Losing Her Wings

Chapter 8

Skylar was sitting having a coffee with Pepper and her sister Eliza that afternoon when she zoned out of the conversation and saw a young girl being dragged out of her bed and mistreated. She didn’t understand what was happening and both the girls she was sitting with were confused over the glazed look in her eyes, Eliza actually waving her hand in front of her face only to see that there was no response. She had only just met Skylar after Peppers insistence and so far she found her a perfectly nice girl who she could agree with her sister, would be a brilliant girlfriend for either Niles or Ryan as she had suggested. Now that she was acting so weird, her eyes fluttering up and down as if they were about to roll back in her head at any moment, she wasn’t so sure that she was in any state to be dating anyone.

She had heard from Pepper, who had found out from Devin about how they had found her the night before but the rolling of the eyes was a bit freaky for her to deal with and certainly suggested some kind of damage to her, whether physical or mental. But even Skylar had no idea what was going on, unable to make sense of what she saw, in what she could only think of as a vision. Within a moment she suddenly came back to the table she was sitting at, actually having to catch the edge of the table to steady herself from the dizzy feeling she had as she noticed the two girls staring at her. “Are you alright?” Pepper asked, waving off Eliza’s stare that said they should have nothing to do with her. She had heard about her boyfriend Zeke being obsessive and jealous and figured he was maybe a little violent too or else Skylar had managed to block out most of the bad things only to be hit by the memories when she least expected it. As far as she was concerned, it explained her zoning out right then and her screaming the night before in such a horrible way.

“I’m sorry. I’m not sure what happened.” Skylar lied, realising that the elders who had sent her back had figured out a way for her to keep in tune with her charges when they most needed her. She just wished it didn’t make her look like such a crazy person in front of people she barely knew. Pepper was nice enough to pass it off and ask if she needed a glass of water but with what she’d seen, she realised that she couldn’t stick around and ignore it, it was too important. “Actually, if you don’t mind, I think I’m going to go back to my room and lie down for a while, I feel a little strange.” She admitted, gently taking hold of the necklace Link had given her and running her finger over it as she left, hoping that just by thinking of him while she held it would really be enough to make him appear. She was confused and concerned and a little frightened by what had happened to her and all she wanted was to see him and know that it was normal and he could fix it. She didn’t know if she could handle it happening all the time. She made her way to the campus chapel quietly, holding onto her necklace and thinking only of Link, hoping that he would be there but when she stepped inside, stopping at the altar and kneeling to cross herself before the stature of the Virgin Mary, he was nowhere to be seen.

It was only a few moments later when she heard footsteps as she lowered her head in prayed for a moment before backing over to a pew and settling herself, waiting for Link. What surprised her was the sight of Ryan walking in and doing the same thing, stopping before the alter and crossing himself before looking up and smiling at her. “Can I join you?” He asked softly, confusing her as she nodded quietly and let him take his seat next to her, closer than she had expected him to sit. If it had been Niles who had suddenly appeared, she would have expected the close proximity of his chosen seat but the fact that Ryan had been so hostile to her before and suddenly wanted to be so close to her he was practically touching her, gave her some hope. “I was on my way to speak to Eliza about one of our classes when I heard you saying you weren’t feeling well. I figured I’d walk you back to make sure you didn’t pass out but when you came in here instead, I wondered if maybe there was something you didn’t want to tell the girls that you could tell me?” He wondered, as if it were a normal thing for him to say but the fact he had been so cruel to her before confused her and she didn’t know what to say him. Logically if she was willing to tell anyone a secret it would be the girls, not him. They were all strangers to her except Ryan but she couldn’t tell him that.