"Thanks, Tia. I don't know what's wrong with my back. I guess work has been a literal pain in the neck the last few weeks." You said appreciatively to your manager.
"No problem, hon. Just get yourself on home. Maybe you will feel better after a weekends rest." The older woman squeezed your shoulder reassuringly. "Your clients will miss you, I'll tell them you miss 'em too." She winked at you as grabbed your bag from your locker and headed for the back entrance.
"Thanks, again. Oh! And tell Kathryn that I left her, uh… Flog… In front of her locker." You laughed awkwardly and said one last thank you before shutting the door. You went to your car and set your belongings on the passenger seat before going to the drivers side.
You had been working at your current job for two years now. You were luckily very cozy with your manager, landing you some of the best paying clients. You had also become friends with a few of your coworkers. But as you had said, the last few weeks, your back had been killing you. It ached all the time, sending sharp pains through your body. It hurt to put any pressure on your spine being that your flesh was so tender. You considered going to the doctor, but something was stopping you. You don't know why, but you felt like this was something you wanted to keep to yourself.
You put the car into drive and left the parking lot of your workplace. You looked at the florescent sign as drove past. It shone like a beacon in the night- 'Angel Maze'. You headed towards your apartment. It only took a few minutes before a fresh bolt of pain ran through you.
"Aargh!" You exclaimed reaching a hand to your back. And now did your back not only hurt like hell, it was burning and itching incessantly. You gripped the wheel tightly with your left hand as you tried to reach farther back with your right. "What in the hell?!" You said to yourself, nearly swerving off the road. You gave a yelp and reached your hand back to grip the wheel. "Focus. Ten and two." You drove on trying to keep your eyes straight ahead. After what felt like hours, your apartment building finally appeared just ahead. You pulled into the parking lot and sped for the spot nearest to your flat. After nearly rear-ending someone you slammed the brakes as you pulled into a spot. "What is happening?!" Your eyes watered as you hurriedly ran for the stairs, keys held tight in your hand. Your body felt as if it was on fire. It felt as if the muscles in your back were contorting under the skin. It was itching and aching as if fire ants were chewing their way out from your skin. You let out a silent yell as you clumsily turned the key into the lock of your flat door. You ran into your bathroom, shedding your shirt and underclothing as you went. Turning away from the mirror you forced your neck as far as it could go to try and see the searing flesh atop your spine.
"Oh my…" You didn't finish your train of thought. You couldn't. Along your spine and rib cage were long thick bulges. They were like snakes, squirming just underneath your skin, which seemed red and swollen. Your eyes bulged in your head as a rush of fear shook you. It's time. A voiced surged through your mind. "W-what?" Your voice was shaking as much as your body, which is to say a lot. You know what to do. It's time to set yourself free. You nearly screamed in pain and frustration, you wanted this to end. Why were you hearing this all of a sudden? What was happening to you?
Abruptly, your vision faded. You weren't unconscious, at least you didn't think you were. You were seeing glimpses of something. Fire. War. Remember. Come back to me. "No! I don't know what's happening!" Your vision was now blurring in and out. It faded between what you knew was real and what felt like a memory. There were screams of terror and sounds of steel through flesh. It was horrifyingly vivid. You looked down out your hands which had found their way to the sides of your ribcage where they were clawing at your skin mercilessly. You quickly pulled them away, grabbing the ledge of the sink. Your knuckles turned white under the pressure.
You were still crying in pain as you began searching the mirror cabinet. You weren't sure what you were looking for until "No. No! I don't want to do this!" Your eyes darted to the metallic object on the top shelf. It was a box knife that had no real purpose of being in here except for your lazy self not putting it back in the kitchen after using it. Your knees nearly gave out as you painstakingly grabbed the knife from atop the cabinet shelf. Your body wracked with each tremor of the squirming limbs on your backside. You didn't know what to do, you felt as if your body was fading from you, switching into autopilot. To your best ability in your current state you ran to your car. The sun was setting above you but your surroundings hardly registered. You had two thoughts on your mind: get away from here and stop the pain. You were terrified of what stopping the pain could mean.
