A light in the dark

A light in the dark, Chapter one by Kels 

Allyson swung her legs back and forth, sitting on the porch railing outside her house. The sky looked dark, a promise for an upcoming storm. A few daring birds still darted above her, high up in the sky.  She was home alone, and was supposed to be inside, but the dark clouds had lured her out. She ran a hand through her dark brown hair, cut short and kept spikey. Her hazel eyes scanned the horizon, searching for the first raindrop to fall.

Suddenly, a bright flash and a loud BANG nearly knocked her from her seat. The lightning looked to have come from the field in front of her house. She held up the pair of binoculars she kept for bird-watching and put it to her eyes, scanning the field for signs of damage. A tall figure, dressed in a dark cloak was standing in the weeds. As she looked on, slightly concerned, the man raised his hand to the sky, and got struck by the lightning.

That sent Allyson scrambling off the wooden railing, running out into the field with her head low. She halted however, when she spotted the man again, still standing, not a bit crispy. He was staring at the birds flying overhead, and raised a hand again, pointing at the largest bird. The lightning struck again, but not as she had previously thought, but from his hand.

The bird dodged, its tail feathers narrowly missing the electric strike. One of the others was not so lucky however, and crashed to the ground. Allyson ducked behind a nearby apple tree as the man turned to look at the bird, poking at it with his foot. He turned back to the sky and took aim. BANG. The lightning struck the birds wing, and it plummeted in a tailspin to the ground, a tree braking its fall. The man turned and started walking towards it, if he kept going, he’d walk right past where Allyson was hiding. She started muttering.

“Rain. Rain now! Oh… RAIN!!”  A drop fell. Then another. The man glared at the sky, and flinched as a drop landed on his head. He swore and started running to his car, parked by the road, dodging drops the whole way.

The girl watched until he skidded away in his black van before scurrying over to where the bird had crashed. She launched up the tree, swinging up the branches like a monkey; she’d always loved climbing. She froze on the top branch. There, in the tree was a boy. A boy with wings.

He had his eye closed, and one of his wings was burnt and bent at an awkward angle, but he was handsome nonetheless. He had short brown hair, the bangs cut a bit jaggedly near his eyes; and his wings were tawny colored, with brown spots.  His clothes were ragged and soaked from the rain, and even knocked out his face was twisted in pain.

“An angel!” She whispered, and stared for a few minutes, until a distant lightning bolt made her snap back to attention. She bent down and carefully pulled him up and over the branches. With careful attention to his injured wing, she climbed back down, nearly falling out twice.

Finally they made it to the ground, and headed to the house before pausing. If mom and dad find him in my room… she turned toward the barn, and half carried half dragged the “angel” inside. She hoisted him into the loft, where her parents never went, and set him down on a pile of straw. Then she ran back to the house and grabbed some essential things.

Allyson sped back up the ladder, dragging a basket behind her. She spread out a thick comforter on the straw, and rolled the boy on top of it, upside down. Carefully, she pulled the wing into her lap.

The damage was clear. There was a large wound in the side, slightly charred and bleeding slightly. A couple of feathers were gone, but it didn’t feel broken. She cleaned the wound with some disinfectant, and carefully wrapped it in gauze.

Packing up the medical equipment, she tucked another blanket around him, put a pillow under his head, (making sure he could breathe) and climbed back down the ladder.