Chapter 1, Why Mr. Angel?

A strange kid has appeared in Arrou's world, for some reason she has picked a rather odd nickname for him. Not to bothered about the situation he seeks to take her back to the orphanage and leave...

Trudging listlessly along the dusty foot-path, solemnly watching the filth rise into the air around my ankles at the descent of each foot, I sighed. Walking; one step after another, breathing in one breath, then breathing in another hastily, almost choking upon inhaling the foul scent of the city that I so loathed. The one park of the city, lay ahead, a triumphant flourishing oasis in a concrete wasteland, pitiful in its splendour, the only living thing beside the weeds thriving among the cracks between the concrete. Even at this slow walking pace, striding leisurely about the filthy streets, there was an ever present tightness to my chest, which shortened my breath, for as long as I could remember I had always had this problem, even so the specialist my adopted parents took me to see always stated that I was in perfect, almost too perfect, health.

With a heavy sigh I reached into my pocket, fiddling about with my fingers for a moment; then drawing out a revolting packet of ‘Royalz’ Cigarettes. I had smoked for a year now, ever since at age of 16 I had picked up one of those foul sticks on word of a friend, and placed it at my lips. I hated the fact that I breathed in that tainted smoke, every fibre of my being screamed no, don’t do this, it’s wrong… I couldn’t stop myself, I was trapped within the iron grip of addiction which led me to place yet another Cigarette at my lips and flick desperately at the lighter until it ignited. The smoke that wisped lazily from the glowing, charred end of the cigarette, the revolting sensation that consumed me as I inhaled my breath, I just couldn’t stand it, but for some reason I couldn’t escape it, the absurd addiction that many seemed to enjoy, some to be doing out of addiction and others peer pressure.

My surroundings, as always, were plain, average, I was surrounded by the constant cold concrete walls that formed the city, the streets stretched on endlessly, interlocking into a giant spiders web. One filled with not only the creeping spiders that prowled the back alleys, hunting for children to sell and potential customers for the poisons they produced, but also the average citizens who did not even try to avoid the decaying of the social system, being constantly surrounded by these suffocating walls and this claustrophobic city seemed to have drained their will to be individual, to seek out new and inventive ways of life. It was rare to find a person who held a shred of compassion, most would walk past those suffering, ignoring them as if the problem wasn’t there, as if those grieving mothers, whose children might have walked by you that very day, didn’t matter. Don’t people realise, that with children going missing all the time, and people being careless enough to hit pedestrians with their cars; with not even a single person trying to provide aid to the injured, that the human population will drop significantly sooner or later, though in truth, no one knew what was happening to the children who went missing, some theories remain as to why this was happening. One involved the black market, another a conspiracy that was once uttered, and then all members involved with the group who devised the idea; that the church was the one who was causing this loss of children, were eradicated, their existence just vanished. The third being mothers no longer wished to take care of children and were murdering them in cold blood and dumping the bodies.

The wisps of smoke that rose steadily from the cigarette, as well as the haze that I exhaled, disintegrated around me, mingling with the already toxic level of impurity in the air, many others added to the whirling mass of filth choking the city. I’ve heard stories within this city, of a city in times past, one where a different kind of rain existed, and you could see the sun through the smog choking the sky, where people could live to the age of 40 without health problems easily, now by the age of 20 people fell sick with a various amount of diseases, I didn’t wish to share the fate of all these other people, I didn’t wish to die stained with filth, but sadly this is how the world is and truthfully there wasn’t a thing I could change. This hated city of mine, the concrete maze that trapped us hopeless rats, the people who inhabit this death trap, where miracles never happen and kindness is somewhat close to one. sometimes I could only think about how much better the world of rumours, the world of the past was, where women and children could walk unattended without fear, where people worked together to acquire a common goal, a world which was no more and shall never be again.

