Four months ago
The surface of the lake was dark and glassy. Moonlight reflected off of its filthy surface. Trees with low hanging branches penetrated the surface like hands reaching down desperate for water. Insects buzzed about, just big enough to cause the tiniest of ripples when the touched upon the surface. Clouds drifted across the sky and occasionally blocked some of the moon's light. The stars were bright and shone in the sky like guardian angels watching over Earth.
The water of the lake itself was green with bacteria and other filth. Weeds and other underwater plants grew from the bottom. They reached as high as they could as if they were just trying to get a glimpse of the light they had never seen before. As the lake got deeper, the water got darker, and some small bass could be seen swimming about. Their gills flaring ever so slightly with every breath. Their scales were bland with no light to reflect off of them.
The lake eventually got so deep that light all together ceased to exist. If one were to look up at the very bottom of the lake all they would see is a never ending darkness threatening to swallow them whole. The darkness was calm, terrifying, endless, and serene all at once. It's blackness even extended to the slimy, moss covered soil that sat at the bottom of the lake.
There was only one disturbance in the the darkness. One that had sat at the bottom of the lake for eight months now. Dirt partly covered it's lower half and slime covered it's surface. Moss was balanced carefully on eyelashes and lifeless pale eyes had a developed a film on them. Her lips were now blue from the freezing cold of the lake's depths. Dirt was thick in dark brown tresses and naturally tan skin had never been more pale. Her hands were calloused and worn from work. Her body lay in an ugly worn tank top and shorts. Her feet were bare, but littered with several scars on the bottom. The soft curve of her jaw and her sharp cheekbones. Her almond eyes framed by thick, dark, long lashes. She couldn't be more than fifteen.
Eight months. What is that worth to a dead girl? Eight months. What is that worth to the one who put her at the bottom of the lake? Eight months. She should've been dead, gone, forever.
To understand what happens next, ask yourself what happens after death? Some say there is a heaven, a place of divine comfort and happiness. For every heaven, though there is a hell. A place of anger, pain, regret, and fierce fires that never burn out. For those who believe in such thing, it has always been one or the other it seems. You either die a good person and go to one or you die a bad person and go to the other. Of course, there are those who don't believe in either, but for you to understand you need to think about if there is a place that is neither heaven nor hell. A place in between after death for those who have not lived long enough to be decided if the they are good or bad. A purgatory for those who are truly neutral. Though one can never be certain if there is a heaven or hell beyond the purgatory.
Now, what happens to those who get stuck in purgatory? Say there is a heaven and a hell, what do they do to get out of purgatory? They become angels.
There are many kinds of angels. They are not always the holy creatures sent from the skies to protect humans from the tragedy of life. Angels like humans can have a fascination with tragedy.
There are angels of death and chaos who fly around the world unseen by the eyes of the living gently nudging the living towards 'evil' acts. They whisper bad thoughts into the ears of the living. Their laughter is like thunder when they watch the humans corrupt and destroy each other. Their wings have turned black from the bitterness of having the peaceful afterlife they were promised ripped away. They live to watch the world that poisoned them burn.
There are angels of protection and kindness that use their advantage of being able to place thoughts in peoples ears as a force for good. They try and try again to undo the corruption from an unkind world to the poor souls of the living. Their wings golden like the sun of a world they want to protect. They see the families they left behind too soon and their tears fall like raindrops on a world with potential to be kind. They live, strive, to see that potential reached.
There are angels of remembrance and wandering that walk the Earth unseen and lonely, longing for the feeling of wholeness and life. They ghost across the world a shell of their former selves. The memories of their lives are like boulders chained to their ankles. No matter how they try to distance themselves from their former lives the memories weigh them down. They are the strange wind you feel in graveyards as they glide on white wings overhead remembering their lost ones, their loved ones, and their hated ones. They are the shiver down your spine in empty churches as they kneel at the shrines trying to feel holy, because they were always told as children that angels were holy creatures. They are the chilling sensation of hospitals at midnight, because they are trying to remember what it was like in the last moments before death. They are the unwarranted feeling of being watched because they are looking you trying to remember what it was like to be alive and if they were like you. They live to feel alive again.
