Burning Gods & Wicked Angels

Dead. She's dead.

The words rang in my numb ears, repeating over and over again, like a broken record player.

My sister was dead.

Murdered.

Gone forever.

Sophia, the person who had taught me how to be a good friend, a great daughter, and a better sister, was no longer by my side. She had always been there for me, a smile shining in her bright blue eyes, and now she was gone. Lying beneath six feet of dirt, covered in withered white trumpet lilies.

When I said goodbye to her months ago at the train station, I had never imagined it would be the last time I would ever see her.

Sophia was twenty-two. I was eighteen. Both of us, full of hope and ready for the future. We would live forever. Because tragedy never happened to people you know, right?

Wrong.

Death had a funny way of popping the shiny, happy bubble we live in.

I mumbled my way through a prayer as best as I could and my eyes turned to the sky. It filled up with a mass of grey clouds—an almost unbroken layer formed. The crisp winter air was fragranced with the pine trees that circled the lake. Behind them, a black mist hovered over the hills like smog washing over from the city—dense and soupy.

Bone-chilling mist and me, nothing more. That's all there was. A feeling of utter loneliness ebbed into me.

I was sitting on our favourite park bench. Dented metal legs supported the eroded wood. But to me, this seat was perfect, engulfed in beautiful memories. My hands clutched the armrest for strength. I was here to say goodbye to our favourite place. The place where Sophia and I learned how to swim, talked about boys and where we had hidden from the world.

There was a part of me that will never believe my sister won't come bouncing around some corner to laugh at me for falling for this elaborate joke.

My hands reached for my phone, searching for Sophia's last messages, even though I already knew them by heart.

"You know how I always said antique stores are stupid? I changed my mind. There is this super-hot guy here. He's so handsome, omg." For a moment, her ridiculous text message put a grin on my face, easing my misery.

"Noble's Antiques in North London. We need to go there. You would love this place… and the guy who owns it. We could drool over him together, haha. Love youuuuuu."

A painful hollowness threatened to engulf my mind and soul. I missed her so much. My heart felt like it beat in a tight cage. I bit back a scream, the worst kind of cry like the silent tear that held the loudest pain. It hurt so much that I couldn't breathe.

Tears bubbled up in my eyes. The screen blurred, and I bit the inside of my cheek out of habit.

My phone dropped to the leaf-strewn ground. I stared at my trembling hands, trying to focus on my breathing.

I slouched down to pick the phone up, noticing faint movement out of the corner of my eye. A cricket chirped. Plants rustled. Birds flew into the fast-fading light, startled by something unseen. I could describe it as creepy, but eerie was closer to it. Spooky, really.

The wind picked up and was just as bitter as the day before, but the scent was almost metallic, with a tinge of acid burning.

Slowly, I pushed myself up. A chill slithered up my spine.

At the treeline, a desolate figure appeared, like some kind of apparition, but nobody lived within thirty miles of this place. From the inky darkness came forth a noise no human being could ever make. A deep moan, like a terrible lullaby.

I shut my eyes; hands clamped over my ears when ripples of fear struck me.

I was going crazy. This wasn't real.

Each second seemed to last an eternity as I stood still. My breathing became erratic and shallow. I had only imagined it.

Open your eyes, you need to be sure, a little voice within me whispered, and I thought my heart would explode. I felt my hands getting sweaty. The adrenaline rushed through my body, shutting down my ability to think.

Hesitantly, I opened my eyes once more. The monster was still there and everything behind it a blur.

Time stood still when the phantom pointed across the lake to the lights of the distant city. I couldn't believe my eyes. I didn't want to. Not even in my worst nightmares had I seen something like this.

Desperately, I tried to hide how fearful I was, wide-eyed like a terrified child. The apparition came dangerously closer and closer. Absolute terror paralysed me, and all I wanted to do was curl up into a ball and wait for someone to save me.

I needed to run away, but I stood still like a mossy statue in the heart of a graveyard.

Now, almost in front of me, the shadow became an oozy black substance, leaving a trail of burnt earth behind it. I couldn't breathe, fear choked me.

My jaw dropped in a silent scream of horror. Adrenaline flooded my system like it was on an intravenous drip—right into my blood.

No, I would not back down. I rubbed my hand over the back of my jeans pocket, feeling for something, anything, to defend myself with.

Nothing, all I had was my phone.

Sweat trickled down my forehead, burning my eyes. Unknown sounds reached my ears. There were whispers reminding me of the soft susurration of the wind in the trees. Was it trying to say something?

I stepped forward, a twig cracking under my shoe. What was that?

Snowflakes swirled around me, dancing like graceful ballerinas to a soundless song. I blinked, and the nameless thing joined in. It eddied around me as if it were water in some magic wishing well.

Strangely, now my body wanted to be closer to it, as it was filled with a tingling pressure. I watched it, allowing time to stand still just for me and the ghostly figure before me, breathing it in. Its warmth welcomed me like an old friend, and the cold slowly left my heart.

Spellbound, I reached out, trying to grab the tar-black mass, but it vanished. Leaving my quivering fingers to close around nothing at all.

It was gone.

I had experienced nothing like this before, but I knew someone who had, for her entire life.

My sister and I had never believed her.

The rustle of wings swished through the vastness and a feather, as black as coal, drifted down to me. Snatching it from the air, I anxiously placed it on my lap. I looked up into the sky as the last light of day drained away. The stars and the moon cowered behind a dense layer of cloud, but where the creature had been, nothing remained.