Leaning against the filthy wall of a side alley, lost in my own thoughts about the world, ones of which I had had an infinite amount of times, ones that had no real goal beside make my own life even darker than it already was, but of course there was always the fun, and not so legal, side of my life. I had always enjoyed taking to the streets at night on my bike, which had led to trouble with the church’s enforcement group as straying outside while the curfew is effective is punishable. The thrill of being chased and trying to avoid the patrols is what made each night so fun, and of course my two closest friends, Freigh and Dariel, who really didn’t understand me but where still my friends anyway. But the rest of the people I couldn’t help but hate, they just seemed so obsessed with their ideals about god, their ridiculous self-absorbance which lead them to ignore the importance of the world which was decaying around them unnoticed. The church which ran this city, and many others, so I heard, didn’t allow one to stray from the path of god, the path of sin which they tried to tell people was the correct way to live their lives, those who spoke out, vanished, disappearing along with the diminishing human population.

Not a moment passed when I could bring myself to leave these matters alone, it seemed that there was this insane urge within me that brought me to help those suffering or in pain in any way that I could, people despised those that helped other for some reason, unless it benefited them of course. Sometimes I could swear that I could hear mysterious voices in the night, but I couldn’t leave and check them out, not with the churches curfew in place. Once even I believe that I saw something akin to an angel, a holy being bearing feathered white wings, but I couldn’t believe that it really was an angel, not when I witnessed some mysterious hooded members from the church have it bow down before them, as if repenting for something it had done and held out its hands for one of the hooded members to place chains upon, it seemed weird and I remember waking up the next day wondering if it had really happened.

I was tugged back to reality, away from my darkening thoughts and reminiscing, by the sound of innocent laughter, the bubbling laughter of children, which could lately be called a rare sound. There was malice in those small laughing voices, akin to the laughter one hears from children throwing stones at birds or pulling the wings off flies. I raised my downturned eyes, seeing a small group of boys wielding sticks in the alley across the road from where I was standing, disappointment welled up inside me when I realised what it was they were doing with the sticks in their hands, a small girl cowered at their feet as they prodded her cruelly with the pointed ends.

The girl was covered in filth, the filth of the streets, her clothes were slightly torn and the material rough as if they had been attacking her for quite some time, she was crying out and shying away from the abuse of her cruel attackers, tears streaming down her face. Children were always like this weren’t they, picking on those who are different or weaker than them, simply because in their little minds they can’t comprehend the severity of their actions from the view of the victim. I noticed other people glancing their way, but they quickly turned their eyes away and kept walking, again ignoring a situation that could be easily prevented, which could just maybe turn this little girls life around.

I decided to approach these brats, despising how their actions showed the true nature of humanity; cruel and ignorant. Marching purposefully in their direction I notice people staring at me and shaking their heads, as if ashamed that I could do such a thing as interrupting someone-else’s fight, was it really right to leave a girl much younger than the boys taunting her in their hands, it was obvious she was frightened.
“Leave her be!” I sternly raised my voice, intending to have the ignorant children back down and hand the girl over to me.
“Huh, why should we?” smirked the tallest child, obviously the ring leader of this little band
“Leave her be” I repeated, raising my fist as if I were readying for a fight and hoping that the malice in my voice sounded convincing.
“Why, old man? She is just an orphan, who the hell cares” He retorted with contempt in his voice and winked to his friends as if he thought this would get rid of me. I made a show of violently grabbing the neck of his shirt, bunching it in my fist and hauling him off the ground much to the dismay of onlookers and the other boys.

