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Passions in Prose

Flicker of Hope- Part One

nostalgic*pride
Member

since 2006-08-23

Posts 122
NowhereVille

0 posted 2006-09-26 02:23 PM

I guess- in a way- we were all created for a reason. Maybe you were created to become a doctor and save lives, or a teacher and fill young children with knowledge. Whatever you were made for, it probably isn’t the same as why I was made.

You don’t know me, and perhaps you never will. Depends on who you are, and where you are. See, I don’t get out much. I… keep to what I know. Which is point blank survival. And of course, killing. Yeah, that’s what I was created for.

To my few friends, my name is Sparrow. Temple named me something different, but it’s probably nothing but some demon number. I can’t remember if I had it tattooed on or not. Probably not, I wasn’t one of the most important.

However, this isn’t just my story. It’s the story of all five of us- rejects even in our world. You see, we were constructed, in a way. By the most evil being imaginable. Demons, following the orders of their master. Guess who that is. We were made to kill all who opposed Satan, and we had no other reason for living.

But, we were what they called defective. Something went horribly wrong. Somehow, against everything, we managed to think for ourselves. We had souls, and needs, desires, and fears. We weren’t the hollow shells we were supposed to be. And we wanted out.

So we escaped from the Temple, hard as it was. And now we have nowhere to go, with no identity except for the one we escaped from.

Soon things will begin to change for us. We will all need to either become what we were created for, or go to an orphanage. So far, we’ve taken the road undecided. It suits us better. We aren’t around anyone but each other, and that’s a good thing.

But the demons are restless. The despise those who oppose them. And we escaped their clutches already. You can imagine how they think of us.

Faith, Marine, Shadow, Flame, and myself are ready for the war that is sure to erupt onto mortal lands. I give you this as a warning for what is to come. Be watchful, and have faith in the light, because that is what scares them. They cower in fear of light, and hope, and joy.

I can only pray that angels surround you, the warriors of the light. Keep peace within you, for these creatures of the night seek a darkened soul; a soul who has lost love and is content to be unhappy. Even a flicker of hope will keep you safe.

- Sparrow
Chapter One

“Sparrow, the sun has risen, you must too.”

I could hear Flame’s soft words, and his gentle hands shaking my shoulders. Barely, I smiled at him. He was a teddy bear at heart, no matter how large of a man he had become.

Slowly, I pulled myself into a sitting position, opening my mossy green eyes. My dark brown curls fell over my face, and I stared at the eldest of our group with resentment. His large, nearly ebony form stood tall over my makeshift pallet on the floor of the shelter. My shoulders ached from the hard floor, and large bags were under my eyes from a lack of sleep for so long.

“Is Faith awake yet?” I asked him, standing up- though I only came to just below his shoulders.

Faith was the youngest of us, only six years old. She was also the only one who was still controlled by the demons. Her small body couldn’t repel the evil as ours could. But, when we left, I couldn’t leave her to stay there. To kill innocent people, she was just a baby in my eyes.

Flame shook his head, the smile fading.

“Just as good, but I suppose everyone else is awake?”

Flame laughed his bark like laugh. “I’d like to say that, but Marine refuses to get up. Shadow is with her now, perhaps he can wake her.”

I arched an eyebrow at Flame. Shadow hardly ever showed any emotion towards us companions. He kept to himself most of the time, taking long walks at night while we slept. But he proved himself to us the day we escaped. He’d left a position of higher power than any of us knew. He hadn’t been the same since.

Flame and I walked side by side to Marine and Faith’s bed. Both girls slept soundly, lightly snoring. Faith’s bright red curls tangled over her pale face. A tiny thumb stuck promptly in her mouth. It was childish, and most children her age didn’t do it. But, after all she had been through, we allowed her this comfort.

Beside the six year old girl, Marine lay flat on her stomach. Short black hair tickled her lower neck, the color of a chocolate bar. Marine was ten, four years older than Faith, and five years younger than me. Shadow, a young boy of sixteen, stood over them both, glaring into space.

“Can’t get them up?” I asked, kneeling beside Faith.

Shadow ran a hand through his blonde hair. “Marine is awake, she just prefers to sleep.” He grabbed at the girl, but she remained in place. “And Faith sleeps like a damn log!”

Flame shook his head in despair. “Don’t curse around them; you know Marine repeats everything you say.”

Shadow gave him a look of utter contempt. “I suppose you could do better?”

Sighing, Flame leaned against a wall. “Stuff it, Shadow. Maybe I can’t do better, but Sparrow can.”

I nodded, lifting Faith into my arms. “Watch me.” I instructed the angry young man.

“Faith, Faith, it’s time to get going. You don’t want to stay here all day do you? Lots of people are here, they might disturb you.”

Faith opened her light blue eyes, and stared at my face blankly. “Then I suppose we should leave.” Her voice sounded like something from a horror movie...except it was real, all too real.

She jumped from my arms with catlike agility, the same flexibility we all had. Faith looked at Shadow like he was an idiot. “If Marine is awake, then she will follow when we leave. You know she hates to be alone.”

With that, she turned around and walked away. Before she left my sight, I ran after her, the others following.

“Faith, wait up!” I called after her. She turned her head, grinning at me. Faith was just a little girl; she was innocent and absolutely needed to stay with us.

None of my narrow minded thoughts changed the fact she did run from me.

I screamed after her. Flicking my heads over my shoulder I sought out the eyes of Shadow. “Follow her!”

He nodded, scooting closer to the wall of our building. Shadow literally melted into a black form against the wall. He moved quickly, with no disturbances of the outside world.

The rest of us burst through the doors of the home, looking frantically back and forth. No sign of the tiny girl was in our sight. Marine let out a small sob. A few loose tears drops trickled down her Hershey colored face.

“Where could she be?”

Flame wrapped a muscular arm around Marine’s waist, pulling her into his stomach. The nearly teenage girl shook with ragged sobs, her emotions raging.

“Take the sky, Sparrow; you may be able to find her.” Flame whispered to me, making sure Marine didn’t hear him. She would have freaked out even more if she knew I was leaving.

