Chapter 2 - The Devils

Monday - 10:15 am

Skye

“T-They’re so soft.” I stammered out. I’d like to say that I’m usually bolder than this. So much less subdued. But the warmth and softness of his wings brought my voice to a crawl.

“Do you have any clue what this means?” He asked, looking down at me. Despite his height being so much taller than mine, His voice made him feel soft and approachable.

“I don’t know . . . I thought angels were a myth.” I said, While making my voice louder in an attempt to fake confidence.'' He laughs slightly.

“I don’t think I’d call myself an angel, That’s quite the title.” He pauses for a moment.

“I just . . . Have these.” He flutters his wings slightly.

“H-How did you get them!?” I asked, In more of a yelp than before.

“I’m not sure. If I could, I’d use them to escape. But I didn’t have much time to learn how to use them well before I was sent here. Even at that, They’re loud. Very loud. If I tried to fly everybody in the building would hear it.” Cielo continued in a somewhat downdraught note. He perked his head up soon after, though.

“I want to show you something else. This happened the day I got my wings. Just . . . Give me your hands for a moment.”

I blushed slightly, I’m not sure why. I complied and reached both of my hands out towards him and he lightly grasped them with his.

“Don’t be shocked, just watch.” I tried my best to relax my arms, Not knowing what he was going to do with me. I wasn’t just convincing myself though. Deep down, I knew I was safe. Even though I only met him yesterday, He’s the safest person I’ve met during my time here.

“!?”

It was a heavy cold feeling over my arms. For a second I felt as if I was on the verge of falling forward before I regained my balance. Cautiously, I peered down at my hands. Heavy metal chains were tightly wrapped around my wrists. Knowing that this man that I had just met had so much latent power made me feel oddly safe, Even here.

“We need to find a way to use these to escape,” Cielo said, returning to his stale tone from moments prior. Still looking him in the eyes, I shook the chains slightly. They felt unbreakable. He looked towards the corner of his vision for a second as if he was hesitating.

“O-Oh yeah.” At his will, The chains shattered from my wrists as if they were nothing.

“I sit near the door in the cafeteria. We can meet during lunch if you want. We’ll talk about how I can use this to our advantage.

“Y-You’re not implying that we-” I hesitated for a second before I could finish my sentence.

“Yes . . . I’m trying to escape. Just . . . Slip back into the crowd before anyone notices you left. I’ll see you soon.” He said as he walked through the door, disappearing into the masses of people having me lose track of him in a matter of seconds.

Monday 11:30 am

I’m getting nervous again. I feel like a small toddler walking through a crowd of adults despite having been here hundreds of times. I’d never gone out of my way to meet someone at all before I started talking to Cielo. I took a deep breath.

“He said by the door, didn't he?” For a second I felt light-headed but I quickly snapped back to my senses. I began to strut forwardly through the maze of tables, My head batting around like a newly adopted kitten curiously looking at every object it sees in hopes that I would spot Cielo.

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“I-Is that him?” The thought came from my head but darted down into my chest making my heart skip a beat. If it is him, he hasn't seen me yet. I start cautiously inching toward the figure. Once I was getting close, however, His head perked up.

“Oh yeah, That’s him.” I thought to myself, All of my caution disappearing as I began to dash towards him. Luckily, There were multiple empty seats around him.

“O-Oh wow, You actually came?” he sounded oddly surprised despite being the one that invited me. He looked deep in thought.

“W-What are we going to do?” I asked.

“That’s a big question,” Cielo replied. Wordlessly, he laid his head down in his fisted hands, In a state of pure thought.

“My most immediate thought would be to do something new and bizarre. Something that nobody would expect.” He said, Looking up at me.

“We should paint the walls with some sort of propaganda, Promising that something will happen on a specific date. We’ll find a way to shift the spotlight onto someone else, anyone but ourselves, And once the day comes . . . We’ll strike. Or hell, Maybe not, To keep an element of surprise.” He said

“How would we write anywhere in the building? The leaders don’t allow us any writing utensils without supervision.” I asked

“I-I’m sure that there’s a way,” Cielo said as he pressed his wrist against his lip.

“Just look away for a moment.” He said.

“W-What are you doing?!” I asked, Jumping up from my seat, palms flat on the table.

“It’s fine, I . . . I just don’t think you’ll want to watch what I’m about to do.

“O-Okay . . .” I said, turning my head away from him. For whatever reason, my heart began to race again.

“What could he be doing that he doesn't want me to see?”

“Is it dangerous?”

“Is it-”

“I’m finished,'' I heard him say. I slowly peered over at him through my peripheral vision, stricken with both a sense of curiosity and anxiousness. I could see a crimson liquid pouring from his wrist into his cup. Blood. I was stunned for a second.

“It’s fine, I have a strong resistance to pain-”

“Y-Y-Y-You’re using that?” I noticeably blushed. I tried to make myself stop but the more I thought about it the heavier I started breathing. Without thinking I leaned in to dip my pointer finger into the cup. After staring at it for a few seconds, I slowly licked the blood off of my finger.

“Ohhhhh god,” I said

“It tastes sooo good,” I said. Losing track of the situation and where I was.

“S-Skye?” I heard Cielo with utter disgust on his face. As if in a sudden shock of reality I ripped my finger out of my mouth and began to incomprehensibly spout excuses.

“I-It’s a . . . My. I like the . . .” I began to stare blankly at him, trying my best to produce words but coming up dry. In return, he stared at me more blankly than I was at him.

“Blood fetish?” He says. I blush so hotly that it feels like my face is on the verge of bursting into flames.

“Well . . . Kind of,” I say in return.

Monday - 2 pm

“After the shit I said earlier today . . . He still wants me to paint the message In his blood. If anything I’m too embarrassed about how I acted in front of him to feel anything from looking at it.”

“Aside from sickness to my stomach.”

Around 2 pm every day they send us outside into an exercise area. As per usual, There are legions of guards standing by the doors and gates blocking us. I’ve never felt like this before but the more I think about it the more claustrophobic I feel.

“The more I think about anything the more I wonder why I’m doing it. There’s a part of me that wishes I could curl up in my bed day and night, never leaving. I wonder if that’s normal.” But then I think about Cielo. I squint my eyes slightly.

“I’m not sure if I’m doing this for myself, Everybody else, Or for no reason aside from being friends with someone who wants to do it.” I let out a sigh.

Cielo said that it would be less obvious that we were doing something if we split apart. He couldn’t have been any more than twenty feet away from me using the rusty equipment which looked like it was stolen from a gym that burned down in the eighties. They didn’t even bother to have a roof over the metal equipment. I popped the cap off of the jar and flipped my hoodie over my head.

“A promise . . . A date . . . And a name. That's right, Isn’t it?”

“Or maybe . . . Just a date and a name.” I dipped my finger into the jar. I began to paint words onto the cold hard concrete as natural as speech.

“There cannot be love without war. March 1st.”

- The Devils

“Exactly one month from now.”