New girl- Near

Among the fading lightning of the going storm, I could swear I heard a scream in the night. And I saw something flash across the window of my room; it resembled that of a falling feather, torn and thrown by the wind. There was no harm of investigating was there? So I decided to peek outside the backdoor and found on the porch a pile of feathers, and the middle was a fallen angel. No, maybe not an angel, all the feather that blanketed her body were black, and her skin was not that of clear flawless skin, but burned and rotten, scratches bled here and there and a large burn covered her entire left side, and elaborate tattoos on her shoulder blades. I hadn't noticed the cold snap that followed the storm until after I noticed goose jumps on my hands and on the angel's skin. I didn't understand how to carry with poor creature in, but after a while I decided to pull her onto my back and carry her to the nurse's office.

I approached the stairs when she began to stir. I could feel her heartbeat slowly becoming prominent, but what struck me was how calm she was that she didn't seemed phased by me carrying her in a strange place; if I were her, I would've tried to run away and ask questions later. 'Where am I?' she asked, her thoughts ringing in my head like church bells. Her voice reminded me of-I sighed as I pushed that thought aside as I told her to stay still incase her wounds were worse than I thought. "I'm taking you to the nurse's office, but it quite a ways from here."

'Then by all means put me down, I wouldn't want to permanently hurt your back.'

"I don't mind, you're not that much of a burden to me, besides I'm twenty years of age, I'm pretty sure I've stopped growing." I reassured her, readjusting her position on my back.

'Then, what might I call you by?'

"I'm Near, "

'Near, I like that name,' she sighed rubbing her eyes as if she had just awoken from a dream.

"What might I call you?"

'Depends on what form I take, I have many,'

"What about your human name?"

"I'm called Clover,"

"And your angel name?"

She laughed. 'I am no angel,'

"Forgive me, I found you in a pile of feathers and assumed you were an angel."

' And I thought you were a young boy, but I do not blame you, Near, in many ways I am angel, but in more ways I am hell's angel. If you wish it, call me Broekn.' She told me as I pushed the nurse's office door. As I placed her on the table, Mello appeared from out the backroom and shot a glance from me to Clover. "Who the hell is this?" he growled. "This is Clover; I found her out back and thought it was inhumane to not tend to her wounds." I responded, not looking up as I searched for the gauze. 'Near, who is this new person, where are they?' Clover squeaked flicking her head side to side. It caught me by surprise, but as I looked over at her she stared in my direction, even though her eyes were milky white. As I pulled her off her chair I rested her shaking hands on Mello's shoulders. "This is Mello,"

'Mello, 'she repeated, as if tasting every letter as they left her mouth. Mello stared back at Clover with a growing affection, but almost as if snapping out of a trance, he wildly shook his head. "Near you know Roger's rule about people from 'outside'" He slapped Clover's hands away.

"The rule is whoever finds someone in need of care is to be taken care of the person who found them. I am doing just that," I snapped. As Mello stormed out of the office, I turned my attention back to the woman who now had tear welling up in her blind eyes. "Oh, don't mind him," I whispered, wiping away her tears with my P.J. sleeve. "He doesn't like new people." I soaked the gauze strip in rubbing alcohol as to wrap it around three animal like scratches when she forcefully grabbed my hand. 'Please don't do that, I am one of the few people who react fatally to medicine; I'll die,' she pleaded, letting go of my wrist. "Do kisses work?" I teased, setting the gauze down. The tips of the "Angel's" lips twitched, "Try, try, try as you might, I'm not making promises," she taunted, her lips still twitching. My mouth curled into a ghostly smile as I kissed her scratches, a small drop of blood oozing into my mouth. "Regular gauze works too," she replied, it almost sounded like she was agitated that I tried making her wound better with the fabled "get better" kiss. "As you wish,"

Now then ever- Near

"Are you sure you know what you're getting yourself into?" Roger asked, following close behind me to my room. "I'm quite positive, she's quiet and mostly keeps to herself, and I don't think she'll be much of a nuisance." I chirped over my shoulder. As I opened the door to my room I found Clover facing away from us on the ground, finishing up my favorite puzzle. It surprised me that she could do this last night, but I liked being able to see her do the puzzles with no sight. She almost seemed like she was looking for a piece of the puzzle, one that which I took earlier to see if she would notice. I sat down next to her, and took her fingers and grazed them over the empty spot. "It appears that you're missing a piece, have you found it?" she froze. As if sensing something, she looked distantly at me and reached into my pocket, pulling out the last piece. 'You mean this one?' she glared at me. She threw it at me; it would have been playful if she didn't have the glare glued to her face.

"I'm sorry," I apologized, looking back at her as she sat and crossed her arms. After what felt like ages she hinted a smile and pinched me. As I placed the last piece of the 500-piece puzzle I took her hands again and rubbed them over the finished piece. "Oh, one of the older girls here gave me this pretty bracelet to give you." I took her hand and dropped it into her palm. It was a bracelet that was for protection, one that had a small metal cross decorated with a small plastic ruby at the center. Every other bead was ruby colored and sterling silver, and every third bead was a symbol for "protection" from every religion. 'It feels beautiful,' she chirped, sliding it onto her left wrist. "It looks pretty on you," I confessed, blushing slightly.' Thank you, Near,' she gingerly hugged me. "Near, is this woman blind?" Roger asked, interrupting our conversation. "In a way yes, but somehow she can still see even without her sight. She's told me she's a psychic, so I have concluded that she can see with her eyes but also with her heart." I responded, watching Clover gracefully turn around and offer a hand in greeting. "But she hasn't said a word since we got here." He wondered, taking Clover's hand and kissed it, she blushed slightly. "Alright Near, she can stay here until her wounds have healed and we've found the proper home for her." Roger sighed. "Thank you,"

"But make sure you don't anything inappropriate," he whispered in my ear.

My blush turned deeper, and I saw Clover's finger's twitch a goodbye wave out of the corner of my eye.