I nodded, moving stealthily into an alley way nearby. Removing most of my clothes, I closed my eyes and concentrated on transforming into the Sparrow. Slowly, as if my human form was melting away, I began to shrink down in size. Or, possibly, everything became much larger.

After allowing myself a few moments to get used to the wings, I took flight. The ugly Brooklyn streets made me frantic. Faith is out here somewhere. What if somebody found her? People do sick things to little girls. I felt nauseated, searching the ground for her. But I can’t think about that right now.

Chapter Two

Hours passed, though it seemed I continued my search for centuries. I was weak and slowly losing altitude. I wasn’t going to make it much longer. I had failed everyone, Faith and myself especially.

As long as I know you’re listening- perhaps I should apologize. I hadn’t thought anything dramatic would happen the first day, and we end up losing Faith. You hardly knew her. I am sorry.

Looking down, I noticed a group huddled by a small fire.

Maybe it’s the others.

I flew downwards towards them, staying a few feet back. Landing on a dumpster, my bird form seemed to fall away in shreds, and a young woman emerged from the pieces.

The group was talking, but it wasn’t my group. They were much younger than my companions. Hearing what the spoke of, I supposed they were runaways. Some of them possibly orphan. I turned to walk away, until I was struck by a boy’s words.

“Faith, where did you runaway from?”

Doing a double take, I swiveled my body back to the group of kids. Yes, it was her all right. Same bright red hair, same mysterious blue eyes, yes it was the same Faith. I rubbed a bead of sweat from my forehead, leaning against the wall.  I needed some clothes to confront these kids, and some pride left to bring Faith home.

“I came from the very fires of Hell.” Faith answered the boy with great certainty, as if this answer was obvious and not extremely creepy. “And my master sent me here to kill and slaughter children like you.”

“Faith, no…stop!” I jumped from my hiding place as she lunged angrily for the boy who had spoken to her. The children screamed, stumbling backwards into another alleyway. I grabbed my arms around Faith’s waist to hold her still.

She did not want to be kept still. She kicked at me, screaming and occasionally biting my arms.  But I held her, keeping her small body pressed against mine long after the other children were gone.

Finally, she collapsed, leaning onto me. “I hate you so much, Sparrow.” Faith whispered those words into my ear, an unspoken threat dancing on them. She smiled, as if she knew how far ahead of me she was. How close I was to losing.

“Hatred is of Satan.” I smiled at her, a tired smile. “C’mon, we have to find the others. Besides, even demons have to sleep.”

Faith didn’t protest.

Miles we walked through alleyways in Brooklyn before we found the others. Faith never tried to run, never tried to attack me or a passerby. I could tell she was deep in thought.

“We are of Satan too, Sparrow.” She finally said just before we stumbled upon Marine and Flame. “It’s about time you f aced that reality.”

Marine stood, rushing to the little girl. She embraced her, showering her with kisses. “Faith, I worried about you so much!” Pulling away, the tears on her face were visible.

Faith smiled. “Of course, Marine.” She looked around, her smile fading. “Where is Shadow?”

Flame cleared his throat. “He went out for a walk.”

I made a mental note to ask him about that later. Shadow never would have just gone for a walk with Faith missing. And if he had been looking for her, Flame would have said that. Something was wrong.

I slipped on the ruined jeans and ratty shirt Flame had left me. Marine let out a yawn, and I smiled at her. “It’s time for you and Faith to go to sleep.” And early rest, but one much needed.

I took the hand of each girl, leading them over to fairly dry spot near the fire. Flame threw a blanket to me, which a laid over them both.

“Sweet dreams.”

Instantly, I could hear Marine’s snoring. I don’t think Faith went to sleep at all. Sometimes she never did. Nightmares often kept her awake.

I come from the very fires of Hell.

A chill went down my spine as I walked over to Flame. I sat down beside him, poking the fire with something metal. He handed me a loaf of bread, which I ate hungrily. I hadn’t eaten anything else that day. The entire day had been spent looking for Faith.

“So, where did Shadow really go?”

Flame sighed, head in his hands. “He’s turning, Sparrow.”

Chapter Three

I tilted my head, unsure of what Flame meant. “Flame, what do you mean…he’s turning?”

Flame growled low under his breath. He was upset, I knew that much. “He can’t stop the evil any longer. It’s taking him over. I saw him with a bunch of kids in the alley. He was taunting them, making them cry. And, Sparrow, he was really enjoying himself.”

I shook my head firmly. “No, Shadow may be a bit different than the rest of us, but he is a good man.” I patted Flame’s shoulder. “Maybe you’re just tired. Get some sleep. I’ll keep guard tonight.”

Uneasily, Flame finally agreed he needed rest. He fell asleep close to the fire; his loud snores rattling my brain. I knew he was still worried about Shadow.

Not once did I tell anyone this. But a part of me, a part way back in a corner, had been expecting this for a very long time.

Hours passed. The chill night air, whipped angrily around me, and eventually the fire died out. Cold, hungry and feeling morbidly alone, I jumped when I heard approaching footsteps.

“Chill Sparrow, it’s only me.” Shadow leaned leisurely against the wall of a building. He smiled at me, a small unreadable smile.

I breathed heavily. “Shadow, where have you been? Flame said you just went for a walk.”

“Oh, don’t give me that BS Sparrow. I know he told you everything, and I very well know you believe him.”

“Shadow...” I hung my head, pulling a loose string from my jeans. “You don’t exactly do much to defend yourself. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with you.”

He stalked over to me, kneeling so our nosed touched. “You don’t know what you want, do you? If you had your way, Faith would be better and Marine and her in a home. Flame would have a wife and a job, maybe start a family.” He brushed a stray piece of hair from my face. “But as for me and you, Sparrow, you can’t put us anywhere. You don’t know what you want for me, and you certainly don’t know what you want for yourself.”

I stared him head on, looking into his deep eyes. “And the point?”

He smirked, cupping my head in his hands. “The point is that you need to stop worrying so much about others. And discover what you want for yourself.” He searched my eyes, smile fading. “And when you find that, go for it.”

I stared at him a while. “What I want…what I want…” I shook my head. “I want you to get out of m face, and stop trying to make me feel stupid.” Standing up, I walked over to Faith and Marine, lying down next to them.

