CHAPTER 6

Running away from hurt...

 

CHAPTER 6

Ozzy stared at the scene of destruction before him. He stood atop a hill surrounded by people screaming and running in complete disorder, chased by devils that laughed in hissing voices. Most of the buildings blazed like infernos, glass shattering, interiors crumbling, leaving them empty and hollow. He felt like those buildings, a fierce fire eating him up on the inside, killing him, leaving him empty. Ozzy shuddered and took a step forward. His toes squished and slipped on the ground. With a frown, he gazed down. In dismay, he saw himself unclothed, covered in blood. There was a heavy sword in his hand. He dropped it in terror. That’s when he saw what he was standing upon. Beneath his feet lay bodies. Dead eyes stared up at him, hundreds of bloodied faces and ripped bodies piled high to form a mountain of corpses under his feet.

Ozzy’s own shriek awakened him. His heart hurt so much. He groaned and clutched at his chest, turning over in Luke’s bed.

“Ozzy, breathe. Just breathe,” he heard girl Rayne tell him. Ozzy obeyed, feeling her run her fingers along the bare spot between his wings. The flesh there was very sensitive and stroking it always soothed him.

“Where’s Luke?” he said at last into the pillow.

“They’re trying to find the children. Do you remember what happened, Ozzy? They were with you.”

Ozzy began to cry once again. Nobody loves me. Everybody leaves me.

“Did something frighten you, baby? Who cut your hair and smeared you with paint?”

“Rayne, I’m going to go with them.” Ozzy heard boy Rein say. He was accustomed to calling them boy Rein and girl Rayne because their names were pronounced exactly the same.

Ozzy turned tearful eyes in his direction. Boy Rein removed his clothing and donned the black uniform they all wore when going out on official business. He watched how girl Rayne helped him pull his iridescent white hair out from his black shirt. “Be careful, my love.” She told him with a pout before going up on her toes and brushing her lips over his, but he pulled away.

Boy Rein strode over to Ozzy and kissed his forehead. “Be a good boy, Ozzy. We’ll be back. I promise.” He turned to girl Rayne and continued, “Abdiel and Reiven are staying behind to guard the space station.”

Just as he was about to leave, she caught his arm. “Rein--I love you. Please be careful.”

Ozzy saw the shimmer of tears in Rein’s violet eyes. He touched her cheek and nodded, then turned on his booted heel and walked out.

Ozzy closed his eyes. He felt exhausted. He was terrified of falling asleep and having more nightmares, but couldn’t help himself. He couldn’t fight the sleep that claimed him.

It wasn’t a restful sleep. He tossed and turned on the bed and at one point awakened with a start. The light in Lucien’s quarters was dim. Still, he could see Rayne. She sat by the large glass wall that was a few feet away from the foot of the bed. Beyond the wall was the yawning black void of space. The stars twinkled like gem stones upon a velvet backdrop.

Rayne sniffled and covered her face with her hands. Ozzy could hear her sob. The sound terrified him. Heart beginning to thud painfully, he got up and crawled to her.

“I’m scared,” he whispered, laying his head upon her lap and circling her tiny waist with his big arms.

“It’ll be fine, sweetie,” her tremulous voice assured. “The Alpha Angels will find the children and we’ll all be together again.”

He opened his wings so she could caress them the way he liked and felt himself growing sleepy again.

After a while, she made him rise and helped him back into the bed. She covered his cheeks with little kisses as she tucked him in with his teddy bear.

This time, he began dreaming of walking through the corridors of Alpha 7. The lighting indicated day-mode, but the silence around him was tomb-like. He peered into the enviro-level. The trees of the tropical forest paradise swayed lazily in the artificial breeze. The training room was empty as well. He walked into the dining galley The red plastic chairs around the stainless steel tables were arranged perfectly straight, as if they hadn’t been touched in a very long time. Every room he walked into was devoid of life. Ozzy walked into the transport hangar. All of the Vipers were gone. Not one transport pod remained. He’d been abandoned… again.

He sat up with a gasp. Silence. Ozzy looked around. He was alone. Rising up from the bed, he looked at himself in the mirror next to the platform bed. His hair was still long but it stuck up in all directions. The paint had dried making it look stiff. The few tendrils not covered in colorful paint curled in large spirals of gold. Ozzy opened his wings and gazed at the imprints of tiny hands that decorated the black downy feathers in many colors. Vivid streaks of royal blue, bright green, orange and purple covered his face. More colors streamed down his torso and what had once been pristine white drawstring pants.

This time the face that peered back at him did not smile or laugh. “No one will ever love me.” It hurt too much to keep letting himself become attached to people. “Maybe I should just go away… be alone so that I won’t hurt anymore.” He looked around. Rayne must have decided to go after Rein and Luke after all. They had each other and were a family. He was just… an intruder.