After what felt like moments later you found yourself jarringly pulling to the side of the road. You don't know how you got here, but you had to be at least sixty miles from your home. The only light came from your headlights and the lonely street lamps. The overcast sky seldom showed glimpses of stars. Your vision was coming and going between what was in front of you, and what you decided had been in front of you years ago.
The voice still rang in your head, sometimes giving soothing and encouraging words and other times giving you directions you felt might just put you in the ground. Go. Out there. You looked up from your seat in the car. Before you was a simple field. A few hay bales were rolled up and broken fences here and there where someone had once put effort into the land. "I… I don't think I can do this." Your voice wobbled along with your feet as you stepped onto the gravel beside the empty road. You still held tightly to the handle of the knife as you wavered over to the field. A grimace was spread across your features, you felt your shoulders rolling and stretching on their own. Your sides ached constantly as pain shot through your body repeatedly.
It felt as if something was trying to break free from you. To free you. The voice repeated. You came to a clearing in the field before falling to your knees. The knife. Take it to your back. Release yourself. You knew this was coming, you figured that much the moment you saw the damned blade back in your apartment. But now that you had been directed to do so, it filled you with unrelenting panic. You yelled out, "Why?!" You were sobbing between your words. "I can't do this. I… I don't know… I-" Your words were cut off by a rippling course of pain throughout your body. You felt the muscles of your back contract. You knew you had to cut them free or else it was going to be much worse. A thought struck you. Wait? Cut them free? You saw something else enter into your vision. A flutter of whites and greys and browns. Of magnificent figures darting from place to place. Them. The mysterious voice once more entered your mind. You know what they are, remember. It hurts. But do it for your people. Do it for your family. Do it for me. You screamed and jut the knife into your flesh along the tendrils that had formed so prominently now. You cried and cringed as you dragged the object down from your shoulder blades to the sides of your rib cage. The limbs that were once hidden now slowly freed themselves of their confinement. A long, thick darkly coloured limb crept out. You halted your action, petrified. This did not stop the branch from releasing itself, though. Before you could react it started to tear at the seam you had started. You screamed bloody murder, you couldn't possibly continue this. It hurts. I know. But you must keep going. The voice flooded your thoughts, clouding your mind further as you reached the sharp metal to the other side of your back. This time you quickly ripped through your flesh.
Then it happened. Memories. Uncluttered and clear as day they flashed before your eyes. Your mother and father. Your brothers and sisters. Your friends, your people. A kingdom. A war. You remembered your grandmother taking you away as the last resort to the survival of the Maritorn kingdom. A man placed his hand on your shoulder as he spoke to your grandmother about the cruelness of eyes and of battles. He said he would keep you safe. He said his son would bring you back. It was his duty as your fiancé. Fiancé? But your only… Six? You struggled to remember now. It was fading back to your current pains. You glanced over. There was a boy roughly the same age as you. He wore white across his eyelids which were nearly covered by his blonde hair. The white only further highlighted his bicoloured eyes. One brown, the other blue.
You came back to your current reality where you found you could hardly move. You wearily looked the tendrils strewn on the ground as you lie on your side. They looked tender and sore, you could actually feel that they were. They weren't some monster that you thought had been hiding inside of you. They were part of you. A trait of your people. They were wings. Small wet feathers were attached to random places on the aching limbs.
It's time, my dear. You wish…? "I… I wish?" You said weakly. It hit you. You knew the words. You knew just what to say to make everything how it should be. "I wish…" You raised your torso from the ground, as if to project your voice further. "I wish the Goblin King would come take me away… Right now..!" You had done it. Your past and present has met up finally, and you could now remember why you fought to be where you are now. Everything will be okay.