Post by turkoizdog on Sept 15, 2009 19:02:51 GMT -8
So yeah, a short story I wrote. Actually I kinda dreamed it before I wrote it, but I sorta... dreamed of Adalia telling me about it. I dunno. As they say, writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia, right? *hem hem* Anyway, yeah. It kinda creeped me out when I first wrote it but I think after that I sorta... got used to creepiness? I dunno.
Yeah so it's a little... gruesome? Dark? Weird? Take your pick.
Adalia felt the stares burning acid holes in her skin. She wrapped her wings around her a little tighter. Her left side was cold and her right, warm. This was because only one of her wings was covered in silky white feathers. The other was made of a bat-like black skin. It was colder here than it was down in the flat lands. Her left arm shivered as she lowered her head; trying to use her mane of wild dark brown hair as a shield from the cold wind. None of the other Angels seemed to notice the weather conditions; they all stood straight-backed with their heads held high, wrinkling their noses and glaring as she passed.
Angels. That's what they were called -- and only for their wings, which were if anything angelic. They were adapted to the climate of the mountains, having lived here for so long. On the other hand, Adalia lived in the flat lands all her life. Only her mother had been an Angel, so only half of her body was able to deal with the conditions.
The other half she inherited from her father. He was a Demon. Demons were quite opposite from Angels in the way that they were greatly informal and wild, compared to the poised politeness of an Angel. Perhaps the only similarity is that both had a quick temper.
All her life Adalia had heard of the love story that went on between her parents. Angels and Demons were usually mortal enemies. Her mother was the daughter of a man of very high class. She went to the flat lands one day to run an errand, when she met Adalia's father. Like many cliché romances, they fell in love, and knowing their love could never be, planned to meet in secret every few days at the base of the mountain. One day, Adalia's mother's brother caught the two and spread the news. Adalia's mother was forbidden to leave the mountain, and when it was discovered that she was pregnant, she was forced to abandon her child in the flat lands, in a failed effort to hide the pregnancy from the world.
For so long Adalia longed to meet her mother. She knew how well known her mother was and assumed she'd be known as well. However, she didn't realize that by being half-and-half, she wouldn't be loved by all.
Adalia heard the soft tinkling of bells as she stepped into a small store. She knew this was the store where her mother's brother worked, and hoped he could help her find her mother. However, instead of her uncle, two young boys her age stood by the counter.
She shivered at the feeling of their eyes running over her. The shorter one, a bold redhead, spoke first. "Can I help you?"
"Yes. I'm looking for someone named Elizabeth Shane." She said, sounding more like a question than a statement. The boys exchanged glances.
"Ah yes, you must be dear cousin Adalia!" The black-haired one spoke, his eyes on hers. It spooked her a bit, but she nodded, biting her lip. "We've been expecting you. Well, I'll give you instructions to her place. Shall I write them down?"
"Please." She said with a small nod. The two boys disappeared in the back room. Minutes later, they arrived with a piece of parchment. Directions were clearly scrawled across it in green ink. The handwriting was the neatest she'd ever seen coming from a man. "Thank you." She said with a nod of her head, and stepped back out into the cold.
***
"Left on St. Ives ..." she muttered to herself as she wandered about the streets, her nose to the parchment. "And keep going straight." She continued on, unaware of her surroundings; she was too busy examining the handwriting.
She stopped. There were no more sounds of whispering people or horses, or even feelings of glares. She looked up, straight at a brick wall. Sighing, she realized she must have taken a wrong turn and walked straight into an alleyway. Looking around, she noticed how dark and dirty it was, especially in comparison to the brightness of the rest of the city. She was relieved, however, when she heard a familiar voice.
"Taking a stroll down Dead Man's Alley?" She turned to see how long the dark alley really was, and at the end of it stood her cousins from the shop.
"I must have taken a wrong turn. I still haven't found my mother's place." Then curiously, she asked "It isn't really called Dead Man's Alley, is it?"
"Well come on now, did you really think these were all stones?" Spoke the black-haired one this time. Both let out rough, sharp, cutting laughs. Adalia gave a meek smile and looked down to where she had been prodding one of the round white stones with her toe and immediately stopped. The boys laughed again.
"I really should be going ..." she said, and looked up. It was weird how one second they were at the other end of the alleyway, and the next, they were right in front of her.
"We know more about your mother than you do." The black-haired one spoke again.
"We know where she lives -"
"-And what she's been doing there -"
"-And most importantly, we know everything about her past." They spoke almost like twins taking turns, even though they so obviously weren't twins.
"Really?" Adalia's eyes lit up. "What about ... my father?" She knew right away that this was the wrong question to ask.
