room and held her arms open to her birth mother, asking for a hug. Her birth mother didn't even look away from her TV show as she threatened to belt the little girl if she didn't get back to bed that instant.

 

Her heart breaking, her trust shattered, she retreated to bed where she curled up in a miserable ball and wept. The angels sat with her through the night, held her, wrapped her in their wings, guarding her, easing the pain she felt. They drove the demons back and destroyed those that would not go.

 

As dawn broke, new angels appeared. They carried heavy news. Though they had saved her from the woman, they had not saved her heart from her birth mother. Something precious had been taken from her and she had left innocence behind. There would be no trust in her for people for a long time. If left to that path, they would lose her to drugs and abusive boyfriends. She wouldn't survive to adulthood. They knew what they had to do, their orders were clear. One by one, they touched her cheek and stroked her hair. They gave her dreams.

 

The little girl, exhausted and having cried herself out, was fast asleep when she began to dream. Within those dreams, she found safety and a family that would protect her from the world. The pain eased and fantasy bled into reality.

 

When she awoke, the memories of the day before were gone, stored away for a time when she could face them. The little girl left her birth mother's house that morning and was confronted with no bike. After looking around and determining her siblings had not borrowed it, she deduced it had been stolen. Frustrated and upset, she left for her friend's house where they would commiserate and plot with no real plan to get it back.

 

On her way, she spotted her bike through the bushes in the driveway of a stranger's house. She stopped, spied through the hedges, and looked around. No one was watching her and no one was home. Words of caution were heeded this time as she quickly snatched her bike away and never returned to that house. She spent the day with her friend and they discussed in great depth the theft and recovery of her bike, turning it into a tale with dragons and unicorns.

 

Demons would stalk her, but their presence only glimpsed as the angels drove them back. They would have their small victories with the girl, but her dreams would protect her and keep her safe. Never again would they break her so thoroughly. She would stumble as all humans do, but grace would catch her and set her right once more.

 

The day would come when the veil of darkness would shatter, her memories would be revealed, and she would lose her second childhood, but she would be ready to move on and firmly entrenched in reality once more. As a young woman she would walk the path of heartbreak with head held high, shoulders back, and angels on her side.