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  White Wings

  Aimee Jessica Russ

  White Wings

  Copyright © 2013 Aimee Jessica Russ

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  The information, views, opinions and visuals expressed in this publication are solely those of the author(s) and do not reflect those of the publisher. The publisher disclaims any liabilities or responsibilities whatsoever for any damages, libel or liabilities arising directly or indirectly from the contents of this publication.

  A copy of this publication can be found in the National Library of Australia.

  ISBN: 978-1-742844-10-7 (pbk.)

  Published by Book Pal

  www.bookpal.com.au

  For God:

  Thank you for answering my prayers.

  Acknowledgments

  First, I would like to thank God. Thank You for giving me this amazing gift. I know Heaven is much more beautiful than what I have described.

  I would like to thank the Writers Literary Children’s Agency and my previous agent, Hil Mallory, for getting the ball rolling.

  I give a huge shout-out to Bookpal for helping me self-publish my novel. You made my novel what it is and you guys deserve many thank-yous for putting so much effort into my manuscript. Thanks to Debbie and Adrienne for taking the time to email and call me. Every time I received anything from you guys, I was jumping for joy.

  I’d like to give a huge thank-you to my editors, Laura Monroe and Liza Enriquez. You two made my novel that much better, and all the advice you gave me was fantastic.

  James Thomas, you are my knight in shining armour! Af-ter my previous artist ignored me for months you came in and saved my novel. The cover that you designed is better than I could have ever imagined. You are truly talented!

  I would love to give a massive thank you to @wehave12dogs for promoting my book on Twitter. You are so awesome. I also love how we bonded over our fixation of Mr Grey!

  Thanks to all of my family. I bet you guys all thought I was doing nothing whilst I was at home all that time. I wasn’t just watching TV all day (he-he). I’m sorry for waking up everyone at 3:00 a.m. when I went to bed. I just couldn’t stop writing.

  Lastly, I would like to thank Andrew. Thank you for keeping this our little secret. Thank you for everything that you have done for me. You are amazing and beautiful. Less than three.

  Prologue

  The Beginning

  Millie was squeezing Savannah’s hand so tightly that it was almost numb. They ran as fast as they could. Millie could hardly see in front of her, as her eyes were blurry with tears. She kept on running, holding Savannah’s hand tighter than before.

  She could hear loud booming sounds. She looked behind her, and to her horror, the forest was ablaze. The trees were on fire in a deep red blaze--nothing like she had ever seen before. The fire was hurting her eyes, and she had to look away.

  Then, all of a sudden, it started to rain. The rain became heavier and heavier so that it began to hurt. Millie looked at Savannah, and she looked straight back into Millie’s eyes in horror. They didn’t say a word to one another. They kept on running as fast as their legs would take them.

  The booming sounds became louder and louder, and they seemed to be getting closer. Something shot through the air and went right past Millie’s ear, causing her to lose her hearing in that ear for a few moments. She groaned in pain. It hit the tree in front of them, and the tree went up in a red blaze. The rain struggled to put it out. In shock, Millie and Savannah stopped running. They looked at each other once more. Savannah’s mouth opened, but nothing came out.

  All of a sudden, someone was thrown into the tree next to them. The tree snapped in half and fell on top of the person. Both Millie and Savannah jumped and let out a scream. The person threw the tree off, like it was a feather, whilst still lying on the ground. He then stood up weakly, looked at them, and said in a deep voice, “Run.” Millie and Savannah were so stunned that they just stood there like statues. The man repeated himself more loudly and pointed behind them. They both jumped. Millie pulled Savannah’s hand and started to run again. When she looked behind her, there was another person with the man.

  The rain was hurting their skin. It almost felt like it was piercing it. Their legs were beginning to tire, but they kept on running.

  “What is going on?” Savannah yelled, breaking the long silence.

  “I don’t know,” Millie replied, thinking about everything that had happened. She bit her lip, fighting back more tears.

  There was another loud boom. It was getting closer and closer.