“Let me go, or I will tell the church’s police that you were abusing the girl, and we stepped in to help but you starting attacking us too.” The boy whom I had apprehended said smugly, as if he thought that his statement would be entirely convincing and flawless. On the inside I was burning to punch the kid square in his smug little face, angered by the utter disrespect he displayed in his speech. Common sense told me that this wasn’t socially acceptable, for me, a high school student to punch this little kid in the face, so instead I sighed, trying to let my anger flow out of me harmlessly.
“Can you please, just leave, is beating this girl worth your trouble, that much?” I tried to plead with him, using as calm a tone as I could.
“Your just a stupid a*****e trying to look good aren’t you? Nobody here thinks you are cool so if you don’t mind, why don’t you leave because its not worth your trouble, old man” He spat back in my face, with that something inside me felt as if it was going to break at any moment.
“You, are just a bunch of bullies, and now SCRAM!” I Yelled angrily at the boy in my hand, letting go of the bunched material in my hand and slightly shoving him backwards so that he fell on his a*s. I let a smile twitch in the corner of my mouth and reached towards the boy.
“Ok, we get it, fine we will leave!” The boy picked himself off the floor and disdainfully bushed the dust off himself, then started walking away, the other boys in tow, one turned momentarily to ditch a rock in my direction, fortunately it missed and landed on the ground nearby.

I watched them disappear down the dark alley way, with hopes that they wouldn’t run into any misfortune despite deserving it, then I allowed my attention to be drawn back to the small girl crouched on the ground. Her lithe arms were raised in front of her face to take any further blows, she was covered from what I could tell with small scratches and bruises, but nothing serious. Extending my hand slowly I gently touched her arm, causing her to open her eyes and stare at me with large hazel eyes from behind the barrier of her arms.
“Hey, it’s alright, they won’t hurt you anymore” I whispered comfortingly.
“Mr, are you going to take me to mommy? Are you please, Mr angel?” She talked in a small voice, one that I had to strain to hear, muttering words which I struggled to understand, Angel? Why was she calling me that, for a moment I just stared at her confusedly. “Can you take me to mommy, please” She pleaded.
“Well, umm, sure, where is she?” I said, partly unsure as to what she was going to say next, she didn’t seem to be an orphan like the boys had said, though she was poorly dressed. She took my offered hand, smiling at me, as if I had just said the most wonderful thing.

“She’s in heaven, you took her there didn’t you Mr angel? Now you are going to take me there to see her again” She said innocently, looking at me with an innocent, expectant expression.

What is she talking about? Why does she think that I am an angel, I mean all I did was save her from a group g f bullies, what was all this about her mom being in heaven and that I was going to take her there? Thoughts whirled around my mind, as if pieces of paper had been thrown amongst the winds of a hurricane, I just couldn’t understand what she was saying.
“Mr Angel, Mr Angel!” The girl was shouting at me, removing me from the confused state my mind was currently in, I have to take her home, if her mum is dead, then she must live at one of the two remaining orphanages.
“Sorry, I’m not Mr Angel, I should have cleared this up from the start, my name is Arrou, and I am a human, just like you.” I said cheerfully, trying to sound as if I where one of those nice guys from the church. “Do you live at the orphanage maybe?”
“Yeah, but…but Mr Angel, can you take me to see mommy” Tears had begun to well up in her eyes, readying to spill at any moment. I’m going to have to lie to this kid, damn I am going to hell for sure now, but if I don’t get her back to wherever she lives fast, I am going to get caught by the church, again.

“I can’t take you to heaven at this time, ok, it’s too late today, angel will come back for you again tomorrow if you behave” I hope this is convincing enough for a child’s mind, but it could be hard to explain later.
“Thank you Mr Angel, thank you so much, I haven’t seen mommy since you took her away in the midst of the fire…” She was crying, but she seemed overjoyed, I couldn’t ruin her moment of happiness yet.
“My name is Arrou, you can’t go about calling me Mr Angel, and people will think it’s weird”
“Mr Angel, your name is Mr Angel, and only I can see you, that’s what they told me” She said cheerfully, What they told her? Angels don’t even exist do they?
“Whatever, where do you live, little girl”
“Saint’s Wing orphanage, I’m not little girl, I am Sally” She smiled cheekily. The other side of town, well isn’t this just great, but I can’t just let her walk home by herself, what if she just disappears like the other children that have gone missing. I shuddered at the thought.

