Daylight dies

Blackout the sky

Does anyone care?

Is anybody there?

Take this life

Empty inside

I'm already dead

I'll rise to fall again

Give Me A Sign – Breaking Benjamin

I cleared my throat, hoping that it would keep my voice from trembling too much. "So... E-Everyone in the nebula received another chance to live an eternal life, be-because they d-didn't get that chance on earth. The condition to get up there is t-that your life had been ended too soon by s-someone else, a-and that your body never got found or b-buried..." I stopped talking for a second and dipped my head down, nearly choking on the tears I held back.

~~~

Once more, I hear the footsteps coming up to me. I don't need to see who it is, it can be only one person. He had knocked me out again a while ago, maybe yesterday, I don't know for sure anymore, but I can't open my eyes to look at his face. I just stay in my position I'd been in for as long as I've been put here by him, hands tied behind my back and legs bound together. That way it hurt a bit less, moving only makes the pain and his mood worse. Something inside tells me that it would be one of the last times he had to come, it was probably just my body signalling that it couldn't take anything more.

He kneels down in front of my broken body, I can almost feel him smiling at me. "Hello there, finally awake again, are we?" The sound of his voice makes me wince, and that made him chuckle. He likes to see me suffer, that's why I'm here. He once told me that, when I kept begging him for the reason why he did this to me.

"I got some news. Wanna hear it?" I don't respond to him, too afraid to move. "People are getting quite close to finding us, so I figured I need to do something. I'm not too fond of getting caught..." He says, "So that's why we're going on a little trip, I'm sure you'll like it..." Suddenly he grabs the back of my shirt collar and drags me along. I try to keep silent, but I can't help whimpering from the pain coursing through almost every nerve I have.

He hadn't bothered blindfolding me or such, so I can slightly see where we are going. We had gotten to the beach, not that far from where I live. He stops the horse near the pier and drags me out of the back of the small chariot, heading towards a boat tied to the pier itself. He throws me in and starts rowing away, soon creating a great distance between us and the mainland. Trying to hide it from him, I start to cry. What was he planning?

It didn't take long for him to notice, and he turns my way. "Now now, there's no need to cry! Look at this beautiful ocean... Isn't it gorgeous?" I look up, vaguely seeing his face smiling at me, surrounded by the dark night sky. "Anyway, we're finally here. Our little trip has come to an end..." He pauses a little, then a wide grin spreads across his face. "At least, for one of us..."

He walks up to me and I try to back away a bit, but I'm helpless, still tied up and weak. He harshly grabs my hair and pulls me up. I scream, but soon I get cut off by the cold, salty water. He holds my head under for a while and roughly pulls me out. Gasping and coughing I try to get away from his grasp, but he pushes me under again. Fear consumes my entire brain, all I can think of is to escape, to flee from this torment, but deep down I already know this'll lead to my end.

After five more dips under water, he decides it was enough. He yanks me out again, smirking upon the trembling mess of a man lying in the boat. I still try to get some air in my lungs, but I can't ease my frantic breathing. "Well, I guess this is where we say goodbye..." he says. He turns around and grabs something from the other side of the small deck. I can't make out what it is exactly, but he starts tying it to the rope around my feet.

He stands up again, still smiling. I look him in the eyes, as if I beg him to just leave me be, but I know it won't work. He grabs my arm and pulls me up, for the last time. "Hey, look at it from the bright side," he says, a mocking tone in his voice, "not everyone gets such a beautiful place to die... Goodbye..." With these words he throws me overboard and I sink rapidly. I can't fight it, fear had taken over every thought. All I see is the vague outline of the boat slowly disappearing in the darkness around me, and all I feel is the water burning in my lungs as it takes my breath away.

~~~

When I looked up again, I saw Jack staring at me.

"Y-you were m-murdered?" He stuttered out, one eye wide with shock and the other still hidden behind a patch.

I couldn't reply, so I just nodded.

"That's... That's horrible..." he said, probably more to himself, but it pushed me over the edge. I started to sob, tears streaming down my face. He shuffled a bit closer and hugged me, careful to avoid my hurt wings and arm. I hugged back with my right arm and felt him gasp and tense up. Too late I realised I had harshly grabbed his back.

"Oh n-no, I-I'm so s-so sorry I-"

"Ngh-no no it's okay, I'm okay." he breathed, but I knew for sure that he was lying.

"E-even a blind man c-could tell you're not, Jack, y-you don't ha-have to hold back for m-me..." He sighed and looked at me.

"Fine..."

====================

I knew Mark would ask sooner or later, but this seemed like such a bad moment to talk about my problems. He... had died already, and here I was, whining about my issues. I should be stronger! No-one should have to worry about me, I know that there are people with way more troubles than me.

"Fine..." I said, and stood up. It would be easier to just show him what's wrong with me apart from the other obvious weaknesses that made up my body. I took my shirt off and turned around, waiting for his reaction.

As I expected, he gasped when he laid eyes on my back. Nobody except for my parents have seen it, but I had an idea of what Mark must be thinking. I'm disgusting looking, a freaky being that shouldn't have survived the accident that caused me to look like I do. I'm too weak to be of any purpose...

====================

I couldn't help myself and gasped when I saw his back. Almost every inch of his skin was covered in thick pink scars, starting just under his shoulders and branching out downwards like lightning bolts. I kept staring at him, wondering what in the world could have caused these painful welts. It stayed quiet for a while until the silence got disturbed by a tiny sniffle.

"... Jack?" He didn't respond. "Jack, could you tell me... where you got those from?"

"I..."

He got interrupted by the sound of a door opening in the hallway. We both froze for a second, until Jack snapped out of it and motioned to the closet next to his bed. I got up with his help and he led me to it, so I could hide in the gap between the closet and the wall. Merely seconds later someone knocked on the bedroom door.

"Jack? Are you awake?" a female voice called, and the owner of that voice opened the door.

"Yeah, I'm up already mom, I was just changing my shirt."

I put 'lying to his parents for me' on the list of things he's done for me already. How in the world will I ever repay him?

"Did you take your medicine yet? You know how important it is..."

"No, I'll do it right now. Thanks for reminding me."

"Okay dear, just make sure you take care of everything first before you come downstairs. We might be gone by then, but there will be enough in the kitchen for breakfast. You can make something out of it, I'm sure!"

The mention of breakfast made me realise how hungry I'd gotten by now, I silently hoped there would be enough for the two of us...