  “Who was--” Savannah stopped speaking. Her hand slipped away from Millie’s and she fell to the ground. Millie nearly fell over, but she steadied herself and ran to Savannah.

  “Savannah!” Millie yelled.

  She pushed Savannah over so she was lying on her back. Her eyes were still open, but they were black. Millie jumped at the sight of her eyes. There was no colour left in those eyes. No life. Millie let out a yelp when she saw that there was a hole in Savannah’s stomach. Millie could see the ground through the hole. She vomited in horror and started to weep. She looked up and realised the tree in front of her was on fire. The red blaze was roaring up the tree, whilst the heavy rain fought to put it out. The red blaze had gone through Savannah and hit the tree.

  Millie held onto Savannah’s hand, waiting for her turn to die. She wanted to die. All of her friends had just died; she wanted to stop running and to go on to the next life with them. She waited, but nothing happened until she heard the same deep voice again. “Run,” the man was saying.

  She didn’t want to run, she wanted to die, but she kept on hearing that man’s voice. The more she heard it, the more she wanted to run. She trusted that voice. She stood up slowly, letting go of Savannah’s hand. She wiped the tears flowing down her cheeks and started to walk away, then jog, then run away from her lifeless best friend, Savannah.

  Millie ran as fast as her aching legs would take her. She was breathing heavily through her dry mouth. Her arms swung beside her, brushing against the sides of her body. Her wet hair was swaying side to side, touching her flushed cheeks. Her clothes were getting heavier and heavier as the rain soaked into them. The veins in her legs started throbbing with pain. It was getting harder to run. Her feet started to drag along the ground.

  She turned around for the first time. She couldn’t see anything--it was just black. She couldn’t see any red blaze and couldn’t hear any booming sounds. She couldn’t see anyone behind her. A shiver went through her. Her eyes couldn’t see a thing, but her tired body still was telling her to run to safety.

  She turned around and started running again. Her foot caught under something, and she fell over, hitting her forehead on something hard. She rolled over in pain and put her hand to her head. She held her hand out and saw red on her fingers. Her bloody hand dropped down on the ground next to her. Millie lay in the rain, waiting to die.

  She closed her eyes and then opened them. There was a man standing over her. He bent over and slid his arms under her back. She closed her eyes again and then opened them once more. Her head was pressed against his chest. It was perfectly warm--the rain had made her body so cold. She looked up and saw the man’s face. He looked down at Millie. “You’re safe now,” he said in a deep voice.

  His arms tightened around her. Millie felt a jolt of warmness go through her body. She buried her face into his chest again, feeling secure. The wind was blowing in her face at a rapid speed. She felt like she was on a rollercoaster. Her body felt light,
weightless, almost like she was flying.

  Millie closed her eyes once more.

  One

  First Day Back

  Millie’s mum, Wendy, drove Millie to school for her first day back since spring break. Millie’s heart was pounding in her chest. She put her hand to the bandage on her forehead. It was throbbing with pain. Millie wished that this car ride would never end. She didn’t want to go back to school. Everyone would be staring, pointing at her.

  The car stopped. Millie lifted up her head and saw her school in front of her. Wendy kissed Millie on the cheek and gave her words of encouragement.

  Millie gripped the door handle and took a deep breath. She opened up the door and put her foot to the ground. Her heart was racing faster now. She put her other foot down and lifted herself out of the car. Her feet started to walk slowly as she closed the door behind her. Her mum drove away with a wave. Millie tried to wave back, but she didn’t want to bring attention to herself.

  Her long, wavy, dark chocolate hair with caramel streaks was pulled back into a ponytail, with her side bangs gently placed on the opposite side of the bandage. The sun brightly shone on her, reflecting her caramel streaks. She wore a black, V-neck T-shirt and dark, denim short jeans, with a pair of ordinary sandals. Millie wanted to fade into the crowd today, not like usual.

