Aurora

Chapter Two

She peeked around the corner again, and sure enough, there were two people arguing with each other. One of them was probably a bit older than her, while the other one was dwarfed by him so she couldn't see the person. It was the younger one who had caught her attention. He was standing with his back towards her, and out of his back sprouted two massive black wings. 

She rubbed her eyes, wondering if she had fallen asleep because of the exhaustion. She looked up and the wings were still there.

Pinching herself didn’t help either. The way the wings fluttered assured Aarushi that they weren’t a costume. They seemed to be alive.

Leaning forward, Aarushi looked past the wings and she examined the person in question. He wore black clothes, all leather and appeared to be in his mid-twenties, his brown hair cropped close to his skull, military-style. 

He was arguing with the other guy. Aarushi couldn’t see who the other person was. Her eyes kept sliding off his face to the enormous black wings that kept fluttering and shuddering.

Aarushi couldn’t understand what they were speaking either. Their language was foreign and nothing like any language she’d ever heard before.

A part of her knew that this was dangerous territory. She had to get out of here, her instincts whispered. And yet, she held on, trying to make sense of their heated whispers.

Who were these . . . beings? They weren’t human, that’s for sure. At least, the one with the wings was not. 

A part of her still wondered if she’d fainted from all the stress about the package. It was totally possible for her to be dreaming, since her imagination tended to run away with her quite often. Also, the last book she’d read had been a fantasy one, so it was possible she was dreaming characters from the same book.

“I keep my promises.” A voice rumbled and Aarushi looked up to see the other guy pressing the winged guy against the wall, his hand clenched around his neck. Her eyes widened as she realized that the winged guy’s feet weren’t touching the ground. He couldn’t be flying because his wings were crushed awkwardly between him and the wall. The guy was choking him!

Aarushi’s phone buzzed in her pocket, making her jump. 

She looked up at the guys, her eyes widening with fear, as their eyes snapped towards her.

Her eyes met with the winged guy’s, just as she saw the other guy turn into smoke and disappear from her periphery.

She stumbled a step back, not because the other guy had just gone up in smoke—as if that wasn't weird enough—but because she knew the guy with the wings.

She’d know those eyes anywhere. She’d been seeing those same eyes ever since she’d been a kid. These were the same eyes that had haunted her, awake and asleep, for more than a decade.

Those flat, black eyes gleamed with a menacing joy as he too, recognized Aarushi.

“Oh goody! I’ve been looking for you everywhere! Where did you disappear off to?” he grinned as he approached her.

Aarushi took another step back, aware that she was in a completely cut off alley with someone who wasn’t even a human. Also, he was someone who’d haunted her for years, probably stalked her too.

“Aarushi, don’t run away! We have so much catching up to do. How’s your dad?”

The way he smirked as he asked that question gave Aarushi a pause. He knew! He knew about her dad...did he have something to do with his death?

Aarushi stumbled another step back, realizing she’d come to the bend in the road. She whirled around and started running back towards her bike.

She heard him laughing lazily behind her. “I’ll catch you!”