I pulled a cigarette out of my pocket and placed it in my mouth, then continued to light it and breath in deeply, I felt with the sickening inhalation of toxins a relaxation of my nerves, my anger and frustration subsided. Damn, I am an idiot, maybe I should have been another one of those people who just walk by, uncaring, eventually someone from the church’s order would have intervened, now I am stuck with this mess.
“Mr Angel, its sinful to smoke, and it stinks.” Sally put her hand to her nose and waved her hand about dramatically. I guess I had forgotten that I wasn’t the only one who hated the smell, I took the foul stick out of my mouth and flicked it to the ground and watched pleased as it crumpled under my shoe, making sure to grind it into the filth of the street like so many others did.
“Ok, come on, we can’t waste too much time, look, the sun is setting.”

After an hour of walking at a fairly brusque pace we finally reached the dilapidated orphanage, though it wasn’t all that bad, probably the better of the two remaining in the city. The church didn’t really provide the orphanages with that much money, despite emphasising that people should donate to the church and that the funds were for the good of all people. A teenage girl, around my own age seemed to be working here, she was calmly persuading a bunch of playful children to go inside and eat their food. 

“Hello, I’m here to bring back a child you should be missing!” I yelled out to her.
“Miss Arise, Arise over here!” Sally shouted joyfully.
“We were looking all over for you Sally, where were you, I’m so glad your back, are you okay?!” she proceeded to tightly embrace Sally then quickly push Sally behind her, staring at me as if I looked somewhat shady, though I might having scruffy blonde hair, slightly unshaved face and a packet of cigarettes protruding from my pocket, and to top it off I wasn’t wearing my school uniform.

“Sally, who is this stranger, haven’t I warned you not to talk to or follow strangers, especially if they offer you candy, you are never to take the candy!” She exclaimed, though I heard her whisper to herself, “At least he is a pretty handsome stranger” I pretended not to hear her say that, but I couldn’t help but smile, which caused Arise’s face to go bright red.
“Mr Angel saved me from the boys, they were bullying me again Miss Arise” Sally shouted joyfully.
“Oh, Mr Angel huh, did you thank Mr Angel here?” She said the word Angel sarcastically, glaring at me rather suspicious of whatever motives she thought I held.
Ignoring that Sally continued to say “Mr Angel promised to take me to heaven, he promised to take me to see my mommy, Miss Arise!” Oh my god, what is she saying, it’s making me sound as if I am some complete and utter pervert from the back alleys.
“Sally, go inside so that I can talk to Mr Angel here” Arise said, pointing at the door, Sally looked disappointedly at the floor and slowly walked inside, once she had left Arise frowned at me and asked “Did you lie to Sally?”

“Well yeah, she wouldn’t let me take her back to the orphanage and she kept calling me Mr Angel, so I just pretended to be this Mr Angel so that I could take her back here so that she wouldn’t just disappear into the hands of some freak in a dark alley.” Slightly annoyed at her asking this I shifted uncomfortably as I spoke. In the distance the church bells rung, their heavy echoes resounding throughout the streets, signalling that curfew had begun, and that I now was in some trouble if I was caught making my way home, Damn.

“Hey, Mr Angel, are you there, staring into the distance isn’t going to get you out of explaining this all to me.” I stared at her blankly for a moment, partly not remembering why I was here.
“Oh, umm, yeah, sorry I was just thinking that there was no way that I could get home now…” I sighed
“Well, come in, I’m keen to know what happened, and I am sure that the head of the orphanage would also like to know, we can ring your parents if you are worried about that; Mr Angel”
“Can you please stop calling me that! My name is Arrou!” I snapped suddenly irritated by the name.
“No need to get all angry, nice to meet you Arrou.” She motioned to come inside the orphanage, just what have I gotten myself into, now I see why people don’t often help each other.