  She put her bag over her shoulder and started to walk through the front grounds of the school. Already, people were staring. Millie heard conversations stop, whispers starting, her name being called, but she kept walking.

  Millie felt eyes looking at her, fingers pointing at her, accusations being thrown at her, but she kept her head down and started to walk faster. Suddenly, she stopped when she saw flowers, candles, cards, and photos of her friends, her dead friends. There was a memorial for her friends just inside the school hallway. There were photos of Savannah, Henry, Tom, Justin, and Luke. They were all smiling and so happy in every photo. There was a group photo of them that included Millie. Millie saw it and her eyes started to fill up with tears. People noticed her standing there and started to stare. Millie ran to the bathroom and locked herself in a cubicle. There, the tears started to flow down her cheeks in earnest.

  Millie heard girls coming into the bathroom. She stopped crying so loudly and wiped her flowing tears away with toilet paper. The girls started to talk. Millie realised it was Vanessa and Katie. Vanessa was tall and lanky, with shoulder-length, straight, blonde hair. Katie had long, red hair with full bangs that covered most of her eyes. They had been the school sluts for many years. All the guys did them, and all the girls hated them.

  Millie started to listen to what they were saying.

  “Did you see that memorial?” Vanessa asked.

  “Yeah, I did. It was so sweet, but kinda tacky. Like, come on, candles?!” Katie replied in a bitchy tone.

  “I know, and those flowers are just gonna die in a couple of days anyway.”

  “Oh, yeah, didn’t think about that. So what do you think happened?” Katie asked, reapplying her foundation.

  “I heard that Millie killed them all and set the whole forest on fire, but then it started to rain--what luck.”

  “I heard that some ghost haunted them whilst they were out there and just killed them all and somehow Millie got away.”

  “That’s stupid, Katie,” Vanessa said, looking at her.

  “Well, ghosts do exist, and remember how they couldn’t find that guy who got lost in that same forest? Could have been him,” Katie insisted.

  “Oh, you’re so right. Oh, I also heard that some freaks went out there and tormented them, like in the move The Strangers!”

  “No freakin’ way. I screamed so much in that movie.”

  “Tell me about it,” Vanessa said, looking at herself in the mirror.

  Millie’s fists were clenched in anger and frustration. She hated the way everyone was talking about it, especially Vanessa and Katie. Millie was also frustrated because she couldn’t remember what happened. When the police asked her in the hospital bed, she couldn’t remember anything. All she remembered was the red blaze, Savannah’s lifeless body, and the man. She told the police about the red blaze and her memory of Savannah’s body, but she did not tell them about the man. She remembered the warm jolt that went through her body when he was carrying her, the safeness she felt with him. He didn’t harm her, he helped her, and he tried to help Savannah as well.

  The doctor said that when Millie hit her head, it caused her to have short-term memory loss but that it should come back eventually. It hadn’t yet. The bell rang, and Vanessa and Katie left. Millie came out of the cubicle and looked at herself in the mirror. Her mascara was smudged. She wiped it away with some damp toilet paper and then quickly went to class.

  When she arrived at the classroom, nearly everyone was already there. The class went silent and everyone stared at her as Millie walked to her seat. When she sat down towards the back of the classroom and looked up at everyone, they all quickly turned away and started to whisper amongst themselves. Millie placed her empty notepad on the desk with a pen. She grabbed the huge history textbook and placed it on the table with a thump, which didn’t help her cause of fading into the background.

  The teacher, Mr Sterland, walked in and placed his stuff on the desk at the front of the room. He closed the door, and everyone stopped their conversations and found their seats.

  “Good morning,” he said in a dull voice. He pushed up his glasses and ran his fingers through his hair. He started to talk about what they were going to learn for the rest of the year. History wasn’t Millie’s strongest subject, so she started to zone out, thinking about the times that she and Savannah had texted each other or passed notes during the whole class without Mr Sterland ever finding out. They always failed exams and assignments together. Now she had no one.

