Feather Light

Chapter 25

Dawn had arrived. And I was nowhere.

The second I had cleaved from Keira, my head had resumed its familiar pounding. I didn't expect that it would ever stop again. In spiritual, emotional and physical agony, I had flown until my wings shook from exhaustion, then I flew some more. Now it was almost light and I found myself further from home than I'd ever been by wing. What am I going to do?

I scanned the ground below me. Against the pale sky I could see the coastline stretching away from me, vacant and unhelpful. Just as I began to despair, a cluster of buildings appeared in the distance. A town.

A town meant people. People could mean help or harm. Out of options, I began to drop towards the ground and took my chances.

The first thing I needed was something to wear. When I'd left the house what seemed like a thousand years before, I'd only been wearing jeans and a sleeveless shirt with a low back for my wings. I landed on the beach just as the sun broke over the horizon. Time was running out as I ran up the beach and into the closest yard. A clothesline stood in the dawn light, casting a long shadow, and on the line hung a single item of clothing: a dressing gown.

Silently promising the sleeping owners that I would pay them back for the robe, I snatched it off the line and threw it around me. I slipped out through the front gate and padded along the beach road, trying to look nonchalantly like a barefoot holidaymaker out for a stroll and not an escaped mental patient in a bright blue towelling robe.

I was walking, but I honestly had no plan. Alone in a strange place, far from home, with no money, no shoes, no coat: it was a worst case scenario. I couldn't blame anyone but myself. Every part of me ached, from my wings to my head to my heart. I contemplated just curling up in a ball by the side of the road and lying there until something made me move.

As my legs threatened to collapse, I was given a sign. Literally. A cross appeared above the tree line. I kept walking and discovered the cross was attached to a sign post which read, "Wave Break Christian Church."

The church was a haphazard cluster of buildings. The biggest was being used as the main auditorium, with big windows facing the beach and a hundred or so chairs lined up inside. Standing on a chair with his back to me, a man was washing the big windows with a fluffy yellow rag.

Beyond thought or reason, I called out to him. "Excuse me?"

He turned to face me, a bald man not much older than I was with an open face and a welcoming smile. "Can I help you?"

"Is there somewhere I can lie down for a while?" I sounded pathetic, my tired tongue refusing to cooperate, my exhausted brain unwilling to provide the right words. "Or just rest? I don't have to sleep, I'm just tired and I lost my shoes. And my way. I'm a Christian, if that helps. So, if you can just let me lie on the floor or something or just..."

I trailed off as the man stepped off his chair and walked over to me. I realised he was huge, his bald head towering above me. He put a hand on my shoulder. "I'm Pastor Josh. I'll look after you."

He led me to a small demountable behind the main building with a bed inside. "Sleep," he told me. "Rest as long as you need to."

Too tired to even thank him, I flopped down on the bed, my eyes closed before I felt my face hit the pillow. I sank immediately into a slumber so deep it was more like a coma. A sleep designed to block out the world for a while and numb the pain of my cracked soul.

When I awoke, there were a few blissful minutes before I remembered where I was and why I was there. I simply lay on my back and stared at the ceiling, revelling in nothingness. When reality returned, I realised I should head out and find the Pastor, thank him and move on.