Shadow didn’t leave, but he laid down near Flame to rest. I turned over to watch him until his breathing became deep. Sitting up, I slammed my head against the wall. Beside me, Marine began to stir.

“Go back to sleep.” I muttered, stroking her hair. I didn’t feel like explaining anything to her at the moment.

Ignoring me, she sat up and looked around. “Where was Shadow all that time?” She asked, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

“He went to find as some more blankets. But he was out of luck.” I felt horrible, lying to her like that.

But she nodded, lying back down, and falling back asleep.

I stayed awake for several hours, guarding Faith. My eyes drooped, and all I could do was try to stay away. But, Flame saved me when he awoke in the night, telling me to go to sleep.

Closing my eyes, I fell nearly instantly into sleep. I told myself that I would worry about Shadow another time. But dreams of his face eroded my peaceful sleep, and later seemed to come before dawn.

Chapter Four

Reasons to be Very Worried
1. Faith is becoming more of a demon child than she already was
2. Shadow is slowly becoming the big bad demon he was before
3. Marine will have hysterics if she finds out anything
4. Flame wants to help but will only end up causing more problems
5. I’m a genetic freak created by Satan
6. Shadow apparently thinks I have no control over myself
7. It seems as if Shadow may be right
8. I have no home
9. I have four people to look after, because I’m the most responsible (sad)
10. Nothing seems as if it’s going to get any better

Chapter Five

I awoke the next morning before the others. It seemed as if Flame had drifted off while guarding Faith. Good for us, she hadn’t left in the middle of the night. Too much drama had already happened for one millennium. I don’t think another disappearing act would have left us all intact.

Leaning against the wall of an old building I studied my friends. Or were they my friends anymore? Since leaving the clutches of evil we’d grown closer. But, now, we seemed more far apart. Oh well, save that for a later day.

Faith lay near my feet, in a tangled up ball. She looked so innocent when she slept. Her fireball of hair was blown across her face, and her tiny thumb hidden in her mouth. Her features, usually contorted in rage or disgust, were now serene. The only reminder she was a little girl somewhere behind what she said and did.

Marine snuggled up close to my side. Her dark matted hair was pulled away from her face in a rubber band. The short girl slept uncomfortably. She rolled over and over again, trying to find a place to rest. I knew she was the most emotional of our group. And- although oblivious to my worries about Shadow and Faith- she worried over the same things constantly.

Looking farther across the expanse of the alley I saw Flame. He was leaning against the opposite wall, his head lying against his chest. His eyes were closed, the only other sign he was asleep being his rumbling snores. Large muscles moved slowly up and down with each breath he took. It was a laughable sight in my opinion.

Finally, against my will, my eyes wandered over Shadow. He laid flat on his back, hands tucked under his head. The blonde mane he had hung over his closed eyes. How could something so evil look so angelic? Perhaps that is a question never to be answered.

Standing up, I searched for the black marker and notepad Flame owned. I found it close to where he had made a fire the night before. Quickly, I scribbled our symbol onto the first empty page and laid it in his lap. Our symbol was two intersecting stars, with a squiggly line on top. It meant I’d be back soon.

Rubbing my eyes I left the alley. Hunger ripped at me angrily. I desperately needed food.

Looking for food in Brooklyn isn’t actually that hard. A lot of people just leave food lying around, easy enough for a thief to snatch one. But, not everyone is an idiot. So it’s quite hard to find enough food for five people.

Call me talented, because I did. An old lady was feeding birds in a park. She had bags and bags of seeds. I’m not sure what kind, sunflower probably. She certainly looked kind, and not at all a person who would notice five of her bags had gone missing.

Walking closer, I stuck my hands in my pockets and whistled a tune. It was the only tune I knew, seeing as it was the only song I’d ever heard. She barely looked up at me, a smile on her wrinkled face. Her bright blue eyes were shining in a merry way before she looked back down to sprinkle more seeds.

That’s when I grabbed the bags. I put them under my t-shirt and ran as fast as I could. I’m not sure why, but stealing those bags made me feel horrible. Maybe it was just the way the old lady had looked- genuinely nice. Silently, I asked her to forgive me.

Knowing she couldn’t see me I started walking. The alley was in sight, and I popped open a bag of seeds. Smirking, I stuffed a handful in my mouth.

That’s when I heard Marine scream, a terrified scream from such a little girl. You think you know the meaning of terror? You don’t.

Chapter Six

The bags of seeds feel from my numb arms, and for a split moment I was frozen with fear. Coming to myself, I dashed forward the alley. One thought alone entered my mind. They’ve found us.

Flame stood near the wall, clutching a squirming Faith against him. Marine, scared senseless, was turning from water being to physical being with every breath. Shadow seemed calmest, his terror not showing. But he was fighting, lashing out blindly at them.

The cause of all this panic, you’re probably wondering. Three grey figures, outlined with a gleaming red. A large black ball could be seen where he heart was. The figures were small, probably only a tiny bit bigger than Faith. But they were fast, and they had claws.

I ran to one of them, thrashing my hand against his/her err…its back. The creature whirled around to face me, its bloody rose red eyes slanted. He threw his own arm at me, claws flared. I managed to duck in time, the metallic silver only skimming my hair.

Shadow was holding back the other two, trying his hardest to push them away from us and get them to retreat. I could see bruises and gashes along his arms and torso. He was falling behind, slowly but surely.

Catching my labored breath, I came up for a second attack. I managed to punch the creature hard enough to make it stumble. But I was too quick to judge this as a break. It was back on the feet in a heartbeat, slicing the skin on my cheek.

I back up wiping the blood away. It took this advantage to kick my hard in the stomach. I recoiled and doubled over in pain on the ground. It simply thrashed at my back.

Then came the sound of screaming.

It was a hundred times worse than any scream I’ve ever heard. It could be described as a shrill, high pitched voice that rose higher and higher. I’m not sure, but I think it came from the creatures.

The one standing above me stopped and joined the other two. Together, they melted into darkness, and the screaming faded away.

Silence, utter and dreadful, followed the attackers leave. Shadow was standing, but just barely; he was in worse shape than me. Three large gashed were on his legs, making it a miracle he could stand. A long cut on his back was bleeding badly, and it seemed to have caused him the most pain.

