Welcome to Angel Falls

Waking up in a strange place after nearly dying is just as disorienting as its made out to be.

Ever jolted awake, her limbs and head throbbing with a dull ache. She opened her eyes to see a wooden ceiling which had model air planes and posters on it. She blinked a few times allowing her eyes to adjust to low light of the room. She turned her head to the side to see a bedside table with a gas lantern and a couple books, before noticing the blanket that had been placed over her body and she slowly pushed herself up.

As they did the realization struck that she was only using her right hand. She turned to look at her left hand only to see that it wasn’t there. She reached out and grabbed at the sleeve of her jacket only to find nothing there. In a panic she pulled her jacket off her shoulder and what she saw shocked her. Her arm was gone. No blood or pain. It had just up and vanished up to her shoulder. In a blind panic, she ripped the blanket off her body and lurched forward, toppling off the bed and on to the ground. Ever tried to push herself to her feet only to fall backwards and that’s when she noticed her foot. Or rather lack thereof. Where her right foot should have been there was nothing but empty space.

Ever reached forward and ran her, shaking fingers over the stump let, “M-my f-foot? Wh-what happened to my foot?” She reached up grazing her fingers over her shoulder and felt horror grip her mind. “M-my arm? Wh-where’s my arm?” Tears formed in her eyes as the gravity of the situation dawned on her. She gripped her shoulder and sobbed, “No!” Ever let a sob escape her lips as she dug her nails into her skin and took a stuttering breath.

Just as panic that had nearly overtaken Ever’s mind the sound of a door squeaking filled the nearly silent space followed by a female voice saying, “I swear, Jax! I’m tellin’ the truth!”

Ever looked up to see a girl standing in the doorway holding a cup in one hand and a rag in the other.

She had her head turned away when another voice with a skeptical tone spoke, “So, she just fell from the sky? Out of nowhere?” It was male.

The girl spoke up sounding exasperated, “Yeah, that’s what I just said.”

Whatever panic Ever had been feeling began to fade as she listened to the conversation going on in front of her.

The male voice let out a sigh, “Matron Julia won’t be happy you brought an unregistered guest into the house Tesla.”

Ever watched as the girl, Tesla, turned around and said, “Well, what was I supposed to do with her? Leave her at work?”

There was silence which was followed by the frustrated voice of the male saying, “Fine. Just know that I won’t help with whatever punishment you get saddled with.”

Tesla scoffed, “I wasn’t expecting you to.” Ever watched as she turned around, shaking her head as she closed the door behind her. Tesla let out a shocked gasp as her eyes fell on Ever, “Oh! You’re awake…” Tesla nodded and added, “Good.”

Ever watched as she placed the cup and rag on a dresser and quickly made her way to her side, “I’m glad your awake.” Ever watched in silence as Tesla kneeled down and took her wrist in her hand, pulling her arm over her shoulder and Ever to her feet in one swift movement. “You took one hell of a high dive. What were you thinking-”

Ever cut Tesla off midsentence, “My arm.”

Tesla looked at her, “I’m sorry, do you have a thing about touching?” She jerked her thumb over her shoulder and smirked, “Jax’s got one of those, he-”

Ever cut her off again shaking her head, mumbling, “No, my arm, it’s gone.”

Tesla raised a brow and hesitantly spoke, “Well, yeah a’course it’s gone. I mean, from the looks of it, it’s been gone for quite some time. Same with your foot.” Ever shook her head and pulled her hand from Tesla’s, she stumbled backward somehow managing to catch herself on a desk.

She shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut as she shouted, “No, you don’t understand! I had them before! They weren’t gone before! They were here before I…”

Ever felt the panic that had begun to fade started to rise up again as she reached and dug her nails into the flesh on her stump, managing to draw blood.

The pain caused her to wince, “They shouldn’t be gone. Why are they gone?”

She pulled at the stump and let out a stuttering breath which was about to turn into a sob when out she noticed something out of her corner of her eye. Ever pulled her fingers from what was left of her arm and turned toward the mirror that had been propped up on the desk. She leaned heavily against the desk as she gazed at the reflection in the mirror.

There starring back at Ever wasn’t the she remembered. Instead, this Ever had copper hair that fell loosly around her shoulders framing her round honey colored face. Ever Gazed into the amber flecked green eyes that were filled with confusion. She reached out, touching the mirror and leaving a blood smear there. This wasn;t the Ever she remembered being before she had awoken. This was the Ever she had long forgotten, the stressed twenty-nine-year old woman was now a scared sixteen-year-old.

