Fallen Sparrow

Death never came back. Sat on the concrete floor, I stared at the bars holding me in. I thought I’d been sitting there for at least a day, but my mind had lost track of time. The only light seeped in from under the door. I felt the heavy, stale air around me staining my skin.

The darkness whispered, creating voices with distinct tones and feelings. “Cora,” I heard a scared young voice came out of the shadows followed by a small girl. Her white blonde hair fell straight down over her shoulders and tears had welled up in her glacier blue eyes. Her bare feet padded against the concrete as she came over to curl up under my arm. When I held her, she vanished into dust.

“Hey, sweetie.” A soft voice greeted. The cell’s bed was a shaky metal frame with a thin tattered mattress and no sheets. A woman sat on the bed had greying roots. She peered down at me lovingly. Naturally, I had my father’s dirty blonde hair, but I had my mother’s pale eyes.

“Have you come to tell me off or something?” I asked. Her sweet, smiling face was slightly irritating. “Because if you are, I don’t want to hear it.”

She let out a short, gentle laugh, “I’m not here to punish you, I’m here to help you. I want you to get out of this. Axel would want you to get out of this.”

“You didn’t even know this,” I whispered despondently.

She frowned and got up to crouch down in front of me. As her ghostly hand cupped my check, my mother said, “I know dear, I know.” As I fell into the comfort of her touch, I relaxed and my eyes closed. When I opened them again, a vicious glare was throwing daggers at me. She was definitely not my mother or any hallucination that had visited me. Her dark grey hair curled at the ends and her rotting teeth showed when she snarled, “hello sparrow.”

“Hello, Lillian. The wicked witch has returned. What can I do for you today?” my voice dripped with sarcasm, but instead of irritating her, she smirked.

“Don’t you worry. I’ll get what I want from you.” Her fingers touched my shoulder and my body warped. It felt it twist and my vision turned black. When the light came back, it was bright. A beaming lamp had been positioned above my head. I heard the clicking noise of heeled shoes. The lamp was shoved out of the way roughly. It fell. The glass of the bulb shattered on the floor. She leapt onto the chair, that I was tied to, landing on my thighs with her heels. I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of seeing what she was causing. The pain was getting annoying so I flung my head forward hitting Lillian’s and knocking her from her perch on me. As quickly as she fell, she was up again with her pointed fingers around my throat.

“You’ve got some balls,” she growled.

“I won’t tell you, Lillian, so you might as well just kill me.”

With a serious face, she sauntered around the chair out of sight. I heard the shuffling of draws and cupboards before my cheeks were tickled by leather. She snaked the whip down my body.

Beth shared her eye colour and slim body with Lillian, but the mother’s skin is duller and her eyes were angrier.

“Let’s get to the point, I want Bethany back,” she demanded, “she’s my daughter and you took her from me.”

“I never her took her. She came to me for safety. She saw the monster you are and took her and Brennan to safety.” There was a hint of realisation when she remembered she had a second child. “You will never have her. I won’t let you.”

Her jaw tightened, “it’ll be the last thing you do then.” I felt the hot burn of the leather whip against my body. Grinding my teeth, I tried not to hiss. I felt the hot leather again, but this time it was thigh. I was still wearing my dress from the party and my skirt had fallen to the side, revealing old scars. Unlike witches, I did scar and the souls I was dragging back to death were not always very compliant. “You know this was Bethany’s favourite toy. It is quick and efficient, but I, on the other hand, like a good blade.”

I’d never seen Beth handle a whip, but she had told me her mother had made her do things that she didn’t want to repeat.

In her hand, she held a curved blade. The handle fit her hand perfectly. “I remember when you came to my front door the first time. You were in your patrol uniform then, but I knew you weren’t just an officer. You were smug too. I have more power now. More than you will ever know because once you tell me where Bethany is, I’m going to kill you. You aren’t a threat anymore.”

“If you have so much power, why don’t you find her yourself?” With that, she turned up her nose and stabbed the blade straight through my thigh. I sucked in a hard breath. Immediately, red blood welled up from the entrance. Clenching my fists, I tried to push through the pain. Lillian threatened close to my face, “if that’s the case, I’ll just kill you now… slowly.” And then she was gone. I could hear her rustling behind me. We were in a small, dark room. The Cannon estate was huge so it wouldn’t surprise me if they had a few garages and torture chambers. I felt her presence behind me, then her breath on my ear. “This is going the hurt.” A pointed tip touched my shoulder and I prepared for it to be stabbed through. Instead, she ripped across my back. I screamed. She cackled. Coming back into sight, she held the blade painted in my blood. She placed the tip on the left side of my chest, “I’m going to put this right through here,” she was smirking excitedly. I saw her fist rise. I closed my eyes, waiting for the impact. Then I felt the metal brush my skin and stop. I opened my eyes and Lillian was still in front of me. Her eyes were wide, her mouth hanging open, her breathing was heavy and wheezing. The metal moved and my torturer dropped to the ground. My eyes followed her as she fell limply on to the ground. When I looked back up, an Asian girl was standing in front of me silently holding a long katana and wearing a tight leather suit.

“You really got yourself into some shit this time, Cora.” I pushed my head back onto the chair.

“Let’s not talk about this now Harper. Just get me out of here. I need to get to Beth.”

“I’m already here.” A voice spoke up from behind Harper.

“I’m sorry Beth,” I whispered to her as we walked out of the building. I limped, the knife still in my leg. I could feel Beth’s hand hovering near my back, ready to catch me if I fell.

“I know it would happen eventually. It’s for the best. The bitch deserved it.” Her face was stone cold, but I could see the rim of eyes were filled with the smallest of unshed tears. A mother is a mother no matter the sins they’ve committed. You can hate them, but there will always be an undeniable connection.

We continued to walk forward before Beth broke the silence. “Are you not going to ask why we are here?”

“Nope.”

“Well, you aren’t going to have a choice soon.”

I stopped and turned to her, “and why’s that?” I had a feeling she’d gotten me into something I didn’t want involvement in. Thunder suddenly rumbled above us and rain poured heavily onto our heads. From the dark sky, a white light broke through and touched the ground. Beth and Harper were staring up. Beth seemed amazed, but Harper seemed curious. Either way, I don’t like Angels.

The force of him landing made me adjust my footing so I didn’t fall over. He landed on one knee, bent over with his fists on the ground. He rose slowly.

I rolled my eyes, “a bit dramatic, don’t you think Atlas?”

The beaming light dimmed and he came towards us. He had the typical Angel blue eyes and blonde hair, but he had dark caramel skin. “You love it,” he said confidently.

“So why are you here? Other than to annoy me.” My face couldn’t have been more emotionless. I had a knife in my leg, an angry Satan that is probably not going to be happy I escaped her prison and a vendetta I didn’t intend on leaving unfinished.

“I need your help.” The confidence had dropped into desperation.

I knew this couldn’t be good.

“I need to find my daughter. Chaos is hunting her too. If you help me, I’ll help you kill him.”