Marine was in a ball in the corner, clutching her legs to her chest. As far as I could see, her only injury was on her left arm. A deep cut cascaded from her elbow to the tip of her thumb. Tears spilled down her cheeks, and she angrily wiped them away on the knee of her jeans.

Flame still held Faith, though she had stopped squirming. The two seemed uninjured from here, but Flame seemed to be favoring his right leg. I made a mental note to check it out later.

Faith stood as if in awe. She looked from me to Shadow, and I saw the question in her eyes, and the mockery was not hidden.

If his path is the wrong one, why are his followers able to weaken you?

Chapter Seven

Flame was the first of our group to speak. He moved over to Marine, lying her down and asking her what hurt. The girl seemed shaken and off in a distant world. Marine merely pointed stiffly and winced with pain when he ran his fingers over it.

Standing up, a loose tear drop slid down my cheek. My back was in pain, and my cheek was badly messed up. But- knowing very well his injuries was the worst of us all- I limped over to Shadow.

He leaned against the wall, his breathing heavy and panting. Dark grey orbs stared at me, transfixing in a way. I took his arm, and wrapped it around my shoulders.

“C’mon, you need to lie down on the blankets.” I led the silent man further into the depths of the alley to the place I had slept the night before. “Lie on your stomach, it looks a lot better than your back.” Silent still, he obeyed me.

I found the black marker and put it under the collar of his shirt. Hoping it didn’t hurt much; I pulled and ripped so it came off. I didn’t want to risk making him lift his arms to remove it.

Shadow flinched slightly under my touch. “Sorry,” I murmured, my eyes filling with tears. The cut in his back was deep, deeper than I could fix. “Shadow, I might have to take you to a hospital.”

He tried to shoot up, but howled in pain. “No, I can’t go to a hospital. You know that Sparrow. They ask too many questions, and even if we did manage to get past the ‘who are you’ questions, they ask for a number to call your parents.” His voice held a definite tone, and I didn’t want to argue.

But- you guessed it- I had to. “Shadow, I don’t think I can fix this with water and rags. It’s gonna take more than we have. It almost like we’d have to sew you together again.” I know- what a ridiculous idea.

He pained a raged grin, putting his chin on the ground. “Just do the best you can. I’ll manage after that.” He was so brave. Whatever side he chose- ours or theirs- he would be a useful warrior.

Sighing deep I stood and walked to Flame and Marine. I brought Shadow’s shirt with me and held it out to her. Numbly, she soaked it.

“Thanks,” I murmured my thoughts in other places.

As I cleaned Shadow’s deep gash, my eyes rested on Faith. She was still sitting in the place Flame had left her, a troubled expression on her pale face. Faith was unharmed in every physical way, and I suspected she had enjoyed the massacre of her companions.

Perhaps it would be best to leave her. This was not the first time I had imagined abandoning the little girl. She was an extra mouth to feed, an exhaustion to manage, and a threat to our safety. If she was gone, we may be able to get along better.

Sadly, I shook my head. I couldn’t allow myself to leave her. Even if she attempted to murder me I’d take care of her. That was just the way I was.

The hiss of Shadow in pain shook me out of my thoughts. I looked down at his wound. It was certainly a gallant one, longer and deeper than any I’d handled before. Carefully as I could, I placed the wet shirt on it. “Leave it like that, there’s nothing more I can do to it.”

He smiled at me, closing his dark eyes. And I’m not sure what triggered this thought, though now I could probably guess. Well, a thought came to me.

They need you, Sparrow. The need you and love you. Just keep patient until they show it.

And I vowed to do so. Even if- deep down- I knew it would be very, very hard.

Chapter Eight

Flame left to find us some food, and brought an angry Faith with him. He’d suffered a minor sprained ankle, and Faith- as you know- was as healthy as could be.

Marine had only one injury worthy of braveness. Her gash was now swelling, and it looked very painful. Still, not the most gape worthy pain.

Shadow’s back still looked horrible. The large cut was not only now swelling, but he also had continued to bleed. He was steadily loosing small amounts of blood. His pale features became rigid and stiff. But there was a perk to the whole demon thing. Inhumanly quick healing, he’d be better soon.

Before he left, Flame had inspected me. The scrape on my cheek had quickly been fixed, but the cut across my shoulder blades had hit bone. I was stunned at how little pain I was in. Maybe I was one of the lucky ones who heal quickly. Or maybe the others are being too immature; whatever.

Still, as Flame left, the three of us were on blankets, lying face down at the back of the alley. I felt a bit guilty I wasn’t helping Flame look, I really wasn’t in much pain at all.

Marine snuggled her mat of hair against my arm and I smiled. She was so innocent, really and truly innocent. It almost made me cry to think someone had kidnapped her and destroyed what she could have been.

“Pudding.” Shadow said, looking at me.

I looked up at him, a confused smile on my face. “Err… pudding?”

He shrugged, putting his hands beneath his chin. “I like pudding. "Especially the vanilla kind.” We’d stolen pudding once from a grocery store. Shadow had fallen in love with it, and we got it as much as was available.

“I like chocolate.” I said, grinning from ear to ear. Shadow was so randomly strange and hilarious. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was always that way, or if it was a ‘genetic’ thing.

Marine spoke up. “I hate pudding. Jell-O is way better. It touches my goat, my goose, and my goody box.”

Shadow arched an eyebrow at her. “Your goat, goose and goody box?”

I gave him a questioning glance before looking back at Marine. She was lifted up on her elbows, staring at us with humor.

“Yeah, it’s a thing I made up. You pick your favorite letter in the alphabet and think of two words with one syllable and one word with three that starts with that letter. The three things represent your three different parts; mind, body, and spirit.”

“Okay,” I said, wondering how in the world she came up with these things. “I pick R.”

“I pick L.” Shadow said, tilting his head to think.

“Now you have to think of two one syllable words, and a three syllable one.” Marine reminded us, nodding wistfully.

Shadow snapped, grinning. “My lips, my lark, and my lollipop.” He seemed very impressed with himself and looked at me expectantly.

“Umm…” I thought long and hard. “My rump, my roost, and my rectangle.” I tousled Marine’s hair. “Satisfied?”

