Alpha's Angel

Chapter Forty Five

I felt like I was surrounded by strangers. I walked through the house stiff, their gaze landing on me and pulling me down. It was suffocating being stuck in here. I couldn't leave, but staying here was killing me. Leah and Abdo were scarcely about, too involved with themselves to notice the decaying atmosphere in the house. I was glad for it though, I couldn't look into Abdo's yellow eyes, knowing how many secretes he was keeping between him and I. How many shared horrors he chose to cover with a smile.

Jacob would try to smile, but even he could hardly muster that, as his attention was mostly focussed on trying to ignore the blooming romance between the stranger and his sister.

Archers eyes followed me everywhere. He loomed over me like a shadow at every corner, inescapable and always present.

Two days had passed. Nothing had changed. It was like we were all waiting, the time rolling on with no goal at the end. The indescribable pressure of nothing and yet everything all at once mounting with no foreseeable release at the end. I couldn't bear it. It felt all for nothing.

Unable to take Leah and Abdo's coddling, Jake's scowling and Archers lurking, I went outside. Archer of course tried to stop me, then follow me, then eventually let me go knowing anything he tried would be futile. I just needed air. I just needed to breathe.

I sat out beside the tree line, looking into the darkness as the canopy hid any light from breaking through. The ground below bare aside from a few small blades of grass searching upwards in hopes of a bead of light, over-shrouded by the giant trees looming over them. Magpies picked at them, uprooting them from the soil. Their feathers flashing black and white as they bounced across the ground. I counted seven as I watched, remembering an old rhyme my father would say.

One for sorrow,

Two for Joy.

Three for a girl,

Four for a boy.

Five for silver,

Six for gold.

Seven for a secret never to be told...

A flicking of the leaves within the bushes caught my eye. In a swift movement I'm on my haunches, the hair on the back of my neck rising up. A branch cracked, the foliage concealing whatever had caused the wood to break. The leaves rusted again, a flash of something brown moving behind them.

I was halfway between yelling for someone, Abdo's warning that other creatures were out searching for me running through my mind.  My breathing caught in my throat as eyes appeared out of the darkness. I took a step back as a snout emerged into the light. I opened my mouth ready to yell-

A dog bounded out of the trees, its tongue hanging out. My shoulders dropped their tension and I let my fists fall to my side. I chuckled as it padded towards me, its tongue flopping out of its mouth. Its fur was dabbed in different shades and splotches of mud stuck to its under belly.

I reached my hand out waiting for it to come to me. It hung back a second, sniffing at me, before leaning into my palm. I ruffled its fur, their ears flopping left as I did so. Under its mottled fur, there wasn't much else, their bones protruding.

I scooped the creature up in my arms, soothing it when it tried to wriggle free. Kicking the door open with my foot, I brought them into the kitchen.

"What is that?" Jake asked from the island where he was chewing on a chicken leg.

"A dog" I muttered, pulling out a blanket and began to wrap it up.

"Where'd you get it?"

"Outside."

"Nice." He took another bite. "Does it have a name?"

I thought back to the magpies outside. A secret never to be told.

"Maggie" I held out my hand towards him, looking down to the leg he was holding.

"Seriously?" I gave him a look that showed I wasn't kidding. He sighed, passing it to me, hanging his head. "Stupid dog eating my food. Stupid Abdo..." He huffed getting down from the island and walking into the lounge, grumbling until I couldn't hear him any more.

I pulled the chicken apart in my finger before feeding it to Maggie. She ate as fast as her mouth would allow, as though she hadn't had a morsel of food in days. I smiled as her eyes widened with every piece I fed her, picking pieces of matted mud out of her fur. There were few scrapes here and there which I'm sure would heal in a few days.

I'd always wanted a dog after our first one had died. It was called Toad and was so fat, old and wobbly it could hardly walk. But I loved him all the same, the way his thick tale would beat against the carpet whenever you stroked his ears. When we moved to the city our apartment didn't have room.

"What is that?" Archers voice snapped me out of the fleeting moment of happiness. 

"Maggie" I replied not looking up, able to see him out of the corner of my vision, standing  in the door way, like a shadow.

"You've named it?" He tried to sound passive, but I hear the undertones of aggravation in his voice.

"I'm keeping her." I could feel him trying to resisting the urge to tell me "no", instead turning away to go. I think for a second that I am safe, and that he is leaving, but then he stops. I can see the restraint in his muscles, how tense his back is. I hold me breath hopping he'd just walk away.

He balls his hands into a fist, his knuckles turning white. Then finally he walks away, letting me release the breath I had been holding.

After that, I didn't see Archer again for hours. I suspected he'd gone for a run, leaving Jake  to look after me, as had been following me around all day. Constantly being babysat at first was annoying, but I slowly got used to someone following me like a ghost, whether it be Archer, Jake or some other lackey he had called upon. I had learnt to ignore them, preoccupying myself with ideas and dreams of other places. Of being anywhere else then the confinements of this house. It was like a prison whose walls were constantly shrinking. Closing in until a couldn't breathe anymore.

Not even through sleep could I escape. My dreams haunted me more now than ever, from the moment I closed my eyes poison would slip into my mind. I would wake, my throat raw, trembling in cold sweats. Black shadows danced under the door as Archer would pace back and forth in the corridor, battling against his urge to come in.

I was suffocating here.

Daily, I would sit at the tree line, wishing I could go. The burning feeling to run, to fly scorching in my veins.

The presence in my head was healing, growing stronger. It was like the light inside of me was returning, finally filling me with something more. My blood felt warmer and my heart beat faster with every moment that my demon grew. And yet she was being stifled, smothered, the reviving flames being snuffed back to embers.

Even a fire needs air to grow.

OoOOoOOoOOoOOoO
Side note// wassssssup
Help I'm so bored
My eyeballs ache so I had to update my prescription. However Miss optician decided to cough on me whilst she was inspecting my iris
Mam! There is a pandemic! Please refrain from donating your germs
If I die sue Miss optician
Any who
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-Shay