The woman wrapped her arms around the waist of the boy, protecting him from collapsing on the ground and hurting himself. Instead, she let him lie softly on the grass, holding his head gently in her arms. "Look how much you've grown" she said, her voice as gentle as her fingers that went through his black hair. "My little angel" she whispered, even though she knew Chris couldn't hear her. She leant towards him and placed a kiss on his forehead, like she did when he was little, when she was still there with her family. She hated this that this was the only way to be with him at that moment, she wanted to be with her husband and children more than anything. She knew it wouldn't last though, ergo she had decided to make the most of it.
"What do you want?" she heard her husband's voice but she knew it was him before laying eyes on the man. "James" she breathed out, her smile disappearing nonetheless when she met the anger eyes of the man she was married to. "What do I want..." she scuffed, letting the boy to lie completely on the grass before she stood up and stared at James. "What do you think I want? I want my children, my husband, the happiness I was stripped from" she spoke with her words as if begging someone to give all these things back to her. "You abandoned your children. So what's the true reason of your visit?" his words felt like a dagger in her heart, making her bleed pain. "How dare you say such thing? For me to abandon my own children?" she spat in disgust that he even said that, but she took a few steps towards his direction. "I miss you" he said weakly, his expression showing the pain he felt in his own heart.
They were close now, so close that he could remember why he betrayed his on people to marry a demon, he could remember why he loved her so much, why he had chosen to have a family with her. "They're doing just fine" James whispered, his eyes on her hand as she softly touched his chest. "They're not just angels, James. They have my blood too, they have to learn their nature" she whispered back, her voice caring, but James only shook his head negatively. "No" he said, that word always bothered her, but his hand on her shoulder seemed to calm her down a little. "I can't lose them, whatever the cost." No. She knew that gaze very well, those puppy eyes that ask for forgiveness for something yet to be done. "I'm sorry" he muttered, his voice hoarse, sad, regretful. Her eyes widened in surprise when she felt the angelic power of her husband hitting her on the chest, sending her to fly away from the spot she once was standing. The light, that power, it almost killed her.
Betrayal. It was the first word that came to her mind, not letting her have any other sort of thought other than that, making her mind blurry. Revenge?
* * *
He felt a repeated nudge on his shoulder disturbing his sleep, forcing him to open his eyes to see who, yet again, woke him up and didn't let him sleep properly. The first and only thing that he saw were the dark brown eyes of his friend, Eva, looking at him through her round glasses. "Good morning!" she said, her voice filled with energy, his mind blank and still sleepy, replying with a groan as he rolled to the other side of his bed, causing Eva to pout. "Where were you last night?" Where was he last night? The memories were so distant and blurry; he could remember the forest, a shadow screaming, his heart bringing back the fear he had felt and helping him wake up, sitting up on the bed, looking at his friend who was sitting at the far end. "You were gone out flying again—" she began but only received a shocked look form Chris, who shot his body forward to cover her mouth with his hands. "SH!" he scolded her, his jaw tight. "N's hr" she mumbled behind his hands, prompting him to let her speak. "No one's here" she whispered, an exaggerated look of surprise on her face.
Chris only shook his head and pressed his lips together, crawling off his bed and followed the path to the little chest in front of his bed, were his clothes were kept. There was no room for separate wardrobes for every single kid that lived at the church, which was also an orphanage but for kids that were older, those who were unlucky and never really managed to find a family. They needed someone to take care of them and, even though they were supposed to leave when they turned eighteen, the priest allowed them to stay for as long as they needed until they were ready to move out. Chris always admired how caring his father was with those kids and, even though he and his brother -Alex- technically had a family, they lived there with the rest of the kids, in a room that held all the remaining people.
He quickly picked his clothes, a white shirt and a grey pair of sweatpants, and he moved on to put on his shoes, sitting at the edge of the bed to tie the laces, feeling Eva's eyes on him, eager to learn what part of the forest he had discovered this time. The two of them were always close, their love for exploring bonding them and sending them to many adventures. Chris couldn't help but sigh and turn to look at her, sitting at the same spot on his bed as before. "I found something, chasing—" but before he could finish his sentence, a knock on the door caught their attention, causing them to look up as whoever knocked decided it was safe to open the door. It was James, wearing the black clothing of a priest, as he was one.
"Good morning Eva, Chris" he hummed, taking a step in the room, looking at the two of them. Eva smiled, her dark hair, held in a messy bun, making her appear even sweeter. "Good morning!" she said, turning to look at Chris who mumbled a good morning under his breath. "Can you come at my office, Chris?" the priest asked politely, his tone not even close to the yelling the boy was hearing from him the previous night. The boy nodded his head, aware that he was looking like a child who was scolded -which wasn't far from the truth-, but he was also confused, not aware of what else had happened the night before. James nodded his head as well, staying at the door as if he wanted to say something, anything.