She shrugged, laying flat again. “It’ll do for now.”

Chapter Nine

In a strange way, I felt special when Flame and Faith arrived. They hadn’t come up with nearly as much food as I had, bringing back only two lukewarm hotdogs. But I guess I shouldn’t have. This meant we had very little to eat for the afternoon.

Flame handed then to me so I could toll them out; one half to Flame, one half to Shadow, one third to Marine, Faith, and myself. This brought about an argument from Marine.

“Why do they get more?”

“Because they’re bigger.”

“But not by much.”

“Yes, by a whole lot.”

“I want more to eat.”

“Then go find yourself something.”

She didn’t leave, of course. Like Faith said earlier, Marine hated to be alone. But it was only a matter of time before she spoke again.

“Sparrow, what were those things that came earlier?”

I looked up at Shadow, wondering what I was supposed to say. He gave me a brief nod, making my fears a reality. I didn’t want to  explain it to Marine. She’d gone through the past years nearly forgetting what had happened with the demons. She’d blocked Temple from her mind, and refused to bring it back up.

But I couldn’t shelter her forever, now could I?

“Those things were evil creatures.” I said simply, still hanging onto the hope she would be satisfied with vagueness. She wasn’t, as usual.

“Yes, but what kind? Why were they after us? Where did they come from?”

I put my head on the ground and sighed. No help came from the boys, even though they could have answered these questions just as easily as I could. They were cowards, too afraid to speak up to a little girl.

“I think, though I can’t be sure, they were some form of demon. And they were probably sent to kill us, because…” My voice trailed off for a moment as I saw realization hit her across the face. “Because someone from Temple wants us dead.”

Marine shook her head, tears welling up in her eyes, ready to stream out. She shook her head furiously. “No, no that can’t happen. We escaped from there. We don’t mean anything to them.” She shuddered involuntarily. “Why could they possibly want us dead?”

As soon as I opened my mouth, Faith spoke. “Don’t you get it? Satan doesn’t forgive and forget. He holds grudges against all those who cross him. Why do you think he invented us in the first place? To kill those who refused to follow him!” She was flustered and staring daggers at Marine.

Flame cleared his throat. “We could leave sometime tomorrow. They can’t find us if we travel around a lot. Look how long it took them to find us here.”

Shadow pulled the map we shared onto his lap. It was already open  to the page he needed, and he studied it carefully. “Maybe we can go to Manhattan.” He suggested, turning the map so it faced me.

“Oh yeah, so where in Manhattan?” I asked, already skeptical of the idea. Marine and Faith were not in any way capable of traveling to Manhattan. It would take a good week on foot. If we didn’t stop a lot. Which we would, of course.

“Greenwich isn’t too far, and it’s less uppity than the other places around there.” He should know. About six months ago, Shadow ran away and went to Broadway and Greenwich and a few other places.

“I don’t think so…” I started to change the subject, when Marine burst out.

“Why shouldn’t we go? I mean, it wont take us an extremely long time to get there. And if we stay here we’re nothing more than sitting ducks.” She had a point.

Faith piped in. “Yeah, and people around here might start getting suspicious.” Another fairly good point made.

Flame nodded. “And I really wanna go.” That did it for me. I was overruled.

“Fine, but we’re going to sleep at seven tonight, no matter what. We have a big day tomorrow.” Pushing my hair away from my face, I sighed. “Jeez, this day is getting to my rump, my roost, and my rectangle.” I was proud how quickly I had used my words.

Chapter Ten

The next morning I awoke to Flame’s gentle shaking. My eyes snapped open, and I sat up to look around the alley. Shadow was pacing farther away, nearly on the sidewalk. Marine and Faith rubbed sleep from their tired eyes.

“What time is it?” I asked to no one in particular, standing to brush dust and debris from my clothes.

“Six A.M.” Shadow answered without stopping his pace.

I stretched my long arms out above my head and stifled a yawn. “Well, c’mon girls. We’ve got some shopping to do.”

Shopping as in we’d steal a backpack or two, and then some food. Marine nodded, and helped Faith to her feet. The two looked so sweet, too bad it wouldn’t last long.

“Yeah, we really should get going. Wall-Mart gets busy in a couple of hours, and I wanna be too far away to be blamed for stealing.” Flame patted me on the head like a puppy. An unusual gesture, but one that was comforting in an odd way.

“Alright, that’s get going.” I walked past them, on my way to a Super Wall-Mart.

I heard Marine snort behind me, “Oh hurray, shopping trip.” Faith giggled.

So did Flame.

Shadow and I exchanged a glance. Weirdos.

Chapter Eleven

“Alright, we’ll split up into four groups.” I told them, as we huddled behind a large van. “Angel and Faith, you guys get two backpacks.”

Marine looked at me. “What if they don’t have any?”

“Then get duffle bags. I also need you guys to get a first aid kit, and a knife. Any kind of knife will work. Flame, you get drinks. Lots of water, but get some sodas and energy drinks as well.” He nodded and led Angel and Marine into the store.

“Alright,” I said, looking Shadow in the eyes. “I’ll get the food we need for survival. You know, fruits, pasta, ext. You get the pleasure food. Candy, donuts, pudding, and the what-not.”

He nodded to me, and we stood up, surveying the parking lot. It was nearly empty this early in the morning, which was a good thing for us.

Together, we walked through the large doors. “Remember, out through the mechanic doors.” We split up, me going straight to the food, and him through the long way.

An idea struck me. What if I took a plastic bag when I went out through the ‘mechanic doors’? They weren’t usually too perceptive anyways. But this way, they couldn’t accuse me of stealing. I’d look like an all too normal girl, getting some groceries while we got the car fixed.

It was around that time that I decided, even for a meant-to-be demon, I was one smart cookie. Not literally, of course. I’m way smarter than a cookie.

So I was walking around, putting food in my bag. And no one noticed me. Not a single freaking person noticed me. NO ONE. Some people may have said this was because there was hardly anyone around. But no, I’m just really good.