She and ran her fingers over her cheeks, “What the hell is going on…” Ever stared at her reflection for what seemed like an eternity as she pulled at her cheek and mumbled to herself, “This can’t be happening.” Ever turned around sliding down to the ground, she ran her hand through her hair, “There’s no way this can actually be happening. This is impossible. Completely and utterly…”

Ever’s began to have trouble breathing as she began to have a full on panic attack. Her heart rate skyrocketed as her breath began to come in irregular gasps. Her heart felt as if something had gripped it and was slowly tightening its grip with each beat. Ever struggled to breath and panted, “I-I can’t b-breathe. I n-need…” She took a breath and clutched her chest as she sputtered, “T-to breath.”

A hand on Ever’s shoulder caused her to look up to see Tesla, who she had forgotten was in the room, squatting down and looking at her with concern she said, “Hey, take deep breaths.”

Ever looked at the person in front of her and let out a stuttering breath, “I-I’m t-trying.”

Tesla squeezed Ever’s shoulder in comfort as she assured, “And you’re doing a great job.”

Ever looked at Tesla and quipped, “L-liar.”

Tesla smirked giving Ever what she hoped was another reassuring squeeze “Not true. You really are doing great at calming down. Can you breathe yet?” Ever opened her mouth to protest when she realized that, yes, she could breath, just barely so.

Ever nodded letting out a hesitant, “Yes.”

Tesla smiled and exclaimed, “Good. Then let’s get you back in bed, okay?” Ever watched as she took her hand, pulling her to her foot in a single fluid motion. On the short walk to the bed Ever stumbled a couple times before eventually tumbling into the piece of furniture bringing Tesla with her.

Laughter filled the room as Tesla pulled herself onto the bed, laughing, “Well, that’s one way of doing it!” Ever climbed up onto the bed and pulled her legs into a crisscross.

Tesla’s laughter had yet to die down as Ever glared up at the girl letting out an irritated grumble, “It wasn’t that funny.”

Tesla’s laughter died into a chuckle as she said, “You’re right it wasn’t.”

Ever furrowed her brow as she stared at the still snickering Tesla, “Then why are you laughing?”

A bright smile broke out across Tesla’s face as she stated, “Why not.” Ever could think of several reason why not but as she looked at the still grinning Tesla she found her train of thought completely derailed. It was the first good look Ever had gotten of Tesla since she had calmed down and truth be told she was breathtakingly beautiful. Her russet brown skin contrasted her pale lavender hair wonderfully. Her hair was shaved down to the skin on the sides. The hair on the top cascaded down the left side of her head in wavy locks to her chin. Her eyes were a striking crystal blue that seemed to be darker near the center. Her attire consisted of a dingy white tank-top that was covered in new and old stains in various places which was tucked into what looked like a pair of cover-all’s the arms having been tied around her waist.

Ever was snapped out of her trance when she noticed that Tesla’s mouth was moving. She turned back into whatever conversation she had supposedly been unknowingly been a part of, “…know what you were thinking. Going swimming when you can’t even do a doggy paddle.”

Ever swallowed and gave a half-hearted shrug, “Yeah I don’t know what I was thinking either.”

Ever watched as Tesla shook her head and said, “Well, anyway I think Introductions are in order. The name’s Teslä Köl. I’m a pilot for Angel Falls Aeronautics and Engineering.”

She stuck out her hand and Ever could only start at it and think to herself in silent wonder, ‘A pilot? Really? That’s the best you could come up with?’

 Ever gave Tesla a skeptical look as she gingerly took her hand and shook it, “Everleigh Moore. I work in accounting.”

Tesla frowned as she stared down at Ever saying, “Accounting? What’s that?”

Ever pulled her hand away and stared incredulously up at Tesla, furrowing her brows she said, “You don’t know what an accountant is?”

Tesla shook her head and said, “No, but it sounds super boring.”

Ever studied the girl in front of her as she tried to determine if she was pulling her leg, what was left of it anyway, but judging by the naive innocent look on her face she actually had no idea what Ever was talking about.

Ever let out a sigh and shook her head thinking, ‘Figures she’d be a few crayons short of a full box.’

Ever ran her hand through her hair but paused when a thought occurred to her. This girl had no idea what an accountant was, meaning that Ever could tell her anything and she was more than likely to believe her. For Christ sake she could say that an accountant was some sort of secret agent and as long as she sounded convincing she might just believe that load of bull carp. Ever rubbed her chin in thought as she tried to devise a way to make what she did sound interesting.