All angels share the same limitations and advantages. Angels have large beautiful wings. Angels are faster and stronger than humans threefold. Angels can heal others by giving part of their life force. Angels have beautiful persuasive voices that whisper into people's ears and plant thoughts in their heads. Angels have claws and fangs. Angels cannot be seen by the living. Angels cannot lie. Angels are not allowed to directly or physically interfere with the matters of the living.
Angels are not allowed to directly or physically interfere with the matters of the living. That is their one rule. The one rule that keeps angels in line, because something happens to angels who break that rule.
There is one other kind of angels. Fallen angels who are doomed to wander the earth knowing they are different. Who have gone from immortal beings to being put back in their mortal bodies to resume where they left off. They're the angels who directly or physically interfered with the matters of the living. Whose wings are forcibly bound inside skin and muscle; if they wish to fly, skin and muscle must be painfully ripped open. Whose claws have been shorten and dulled to resemble a human's. If they wish to have their natural weapons they must will their nails to grow and wait for their claws to extend while their cuticles bleed. Their fangs are hidden inside their gums and replaced by regular teeth. They must will their fangs to push the teeth out and spit the bloody teeth out of their mouths after the fangs have slid into place; cutting their gums in the process. Their irises burn as they change into the pure gold colour they were when they were not fallen. They retain their healing ability, so they can go through the pain all over again when it is time to retract their fangs, claws, and teeth. The transformation is painful to watch and far from the holy. When they transform fallen angels retain their strength, speed, and persuasive voices. When fallen angels put away their fangs, claws, golden eyes, and wings they look and act just like humans; there is only one way to tell if one is a fallen angel. Fallen angel's hair turns the color of silver when they are returned to their mortal bodies. The girl at the bottom of the lake is about to learn just how messy of a process returning to one's mortal body is.
The body at the bottom of the lake started to twitch. Several fish swam away, frightened by the corpse suddenly moving. The body had been motionless for eight months and suddenly it began to twitch violently. The girl's hair begins to turn from dark brown to silver. Violent seizures took over the form and the body started to register a very numb pain. Her heart restarted and blood started pumping through her slowly repairing body. Fresh blood leaked out of several wounds that had never closed after she died. Murky green water was now swirled with tendrils of red.
A violent intake of breath brought a large amount of water into her lungs as her brain seemed to restart. The film over her eyes was blinked away and her pale irises turned gold rather than their natural brown. She could feel her body slowly repairing the damage that had caused her die; she even felt her skull fix itself inside her head. More water gushed into her lungs as more violent seizures overtook her body. She couldn't be sure, but she might have been crying as she shook.
A dagger of pain shot up her spine and she arched her back in an unnatural way. Wings started to spurt out from under skin. The wings grew from her shoulder blades. If one looked they could see something pushing against the skin on her upper pack from the inside. The girl rolled over and dug her hands into the ground. The loud sound of flesh ripping was not missed as the white wings sprouted out of her back. She tried to scream, but it just caused more water to enter her mouth.
She clamped her mouth shut in an attempt to stop the water, but it didn't stay shut for long. A strong jolt of pain hit her upper jaw like she had been hit punched and she started to taste blood. She spat her own blood the best she could considering she was underwater still. She watched as four blood-covered teeth tumbled out of her mouth and onto the lake floor. A sharp and drawn out pain came from both sides of her upper jaw. Blood went up from the sides of her mouth in plumes.
Just as the pain in her jaw started to disperse, pain shot up each of her fingers. She spread the out in front of her and she bit her bottom lip. She tasted blood again as her fangs punctured her bottom lip. She yelps as her nails turn harden and extend until they are three inches long; curved and sharp like a bird's talons. While they extend more blood flows from her cuticles and the tips of her fingers.