Let’s see. Canned peaches and pineapple, bagels, a bag of assorted apples, some broccoli, ranch dressing, lettuce, a  loaf of white bread, a jar of pickles, and a cantaloupe. Seventeen minutes after entering the store, I had every thing I needed. Oh yeah, you ain’t got nothing on me. Zilch.

I knew no one else was done. It usually took all of us a good forty-five minutes to do all the shopping. So I went over to the clothing section. All of the coolest clothes I could ever want. Halters, sparkling jeans, flashy t-shirt designs. I began to feel self-conscious in my raggedy jeans and ripped t-shirt. The shoes on my feet were the best thing I owned, and they were ready to die.

Anger started to spread through me like fire. If we weren’t  in this situation, I would never have to wear clothes like the ones on me. I hated the demons, and I hated whoever had chosen me to be normal. I wanted them all to die.

But my conscious wouldn’t let me get angry.

-The demons deserve to be hated, but they never would have given you nice clothes.
Maybe not, but I wouldn’t have had to wear this. Why couldn’t I just be what I was meant to be?
-You were never meant to be a demon. No one is meant to be anything they’re not.
So why me? Who would make me like this?

I couldn’t answer that question. It was one we all asked ourselves constantly. Why had we been chosen? I knew the process of becoming demon very well. When a woman conceived a child, they stole the embryo before she even knew, and killed her. It was molded into a child, except- you know- a demon.

It worked so often, that a defect was hardly even heard of. But that’s what I am. A demon turned partially normal. BUT WHY? Why had we been only partially effected by such an effective process?

Sighing, I turned away from the clothes. “No more window shopping for you.” I murmured to myself.

Chapter Twelve

Fifteen minutes after my mental outburst, I walked out the doors of the auto shop in the back of Wall-Mart. One person was here, getting a tire fixed. The person fixing the tire was the only employee on duty. I was safe. Even though I hadn’t thought I’d get caught, I found myself letting out a sigh of relief.

I walked past the dark, oil smelling room and into the hazy morning. Smiling, I  went over to where Marine and Faith sat. They had gotten one book-bag, and one duffle bag. A large butcher knife sat in Marine’s lap, and Faith was looking through the first aid kit.

“Good job, you guys.” I plopped down next to Faith, dropping my bags onto the ground. Marine jumped a little, startled at my sudden arrival. She looked at my one of the plastic bags.

“Did you buy all of that?” She sounded astounded, and I inwardly smirked.

“No,” I said, opening the zipper to the duffle bag. “I’m just exquisitely clever.” I stuffed all of my food, save the bread, into the bag. “We can eat once we get a little farther away.” I told Marine’s hungry eyes. Faith sneered.

Flame popped out of the shop, trying to carry a box of generic brand water, a twelve pack of Coke, and a six pack of Monster. I smirked, going over and taking the energy drinks from him. “Oh you’re such a big help.”

“Yeah, I know.” I put the drinks down and undid the backpack. “We’ll put the drinks and the first aid kit in here.” I began putting them in, when Marine held the knife in front of my eyes.

“What about this?” She asked, waving it in my face.

I snatched it from her. “Be careful. And don’t worry, I’m keeping it on me.” I slid the knife into my left pocket. It was elongated to fit more things than the original jeans had. The outcome of me temporarily wanting to sew.

Faith, Flame,  and Marine watched me as I slipped it into my jeans. A worried look came over Marine and Flame, but Faith’s eyes held resentment mingled with a smirk.

I shrugged. “What?”

Flame opened his mouth to speak, but Shadow came apon us in that moment. He was red in the face, an embarrassed smile on his face. “Sorry it took so long. I had some trouble.”

Flame scowled. “You didn’t get caught did you?”

“He’s got the food.” I muttered, searching Shadow’s eyes. “He didn’t get caught.”

Shadow scratched the back of his head, giving us a look of humility. “No, I didn’t get caught. It was just, well… this girl wanted to know where the underwear was…”

I sneered at him, rolling my eyes.

“And then what?” Marine asked, taking the food from him.

“Well, she couldn’t seem to find it by herself. So, I showed her… and she was looking around and all. Well, I went to leave and she turned me around and asked if I thought this certain pair would look good  on her…”

I couldn’t help myself. I was laughing so hard I thought my lungs might burst. “She… underwear…HAHA!!” See, I’m such an understanding friend. These guys are lucky to have me.

Flame looked at him expectantly. “And what did you say?”

Shadow glared at him, picking up a duffle bag. “It was a thong, Flame, she was holding a thong in my face.”

You can imagine how that went over. My laughter turned into doubling over in pain, rolling on the floor howling. Marine and Faith were giggling like a couple of drunk penguins… tehehe, drunk penguins. And Flame was chuckling against his will.

The outcome was Shadow turning a very deep shade of red, and turning around. “Well, I’m gone.” He was embarrassed, and I snickered, gabbing the backpack.

It was going to be one long trip.

Chapter Thirteen

Have you ever had one of those days, where you know everything is going to go wrong? You just instinctively can tell that everything else is just going to run down a big hill and commit suicide. You know the kind of day I’m talking about, and I’m pretty sure we’ve all had those.

Today was a down hill suicide day for me. As soon as we left the parking lot, Marine started complaining she was hungry. Faith started to argue with her that she was always hungry and should consider a diet. This ticked Marine off exceptionally.

A few minutes later, the two were screaming at each other, and I was the only one trying to stop them. The guys just stood there, looking like… guys. Which is really unfair, considering their both older than me. They should try taking charge once in a while. I’m not wrong.

“Marine, Faith is right, you are always hungry. But, no you are not fat. Stop being so immature, both of you!” Maybe that wasn’t entirely fair. I mean, they are just kids. But, GOD, were all kids like this? I highly doubted it.

And Shadow kept falling behind. So I had to stand there and wait for three minutes every two seconds and wait for him. He wasn’t even looking at me, but I knew he was smirking. You know, inwardly. And it was really starting to annoy me, considering I was being generous. Because everyone else would have left him.

“Could you pick up the pace, please?” I asked, waving my arms at his back. “A snail just passed you on his way to a funeral home.” I thought it was pretty clever, but you don’t have to agree with me . Just, you know, pretend to.

