Alice continued to stare at the body that was lying on her kitchen floor. Did this person that she had just served a few hours ago break into her house? Why would he do that? How did he know where she lived? Did he follow me home? That last thought of hers sent a shiver down her spine. The thought of someone following her through the roughest part of Boston and breaking into her apartment was too much for her to handle. Alice stepped closer towards the unconscious man and lowered herself onto her knees to see if he was okay.
“Well..” Alice said out loud with a sigh of relief
“He still has a pulse, so I guess that’s a good sign.”
Just as she said this, Alice felt a strange burning and stabbing sensation spanning across her shoulder blade and down her left arm. The pain was so great that Alice buckled completely and fell flat onto the floor. Next thing she knew, she had passed out. When she woke up, her eyes felt like they were being stabbed. Everything was white. White walls, white lights, white ceiling. Everything was white.
“Where am I..?” Alice questioned.
The moments these words left her lips, a man walked in through the door opposite her bed and greeted her.
“Good morning Ms. Greycraft,” He said politely.
“How are you feeling?”
Alice took a second to think before answering.
“I’m okay… But where am I?” She asked. She was glad the horrible pain in her shoulder was gone.
“You are in the downtown Boston Hospital.”
‘The hospital…’ Alice thought to herself.
“What about that man? Jason?” Alice asked.
“Jason?” The doctor questioned.
“Ms, I’m sorry to say, but you were the only one that was in the apartment when the ambulance arrived.”
Alice lowered her head and began to think to herself. Was she imagining the whole thing? Or did Jason simply wake up and leave her apartment? Whichever the answer was, Alice didn’t really want to find out the answer. All she wanted to do, was go back to her apartment and sleep. Later on that day, the hospital discharged Alice from the hospital. Once she stepped out from the hospital, she hailed a cab to take her home. While she was in the cab, Alice realised that her little overnight stay in the hospital would set her back in terms of finances. She would have to work a lot of overtime to make up for it.
After paying for her cab and making her way back into her apartment, Alice let out a massive sigh.
“This has been the start of a horrible week.” Alice moaned to herself.
“Well, you could say that again.” A voice said in response.
Alice almost put herself through her own skin when she heard the voice of someone else in her apartment. Quickly, Alice ran into her kitchen and grabbed a knife out of the top drawer and held it outright in the direction of the voice.
“Who are you?!” Alice shouted.
“Calm down, I’m not here to hurt you.” The voice said calmly.
Alice looked at the stranger. It was just a girl sprawled across Alice’s sofa. It almost looked like she lived in the apartment along with Alice.
“My name is Jasmine. Jasmine Crosswell. I’m here to talk to you about what happened last night.”
“Last night?” Alice questioned. All of a sudden, the memories from last night came flooding back and the stabbing pain came back across her shoulder.
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Alice buckled again onto her knees and started clutching at her shoulder. What Alice didn’t know is that Jasmine had made her way over behind her and place a hand where the pain was. The next thing Alice knew, the pain was gone and she could stand up again. Jasmine was now standing in front of her.
“How do you feel?” She asked.
“Well, I don’t feel like a knife is being thrusted into my shoulder anymore.” Alice replied.
“That normally tends to be a good sign,” Jasmine paused for a second.
“Well that’s a first..”
“What is?” Alice asked.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a half-Hallowed before..”
Alice just stared at Jasmine with a blank expression. She thought that she had misheard Jasmine and put her pinkie finger in her ear and wiggled it around.
“Sorry, what was that?” Alice asked innocently.
“You are a half-Hallowed,” Jasmine started to explain.
“That means you have a mixture of hallowed blood and mortal blood running through your body.”
“What is ‘Hallowed’ blood?” Alice questioned, sceptical at what Jasmine was saying.
“To put it simply, Hallowed blood is essentially the blood of an angel, though not as potent.”
Alice couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Surely there wasn’t such a thing as angels, was there, and if there was, how was she part of that?
“Surely you’re joking?” Alice asked.
Jasmine stayed quiet and instead pointed behind Alice. Alice turned around to see that there was a pile of feathers and droplets of blood on the floor. Shock took over Alice’s body and she spun back around towards Jasmine.
“Why the hell is there blood and feathers on my apartment floor?!” Alice asked shocked.
“Take a look in the mirror.” Jasmine said in short reply.
Alice ran in the direction of her bathroom. When she looked in the mirror, she screamed.
“WHAT THE FUUCK!!”
Alice just stared at the lone wing that was protruding from her shoulder. She reached around and started to run her fingers along the feathers. At this point, Jasmine made her way up the hall and leaned against the door of the bathroom.
“Why the fuck do I have a wing coming out of my shoulder?!” Alice shouted, expressing her shock and anger in the one sentence.
“That’s because you are a half-Hallowed,” Jasmine said.
“Full Hallowed have two wings, you just have one.”
Jasmine took of her leather jacket and closed her eyes. A second later, two beautiful and magnificent white wings were spreading from Jasmine’s back. Alice stared in awe, not sure if she should say something or not. Instead, Alice just took in Jasmine’s presence. Her tanned skin, black silky hair, and her contrasting white wings. It was truly a sight to behold for Alice.
“So beautiful..” Alice whispered.
“Well, you aren’t too bad yourself.” Jasmine laughed.
Alice realised that she let her words slip out and she started blushing in embarrassment. Still, that didn’t change the fact that an angel was standing in front of her, and she somehow a part of this. This life that she didn’t know existed. Alice always thought that she was just another boring soul who had tough breaks in her life. She grew up mistreated in an orphanage, she had no idea on whether her parents were alive or dead. As far as Alice knew, she had always been on her own, but from what she was seeing here, there could be more people like her. Jasmine put away her wings and put back on her jacket, and told Alice to close her eyes. When Alice asked why, Jasmine said that she was going to help Alice draw back in her wing.
“Why are you here anyways?” Alice asked.
“Like I said earlier, I’m here to talk to you about last night.” Jasmine said.
“Okay, I get that much, but why?”
“Because you are special Alice.”
“Me? Special? I think you might have the wrong person.”
Jasmine shot Alice with a look that said ‘do you really think you’re kidding anyone with that?’ Alice just sighed.
“I swear I’m just a normal girl,” Alice said.
“There’s nothing special about me.”
“Well, I just happen to know someone who would beg to differ,”
“Come on, follow me.”
Jasmine walked through the apartment and out in the hallway and Alice followed. They continued to walk up to the roof of the apartment block and when they got up there, Jasmine stopped walking. Alice stared at her. Jasmine raised her arm and began to speak in a language that Alice had never heard before. Once she finished speaking, Jasmine lowered her arm. Suddenly a bright light flooded Alice’s eyes, and once the light died down, Alice stood in disbelief.
“What is this?” She asked.
“It’s a portal to Axenal.” Jasmine answered.
“Axenal?”
“I keep forgetting that you don’t know this stuff, sorry. Axenal is my home place, the home place of all Hallowed.”
“The home place of all Hallowed eh?”
“So there’s more people like you then?”
“Yeah there is, and when we get there, keep quiet about the fact that you’re a half Hallowed.”
Alice nodded. Jasmine took hold of Alice’s hand and the both of them stepped through the portal to Axenal.