She can feel her body has repaired itself and she stands on wobbly legs. She knows how to use her wings. She knows why she's back in her mortal body. She knows that she's a fallen angel, that's part of the curse after all, remembering.
She tries to flap her powerful wings. She shoots up a dozen feet before she is yanked back down. The force that stopped her broke her ankle and she swallows more lake water by accident when she screams. She can see it now, she is chained to a block of cement that is almost half her size. Standing at five foot nine inches, it's more than big enough to keep her down. She sets her ankle back into place and gives it time to heal as she claws at the chain. The chain is thick and her claws do nothing to it but scratch the industrial steel. There is an audible crack when her ankle heals itself.
She swims over to the block of cement where there is a stake protruding out from it. The cement is set around the stake and the chain is tied to the stake. The girl braces her feet against the rough cement and grabs onto the chain with both hands. She wraps it around her right fist and starts to pull at it. She pushes with her legs as she pulls with her arms. The chain coils even tighter around her fist and she feels a finger pop out of place.
She pulls even harder on the chain. Her teeth are gritted painfully and she can feel her grip slipping. She readjusts her left hand closer to the stake and begins to beat her wings hard. Her wings are heavy with water and her whole body is tired from the sudden and new transformation.
Her whole body shakes with effort, but she is too stubborn to let herself be trapped down here a minute more. She closes her eyes as they start to sting from the debris in the water. A violent, muffled shriek was ripped from her throat as she gave a particularly powerful flap with her wings. The chain broke free from the stake and the girl shot up a little ways. She looked up into the darkness and gave several flaps of her wings before tucking them closely to her body. She shot through the water like a bullet and broke the surface in a violent, smooth motion. She shot out of the lake with a spin to wick away some of the water before snapping her wings out from their tucked position.
She made a bee line for the shore. She got there in no time, but crash landed onto her side. She skidded several feet on her side when she hit the ground. She laid on the ground her chest heaving with laboured breaths. She threw up all of the fresh water that she had accidentally swallowed and coughed violently.
She moved over a few feet. She twisted so that she was laying on her stomach and mentally prepared herself. The girl pushed herself onto her hands and knees.
Slowing her breathing and stiffening her limbs she slowly started to retract her claws. Her fingers started to bleed again and she wondered if this would get easier with time. The process was painfully slow and took a solid two minutes of muffled grunting and swearing. Her nails were still sharp at the tips, but they were now normal length for a human. She supposed she would have to clip or file them herself later.
Next, she focused her thoughts on retracting her fangs. Her mouth hung open as she panted with effort from trying not to scream. Her fangs sliced her gums open again in the same spots that had just healed. Blood dripped onto the ground from her mouth and the girl winces at the sight.
She closes her eyes and mouth tightly. She can still taste blood as regular teeth quickly grow into place. She calms herself and thinks only of her giant wings. The wings start to contort in a way that normally would've made her cry out. The loud sickening sound of skin and muscle tearing can be heard as her wings bend and contort into her back. There are loud cracks and snaps as the bones in her wings break themselves to fit inside her back. There are two long lines of ripped and torn flesh down her back starting from her shoulder blades and ending at the small of her back. She can feel the skin and muscle fixing itself as her arms give out beneath her. Her tank top has two large holes in the back
Her head hits the damp ground and there is a burning itch in her eyes. She can't tell if it is her eyes turning back to their normal brown or tears. Either way her vision begins to go black and she doesn't fight it, because she's so damn tired and part of her hopes it is death.
Everything is calm again. The lake's filthy surface is still once more. The only thing that has changed from is now there is a girl on the shore rather than the lake's bottom.
The girl sleeps through the rest of the night. She wakes up to the sun beginning to make it's journey across the sky and she groans. Her body is sore and she doesn't want to move. Though she know she is in desperate need of a shower, food, and shelter. The girl sluggishly pushes herself onto her feet and nearly falls over backwards, she wasn't used to not having wings anymore. She snorted a the thought, eight months she'd been dead and she had already forgotten what it was like to be alive.