"Don't mention him here. Ever." The redhead snarled.
"Why? Because he was a Demon? That doesn't make him any worse than you or I." she said.
"No, not because of that. He is worse than any Demon who I've heard of. No, worse than any Demon who ever lived." The black-haired boy's face was now scrunched in a snarl identical to the redhead's, and he glowered down at her. She now realized he was probably a foot taller than she.
"I refuse to believe that. I've met my father, and he was a wonderful man. He's kind and sensitive enough to get past the petty hatred between Angels and Demons and fall in love with my mother." Adalia said, sticking her chin up to make herself look taller.
"Love had nothing to do with it." He growled. Before this sank in, Adalia was on the ground. "That might be what he told everyone in the flat lands, and his Demon family down in the canyons as well, but I'll be damned if it's not a lie."
"But ..." Adalia's lip quivered. This wasn't what she expected.
"Oh quit whining you foolish girl." He said, his large hand cupped around her throat and pressed her against the wall so she couldn't move. "Or we'll make sure you never return to your dear flat lands again. Well ..." he fingered her Demon wing. "...not using these." He slid his one hand up and cupped it around her chin, his last two fingers in her mouth. "You can bite down as hard as you like, sweetheart, and it won't make a difference." The redhead took the place of the black-haired one in pinning her body to the ground and holding up her Demon wing. It relieved her and scared her at the same time. However, what scared her more was the flash of silver that appeared, almost out of nowhere.
"Oh don't worry, we're not murderers. We'll leave the dying to you." Adalia whimpered and then screamed as her left wing was slashed. Since it was primarily skin, there was little blood, but that doesn't mean it didn't hurt. "Your father was a bastard. He never loved your mother and she never loved him. In fact, she'd only known him for so long before she returned home." The black-haired boy was doing all the speaking now. "So it wasn't the true love story you expected, was it? To put it simply, your father forced you on your mother." Adalia managed to blink back enough tears to brave a look into the boy's face.
His eyes were more demonic than any Demon she'd ever come across, and the grin spread wide across his face... altogether, he could hardly be called an Angel. "And then, after abandoning you at the foot of the mountain, she took her own life." The black-haired boy finished. "Do you know what that must have felt like? The pain? Well, why don't I show you?" Adalia's eyes grew wide with fear and she screamed. She screamed until she couldn't anymore, and grew tired before the boys finished their business and left her, a mess of red and white atop her crumpled Demon wing.
PS: The picture I drew is about a year and a half old, and the story itself is almost two years old. So yeahh...
Yeah so it's a little... gruesome? Dark? Weird? Take your pick.
Adalia felt the stares burning acid holes in her skin. She wrapped her wings around her a little tighter. Her left side was cold and her right, warm. This was because only one of her wings was covered in silky white feathers. The other was made of a bat-like black skin. It was colder here than it was down in the flat lands. Her left arm shivered as she lowered her head; trying to use her mane of wild dark brown hair as a shield from the cold wind. None of the other Angels seemed to notice the weather conditions; they all stood straight-backed with their heads held high, wrinkling their noses and glaring as she passed.
Angels. That's what they were called -- and only for their wings, which were if anything angelic. They were adapted to the climate of the mountains, having lived here for so long. On the other hand, Adalia lived in the flat lands all her life. Only her mother had been an Angel, so only half of her body was able to deal with the conditions.
The other half she inherited from her father. He was a Demon. Demons were quite opposite from Angels in the way that they were greatly informal and wild, compared to the poised politeness of an Angel. Perhaps the only similarity is that both had a quick temper.
All her life Adalia had heard of the love story that went on between her parents. Angels and Demons were usually mortal enemies. Her mother was the daughter of a man of very high class. She went to the flat lands one day to run an errand, when she met Adalia's father. Like many cliché romances, they fell in love, and knowing their love could never be, planned to meet in secret every few days at the base of the mountain. One day, Adalia's mother's brother caught the two and spread the news. Adalia's mother was forbidden to leave the mountain, and when it was discovered that she was pregnant, she was forced to abandon her child in the flat lands, in a failed effort to hide the pregnancy from the world.
For so long Adalia longed to meet her mother. She knew how well known her mother was and assumed she'd be known as well. However, she didn't realize that by being half-and-half, she wouldn't be loved by all.
Adalia heard the soft tinkling of bells as she stepped into a small store. She knew this was the store where her mother's brother worked, and hoped he could help her find her mother. However, instead of her uncle, two young boys her age stood by the counter.
She shivered at the feeling of their eyes running over her. The shorter one, a bold redhead, spoke first. "Can I help you?"
