Hello, its me, back with another extremely late update again. Again I'll profusely apologize for this because I really don't do this on purpose, but luckily I was able to stay home from school today so I had time to write two chapters. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!
Oh no!
All of the hatred and coldness I felt immediately vanished and was replaced with panic and regret as I looked down at the hunter's still body lying on the ground, his head completely mutilated and blood soaking everything around it, including me. I dropped the gun on the floor and covered my mouth firmly with my hand to keep from throwing up. Unfortunately, my hand also had blood on it, so I ended up feeling even more nauseous. All of a sudden my legs gave out and I crumpled to the floor, but I couldn't take my eyes off of the man.
I had done that. I killed that man in cold blood. I tasted the salty tears that were now gushing out of my eyes at this point. What have I done? I curled in on myself and tried to ignore the sharp smell of blood and the gruesome image in front of me. I rocked my body back and forth while my breathing quickened. I knew I had to get going, I knew that if I stayed here for too long others would find me just like this hunter did, but the only thing I could think about right then was the horrible action I just committed.
I was starting to get both bored and frustrated at the same time. After hours of driving and searching I still haven't found Matthew. I knew that it wasn't going to be that easy, and I did stop during the night to stay in that hotel, but it was still irritating nonetheless. I sighed deeply as I kept watch on the road and munched on a protein bar I had stashed away in my cop car. I was about to turn on some of my favorite rock music when I drove by what seemed like a commotion on the outskirts of a very small town surrounded by forests.
I slowly reversed the car to get back to the scene. There I saw a large group of people talking to a local sheriff and pointing up at the sky above the trees. The group looked to be made of about twenty people and they all had concerned looks on their faces. Once I had reached the area I parked my car and walked over to the party. The sheriff saw me and offered a confused stare at my approach. I pulled out my badge and held it up towards the audience.
"Hello, my name is Officer Beilschmidt," the group slowly ended their frantic speaking to focus on me. "I have been traveling in order to find a specific person and I happened to notice you guys. I came to see if you know anything about the man I'm looking for." I wore a serious expression as a middle aged woman with soft features walked up to me.
"Well sir," she hesitated to tell me whatever it was that was on her mind, but I flashed her a small smile to hopefully show her that she should have no trouble talking to me. She seemed to relax herself at that. "We all here saw a man earlier this morning…who seemed to be flying. It looked as if this man had huge black wings, and I know that sounds impossible, but it's true." I gasped at her words. I was close to Matthew!
"That's exactly the person I was looking for!", I exclaimed. The sheriff gave me a skeptical look but the woman and the others around her seemed to light up.
"Really?", she gawked in awe, "you believe me? Thank God! We were trying to tell the sheriff this but he just wouldn't listen!" The sheriff cringed as the woman waved her arms dramatically towards him.
"Can you tell me anything else about the man you saw?", I asked.
"Well, I am kind of worried for him. I couldn't see him very well from how high he was, but I did hear the sound of a gunshot and I saw him fall down into the trees. I hope he's okay." The rest of the men and women nodded their heads in agreement, but Gilbert felt a weight hit him in the gut. Did Matthew get shot? Is he okay? I took little moment to think about my next actions before I bolted off towards the forest in search of Matthew. He was in trouble and he needed my help!
I ran and ran as fast as I could. He had to be here somewhere, I just needed to find him. I pushed past the overgrown plants and thorns and looked for any signs of where he could be. I couldn't find any footprints in the dirt or any signs of activity, but I continued to run until I could start to feel my body weaken. I was breathing far too heavily and I could feel my legs ache, so I stopped moving and took a break and laid my back against a large tree.
I panted heavily and looked up to the sky. I rubbed at my face and sighed as I covered my eyes with my hand. I'm so close to finding him but I don't know how I'm supposed to pinpoint his location out of the entire forest. I slowly bent my knees and lowered my body along the tree trunk until I was sitting in the dirt. I held my head in my hands as I stared down at the ground trying to think of a plan. I closed my eyes to concentrate when I heard a soft noise in the distance.
I jolted my head up and tried to listen. It sounded like some sort of whimper coming from my left. I leaned my head in that direction and I could just barely make out the sound of quiet crying. I lifted up my body so that I was standing again and I slowly and stealthily walked over twigs and plants in that direction. As I got closer I saw small splotches of red liquid, it looked to me like a blood splatter. Immediately I grew worried that Matthew had gotten hurt from the shots that were fired and I sped up my pace and sprinted to where the blood was headed. After just a few seconds, I had made it into a small sort of clearing where I saw to bodies on the ground. One of them was a dead old man and the other was Matthew.
"Matthew!", I exclaimed, "are you okay?" I ran towards him and squatted down next to him. He was sitting on the ground with his legs curled up to his chest. He was crying into his arms and only one of his large wings was wrapped around his body, the other was bent onto several disturbing directions. When Matthew heard me shout and come towards him, he lifted his head in surprise and gasped. I noticed that he was preparing himself to get up and run.
