Pretty Faces and Dark Places

by Rose B Mashal

  What shocked me the most was seeing Sophie entering, followed by William. Her face was blank, no emotions showing on it at all. I thought she wouldn’t like seeing me this way. I thought she’d try to help. But – she didn’t do anything. She just took her seat and sat down, watching me closely just like the rest. This alone made me wonder if it was really Sophie whom I was looking at and not just her clone, because I knew Sophie would never allow this to happen to me.

  Still, I tried, because I was that desperate. “Sophie?” I called with the tears causing my voice to shake. “Sophie, please help me!”

  “Andrew?” a voice called, and I turned my head to look at the source, a woman in her late 40s. The seat she took was a bit different from the rest, making her stand out, though her clothes that were sparkling in the fogged room were enough to make her look as if she was a lot higher than the rest, if you know what I mean.

  “She was her best friend during her human life, Mother,” Andrew replied.

  Mother?

  Human life?

  What did that even mean?

  It was only then that I noticed that every single one of them had black wings. The same as the wings I’d seen on Andrew’s back in my dreams.

  My eyes widened as I stared at them, shock consuming me. I had no idea if I was dreaming, having a very bad nightmare, or if I’d simply gone insane and started imagining things.

  I didn’t get the chance to wonder for long, because once everyone was seated and the great door was closed, Andrew brought an iron collar and put it around my neck. I struggled a lot, but all of my efforts did me no good, not helping me at all. I even begged him, but he only smiled and patted my cheek tenderly.

  I disliked his tenderness so much.

  “Andrew! Please! What are you doing?” came my terrified voice.

  He didn’t reply, only focused on the task at hand.

  After he was finished securing the cold collar around my neck, he then attached chains to it and pulled, causing me to lean my top half down. If it wasn’t for the chains around my stomach, I would’ve fallen, but instead I stayed in this position when he tied the chains to a nail in the floor.

  My arms were behind me, still tied but keeping me standing. The whole of my back was exposed, and looking at the people – or whomever these creatures were – became so difficult that eventually I just stared at the floor beneath me.

  My tears fell from my eyes to the floor, my arms aching and my legs hurting. The restraints around me were making me almost unable to breathe, and everything was just too much, everything was pain and darkness, everything was wrong.

  The next thing I knew, there was a loud noise that sounded like rocks moving, similar to the sound you’d hear when you push marble pieces on the floor. And suddenly light filled the room that had only been dimly lit before, and the fog disappeared.

  I tried moving my head to the side, looking at the source of the faint light, but I couldn’t see. Not long after those noises, I heard the disgusting rackets that only bats make, sounds like screams and squeaks, and it made my terrified heart beat even faster.

  I couldn’t see much, but the shock was preventing me from screaming as I listened to the noises as they neared me. When I felt a hard pinch on my back, I screamed with all of my might.

  The pinch turned to two, then three, and then there were so many that I lost count. I felt the bats –or whatever those tiny creatures were that were making the noises – biting at my skin, pricking it and maybe even removing some of my skin.

  All of the bites were mostly between my shoulder blades and the top of my back, but some other bites were around my back and some were on my arms.

  I felt the wounds that the bites had caused start bleeding, and the warm liquid of my blood seeped out to stain the floor under my feet. By then, my screams were almost louder than the noises the bats were making. I was in so much pain and I knew I was going to pass out very soon because I wouldn’t be able to bear it anymore.

  The bites on my shoulders and upper back were the most agonizing ones. As crazy as it sounded, I wanted them to bite more on my arms if it meant they would leave that area.

  “Andrew, please,” my plea was nothing but the whisper of an exhausted body and an almost lost voice. I started thinking that this would be my way to go, that I would be tortured with those bites, bleed out the last drop of my blood, and then just die like that.

