Chapter 2

Laurissa's first day of school taking an ugly turn for the worst.

A man stood in the tree outside her window, gazing in with a look of desperation. The rain fell on him, beat down onto his skin, but he didn't care. She watched his chest rise and fall heavily. His eyebrows furrowed as if he were thinking about something thoroughly. She began pondering what he could possibly be thinking about, in front of her window, in the middle of the night.

What brought this boy here? She couldn't fully see his face, she didn't know who he was. But something about the way he crouched in the tree looked familiar. Something about the way he breathed, the way he moved, seemed insanely familiar to her. She must have known him from somewhere. She knew this boy.

She tried to yell to him but she couldn't find her voice. It was sinking down deeper, hiding away from her more and more every time she tried. She doubted the boy could have heard her even if she could scream, with the wind blowing so furiously.

She could feel, however, that this boy wasn't here with good intentions. She had a bad feeling about him. Why was he at her window? She must have known him, or he must have known her. She knew there was a memory inside her somewhere but it was from so long ago she couldn't completely remember.

But she knew the boy crouching in the tree above her. He was something of importance.

And something of utter danger.

But just then he turned around and looked directly at her and she felt chills run down her spine. She tried to scream again, but this time it was in completely terror, and yet still nothing came out. She knew who that boy was.

It was Xavier Floyd. The fallen angel that used to be her boyfriend.

~~~

Laurissa jolted awake in bed to the sound of knocking on her door. She almost mistook it for a knock on her window and jumped when she heard the sound. 

"Laurissa, get up. Don't want to be late for your first day of school, do you?" Her father called through the door. Laurissa looked at her alarm clock on the nightstand beside her bed that she forgot to turn on last night. It was six o'clock in the morning.

Laurissa rested her chin on her palm and sighed. It was the first day of her Senior year in high school.

And the fifth year anniversary of when Laurissa's mother killed her sister. Five years ago, this was the day that everything changed in Laurissa's family.

Laurissa whipped her blankets off and got out of bed, distracting herself before she could let any tears fall. She took a quick shower and got dressed and dried her long, red hair only to put it up in a neat ponytail. She looked at herself in the mirror when she finished and realized she looked tired and anxious, almost like a zombie.

"Today's the first day of Senior year." She told herself. "You should be happy."

She remembered the dream she had last night, and that reminded her of the night Xavier fell from the sky. He came down in flames, illuminating the night sky. Though the fire resembled his ban from the Legend's Court, he still looked like an angel. But when he reached the ground, burning though the fire didn't damage his skin, he only looked like a human. He looked like a different person, not the sweet, caring guy Laurissa had fallen in love with. He looked like a trouble-maker. A traitor.

Xavier Floyd had been gone for two years after he committed murder, he wasn't coming back. But then why had Laurissa dreamt about him last night, after a successful year and a half of not dreaming of him? Something was coming, but she was afraid to know what it was. Therefore, she pushed Xavier's image out of her mind.

Laurissa turned around to see in her reflection the two slits in the back of her shirt. The slits allowed for an easy escape for her wings that branch from her shoulder blades when she allowed them to appear. She had those two slits in almost all her shirts, just in case there's an emergency.

At that moment she willed them to appear. She watched as the air that her wings would soon occupy turned to a dusty cloud, slowly disintegrating into her long, white wings. Her wings stretched out three feet, glittering in the bathroom light. Laurissa was overcome with the feeling of freedom and grace, staring at her wings as if they were comforting her and telling her everything was going to be fine. They reminded her that she would be an angel forever, she would never break the rules.

But even the comfort of seeing her wings couldn't help her now. It had been a year and half since she'd seen Xavier in her dreams, and she knew something was wrong when she saw him. He had no good intentions, not anymore.

"Laurissa!" Her dad called again. Laurissa jumped again at the sound of knocking at her door and quickly willed her wings to disappear. She raced to her room to grab her backpack.

"Sorry! Coming." Laurissa called back. She grabbed her cellphone from her nightstand and swung open her door. She walked down the staircase to her living room where her father was sitting down in his favorite chair.

"You getting a ride from Katherine?" Her dad asked without looking up from his newspaper. His face had the same expression it seemed to have for the past five years since Laurissa's sister died and her mother ran away.

"Yeah," Laurissa said flatly. She took out her phone to find a message from her best friend, Katherine, saying she would be there in fifteen minutes. "She should be here soon."

Fifteen minutes later Katherine pulled up in front of Laurissa's house in her blue pick-up truck. Laurissa said goodbye to her dad and left. She walked out the front door only to be greeted by the cool breeze against her face. It felt good to take in the sweet air that felt like home. It reminded her of safety, of happiness.

Laurissa got in Katherine's truck that smelled of air freshener and perfume. "Hey." Katherine greeted Laurissa. After along pause, she said, "So . . .?" Laurissa gave her a strange look and she sighed. "Are you excited for Senior year or not?"

"Oh, yeah, right. Of course I am." Laurissa stated. Despite her dream, she was still excited for her last year in high school.

"We're finally at the top." Katherine said excitedly, "Remember when it was our first year? Oh, God, that was a disaster. Remember when Kevin Hughes asked you to the dance? And when Lauren Bachman got turned down by Stephan Malone? Man, what a year. But now we're Seniors, we've grown up. This is our last year!"

Katherine was right, it was their last year. Laurissa tried to be happy, tried to act as excited as Katherine but today wasn't the right day. She hadn't even been awake an hour yet and she already felt tense. A dream about Xavier wasn't usual and completely unexpected. It was too much to think about but Laurissa couldn't stop. As much as she tried not to, Laurissa felt nothing but anxiety. 

She felt this year was going to be different. But she didn't know if that was good or bad.

Author's Note

I like this chapter a lot, despite it's length. I think it was a good idea to have a chapter in Laurissa's point of view.

Reviews

[Jacques]

Stupid me, read the chapter and then went off the page, mind blank much.

I don't think it's a long chapter like you say but i do think that's what keeps it flowing.

I think you refreshed the story by putting us in Laurissa's point of view so early and i think it helped as it advanced the different and major characters. I loved this chapter, every word fit in so well and complimented one another.
I want to read more so get writing, i loved the dream and also because the dream and the remainder were written in a realistic portrayal .... Thanks for the amazing chapter. I'm so excited to see where this story leads and i would love to live in Laurissa's point of view some more, another time. WELL DONE.