Beyond the Broken Angel

CHAPTER ONE

"I definitely won't do it, then." She continued playing with her mashed potatoes before looking up at her dad. "Where do you think your cousin is? Do you think she went back to America?"

George shrugged. "She never said. No one knows where she went."

And no one would find out for several years.

• — • — •

July 29th, 2010

Giselle, age 13

Giselle Saunders decided to go on a walk in the birch tree forest behind her Great Aunt Hester's house—and it wasn't solely because her dad had just taken her phone because she used up all of her family's data on their phone plan.

A part of her wanted to find the boy again, the one she had referred to as Troy Bolton when she told her friends the riveting story of the time she met a cute British boy on her vacation to England.

She was hoping that maybe, just maybe, she would meet him again. She had the silly idea that he would see her and fall madly in love, becoming her first kiss and first boyfriend all in one day.

They would have a tearful departure at the airport after her two-week stay was up, though, but he would vow to call and text her everyday until she was able to return to him. He would be infatuated with her like that, of course.

Giselle had even dolled herself up for the occasion, wearing her skinny jeans and pink graphic tee to match the bands on her braces.

On the thought of him kissing her, she retrieved her strawberry-flavored chapstick from the back pocket of her jeans and quickly applied it.

Eventually, she came across the creepy old statue she remembered from the last time she was there. It looked to have been a pretty angel at one point, standing about four feet high with detailed sculpting, but had since lost her right wing and was covered in lichen and grime and ivy.

Giselle felt her heart skip a beat in her chest, causing her to pause oddly and look up. There, surrounded by tall, skinny birch trees, was a large beech tree with vibrant, green leaves and a thick trunk.

The closer she got to the tree, the quicker her heart thudded against her ribs, and the harder it was to fight the urge to run to the tree.

Pressure welled in her chest, and her steps quickened. Soon, she was running for the tree like her life depended on it. She felt like a rubber band pulled taut, ready to snap at any moment.

As soon as she reached the tree, she noticed a stripe of snails and bugs slowly moving up the trunk in a spiral, lined up one after the other in a way that could only be described as unnatural. Hundreds of birds were perched on the branches above her, all in different shapes, sizes, and colors, but seemed to be of one mind as they stared straight ahead, completely unmoving.

It was an eerie scene that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand straight up, but she drew closer anyways, just like she did the last time she was there.

The second she pressed her palm against the tree, all the tension in her body vanished and the floor disappeared beneath her. Her eyes slammed shut as sleep overtook her, her body feeling weightless and completely at peace.

Her breathing and heart rate slowed, and she was vaguely aware of the feeling of floating to the ground like a fallen leaf, the forest floor gently cradling her back as she was finally lowered.

She continued keeping her eyes closed even after she was back on the ground, but eventually opened them to see that there were no more birds on the branches. She assumed they must've flown away when she fainted, if she fainted.