As she thought deeply about how exactly to go about this when Tesla spoke up saying, “So, what is an ‘accountant’?”

Ever looked up at the girl who was still smiling down at her complete oblivious of the plan forming in Ever’s mind.

Ever shook her head and said, a condensing tone lacing her words, “Oh, I don’t know if I should explain it to you. It’s really complicated and you’re well…” Ever looked Tesla up and down before gesturing to her saying in barely contained disgust, “You.”

The smile quickly fell from Tesla face and she placed her hands on her knees, leaning forward as she yelled, “Hey, What’s that supposed to mean!? What’s wrong with me?”

Ever leaned back and said, “Well, it’s just you’re not exactly the brightest crayon in the box.”

Ever watched in silent satisfaction as Tesla’s face collapsed into a picture of furious anger as she accused, “Are you callin’ me stupid!?”

Ever smirked and snorted, “Well, yeah. I mean you don’t even know what an accountant is and I’ve never heard of anyone not knowing what an accountant is.” That wasn’t a total lie. She really had never heard anyone who hadn’t known what an accountant was. It was such a well-known profession. Something that if you didn’t know about you had to have been living under a rock or just plain stupid. Ever often leaned toward the latter more often than not and this situation was no different.

Ever watched as Tesla clenched her jaw and glared at her in fury before she eventually growled, “Well, I’m not stupid. I’m a pilot and you can’t be a stupid pilot!”

Ever watched as Tesla crossed her arms over her chest indignantly and puffed her checks out.

Ever turned to look at the wall and reached up to scratch her face and she let out a pained groan, “I guess you’re not as stupid as I first thought. Less of a sentient rock and more of a dog who can read and do simple mathematics.”

Ever looked out of the corner of her eye to see Tesla looking at her with confusion as she said, “What’s Mathematics?”

Ever let her hand fall from her face and turned to look at Tesla in utter disbelief, “You’re kidding me, right? How can you not know what mathematics is? Did you not attend school?”

Tesla looked offended as she leaned back, pulling her arms away from her chest, “Of course I did! I learned all the things that everyone does; Reading, Writing and Arithmetic.”

Tesla corrected, counting off the three things on her fingers. Ever looked on as Tesla puffed her chest out in pride wondering yet again if this girl was for real. Ever looked at Tesla skeptically and thought that maybe she had ended up in some backwaters town with a horrible school system and such a lack in education was the reason was why this girl had never heard of thinks like accountants and called mathematics arithmetic.

Ever found herself needing to explain what Mathematics was to Tesla so she leaned forward, “You know that Mathematics is the same thing as Arithmetic, right?” That wasn’t entirely true.

There was a difference between Mathematics and Arithmetic. Mathematics dealt more with theory while arithmetic dealt more with the relationship between and manipulation of numbers. But she could be used as interchanged terms most of the time.

Tesla once again furrowed her brows in confusion as she said, “No they aren’t. In fact, mathematics isn’t even a thing.”

Ever pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a sigh as she closed her eyes and muttered, “I feel a headache setting in.” She opened her eyes and sighed, “Alright, why don’t you explain to me what arithmetic is?”

Tesla smirked and looked down Ever as she said cockily, “It’s where you add and take away numbers from each other. Like two plus two and all that junk.” 

Ever sighed, pulling her hand over her face before gesturing to Tesla as she said, “That’s essentially what Mathematics is. They’re pretty much the same thing.”

Tesla looked uncertain as she said, “They are?”

Ever leaned forward and nodded, letting a hint of superiority leak into her tone, “Yeah, they are.”

Tesla furrowed her brows and pressed her lips, “Then how come I’ve never heard of this ‘Mathematics’ of yours?”

Tesla said putting air quotes around the word Mathematics and Ever looked at her and deadpanned, “Maybe because you’re a complete moron who doesn’t know even the simplest of facts.”

Tesla’s brows furrowed in anger as she slammed her hand against her chest yelling, “I told you I’m not- “

Reviews

[MightyMouse]

Wow, Ever sounds like a jerk. But it is good. Is she in heaven or something???

[Avery Howard]

No she's not in heaven. And she's supposed to be a jerked. One of my main things is putting jerks and Nice guys together and using that as a springboard for character development.

[MightyMouse]

I get it. :) I like her though. She's funny.