If only he could find the colorful world he used to dream about. He could barely picture it in his mind, but he was sure that if he saw it he would remember.

He walked out of the quarters in a daze. The corridors lights glared in day mode, yet there was nothing but silence all around. This time he walked straight into the transport hangar. Out of thirteen transport Vipers, only two remained. He recognized Abdiel and Reiven’s sigils marking the front of the tear shaped pods. Ozzy knew that the two black winged reapers didn’t sense things like the others. Their powers were still very limited, so they would never sense Ozzy taking one of the pods.

The shiny black Viper opened when Ozzy approached it. Lucien had shown him how to fly once. Ozzy learned very quickly. He only needed to look at something once and it would be absorbed permanently into his mind. He crawled into the Viper and watched as the glass top rolled over, sealing him safely inside. There were no mechanical mechanisms in a Master Guardian’s Viper. It only contained compressed air and a recycling unit that pumped the air into the cabin of the pod. The interior of the Viper was plush and automatically molded itself to the occupants contours. You could sit or lie down; whatever the pilot preferred.

Just as Lucien had taught him, Ozzy relaxed and allowed his inner power pulse out. He was careful to avoid touching where he sensed the others aboard the space station; the reapers, Rayne, Alondra, and baby Ashniel. He felt other ships cruising nearby out in space. He let his energy wrap itself around the pod and made it lift. Soon, the pod was out in the black of space. Ozzy zipped forward, just staring at the stars and moving aimlessly.

There were patches of space that had large spaceports bustling with activity, and other patches with nothing but dead space.

After a long time, he came upon a brightly lit starship. There was an open hangar and he noticed many other smaller cruisers going in.

Ozzy’s black Viper glided into the hangar and settled between two massive cruisers. He saw various aliens moving about, loading and unloading large crates and metal boxes.

Ozzy stepped out from the Viper and walked around the docking platform. Most aliens didn’t pay him any mind. They weren’t humanoid. Some were very tall with tentacles and furry bodies, their big bulbous eyes attached to the sides of their heads. Others were little, with sparkly green skin and long skinny arms and legs attached to their round bodies. Their eyes were on top of antennae-like extensions at the top of their little heads, which also had a long trumpet-like snout. One such little creature ran into Ozzy and began bleeping nervously. Ozzy froze as the tiny thing’s strange blue tongue patted Ozzy down. It looked like a long thin cord with flat disc at the end. Its little fingers also touched Ozzy. When the strange creature looked satisfied that Ozzy posed no threat to him, he continued on his way. Ozzy turned, wide eyed to watch as it walked away and was surprised to see that the creature had a third eye attached to a corkscrew tail that bounced and bobbed at his backside.

Ozzy turned and jumped when he saw before him three more aliens. These were very big and reptilian. One of them picked Ozzy up.

“Oh, no! Don’t eat me,” Ozzy exclaimed as the creature bared sharp teeth.

They touched his wings, face and legs as if in wonder. One of them pulled out a crystal orb. It began to glow. The two other creatures waved at the one holding the orb, pulling Ozzy’s wings open and snarling amongst themselves. They passed Ozzy around like a toy, then finally set him down. He was given a pat on his head before they departed.

What strange creatures.

Ozzy heard a loud noise and strolled over to investigate.

There were many doorways and ramps leading farther into the interior of the starship. He walked into one of the doorways and found himself in a sore room of sorts. It was cavernous and dimly lit, with crates piled up high as far as the eye could see. The scent of something sweet made his tummy burn. Rounding a corner, he came upon a crate that lay upon its side. The top had broken off and forbidden fruit rolled around everywhere. Getting down on his hands and knees, he gathered as many as he could and began munching them down.

He ate until his belly ached, then felt sleepy. That’s when he realized he’d left bear back at the space station. His eyes widened in horror and he began to wail. His only friend left in the world--the teddy bear Jazriel had given him. Now he was truly alone.

Ozzy didn’t know how long he sobbed on the floor amidst the forbidden fruit. His eyes felt puffy and his nose ran. His breaths came in sporadic hiccups, shaking his body. He no longer had the strength to even cry and fell asleep sniffling convulsively, thinking that it might have been better if the reptilian aliens had eaten him after all.

 

Reviews

[Mary Evans]

Very nice imagery you’ve got there. The pacing seems a bit too fast thought. I would spend more time describing his departure.

Also:

“empty and hollow” Don’t both mean pretty much the same?

“He felt like those buildings, a fierce fire eating him up on the inside, killing him, leaving him empty.” There’s a verb missing somewhere in there I think.

Other than that great.
Keep up the good work.

[The Creator's Little Ro..]

This was really adorable! I can't wait for the next section. You left it on quite the cliff-hanger. Ozzy is such an interesting character. And the story is facinating.

I did catch a few grammar and apelling mistakes, but I'm sure you'll catch them when you edit the story.