"No! I'm not going to take you back to the station", I tried to assure him, holding out my arms and open hands to show him that I didn't have a weapon, "I was just trying to find you. I was really worried about you." I watch as his tear stained face relaxes only slightly, but his whole body still remains tense and alert. He looks back at the body in front of him and he immediately returns to the grief stricken tone he was in previously.
"Look what I've done," he whispers to me with an extreme sense of melancholy, "I didn't have to kill him…but…" he struggles to continue. I don't know what to think. I've dealt with murderers before, but they were all cold blooded and seemed proud of their deeds, but as Matthew gazed upon the body I could see the evident regret and disgust he had at his own actions. Although I didn't get to know him very well so far, I could tell he wasn't the kind of person who would kill someone for the sake of murder, especially since he didn't know much about the outside world. Of course, I didn't know the whole story, and my assumptions could be wrong, but I decided the best thing to do was comfort him.
In any different situation, I probably would have been more shocked and become sick of the sight and smell of a dead body, but for some reason at this moment the only thing I could focus on was Matthew. I slowly stepped over the carnage and knelt down next to him. I knew he was covered in blood, but I ignored that and gently wrapped my arms around his back and under his wings and slowly rubbed his back. His body sat rigid at the contact, but eventually he loosened up and hugged me in return while sobbing into my shoulder.
"What's….wrong…with me?", he asked in between sobs. I needed to know more, so I released him from the hug but held onto his shoulders as I looked him in the eyes. They used to be such a calming purple tone, like that of a columbine flower, but now they were dulled and grey.
"Tell me what happened," I said. His face scrunched up in hesitancy and he shifted his eyes anywhere but my own. He tried to look down at the ground but I gently kept his head up with my hand under his chin and waited until he looked at me again. "Look, I can only help you if you tell me what happened. I've already told you, I'm not here because I was ordered by the chief to find you or anything like that. I came trying to find you because I didn't want you to get hurt. If you just talk to me we can figure stuff out and I'll help you find you're brother," his face lit up slightly at the mention of Alfred, "do we have a deal?" He reluctantly nodded his head.
"I was flying above the trees trying to get away from a bear when that man shot at me. I hit a tree and broke my wing, and when I tried to hide he found me. I knocked him down and took his gun, and I could have just ran away, but I was so scared and angry so I-", he cut himself off. I didn't need his word to figure out what happened next, I had a body lying next to me to tell me all I needed to know. "I don't know what came over me…I just couldn't stop…"
"Matthew," I cut him off, "it's called self defense. I know it's scary out here, but honestly, I can't tell you that I could have taken the situation any better," I wasn't really sure where I was going with this, but the words just decided to pour out of my mouth. "Please don't cry, that's not going to make this go away. The only thing we can do now is try to move on. Now, stand up with me." I held out my hand to him and pulled him up. I surveyed the scene. I'll have to report this to the area's sheriff, this man no doubt has a family here, and someone would come across him eventually, but I had to think of how to do this without getting anyone in trouble. Matthew did kill him in self defense, but if I told the authorities that there would have to be a trial to prove it, and I can't really reveal him to the public.
The only thing I could think of was to make up a story.
I told Matthew to hide somewhere deeper into the forests while I dealt with the situation. I preceded to walk out and inform the sheriff of the murder. I led him to the area and pointed out the gun that was used to kill him. Since Matthew didn't have any finger prints in any files, and because he didn't have any legal documents actually proving his existence, I figured it would be fine to let the sheriff analyze the weapon. I knew that the case would forever go unsolved, and I felt bad for any of the man's family and friends, but I had to protect Matthew. I somehow managed to bid the sheriff and local townspeople a farewell amidst the chaos and left. I walked away far enough to be able to go back into the forest without being noticed to find Matthew. Once I found him hiding on top of a short tree, I brought him back to my police car.
"So," I started as Matthew slowly slid into the passenger seat of my police car, "Indianapolis right?" Matthew nodded his head as he awkwardly stared out his window. He seemed unsure of himself inside of a car. "You gotta put on your seatbelt," I chuckled and helped him to fasten his on, "and then you need to put on some music!"
"I've never really listened to any music before," he replied. I could tell he was curious, and I would normally play some rock or metal,but I figured that Matthew would prefer a softer tune. I thought for a moment before I came to a conclusion in my head. I grinned as I plugged the aux cord into my phone and searched for the song in mind. "I think this one will suit you." I watched Matthew as the sweet melody of a guitar filled the car and he perked his head up and listened intently. His face filled up with a childlike wonder and I could see some of the vibrancy return to his eyes. I leaned back in my seat and pushed on the gas as the lyrics began.
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
Author's Note
Yes, the reunion! Hope that makes a lot of you happy, cause it made me happy to write it. And by the way, I did actually get the idea for this story after listening to Blackbird by the Beatles a couple times on a drive, so that's something I guess. Anyhow, see you guys later!