"Yes. I'm looking for someone named Elizabeth Shane." She said, sounding more like a question than a statement. The boys exchanged glances.
"Ah yes, you must be dear cousin Adalia!" The black-haired one spoke, his eyes on hers. It spooked her a bit, but she nodded, biting her lip. "We've been expecting you. Well, I'll give you instructions to her place. Shall I write them down?"
"Please." She said with a small nod. The two boys disappeared in the back room. Minutes later, they arrived with a piece of parchment. Directions were clearly scrawled across it in green ink. The handwriting was the neatest she'd ever seen coming from a man. "Thank you." She said with a nod of her head, and stepped back out into the cold.
***
"Left on St. Ives ..." she muttered to herself as she wandered about the streets, her nose to the parchment. "And keep going straight." She continued on, unaware of her surroundings; she was too busy examining the handwriting.
She stopped. There were no more sounds of whispering people or horses, or even feelings of glares. She looked up, straight at a brick wall. Sighing, she realized she must have taken a wrong turn and walked straight into an alleyway. Looking around, she noticed how dark and dirty it was, especially in comparison to the brightness of the rest of the city. She was relieved, however, when she heard a familiar voice.
"Taking a stroll down Dead Man's Alley?" She turned to see how long the dark alley really was, and at the end of it stood her cousins from the shop.
"I must have taken a wrong turn. I still haven't found my mother's place." Then curiously, she asked "It isn't really called Dead Man's Alley, is it?"
"Well come on now, did you really think these were all stones?" Spoke the black-haired one this time. Both let out rough, sharp, cutting laughs. Adalia gave a meek smile and looked down to where she had been prodding one of the round white stones with her toe and immediately stopped. The boys laughed again.
"I really should be going ..." she said, and looked up. It was weird how one second they were at the other end of the alleyway, and the next, they were right in front of her.
"We know more about your mother than you do." The black-haired one spoke again.
"We know where she lives -"
"-And what she's been doing there -"
"-And most importantly, we know everything about her past." They spoke almost like twins taking turns, even though they so obviously weren't twins.
"Really?" Adalia's eyes lit up. "What about ... my father?" She knew right away that this was the wrong question to ask.
"Don't mention him here. Ever." The redhead snarled.
"Why? Because he was a Demon? That doesn't make him any worse than you or I." she said.
"No, not because of that. He is worse than any Demon who I've heard of. No, worse than any Demon who ever lived." The black-haired boy's face was now scrunched in a snarl identical to the redhead's, and he glowered down at her. She now realized he was probably a foot taller than she.
"I refuse to believe that. I've met my father, and he was a wonderful man. He's kind and sensitive enough to get past the petty hatred between Angels and Demons and fall in love with my mother." Adalia said, sticking her chin up to make herself look taller.
"Love had nothing to do with it." He growled. Before this sank in, Adalia was on the ground. "That might be what he told everyone in the flat lands, and his Demon family down in the canyons as well, but I'll be damned if it's not a lie."
"But ..." Adalia's lip quivered. This wasn't what she expected.
"Oh quit whining you foolish girl." He said, his large hand cupped around her throat and pressed her against the wall so she couldn't move. "Or we'll make sure you never return to your dear flat lands again. Well ..." he fingered her Demon wing. "...not using these." He slid his one hand up and cupped it around her chin, his last two fingers in her mouth. "You can bite down as hard as you like, sweetheart, and it won't make a difference." The redhead took the place of the black-haired one in pinning her body to the ground and holding up her Demon wing. It relieved her and scared her at the same time. However, what scared her more was the flash of silver that appeared, almost out of nowhere.
"Oh don't worry, we're not murderers. We'll leave the dying to you." Adalia whimpered and then screamed as her left wing was slashed. Since it was primarily skin, there was little blood, but that doesn't mean it didn't hurt. "Your father was a bastard. He never loved your mother and she never loved him. In fact, she'd only known him for so long before she returned home." The black-haired boy was doing all the speaking now. "So it wasn't the true love story you expected, was it? To put it simply, your father forced you on your mother." Adalia managed to blink back enough tears to brave a look into the boy's face.
His eyes were more demonic than any Demon she'd ever come across, and the grin spread wide across his face... altogether, he could hardly be called an Angel. "And then, after abandoning you at the foot of the mountain, she took her own life." The black-haired boy finished. "Do you know what that must have felt like? The pain? Well, why don't I show you?" Adalia's eyes grew wide with fear and she screamed. She screamed until she couldn't anymore, and grew tired before the boys finished their business and left her, a mess of red and white atop her crumpled Demon wing.
PS: The picture I drew is about a year and a half old, and the story itself is almost two years old. So yeahh...