  “It’ll be over soon, My Soul, you’re doing great,” Andrew’s tone was comforting on its own, but I couldn’t be comforted whatsoever. I still couldn’t help the ray of hope that entered my heart, because I simply just wanted to believe him, even without not knowing what ‘Over’ meant – if it was about the bites or about my death.

  True to his words, the creatures I chose to call bats started slowing their bites on my back, one by one. Their noises grew quieter, and then there were no more new pinches that I could feel.

  The noise like marble moving sounded again, and the room started to darken just like it had been before. I heard the great door being opened, followed by the sounds of the ones who were watching as they left the room.

  I felt hands fumbling with my restraints, freeing then one by one, starting by my feet and then up to the chains around my stomach. My body was heavier than I could explain and I knew that once my hands were released, I would fall face first to the floor.

  But that didn’t happen, because right before I fell to the floor Andrew caught me in his arms, and though falling into his arms was better than falling to the floor, it still hurt for my skin to be touched in any way. Everywhere hurt so badly.

  I felt cloth being wrapped around my body and when I opened my eyes, I could see with my blurry version as Andrew lifted me up, carrying me bridal style and walking us to where I didn’t know.

  His green eyes were soft, and his beautiful features were calm. He smiled down at me as he said with his deep voice, “Welcome to my world, Angel.”

  For the past year, every day I woke up, it was a struggle to get out of bed. It was never easy for me when almost every morning I reached for my phone to call Sophie, only to remember she wasn’t there to answer.

  It was what I’d always done whenever I woke up and she wasn’t sleeping over at my place. And when I woke up and didn’t find her all of those times over the past year, my first thought was to call her. And it was even more painful when I realized why she wasn’t sleeping over.

  This time when I woke up, I had the hope that everything I’d witnessed before I went to sleep – passed out or whatever – everything that’d happened was nothing but a stupid nightmare I’d had because it was the first Halloween I’d spent without Sophie, or because I’d lost her on the same day. But I knew it was only a hope, I knew that everything I’d seen was real – because the pain in my back made me certain of it.

  I groaned as I moved my hand up to rub my eyes, my arms aching and my eyes burning. I was sweating and breathing wasn’t the easiest thing to do.

  When I opened my eyes, I was met by the same shade of bright green I’d seen right before I was knocked off: Andrew’s eyes.

  “Welcome, Beautiful Angel,” Andrew smiled.

  Welcome?

  “Where am I?” I asked with a gruff voice, my throat burning from all of the screaming, I guess.

  “You’re home, where you belong,” he replied.

  Home?

  What is he talking about?

  I tried lifting my head up to look around me, but it took a hell of a lot of effort. When I tried turning just a bit onto my back, I cried out in agony.

  “There, there, try not to move, you still need time to recover,” Andrew told me.

  “Recover from what? Where am I? What happened to me?” I asked with tears falling from my eyes.

  “Relax now, Angel,” he said, “Just one more hour.”

  Hour?

  “Why do you keep calling her that nauseating name?” I heard a woman’s voice asking from behind me; her tone sounded disgusted.
r />   “It’s a long story, Mother,” Andrew replied with a kind voice. I realized it was the same woman that had been sitting on that chair on a higher point than the rest. “I’ll tell you about it later.”

  “Good!” the woman said. “The bones are forming well, better than most would in just three hours. I think she’ll be well very soon and good to start with forming feathers by the start of a new hour.”

  “Ah! That’s great to hear!” Andrew said cheerfully, “I can’t wait!” He smiled down at me with so much tenderness and happiness in his eyes. I don’t think I liked it.

  I was seriously confused, aching and hungry. My body was heavy and my mind wasn’t thinking right. I wanted answers, I wanted to feel better, and I wanted to go home. I was so scared. Yet, all I could do was just stay there, lying on my side, afraid and waiting for what I didn’t know.

  I watched the woman whom I now knew to be Andrew’s mother leave the room. She was dressed in some kind of black dress that was backless, but the dress didn’t get my attention so much as what was on her back. There were wings.