The interior of the orphanage was quite plain, from the inside it didn’t seem they were doing as bad for money as I had originally thought and the children seemed content, many where running around laughing and chasing each other about. A smile twitched at the corner of my mouth as I sat down, damn this situation was ridiculous, here I was an orphan myself, who had been one of the lucky few who had found a home, now I find myself back at an orphanage and in some trouble for helping Sally. I’m not meant to be doing this kind of thing, I don’t really have the nerve for it, I just wanted to go home and have a smoke then lie on the roof of the apartment and stare at the stars till dawn.

“So, Arrou, or should I call you Mr Angel? What happened with sally, why does she think you are an angel?” Arise smiled.
“Don’t call me that! and why are you so interested anyway?”
“I just want to know why a shady looking guy like you brought back a 6 year old after she had been missing all day.”
“Fine, ok, I will tell you what happened.” I began to explain what happened, skipping over the details as to what I did to the boy, shoving him around and yelling at him that is, while explaining I couldn’t help but watch the clock as the hands slowly moved, it was getting later and later with every passing moment, and the penalty was worse the later you were out, if you were out without your parents’ permission an hour past the curfew you were detained in juvenile detention for at least 3 days. I was probably going to get caught now anyway, I guess it no longer really mattered.

“So, do you really expect me to believe that story? Nobody ever helps anyone, not if there isn’t something in it for them, how do I know you didn’t lure her away in the first place so that you could come back claiming to be the hero, and you fed her drugs until she was deluded enough to call you an angel didn’t you?” Her voice was cold, her expression untrusting, was it that something had happened to her in the past, or was she just always this hostile towards strangers.
“I know people don’t help people, why do you think I stepped forward and lent a hand? Why the hell would I want to lure children away, do I really look like the type of person who would do that, look at me, I’m just 17, I still go to high school.” I shouted angrily at her, you don’t have the right to make all these assumptions about me, I know the world is a bad place but despite what you may think there are nice people out there. I thought towards her, even knowing that there was no such thing as a mind reader.

“I’m sorry, that was rude of me, why does she call you an Angel?”
“How should I know, I just saved her from being bullied by those little kids, from then she started calling me Mr Angel and was saying that she had seen me take her mother away.” It was stupid really, the kid might have just thought I was some saviour, or who knows they had dreamt about an angel who looked similar to myself.
“I guess it is really strange, you don’t look like an angel to me, I mean where are the pure white wings growing from your back and the halo and heavenly glowing light? Though admittedly I’m just a little bit disappointed, you sure you aren’t hiding anything under that shirt of yours?” She laughed.

I leaned back in the chair, it creaked in protest, groaning underneath my weight.
“I’m sorry to have kept you, but I think you may never have made it home anyway, not with how many patrols have been searching the streets lately.” What she said was entirely true, I didn’t even dare to ride my bike about of late, the patrols had increased because of the amount of disappearances there have been.
“Yeah, today has been a mess, I am already finding myself wishing I was just another one of those people who could walk past a problem and not have it weigh on my mind like a tonne of lead bricks.” At that moment, I heard the chair creak again, then I was falling backwards, the table behind me caught me on the back of my head, I felt a slight amount of pain for a moment then felt my consciousness fade.

