My Dark Angel

04. Alone (Michelle)

My Dark Angel

04. Alone

We hurried out of the cracked streets and huddled in a corner of an alleyway. After a while of standing in the same place as night fell, both of us started to shiver from the cold.

My Mom's best friend stood next to me, suppressing the chills as well. He glanced at me from the corner of my eye before crossing his arms over his chest in a vain attempt to save body warmth. "Mary," He said, looking at me. "I'm sorry...for your loss." He choked the words out as a lone tear slipped out of his left eye.

I also crossed my arms, tears starting to prickle as I remembered how she burst into the room, her hair matted with blood and a crazed look residing in her eyes as she died in my arms. "You don't have to say sorry." I finally responded after a few seconds of tense silence. "It wasn't your fault, it was the damn Nazi."

He pressed his arms against his chest a little harder. "I know." He muttered lowly. "She was my sister, I don't think I'll ever forget her."

I leaned against the crumbling wall, surrounded by darkness. The light was starting to fade away quickly, and it was only a matter of time when we would be plunged into total darkness. "Where are we going to reside for the night?" I asked, a small, vain attempt to change the subject.

"I don't know."

I sighed, sliding down the deteriorated wall. "You know, at the back of my mind, I always knew that..."

Mark slid down next to me, resting his head against the wall. "That one day everything would backfire?" He guessed, and he was right. Ever since the war started, I always knew that something would happen to us, like it did to all Jews. I did not understand why they persecuted us just for our religion...

"Mark?" I asked, turning my head to the left to look at him squarely in the eye.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you, for saving me from that Nazi soldier." I assumed he heard when he didn't answer right away, but never less I called his name again. "Mark? Are you there?"

"I'm here." He said. "I'm sorry for scaring you."

Our voices were so quiet, so soft while loud, booming sounds resonated all around us. All of us were just lucky that the atomic bombs were not yet ready to drop, not yet ready to destruct thousands of cities and break millions of lives...

"Mark?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm going to miss her." I whispered, a small amount of tears leaking from my eyes. "She was the only real family I had...no offense."

"None taken, because you're right." He answered. "I'm sorry that you're going to be alone now."

"What do you mean?" I asked, my gaze filled with unshed tears and unconcealed curiosity.

"We have to separate."

My blood ran cold with those four words. "W-what?" I choked out. My throat started to burn, and my head suddenly felt unnaturally light-headed. "What the hell do you mean?" I repeated when he didn't answer right away.

Darkness had completely fallen by this time, and I couldn't see him anymore. "Mark?"

"I'm sorry, Melon." He said, calling me by my nickname, which he only called me when he was dead serious. I at least determined that he was still sitting next to me. I groped around in the darkness until I found his lean shoulders. I started to shake them back-and-forth, my tears now chocked sobs. He didn't move while I shook him. "What the hell do you mean, Mark? Mark? Huh? What the hell do you mean?"

"You need to be strong without me." He muttered, getting up from the dusty ground where we were once huddled. I got up as well, the frost of the night immediately hitting the bare skin of my arms. I shivered, remembering the nice, warm coat that was probably still draped over my desk chair.

I saw a lean figure walking into the alleyway opening and disappear around the corner. "Mark!" I screamed, but it only barely made it past a chocked sob. My feet had stopped working long ago, not letting me to walk after him, to drag him back. For him to stay with me. "No...please no." But he was gone, and I had no idea why.

Sliding back down the muddy wall, I hugged my knees to my chest, to keep body warmth like Mark had. "Why is this happening to me?" I cried, as I let my head fall into my crossed arms. "Why..."

A clock deemed the start of a new day on a nearby building. It was midnight. I lifted my tear-streaked face to gaze out into the opening, where the real world awaited to devour me as a whole. I didn't want to go out there...if only I could have stayed in that alleyway forever...

I could see the building with the clock on it directly across from me. Midnight...

I sighed, burying my face back into my cold arms. With a murmur that would never be heard, I spoke three, simple words.

"Happy Birthday, Mary."

But no one was there to hear it. Not my mother, not my mother's best friend, not even a stranger walking by. No one was with me. Mark hadn't even given me a reason.

Life was messed up sometimes. Of course, messing up couldn't be helped since we lived in a messed up world. Bombs, killers, persecution...

I was lucky to be alive.

I intended to stay that way, if nobody was willing to help me, then I would help myself.

There must be a reason Mark left me in a dark alleyway alone, in the middle of a war. I tried to think hopefully, but the more I thought the more confused I became.

I was going to survive. I knew I was going to survive. Though many bad things happened on the day of my birthday, it didn't mean it was still a bad day. Birthdays were days to celebrate, and I knew how I was going to celebrate.

If I survived this day, I would deserve a freaking gold metal, let alone a candle to blow out.

I deserved my candle.

________

Hello! I'm back!! So, as you can see, Julieta will be writing the chapters with angels and I will write these...;)

Sorry it's short :(

~Michelle

[unedited]