  I swallowed thickly, wondering if my mind was playing tricks on me. I got more confused and maybe even terrified when I saw Andrew follow her outside; he was only wearing jeans and the same huge, black wings I’d seen in my dreams of him.

  Was that even real?

  A minute or two later, Andrew came back into the room, a glass of water in his hand. And it was only then that I realized how thirsty I really was.

  “You must be thirsty,” he said, sitting by the side of the bed. He brought the glass near me, the straw inside it just an inch away from my lips.

  I wanted to drink it so badly, but I didn’t know if it was a good idea to just sip it so easily. It could be poisoned for all I knew, but then I thought that even if it was, being poisoned wouldn’t feel as bad I was feeling now. For him to actually poison me didn’t sound like something Andrew would do, and I didn’t even know where I got that realization from; after all – he’d witnessed what I went through with smiling eyes and didn’t offer me any kind of help.

  But so did your best friend. A voice reminded me.

  With tears shining in my eyes, I started sipping on the water. And once I got the first taste, I started coughing and spitting out the oddly tasting water. It wasn’t the same water I’d drunk all my life. Instead it was really different, a bit bitter and I think it was heavier, not as light as the water I was used to. It was like some kind of acid had been added to it.

  “Shh,” Andrew took the water away and now was hushing me, as if that would help settle down my coughing. “Easy now, Beautiful Maya.”

  “Please tell me where I am!” was the first thing I said when I stopped coughing and got back to breathing somewhat normally.

  “I told you, Angel,” he said. “You’re home.”

  “This is not my home, and you know it,” I said, trying my hardest not to show the fear in my voice. “I want to go back to my house; my grandmother must be going crazy searching for me!”

  “Your grandmother will do okay without you, Maya,” he said seriously. “It’s me who needs you.” His hand touched my cheek tenderly, and I was surprised at the soothing feeling I got once I felt his touch, surprised even more that my cheeks didn’t sting like before.

  Need me?

  “How long was I sleeping?” I asked, because it wasn’t believable to me for the scratches on my face and the rest of my body, aside from my back, to be healed in just a few hours.

  “Ten hours, Angel,” Andrew replied.

  “What?!” I asked with wide eyes. “Oh my gosh! My grandmother must be going insane searching for me.”

  “Humans don’t calculate time like we do,” Andrew said, confusing me even more.

  “What do you mean humans? What are you?!” I asked, a part of me still wishing that those wings weren’t real, hoping that they were fake like the ones I’d worn last Halloween. But a huge part of me knew that I would never get that wish to come true – it was pretty obvious that the wings were real!

  “I already told you,” he said, “I’m a demon.”

  Demon!

  “You can’t be serious.”

  “Yes, I am. And so are you,” he told me.

  “No, I’m not!” I objected. “I’m human.” The words sounded silly on my tongue.

  “No, you’re not, Maya, not since you were brought to the underground world, and certainly not after the converting. The fact that you’re not taking it well is a little concerning, to be honest,” he said with a small frown.

  Not a human?

  Converting?

  Underground world?

  Taking it well?

  Was he even sane?!

  “What are you talking about? Please just let me go, I want to get back to my life! This is ridiculous!” I cried, hating the fact that I couldn’t move at all without feeling pain. It still didn’t stop me from trying, only to end up in the same position because I couldn’t stand the stinging in my back.

  “This. Is. Your home!” Andrew shouted, his voice sounding around us so loudly that it was almost deafening. It was enough to make me stop talking at all, but it didn’t stop my silent tears from falling.

  He scared me.

  I sobbed, freeing my tears, stopped looking at him and stopped talking altogether. I was no longer asking him to give me answers, no longer begging him to get me back home. The voice he used to get me to shut up was still ringing in my ears. I was still not sure how someone as attractive as him could be able to let out that kind of voice – which I was sure could kill just by being used.

