(Triggers warning: mentions of abuse.
Flash back.)
WHEN GABRIEL ELMSTONE WAS TEN HE BURIED THE ONLY CREATURE THAT HAD EVER LOVED HIM. A crow by the name of Nox, deep in the small wood at the edge of the Elmstone manor. Nox brought him flowers to dry for his books, lost things that shined, accompanied him most places and dived on the other boys that bullied him. Now Nox was dead. He'd been Gabriel's only friend.
Or so that's what he'd believed. Until he turned around. "You?" He demanded, squinting his eyes at the small girl standing before him.
She beamed happily at him revealing a crooked set of teeth, with three of them missing. "I thought Nox might like these."
Clutched tightly in her hand was a bundle of scarlet roses.
Gabriel's long lashes fluttered closed momentarily as he sighed. Defeated, he tightly muttered, "Nox is dead." Before reclaiming his shovel to pat the dirt flat atop the shallow grave.
He'd actually been done with the burial for some time but he had been rooted to the spot. Hoping that Nox would somehow rise from the ground, shake the dirt clean of his wings and fly free. But he hadn't. He wouldn't ever fly again.
Now a girl had appeared out of thin air. And he couldn't think, couldn't breath under her scrutiny. He could imagine what she must think. That he was pathetic for going through such lengths to burry a dead bird. And strange for having considered that bird his friend. His only friend.
Subconsciously he found himself attempting to soothe the loose curls wild atop his head, straightening his posture and clearing his throat. A poor attempt to gain some semblance of composure.
"Nox loves roses, he can take them with him to remember me when he's in heaven." She replied, stepping closer and into the sunlight.
"No, you love roses, and you are old enough to know, heaven a children's tale for ensuring 'good' behavior." He retorted in a matter-of-factly tone, giving her a pointed look.
"Nox adored roses, he'd drop one off at the garden every sunset." She sternly insisted, stepping closer with her clenched fist. "He wasn't only your friend you know."
"No—" Gabriel had turned once again to the girl, to tell her off but his words tuned to ashes on his tongue once he seen her in the sun.
She stood in a gleaming ray of sunlight that had poked through the shadows born of the tall trees. It was if heaven casted a spotlight up her and demanded he take notice. Her brown skin glittered like soft bronze, her lengthy chocolate hair danced in the wind like ribbons of curled silk, her brows were deepened with sincerity of her fierceness and her lips painted in blood from being chewed.
In that moment, in her white linen dress and bare feet she was so ill-fitted for the dreary wood, ill-fitted for reality.
Her dark eyes met his and he saw an eternity blinking back at him. Even then, he knew. It was her, it had always been her.
The boys heart trembled in its beating and he stumbled backwards. "No!" He repeated firmly, but this time to himself. No! She could never care for you. She is golden and you are nothing.
"Fine then!" She pushed past him, marching to the head of the willow tree where the bird, was buried beneath. "Be that way."