She gained her balance and began surveying the area. The girl realized she knew this area and her heart sunk and her stomach churned. She took the all too familiar path back towards town. Her body operating on muscle memory from when she was alive the first time. Apparently eight months wasn't long enough to make her forget about everything from when she was alive the first time. She wished she could forget somethings though.
The path was lined with trees and as she started to see the tree line break up ahead, the girl got nervous. She hid behind a tree as she got to the tree line. She could see her old house from here and her heart stopped for a moment. Then, she noticed the state of the house. The windows were boarded up and as was the door. It was abandoned, and the girl felt a fire burn inside her. Mother skipped town after I died, of course, she thought.
She cursed softly and let herself lean against the rough bark of the tree. She let her head droop as her eyes began to sting with tears. She couldn't enter her own hometown. She couldn't bring herself to do it. She buried a hand deep in her newly silver hair. Taking a deep inhale through her nose, the girl pushed herself off the tree and started to make her way deeper into the woods. Her feet took her to a place she hadn't even know she wanted to go to.
She chuckled softly, "Angels are supposed to be holy, right?" Her voice was tight and broken as she stared at the long abandoned church. It was a big stone building in the middle of a clearing that had been made in the 1800s. She trudged towards the big double doors that had been boarded closed years ago. She delivered a sharp kick to one of the doors right next to the door handle. The nails attaching the wooden boards to the doors weren't nearly as strong as the fifteen year old. the door flew open with a loud smash as it hit the inside wall.
She ducked under the boards and stumbled in. The whole building had a different atmosphere than the outside. She briefly wondered if she would know if there were other angels here. She shook off the thought, she was one of the living now, she wouldn't be able to see them. She was alone. She stood in the middle of the aisle on her left and right were several overturned and rotting pews. The podium in front of the room was broken into many different scattered pieces. Behind were the podium was supposed to be was three crumbling angel statues of equal size lined up.
She approached the statues with measured steps and a grim expression. She touched the face if one with delicate hands. Their wings were spread and their hands put together in prayer. Part of her thought coming here would make her feel holy or at the very least whole, but there was still this numbness inside her chest. She lashed out at the statues. She was a frenzy of punches and kicks until the statues were almost completely destroyed. A single head with a tranquil expression rolled away to the middle of the aisle were she had been. She stomped over to pick it up and when she had it in her hands, she looked up.
There was a large stained glass skylight that had to be at least ten feet long by ten feet wide. It was made of many bright pieces of colored glass. It depicted an angel with their wings spread and a golden halo on their head.
"Do you think this is funny?" she sneered, her voice filling the whole church, "I'm sure there is one of you assholes who can hear me. Do you think this funny?" she raised her arms to gesture all around her, "Poor little fallen angel stuck back on Earth, because she couldn't mind her own business," she began to get even louder, "I bet some of you are laughing your asses off. You know what? Fuck you!" She hurled the stone angel head at the glass skylight.
The whole thing shattered, thousands of small colored shards of glass fell down on and around the girl. They cut her cut and clothes causing stinging pains all over her body, but she didn't care. The colorful glass reflected many different colors in the sunlight as they fell like thousands of falling stars.
Present Day
"Class, I would like to introduce to you are two new students, Allison Argent and Natalia Rodriguez. I'd like you all to give them the good old Beacon Hills High School welcome.," the principal droned before nodding to the teacher and exiting the classroom.
Natalia ran a hand through her silver hair as she made her way to a seat with Allison. Allison sat behind a boy with floppy hair and Natalia behind a boy with a buzz cut. She tugged nervously at fishnets she wore under her black shorts. She fiddled with the hem of her oversized vans shirt as well and she found herself constantly glancing at her skateboard that was strapped to her backpack. Natalia had come a long way since four months ago and Beacon Hills was a nice normal town. All she wanted now was normal.
This is more of a prologue and I hoped you liked it. This just kind of popped into my head. I love reviews, favourites, follows, and really any kind of input.