He with Missing Wings

6 / Lighter

The morning was gray and silent, contrary to the red chaos that ensued the night before. Kylel had been awake hours before I decided to slip out of bed. He prepared a large breakfast for the two of us in celebration of our new life together. He had taken the time to bury my mother's body in the backyard prior to lighting the gas stove, but the act did little to lift the aching pain in my heart.

"Want another pancake?" Kylel asked, gyrating his sizzling frying pan.

"I don't feel like eating, Kye."

Kylel gave a light shrug and poured the sticky remnants of scrambled eggs into the same pan he used to fry pancake batter. The way he drizzled the liquid reminded me of the afternoon he and I had first met. I remembered how hot my cheeks burned after laying eyes on his handsome face. I remembered how grateful I felt to him for saving me from an eternity of darkness. I remembered the intense warmth that swelled in my heart when he promised to protect me from the world, but now I needed protection from him. Kylel terrified me beyond my wildest nightmares. Whatever his motive was, he would not hesitate to rip a human being limb from limb to fulfill it. Mackenzie was his first victim. My mom was his second. She would be his last.

"Baby?"

Kylel turned to face me but his eyes jittered back and forth between me and the television screen. "What's wrong, beautiful?"

"I'm gonna run to the store."

He knitted his bushy brows. "Why?"

"We're outta food, love. You kinda went overboard with the breakfast."

Kylel broke into a charming smile with dimples deep enough to bury bodies. He latched his hand onto mine and pulled me in so that we were pressed against each other like legos.

"Hey, I'm sorry about your mother. And I'm not just saying that because I can read your heart. I shouldn't have killed her. I would take it back if I could. But admit it, that woman mistreated you for years. You deserved better. At least now that she's gone, you can finally move forward with your life."

The topic made me uncomfortable so I sought to distance myself. Kylel jerked me back into his embrace. "Understand?" He imposed, his eyes oscillating into a sinister amber glow.

"Y-Yes, I understand," I answered helplessly.

"Good. Now go ahead and get those groceries. Think I'm gonna stay here. This Riverdale show is too good to miss."

Kylel ushered me towards the front door and wished me well before returning to his thriller marathon in my bedroom. I had told him that I would only make a quick run to the store to pick up breakfast foods, which was something he and I agreed was vital after his fiasco in the kitchen earlier. It did not surprise me that he believed my act. There were two things that Kylel could not hate more. Ironically, he despised corny romance movies with a passion and he loathed the thought of following me around in a supermarket for even a minute. I knew that this would be my one and only opportunity to escape the house and seek outside help. I needed lots of it. God might have been the only one who could help me.

But sometimes God just wasn't fast enough for me.

I walked five blocks from my house to visit my last ace in the whole before I'd have to pray on my knees for the rest of my life. I jumped the fence of a well known apartment complex and knocked ferociously against an equally familiar chipped black door. Ten seconds later, a light-skinned teenage heartthrob named Haley Justice opened up. She was once my closest friend. We had known each other since kindergarten and were longtime besties for many years. It wasn't until she had suffered a tremendous loss that we grew distant. Both her mom and dad were murdered by a gunman when we were in the sixth grade.