The Angel Within

Chapter 22: Lost Soul

            without making me the way I am now.

So caught up was I with my own thoughts that I barely noticed the raucous chuckles from the corridor that seemed to get louder, footsteps drawing closer. Then, altogether, the noise ceased, until you couldn't hear anything but the faintness of my own breaths. Because of that, I hardly realized that there was another presence in the cellar, hovering just inches away from the exit.

I saw him. The technique he used to maneuver around the room - how imperceptible and graceful his steps were - made me put my guard up. I could no longer depend on my hood for safety anymore, for that it had been taken away, most likely being burned with the rest of my belongings and my worth to the supernatural world.

"It's time," the guard announces, impassively, his voice light with trepidation. I all but paled at the sight of him but when he spoke, I knew I was going to be met with the infamous Head of the Council in just a matter of time. And that added nothing but fuel to the fire.

For one last moment, I fill myself with thoughts of my adoptive family, where Daniel would constantly be the immature meathead he was, cackling at all the stupid jokes and armpit farts he'd conjured up. And like any other brother, his eyes would swivel past the crowd during a laugh and paused on me, cautiously gauging for a reaction of my own.

Then, Macy and Derek, my adoptive parents who'd care for me, attempt to replace my old life style with a brand new one. Something that was worth remembering.

Came in my friends, whom in which kept me standing when I was threatening to tumble. Minutes spent with Maria, Casey, Jeff, and Alex have been momentous and I never - not once - regretted meeting them.

My breath hitched in my throat when I reached the one last person that meant the world to me. Someone who I'd put on the pedestal where he was capable of hurting me in any way possible.

Trent.

I reminisced through our many interactions, which had all been filled with such warmth and comfort that it made my toes curl. Albeit, moments like those don't last forever. Because when he had finally unbroken me, made me feel a happiness that I never thought existed, he broke me all over again. And I knew, he had forgotten me forever.

Perhaps, it was time to forget about him too. Deep inside, I knew it was only right because what was love when one's love wasn't returned? Nada. It was nothing.

Snapping back to reality, the guard let out a muffled sound of annoyance, and marched forward, carefully unlocking the silver bars. He slid it open, and when his eyes met mine, I found myself looking away. His gaze was expressionless but beneath that, it held a harshness that made me feel rigid.

Although, more than anything, it made my heart hurt, it messed with my head. It undermined my confidence, or what little I had left. It made me feel cynical, it made me feel like the world shifted out from under my feet.

But, most of all, it was a trigger to those awful reminders that people would never look at me in the same way ever again - as if I was just merely a shell of the Charlotte Taken that obtained everyone's trust and respect.

After all, I existed in fragments of what I once was.

"We don't have forever, Ms. Taken. There's no point in stalling," he said, through grit teeth. Somehow, the air felt a lot more stifling, it felt claustrophobic, and I needed to get out. I nodded in response and obliged without protest. As soon as the bars were behind me, he his hands locked onto my elbow, sending a chill down my spine.

"How does it feel to be an abomination, an outcast to the only world we can really fit in?" He inquires. A callous smirk stretches across the length of his face. "It must be lonely, knowing that you won't have anyone you could truly trust."