Of course this didn’t stop Shadow from going as slow as he was, so I- being the wonderful friend I am- started going at his pace. Call me bigheaded if you’d like, but the others are much more likely to leave him over me.

Well, we stopped about an hour after leaving the parking lot and sat down on a bus stop bench. Well, me Faith and Marine did. We forced the boys to sit on the ground. “Alright,” I started. “We have donuts, bagels, and a butt-load of fruit.”

Marine wanted a donut, Faith wanted a donut, and Flame wanted a donut. Shadow settled for a bagel, while I got guilty pressured into eating an apple. We all sat in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the taste of our every so scrumptious meal.

Finally, Flame said, “So, how far are we planning on getting tonight?” It was a sensible question. But not one I could answer.

“Really, as far as we can go. I haven’t given it much thought.” I scratched the side of my head, looking at the others. “But, it doesn’t matter does it? We’ll get there when we get there.”

Marine looked at me. “And that’ll be soon, right?”

Chapter Fourteen

Well, it would, as my bad day proved, not be soon. At five o’clock it was pouring. I don’t just mean a little rain, I mean something you could compare to a hurricane. This was not your average rain storm, it was like standing in the middle of Katrina, waiting to get killed.

Alright, I might be over-dramatizing it, but I swear this is how it felt.

“What are we gonna do?” Flame called to me against the beating storm. A bolt of thunder flashed by us. I counted the seconds that passed; four seconds. The storm was four miles away.

Shadow held Faith close to him, covering her with his arms. I covered Marine as best I could, but she was still as soaked as the rest of us.

“Come on!” I shouted, moving a little down the dirt road. “I think I see a building up ahead!”

We trudged on, Marine’s sobs hardly heard over the crashing thunder. Flame was in the lead, making sure nothing ahead could put us in danger. That’s one of the best things about Flame. If we were about to die, because we all mysteriously lacked one kidney, and Flame was the only one left with two,  he’d take one of his out to make sure he suffered with us.

Maybe not, but he’d think about it.

So we reached the building, and up close I could tell it was a church. The Lord’s Anchor read the sign, and written beneath said, ‘Get right or get left.’ I shrugged, unsure of the meaning. I’d only passed by churches before, but I knew enough to know that people came to churches on Sundays, and a few on Wednesdays.

I screamed as we neared the back entrance, “What day is it?”

“Saturday!” Shadow called, flinging the back door open.

We walked in soaking wet, breathing heavily. I should have heard it then, but I’m guessing he was conversing or what not with God, and he was being fairly quiet. We were standing behind a curtain, where a few boxes and such were pilled.

“Come on, let’s have a look around.” And as soon as I opened the curtain, every cell in my body froze. Because it certainly wasn’t Sunday, and at the moment two hundred plus eyes were on us.

My first thought was to run. But, like I mentioned to you before, I was built for survival. And we could certainly handle anyone in here. It was the forces of nature (lightning, rain, and ferocious winds) we couldn’t destroy.

My second thought was to act as if nothing was wrong. Like I’d simply come in late, because of the rain.

But I choose option three. Which was to stand there and wait for someone else to do something.

Luckily for me, Shadow stepped up, looking the head person in the eye. “I—“

It was right about then the screaming started. It was just an elderly woman, wearing normal women’s clothes. But there she was, screaming in some weird language, jumping up and down on her aisle.

Flame grabbed Faith and Marine by the arm, ready to pull them out. But one word I heard the woman scream quite clearly, and I’m sure everyone else did as well; Satan.

And don’t get me wrong. I was convinced this woman was crazy, but she drew me in. I walked over to the edge of the stage thing we’d ended up on, a bewildered look on my face. “Excuse me?”

By then, some of the shock wearing off, the head honcho person walked over to us. “What is going on here? We are in the middle of a service!” He didn’t really seem mad, just confused and a bit irritable.

“Well,” I began, thinking up a good lie. “We were on our way home you see, and it started to rain. We mistook the day for Saturday, and thought we could slip in here and call our parents.”

A few people began murmuring in the crowd. The guy looked at me. “Where do you live, young lady? All of you together?”

“Yes, we live on…um…um…” For the first time in my life, I was at a loss for something to say. I fully expected him to call the cops or bust out with, ‘Demons! All of you!’ But I was wrong. He just smiled, patting me on the shoulder.

“Why don’t the five of you come into my office?” He outstretched an arm, pointing to a door.

What was I supposed to do? Run away and get killed by the rain? Tell him I couldn’t stay long because I was on my way to Manhattan to escape demons sent to kill us?

I grabbed Faith’s hand, motioned to the others, and walked straight through the office door.

Chapter Fifteen

“We are leaving out this window.” Shadow pointed to it as soon as I’d closed the door. He walked over to open it, giving me a look.

“And what, get killed by lightning?” I saw it flash and didn’t need counting to tell it was right on our doorstep. “Face it, we have no alternative.”

He growled, collapsing in between Marine and Faith on the couch. Flame leaned against the desk and I stood in front of the door. We knew what was going to happen, it was something we’d all worried about. They would, naturally, inform the police. The police would look up our records and find nothing, meaning they had no where to put us. Flame, who was older than eighteen, would be sent to a homeless shelter to be kept there until he got a job. And the rest of us would go to an orphanage.

Faith spoke up, her wet red hair in her face. “You know, Shadow, you could always take off without us. I mean, if you suddenly melted into the wall, they couldn’t do anything about it. Probably would think you just ran away.”

I was horrified enough she was even suggesting this. But the look on Shadow’s face nearly killed me. Consideration, contemplation over Faith’s words. “You can’t be serious!”

He looked up at me, glaring a little. “I could go, if I wanted to. But I won’t.” He stared at the floor, cracking his knuckles.

Looking out the window, Flame said, “I wonder what it’ll be like. Me not being around you. I mean,” He looked up at me. “You guys are like my family. I’m not the only one who thinks that right?”

He looked around, no one speaking up. I shook my head. “No, Flame, we all think that.” He seemed relieved someone had come to his rescue.

Marine spoke up. “Faith will go first. Then it’ll be me, if I ever go. I doubt Shadow and Sparrow will find  home, so they’ll always be together.” She looked at all of us. “No one is gonna want a smarty-pants fifteen or sixteen year old hanging around. And everyone falls for little kids.”