  The classroom door opened, and Millie snapped out of it. A boy walked into the room. Every student looked up at him as he walked over to the teacher. Millie liked the fact that everyone had stopped staring at her. The boy gave Mr Sterland a note.

  “Oh, yes, they did tell me about you,” Mr Sterland said to the boy. He now faced the class. “This is our newest student, Benjamin Clark.” He then pointed to a seat at the back of the class. Benjamin walked to it and sat down next to the window.

  Thank you, Millie thought to herself. At least for a while, everyone in the classroom would stop looking at her and stare at Benjamin instead. She noticed that the girls stared longer. Everyone wouldn’t be whispering about her; they would whisper about him. Even if it was for a short time, she mentally thanked him.

  Millie looked over her shoulder at Benjamin, and he met her gaze. They stared at each other for a few moments without looking away. Millie snapped out of it first and looked back at the teacher. Her cheeks became rosy and she felt a little bit embarrassed, staring right into the eyes of the new kid whilst he stared back, practically not blinking. She wondered if he was still looking at her. She looked over her shoulder again slowly, but he was now looking out the window. The sun shone on his face and radiated his skin. He looked perfect. Millie looked away from Benjamin and continued to stare at the front of the room for the whole lesson.

  For the next few classes, Millie zoned out about what the teachers were saying. Before she knew it, it was lunchtime. Millie didn’t feel like buying lunch in the cafeteria; she was sick of everyone staring at her and talking about her. So instead she went outside and sat underneath a tree. Millie pulled a bottle of water out of her bag and took a long drink, trying not to think about anything. She lay down on the grass, letting the sun touch her skin. It was the first time that day she had felt peaceful, and a little bit of joy came into her, until Vanessa and Katie walked by. Millie didn’t want to hear what they were talking about, but their voices overpowered the breeze and the birds. Millie opened her eyes in frustration. She had finally found a peaceful spot, and they ruined it.

  “I still can’t believe they’re dead,” Katie said.

>   “I know--it’s so sad and such a waste,” Vanessa agreed, flicking her short hair.

  “Yeah, they were pretty cute, and I so wanted to have sex with all of them,” Katie said with a giggle.

  “Oh, hell, yeah. I’ve been going after Luke for years. I just wanted him in my bed and I wanted to have my way with him.”

  Millie sat up in anger. How could they be talking about having sex with her dead friends?

  “Yeah, I always wanted to get down and dirty with Justin, but Henry did have his perks.”

  “I just wanted to have sex with all of them,” Vanessa said, laughing.

  “How dare you!” Millie said, standing up.

  Vanessa and Katie stopped and turned to Millie.

  “How dare we what?” Vanessa said, putting her hands on her hips.

  “Talk about having sex with my dead friends,” Millie began to say as she slowly started to walk towards them.

  “Well, we would have if you didn’t kill them.” Vanessa began to raise her voice as she stepped towards Millie. Millie clenched her fists in rage.

  “I didn’t kill them!” Millie shouted.

  “That’s what they all say, killer.”

  Millie wanted to punch her so badly, but she fought the temptation. She could feel her cheeks turning red, and the gash on her head started to throb with pain.

  “And you know as well as I do that I could have had any one of your friends on their backs on my bed, with me on top of them.”

  Millie had enough and punched Vanessa right in the cheek. Vanessa reeled back, nearly falling over. “You bitch!” she screamed.

  “Bring it on, slut,” Millie said, ready for another punch.

  Vanessa came at her and slapped her on the cheek. Before Millie knew it, they were punching, slapping each other. Millie could see people running over and forming a circle around them, cheering them on. Millie punched Vanessa again on the same check she had hit before. Vanessa fell to the ground, but Katie helped her up. She shrugged Katie off and ran at Millie in a rage. Vanessa punched Millie’s bandage. Millie screamed in pain as she held her head. She felt lightheaded and fell to the ground. Vanessa started to kick Millie in the stomach until someone pulled her away. Millie managed to open her eyes and saw a teacher and another student dragging her off with Katie close by.