The Girl with Asymmetrical Wings
So apparently, my dad has Vertigo. Not the song, the medical condition. Well it's really benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, or BPPV. Something to do with imbalance and fluids in the inner ear and brain. It's kinda weird; he has to go to the doctor a lot now for checkups.
Cut for length. Warning: Kinda dark.
Adalia could feel 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 batlike black skin. It was colder here than it was down in the flat lands. Her left arm, covered in goose-bumps, 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. Adalia, on the other hand, lived in the flat lands all her life. Only her mother had been an Angel, so only half of her body could 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 tend to have 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 once it was born, 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. She wasn’t able to find out where her mother was, and hoped he could help. 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. The next think she knew it, Adalia had been knocked to 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 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 was pinning her body to the ground and holding up her Demon wing, now that the black-haired one wasn’t doing either. 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.
It's weird how when I write some things without even thinking about it until its finished, it end up pretty good. Also, the idea for the girl who's part Demon part Angel and visiting the Angels came from a dream; I just turned it into a story. And like I said, didn't even think about where it was going til it was over.
So, stuff in school.
1- So far we've done cream soups/stocks, cookies, food poisonings, and watched Supersize Me.
2- We're around the Civil War now. Mr. Brown's class is awesome. :D
3- Yay Bio Nerd! Haha the other day in Contemp we were talking about how Mac transfers energy to Bromden and I was like "Energy Transfer! Bio!" ... and then it went quiet.
4- I wish we'd move on to new stuff and that he'd stop lecturing on how stupid we are.
5- Yeah I got Math Anal but we're still doing review of Algebra 2 and Conics and such. >.<
6- I love this class. I feel I can totally let go and be myself, and obviously others feel the same. Oh and "f: the nun" and random other innuendo has the tendency to pop up.
"Why does Harding have a buxom wife?" "He's compensating, like men with big trucks." "Right." [a couple days later] "So why does [he] buy 3 Cadillacs if he can't drive?" "Maybe he's compensating" "What?" "You know like we said about men with trucks? Instead he buys 3 Cadillacs?" "..."
Oh and you should totally watch this. Claymation + MSI?
http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=1255576
Oh and my brother's soccer team is 5th in the district. Woot!
You should all also check out sinfest.net and ctrlaltdel-online.com
Best webcomics ever. Yes, better than Cyanide and Happiness.
And xkcd.org is awesome too.
Cut for length. Warning: Kinda dark.
Adalia could feel 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 batlike black skin. It was colder here than it was down in the flat lands. Her left arm, covered in goose-bumps, 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. Adalia, on the other hand, lived in the flat lands all her life. Only her mother had been an Angel, so only half of her body could 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 tend to have 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 once it was born, 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. She wasn’t able to find out where her mother was, and hoped he could help. 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. The next think she knew it, Adalia had been knocked to 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 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 was pinning her body to the ground and holding up her Demon wing, now that the black-haired one wasn’t doing either. 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.
It's weird how when I write some things without even thinking about it until its finished, it end up pretty good. Also, the idea for the girl who's part Demon part Angel and visiting the Angels came from a dream; I just turned it into a story. And like I said, didn't even think about where it was going til it was over.
So, stuff in school.
1- So far we've done cream soups/stocks, cookies, food poisonings, and watched Supersize Me.
2- We're around the Civil War now. Mr. Brown's class is awesome. :D
3- Yay Bio Nerd! Haha the other day in Contemp we were talking about how Mac transfers energy to Bromden and I was like "Energy Transfer! Bio!" ... and then it went quiet.
4- I wish we'd move on to new stuff and that he'd stop lecturing on how stupid we are.
5- Yeah I got Math Anal but we're still doing review of Algebra 2 and Conics and such. >.<
6- I love this class. I feel I can totally let go and be myself, and obviously others feel the same. Oh and "f: the nun" and random other innuendo has the tendency to pop up.
"Why does Harding have a buxom wife?" "He's compensating, like men with big trucks." "Right." [a couple days later] "So why does [he] buy 3 Cadillacs if he can't drive?" "Maybe he's compensating" "What?" "You know like we said about men with trucks? Instead he buys 3 Cadillacs?" "..."
Oh and you should totally watch this. Claymation + MSI?
http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=1255576
Oh and my brother's soccer team is 5th in the district. Woot!
You should all also check out sinfest.net and ctrlaltdel-online.com
Best webcomics ever. Yes, better than Cyanide and Happiness.
And xkcd.org is awesome too.