The room I woke up in was lit by a dim light bulb, casting shadows in the corners of the small room, the few items in the room were neatly placed on a desk opposite the bed and in the chair next to the desk sat Arise. Wait, how had I ended up here? Wasn’t I just sitting at the table? Sitting up, dizziness struck me, making me swoon and fall backwards onto the bed, what the hell is going on?
“Oh, your awake now.” Arise commented.
“yeah, as if that wasn’t obvious enough.” I snapped back, feeling annoyed at being hopeless and unsure of where I was. “What’s going on, why am I here anyway?” I asked
“Just eat” Arise said before shoving a handful of rough bread in my face, arise stared at me as a nibbled on the bread, it was hard enough to be classified a rock, but I didn’t complain. “If you want to know what happened, well you broke our chair with your fat a*s!” She laughed, somewhat amused by her own statement. “No, seriously though, you hit your head when you fell backwards and there was a fair bit of blood about the place, not to mention when the vase fell atop your face, it cut you up a fair bit.” Puzzled I ran my fingers through my hair, which was matted with blood, searching for any signs of a gash, I found but a bruise and then checked my face also finding nothing. “the wounds have already healed, why would that be, you were hiding all along that you were an angel weren’t you?!” She shouted excitedly. “Oh, and I couldn’t help but take your shirt off to clean all the smashed pieces of pottery up, what’s with the bandages huh?” She can see the bandages? But I always thought I was the only one who could see them, is this for real?

I stood hastily, but the ground seemed to move beneath my feet, I sat back down again, “Did you seriously see them, the bandages I mean.”
“So you are hiding something then? Could it be that you are really an angel and you cut off your own wings to hide them? So your like an outcast or something.” She was rambling, seemingly a massive believer in all the stuff about angels.
“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but those bandages have been there as long as I can remember, I doubt that I’m an angel or anything of the like.” I sighed, why is my life so difficult. I stared at Arise’s disappointed face, she was quite beautiful in a delicate way, not that I was really all that interested in girls. Slight brown curls wisped from her head, framing her delicate face, her emerald green eyes shining brightly. Even her body was small and quint, perfectly matching her face, it felt as if she was more of an angel than I could ever be.

In truth, Arise seemed exhausted, sitting back in the chair she seemed to be slightly nodding off, her eyes closing and her head falling forward, then she would sit up again and stare at me as if expecting me to say something, but I just continued to stare back until she had finally fallen asleep. The realisation struck me that I hadn’t had a cigarette in who knows how long, there was a craving inside me that I couldn’t really shake and it wouldn’t allow me to sleep, I knew that much, also I hadn’t yet called my parents, they would be worried. Taking care not to disturb Arise I slowly rose from the bed, watching the world swirl about me in a state of vertigo, slowly the spinning began to slow and I could take a step without lurching forwards. I opened the door and sneaked down the hallway, flinching mentally with every creak of the floorboards, the hallway felt alien, too silent and dark compared to what it had earlier been, all that could be heard was the silent whispered breaths of children sleeping and some tossing fitfully in their dreams, just how long had I been asleep?

I finally reached the door leading to the back yard, I slipped out, hoping that no one had heard the door opening and been slightly disturbed as I knew that children were prone to be scared of anything that moves in the night. I breathed out upon realising that I had been holding my breath, taking in the chill of the tainted night air under the stars barely visible due to the pollution of the befouled city. I drew out a cigarette and let another light be added to this city of broken stars, beyond you could see houses and other buildings with their lights still on inside, it can’t have been all that late if the offices and endless amount of shops where still open. Maybe 10 or 11pm, though still too late for me to make my way home without being apprehended, damn. I find it funny, how at night you can still taste the smoke from the cigarette and feel it poising your body, but you can’t see it, not at night, and for some reason this made it so much easier to ignore the slow destruction I was bringing upon my body.

“Mr Angel.” A tiny voice called out to me in the darkness of which I had engrossed myself in, why, oh why can’t she leave me in peace?
“Sally, what are you doing here? Why aren’t you sleeping?” Grumbling I turned to face her, she was watching me, looking at me expectantly, waiting for me to say something other than that.
“Don’t leave without me, you promised, you really did.” She clung to my pants, rage began to well up inside me, I couldn’t stop it from consuming my senses, I am sick of this, why can’t she leave me alone!
“Oh come on!” I shouted, “Stop with this bullshit, do I look like some freaking angel to you, are there giant wings growing from my back, do I look like I can fly?!”

