Page 102 of Touched By Sin
“Don’t go to sleep, Angel!”
“Aurelia, what are you doing?”Freya, my best friend, asks, causing me to startle and snap my wings shut behind me. She laughs. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
My heart is still in my throat as I drag my gaze away from the tall gates.
When I don’t reply, she follows my line of sight. Her throat jumps before she circles her fingers around my arm, steering me back to the path that leads to the village. “You know we shouldn’t be out here.”
“Is this real?”
“You can’t tell anyone I let you talk me into coming along. The elders won’t be happy.”
I pull her to me and wrap my arms around her small frame, squeezing the life out of her. After I release her, I palm her cheeks. “Are you real?” I turn in a circle, squinting against the bright sun. The walls are as tall as I remember, enclosing us from the outside world. From fallen angels, inky black wings, brown eyes, and scorching kisses. From death. Life.
“Aurelia?”
My eyes snap back to Freya’s. “You’re naked.” I look down at my body and let out a gasp. The sun warms my bare skin, the mild breeze licking at my nipples. Raising my hand in front of me, I stare at my wrist, unable to believe my eyes. There’s not a scratch on it, as if it was never broken.
“Why are you acting so weird?”
I slowly lower my hand and look at Freya for a short moment before taking off in a sprint down the path.
“Where are you going?”
Fear constricts my throat, a feeling I had never tasted before I left Eden.
“Come back!” Freya runs after me.
I don’t stop. I run as if I can outrun this rising panic inside. I can’t. It chases me down the hill like an avalanche. Any moment now, it’ll crush me.
“Aurelia!”
I launch myself at the gate, but no matter how much I pull on it or bang my hand against it, it doesn’t budge. I’m trapped. Swinging around, my gaze lands on a tree. The hare nearby flicks its ears as I throw myself at the lowest branch, hauling myself up. I’ve climbed this tree since I was a young girl. It’s different now. I’m not scaling it with a curious mind. Fear pushes me higher through the branches, and my heart aches with every beat while I push myself to the limit.
How am I back here? Was any of what happened real? Was it all a dream? But no, it can’t be. I didn’t know about kisses, emotional pain, or this drowning fear before. I didn’t know Deamon’s smell or Dariana’s laughter, like that of chiming bells. Or the coppery taste of blood.
I emerge through the tallest branches and stare out over the wall. Beyond it, the dark forest stretches out as far as the eye can see. The screaming silence drowns out everything except my thundering heartbeat. I slip but right myself, clutching onto the branch.
“Aurelia!” Freya calls out from below. “What are you doing?!”
Tears burn my eyes as reality comes crashing down on me. I’m back here. Only it’s no longer home. It’s out there, amongst sin, death, and inky black wings. It’s calling me. It’s calling me home.
“The Bible speaks of redemption. If the Garden can let her out, there must be a way back in.”
To be continued.