A deep voice came to break the silence, the voice of Nicholas, a guy who was about two years older than Chris -Alex- and Eva, now about to turn nineteen. He always wore button up shirts and nice pants, as if he was going to be asked to marry someone at that very moment. "Father, you have a phone call" the older boy said, causing James to turn and look at him. "I'll call them back in a moment" James informed the other with a kind smile, only for Nicholas to reply "I don't think you have the luxury to ignore it, sir". That was enough for both of them to turn around and walk out of the room, in order to get that so important phone call.
"... I don't think you have the luxury to ignore it, sir..." Eva mimicked as best as she could the deep voice of the other, squaring her shoulders and chuckling, her laugh contagious, making Chris laugh as well even though he knew he shouldn't. "Shh" he silenced her with a playful tone at his voice before he stood up, Eva following his lead. "Jerk" she whispered, Chris shaking his head. He always wondered why Eva disliked Nicholas so much, it was as if these two were meant to argue by default. Only a few moments later did Nicholas return back to the room, seeming as if he had ran to get there fast. "Mary-Lee died!" he exclaimed, receiving two confused looks from Chris and Eva. "Who's Mary-Lee?"
"Are you guys for real- she was here every Saturday" Nicholas said, still struggling to catch his breath. Chris and Eva looked at each other, confused before they shook negatively their heads. "She was just a girl. She died. I heard James talking about it on the phone. I think they're preparing her funeral" he said, sounding a little sad, maybe he knew Mary-Lee. "How did she die?" Chris asked, his eyes dripping with curiosity, but that feeling of his wasn't satisfied. "I don't know" Nicholas said and shrugged his shoulders, leaning against the door frame. "That's it?" Eva asked, a little disappointed. "Isn't it enough?" Nicholas retorted and Chris had to interrupt them, seeing that they were both oh so happy to start an argument. "It's enough" he said, gaining a hazel pair of eyes belonging to Nicholas on him. "James wants to see you, he seemed way too calm, it's scary. What did you do to him?" he asked, Chris letting his shoulders drop a little. Great. "Yeah, if I don't return in two days look for my name at the graveyard" Chris joked grabbing his jacket and sloppily putting it on, walking to walk past Nicholas and out of the room.
Walking towards his father's office was an oddly silent journey, given that usually the place was filled with people. Lately, no one seemed to be visiting the church, making the place a little lonelier, a little colder. Upon arriving at the office, he knocked on the door and opened it a second later, standing there and looking at his father, who seemed troubled. Maybe he was sad about the death of that girl. "You wanted to see me?" he asked, his father nodding in reply, standing up from his desk and walking to stand in front of his son. The two of them had almost the exact same height now, long gone being the days when his father was taller than him. "Are you going to go to the other side?" James asked. The other side, the other dimension hidden behind the waterfalls of the little city, not too far away from the location of the church. It led to a world that was long separated from the one Chris lived mainly, the only way to access it being through those waterfalls and only if you had a ring made from the same material as the magic that held the two dimensions apart.
"Yeah" Chris replied, watching as the blonde hair of his father had began turning grey, yet his blue angelic eyes at the same bright colour as his son's. "Are you feeling okay?" he asked, reaching to zip his son's jacket. "I'm okay, yes. What's wrong?" Chris asked, not sure to seeing this side of his father anymore, the man was too strict to simply ask such questions out of the blue. James shook his head and let his arms fall by his side. "Tell Alex to drop by soon, I miss him" James said softly, thing that made Chris a little more relaxed. "I will" he said, a small hint of a smile at his lips. Alex, Chris' twin brother, was spending his time training at the other side for the past year, it made sense for James to miss him. Chris missed him too, the two were inseparable.
After listening to his father warning him to be safe, Chris walked out of the office and then out of the church, to the backyard where he kept his bike. Riding it slowly at first, all the way until he was out on the road where he was able to speed up at last, following the asphalt, empty of any other vehicles. He loved living in such a small city, it had a different type of freedom and safety when being out at any given moment. The boy rose his body so he could ride the bike faster, his eyes looking out to spot the small path that would lead to the waterfalls.
He spotted it after a few minutes of riding his bike under the warm sun, regretting the fact that he had taken a jacket with him, especially wearing it at the moment. He leant his body to the side, allowing gravity to make the bike take the turn at the little path to his left, seeing the beautiful waterfall that was reflecting the light into tiny rainbows near the surface of the lake. Chris jumped off his bike, leaving it near a tree, as far away from both the road and the waterfall as he could, not wanting for anyone to steal his bike or for the water to destroy it sooner than it had to. The rocks around the water created a huge gate, hidden behind the fall, the water making sure to protect the other side. It may appeared like a calm scenery, but the water falling on the lake by such height in addition to the sounds of the birds were too loud to let anyone relax there.
Chris reached for the ring in the pocket of his jacket, tied with a thin rope so that he could wear it as a necklace, and so he wore it such that, around his neck, and he walked in the lake. The water was cold and he couldn't help but wonder why the portal couldn't be anywhere despite a waterfall. He sighed and quickly walked through the waterfall, feeling the water falling hard on his shoulders, the ring feeling as warm as a human touch, activating the portal and allowing his body to cross to the other side.
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