Shouting at her was the wrong thing to do, and I had known that all along, but now I can’t take it back, her small hand let go of my pants, tears began to slide down her face, she fell to her knees, covering her face with her hands. Bewildered I just stared blankly, what can I do to stop those tears from flowing? 

“I hate you, I know it’s you, you who took my mother away, you took her away from me! And now you won’t let me see her.” She screamed at me, getting to her feat, then she began to run, and for a small child she could run fast. I watched bewildered as she disappeared out the gate, what had I seriously done to this kid, I never killed anyone or took them away or whatever. No, this isn’t important, now there is a little girl running about these dangerous streets at night, I have to find her. She could get caught by a patrol or even worse, picked up by one of the shady men who prowled the streets at night. Terrifying thoughts kept swirling around my mind, making me dizzy, I took a breath, allowing the calming sensation to flow over me. I have to go after her, and it has to be now.

I began to run, chasing after the figure who had vanished into the expansive darkness of the streets, the darkness of course was occasionally broken by the weak light of the street lights, but I couldn’t see her, I had to keep running, to follow my instincts and find her. The faster I ran, the more I felt the chill of the cold air whipping against my face, my legs burned and my ears, hands and bare feet becoming numb. I reached a turn in the road and could only hope that she had turned left as I had done, turning the corner I could see twin beams of light sweeping the streets, beyond the blinding headlights I could see her, the small figure being drawn towards the lights, like a moth drawn to the flame, only to be burned and disappear from existence, I can’t let this happen, they aren’t slowing down, they don’t see her. Dread filled me, chilling my insides, I could feel the blood drain from my face as I stood frozen, eyes wide. Then I felt the spur to save her, I did the only thing I felt I could, putting all my strength into every footstep, heart skipping a beat with every moment as time seemingly became slower and slower. It felt as if every step I got closer but further away, the blazing pain in my chest from the shortness of my breath and the tightness of the mysterious bindings, I could barely drag in each haggard breath that burned my throat and lungs.

Putting every ounce of strength in my body into the final bound, I fell forward enveloping Sally with my arms, feeling her small shaking form protected within the frame of my body. I heard breaks squealing momentarily, felt the frozen metal of the car hit my body causing me to fly into the air then fall like a sack of lead. Pain blossomed throughout my body as I hit the ground, I felt things break, a sickening feeling in my stomach, fire raging across my spine, clawing at the fibres of my being. Everything was shutting down, my breathing, my heart … beating, everything slower and slower, my vision under eyes closed was curtained in red. The pain and sick feeling within my body caused it to involuntarily convulse, I could feel myself slowly becoming distant, falling away from my body, dissolving like sugar in water.

“Take… me… to see… my… mother…” A small terrified voice whispered through my consciousness, piercing the veil of black which had enveloped me. Where am I, what am I feeling, why… I tried to open my eyes, but I couldn’t manage it, I felt as if there was no strength left in my body. “Please, it hurts… Mr Angel” the voice whispered again, coming from the small crushed shape within the mass of pain which may have been my arms, my whole body felt wrong, mutilated.

“Hang on, son, don’t die, we are calling the ambulance now!” a strange masculine voice was shouting, who? “stay awake, don’t walk into the light” Light…? Does he mean that… light? I reached towards the light in front of me in my mind, but fell forwards, spiralling into the darkness.

Reviews

[Edith Faith K]

I like the scene very good writing laying out the background. ☺ However I had a hard time following what was going on partially because the use of passive voice in your writing rather than active voice. I do like the emotion behind it too, truly compelling but one last thing to add. ☺You may want to try to show more then tell. Showing is a description of how the character is behaving to indicate he is feeling a certain Emotion. It makes it easier to relate to the character when you describe how they are acting to reflect to the reader how the character is feeling because the reader then can feel it too. ☺ all in all though a good set up for a novel ☺

[Alucard6336]

Beautiful. You have one heck of a vocabulary, dare I say better than mine. It intrigued me. Made me do a lot of deep thinking. Great work.