  After a while, I heard Andrew huffing. I still wouldn’t dare look at him, but then he stood up and got down on his knees in front of where I was lying. I still didn’t look into his eyes, I only stared ahead of me, didn’t hold his gaze for a moment, not even when he touched my cheek again with the gentlest of touches.

  “Maya,” he called, “Look at me.” His voice was tender and his tone was kind. “Maya, please look at me, Angel.”

  I finally did as he was asking. For some reason I couldn’t stand the thought of him begging me this way, and I found a huge urge in me to simply obey.

  His eyes held so much sweetness in them that it was almost too much to take in. They were warm and caring, and I couldn’t believe they belonged to the same one who’d just shouted at me that way.

  “I’m sorry I yelled at you,” he apologized. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I just – I couldn’t bear the thought of you going anywhere away from where you belong. I’ve waited for this day for forever, and your reaction is not how it’s supposed to be. It’s a first for a new converter to act this way. You’re supposed to be happy to finally be with me, not thinking of the past and crying over it!”

  My eyes now wouldn’t leave Andrew’s as I tried to comprehend what he was saying. None of his words made any sense to me. I didn’t know what he meant by the term ‘New converter’ or how he expected me to react to the fact that I had been kidnapped, or whatever had happened to me. Still, I only nodded.

  “Angel, don’t nod to please me, I’m really sorry,” he tried again. I didn’t know how he knew that I’d only nodded so as not to get him angry with me again, but I really didn’t think much of it.

  “It’s okay,” I whispered.

  He then came even closer, brushing my feather bangs away from my face, then patted my cheek softly and smiled. “Go back to sleep now, Beautiful Maya. You’ll feel much better when you wake up.” And then he was gone.

  To be honest, I didn’t know if I liked being alone or liked his company more, because when he left – my heart ached. I was scared of him, to a point. But the thought of being left alone for who knows how long and the fact that I couldn’t move even if I wanted to was even scarier. And being completely naked underneath this thin blanket that was covering me didn’t make my discomfort any better, only added to it humiliation and embarrassment.

  I had no idea who would come inside if those doors opened
again. I had no idea if someone did come inside, what they would do to me. I had no idea if I’d ever live to see the next day or get to see my grandmother again, and the thought only made my tears grow heavier.

  I guess by some point as I got lost in my thoughts of the things going on around me and the things that had happened to me and all of my worry and fears about Sophie and for her – I fell asleep. And the next thing I knew, I found myself in a great room with a floor made from glass and walls made from crystal. Everything was perfectly lit and all of the lights were amazingly shining. It was breathtaking.

  I walked with a grin decorating my face, loving the sweet scent of fresh air, and the cool breeze that ruffled my hair and my long white dress. My legs took me to a place that looked like a river, but it wasn’t normal water that I could see. This water sparkled as if it had glitter on it; it was such a sight to behold.

  I was so caught up with the magnificent view that I almost missed the woman who was sitting by the side of the river, playing with her hand in the sparkling water. I smiled as I found my legs taking me to her, not even thinking twice about the fact that the woman had beautiful white wings on her back.

  I got closer and closer to her, and when she looked at me, I found myself looking at an older version of myself, with her black hair and bright blue eyes.

  “Mom!” I gasped.

  “Oh, Maya!” my mother grinned in delight. “Come here, sweetie-pie, I’ve missed you.” She offered me her wide-open arms and I ran to her. I hugged her tightly and laughed loudly through my tears, tears that told of happiness and joy as my years of longing to see her beautiful face and feel her warm embrace consumed me.

  “Mom! I’ve missed you so much!” I told her when she pulled back the slightest to look at my face, her smile sending warmth down my heart.

  “I’ve missed you even more, my lovely girl,” she said. “But I’ve always watched over you.”

  “Oh!” I said, “Mom, where am I? Am I dead?”

  “No, sweetie, you were never meant to die,” she replied, confusing me even more than I was before asking the question.