The day the world ends, Kelly dreams of an angel. She doesn’t really look like an angel, not when her wings and hair are pitch black. Not when the runes around her neck are glowing red. But somehow, Kelly’s sure that this sleeping girl is an angel.
“Have we met before?” Kelly asks. The angel’s eyes don’t so much as flutter but Kelly’s eyes do, the human girl jolting into full awakeness.
--
Three hours later, as the world starts to crumble, Kelly is still thinking of angels.
“Kelly!” Hannah screams, pulling her out of the open and startling Kelly out of her daze. Above them, the sky is disintegrating, chucks of existence slamming into the ground below.
‘The seals have been broken. The walls are falling apart.’ Kelly hears someone think. It’s not her.
“Over here!” Matthew calls them over to the locker building where he, Tyler, and Isabelle are huddled. There’s a buzzing in Kelly’s head that makes it hard to think but Hannah guides her through scrambling people.
“What’s going on?” Hannah asks. “What do we do?”
“There’s nothing we can do.” Kelly answers, unaware she’s even speaking. When she realizes, she tries to shake the haze from her head.
“Just stay close to me.” Matthew orders. “We’ll be safe.”
“What the hell are you two talking about?!” Tyler demands. “Do you know what’s happening?”
“I… I don’t know.” Kelly says, and this time she means to. “I don’t think so?”
“You don’t think so?!” Isobelle repeats. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Before Kelly can answer, a crashing noise makes them all jump. A chunk of something has slammed through the roof just to their left.
“What is that?” Tyler asks, pressed as tightly against the lockers as he can manage.
“Magic.” Matthew answers. “A magical wall, technically. A very broken magical wall.”
“You do know what’s going on.” Hannah states, frowning at the boy they’ve grown up with. Have they grown up with him? Kelly can’t remember, and thinking about it is giving her a headache.
“I do. And I can explain it all later, but right now we have bigger concerns.” Matthew says, looking up.
“What do we do?” Isobelle all but whimpers, flinching when they’re another crashing sound behind them.
“Come closer and I can protect you.” Matthew assures, holding out his hands. Without thinking, Kelly takes his hand. The others are more hesitant before they too draw near. As soon as they’re close, a shimmering blue light surrounds them. Kelly barely notices.
“You have wings.” She notices instead, staring at the semi-transparent appendages that have appeared at Matthew’s back.
“What?” Tyler frowns, not seeing them as Kelly does.
“Brace for impact!” Matthew warns. Suddenly there’s a pressure against them. It’s so tight that Kelly thinks she’s going to burst, shutting her eyes and clutching her teeth as she tries to push against it.
And then the pressure is gone and they aren’t by the lockers anymore.
They’re standing in a forest.
--
Kelly doesn’t dream of the angel for weeks after that. Not until they’ve settled into this new realm, the one that’s squashed theirs. Tyler is gone, searching desperately for a family that Matthew thinks is dead. Isobelle barely has the energy to get out of bed. Hannah has adjusted the best, starting a life within the town that’s taken them in.
As for Kelly…
The headaches have been getting worse, and she’s sure that she’s losing time. Sometimes she’ll wake up in weird places, or blink and find an hour has passed. She’ll say things she doesn’t mean to, things she can’t know. It’s exhausting, and terrifying, and Kelly’s pretty sure it has to do with the black-haired angel.
She’s awake now, staring at Kelly with brown eyes that almost look red.
“You’re in my head, aren’t you?” Kelly asks.
“Or you’re in mine.” The angel returns.
“Who are you?” Kelly asks another question, not sure she wants to consider the angel’s words.
“My name is Shadow.” The girl introduces. “I don’t really know what’s going on.” She admits.
“Me neither.” Kelly mumbles, hugging her arms to her chest. “What are we supposed to do?”
“Work together, maybe?” Shadow offers. “If we’re both in the same body we should probably share, right?”
“I guess that makes sense…” Kelly agrees. “But how?” That makes the angel pause, before she lights up with an idea.
“We make a deal, and we shake on it.” She decides. “Let’s share the body, deal?” Kelly frowns at Shadow’s extended hand, not entirely convinced this will work. Still, it’s not like they have a lot of options.
“Okay.” She says, taking the hand. “Deal.” They shake and for a moment Kelly sees two people, leaning against each other and laughing. The one on the left looks like the angel, but older. With no runes on her neck and with her black hair somehow long. She doesn’t recognize the boy on the right, with black hair and green eyes. Yet, somehow, Kelly knows that’s her. Him?
The vision is gone before she can really make sense of it.
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