I glared at her, but not for reasons you may be thinking of. “We are not going to get separated. Not any of us. Not ever.” I looked over at Flame, who nodded, though not very enthusiastically.

Shadow, realizing her statement, said, “I am not a smarty pants.” He seemed very serious, which made the statement funny. Well, at least to me. It was kind of a you-had-to-be-there type of thing.

Faith grimaced, shoving her head in a pillow. “It is so loud in here! Why can’t those people just shut up?” She was leaning against the back of the couch, headfirst, rocking on her knees. “And they keep talking about us!”

Shadow and I exchanged a glance. Just barely, we could hear what was going on outside of the door. And they weren’t talking about us at all. They were going on about, get this, a whale. I’m not joking, they were talking about a whale. And the head person made it sound all serious.

Despite the hilarity, I still knew there was a subject at hand. “Uh, sweetie, there isn’t anyone being loud. And no one’s talking about us.” It was a harsh way to put it, but at least it was said.

She whipped around to glare at me. “What, are you saying? Do you think I’m crazy? Some kind of lunatic? Well, let me tell you—“

I can’t really be sure what Faith was going to tell me. Because at that moments, the head person walked in, flanked by a young woman in a pink dress, and an older man.

“To get straight to the point, we know you don’t live around here. And we know you’re not runaways, because 1) He’s too old, and 2) You can’t all be related.” The old man sat down in a desk. “So, it looks like I have to find you a home.”

Great.

Chapter Sixteen

I stood there, beside the door, watching the three of them. My face was cold as stone, looking like marble carved for a statue. As soon as the man finished, Shadow jumped in, “And how do you plan on doing that?”

The woman smiled. She was pretty, with flowing blonde hair and light blue eyes. She couldn’t have been more than twenty five. “My name is Claire (Befitting) and I own a children’s foster care center a few miles away. I would be happy to take all of you in.” She looked at Flame. “Including you, since you can’t be that much older than eighteen.”

We all stared at her for a few minutes. It was a home, temporary of course, but a home none the less. I knew I must have been gaping. We’d all be together, with warm beds for a few nights. Even some more kids to mess around with.

Marine locked eyes with me. I could almost hear her pleading. Oh yes, she wanted this. She wanted it more than anything.

Shadow stared at the woman sternly, as if sniffing a piece of food offered to him. Was it poisoned? Possibly. But as far as anyone could tell, it was a far better meal (metaphorically speaking) than we’d had in a long time.

I couldn’t read Faith’s expression. Well, I could, but I knew I had to be wrong. It looked as if she was confused. Then again, I guess she had right to be. No one had ever been nice to us, ever. And now we had this offer in front of us. Alright, I lied. I could read her expression.

Flame was the first to speak. “How many other children? Will we have our own rooms?” Leave it to him to look out for what Marine and Faith wanted. Friends (Marine) and privacy (Faith).

Claire smiled, brushing away a strand of hair. “I’m new in the business, so I only have three other children with me. Two boys, ages seventeen and nine, and a girl, age eight.” She looked us over, an overly large smile on her face. “And some of you will have you own rooms. I have six rooms in my house. With me, that’s nine people I have, so two of you should get your own room.” She laughed a little. “Well, I guess that would have to be the two oldest, Sam and…”

“Flame.”

“I’m Marine.”

“Faith.”

“Sparrow.”

“Shadow.”

Claire looked perplexed. “Well, you certainly have unusual names.”

I smirked. “Look, Claire, exactly how long do you plan on talking us into coming with you? Because I already know our answer.” I put on my face that clearly said bite me.

She blushed, “Look, you know, as a—“

Shadow pushed hair back from his face. “Look, miss, we really can’t waste our time here. We already know everything we need.” He growled a little, adding to the bite me look I was wearing.

Claire was getting agitated. “You—“

Marine stood up and stretched. “Frankly, I think we’re done here.”

The preacher jumped in. “Kids, we have no other—“

“Because we’d love to go.”

We watched with amusement as it dawned on the three  elders.

“Well,” Claire stuttered. “I guess you can go get your things.”

Faith shrugged. “We don’t have anything.”

“Oh, well, I guess I can take you home and we can all nine go shopping. How does that sound?”

Perfect. Momentarily, perfect.

~~~Okay, that took a while. Anyways, this is part one to a much longer something. I don't know if I can really post it here, but I am.~~~

ChePacifica
Member

since 2006-09-26

Posts 58
Ignore Alien Orders

1 posted 2006-09-26 10:10 PM

Im printing this out and will read as I sit on me deck in awhile and post again.....its my birthday today btw

nostalgic*pride
Member

since 2006-08-23

Posts 122
NowhereVille

2 posted 2006-09-27 11:33 AM

Oooh, happy birthday. And thanks for giving this LONG post a chance. =)

ChePacifica
Member

since 2006-09-26

Posts 58
Ignore Alien Orders

3 posted 2006-09-27 11:43 AM

OK - I just finished this...I really enjoyed it and it kept my interest until the end...yeah I can tell its part of a much larger story. Here are a few minor suggestions and critique and observations:

I would try to eliminate by say 10% or so the use of the names of the characters Flame Marine Faith etc I think it will tighten the story up for the reader.

Chapter 3 typo "I want you to get out of m face,..."
Chapter 4 is cool and has a sense of humor about that list which works well. Chapter 5 is also excellent. Capter 6 a typo in the line "It took this advantage to kick my hard in the stomach." Chapter 10 Wall-Mart is spelled Wal-Mart - I think this and next few chapters could be improved...This is a good chance to go into a more vivid look at their walk thru the store - have them interact with some items in the store...try out a new bike - play with a Sony Playstation etc...interact with a store associate - perhaps even introduce a new character that actually saves one of the main characters who instead of getting away with shoplifting is caught - the new character steps in and pays for the items and leads the group to the church...the imagery in the church should also be more vivid and "picture painting" scenes in the readers mind.

One last note I think a chapter early here say around 4567 somewhere in there have an entire chapter that takes place in the Temple place - with entirely dif evil characters plotting their strategy to get the main characters in NY.

Thats it - overall I think its very good and has alot of promise

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