Prologue
Sixteen-year-old Caitlin Moore was walking home after hanging out with her friends. It was already dark since they lost track of time. She was texting her mom to update her on her whereabouts when she heard some sounds coming from an alley on her left. She looked over and saw a girl getting harassed. Caitlin didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t just keep on walking without knowing if the girl was okay, but she couldn’t step in either. If she did that, she would just cause more trouble and she’d never hear the end of it when her brother eventually found out.
After about a minute, she realized that she could just call the police. That way, the girl would be fine and she wouldn’t get into trouble. Just as she was about to press the call button, she heard the sound of fighting coming from the alley. When Caitlin looked up, she saw a blonde man pushing the other man away from the girl. They seemed to be talking, but they were too far away for Caitlin to understand what they were saying. Suddenly, the pressure in the air changed, the alley lit up and the blonde man sprouted wings. Caitlin rubbed her eyes. Surely, she was hallucinating, but nope, when she looked into the alley again the man still had wings and the attacker was running away in fear. Finally, the wings disappeared and the saviour talked to the girl for a second before he just disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared in the first place. After staring at the spot the man had disappeared from for another minute, Caitlin finally got herself to move.
~~
“Next time you’re going to be out that late, I want to know earlier, okay?” Caitlin’s mother, Claudia, scolded her the second she walked through the door.
“I know, I’m sorry, but you won’t believe what I just saw.” Caitlin started.
“What did you see Sweety?” Claudia asked her daughter to indulge her.
“A girl being saved by a man with wings. I know it sounds insane, but it’s true.” Caitlin told her mother.
“Cait, don’t start with that nonsense. I don’t want you to end up dead in a ditch like your brother.”
“Mom, we both know that Luke isn’t dead. When are you going to tell me the truth about what happened between you two?” Caitlin asked.
She knew her mother had been lying about that since Luke disappeared when Caitlin was eleven years old. What her mother didn’t know, however, was that Caitlin had been meeting with her brother in secret. Why didn’t her mom know, one may ask. Well, because Luke implored her not to tell their mother about their meetings when they had reunited about a year ago. He was very serious and secretive about the reason why, but Caitlin was just happy that she had her brother back. That’s why, even almost a year later, her mother didn’t know about any of their meetings.
“Caitlin, you need to accept that you’re never going to see him again and put what you think you’ve seen tonight out of your head.” Claudia pressed.
“Yeah, okay, whatever. I’m going to my room.” Caitlin shot back before turning to go upstairs. She heard her mother yelling to tone down the sarcasm, but she just ignored it. She knew she’d probably get another earful from her father once he heard about the events of this evening, but she couldn’t care less. Caitlin knew what she’d seen and she was sure Luke would believe her.
~~~~
Luke didn’t believe her. Well, he did but he tried to make her stay away from anything that might have to do with the winged man. She wasn’t having it though.
“I swear. I saw it!” Caitlin exclaimed.
“If you saw a girl being saved by a dude with wings, you were too close to the danger and you should have ran instead of watching.” Luke tried to persuade his sister not to investigate what she saw.
“I know, but it was like something that only happens in movies and I was just so fascinated with what I saw that I couldn’t get myself to leave. Now, no one will believe me, so I have to find proof.”
“No, what you need to do is stay out of trouble. Promise me that you’ll run if you ever see anything like that again Sparky.”
Luke started calling her that when she was seven, she still didn’t know why but unfortunately it stuck.
“Come on, you get to do things so dangerous that you won’t tell me about, but I can’t look into someone who saves people? That’s not fair.” Caitlin complained.
Luke seemed to space out a little as if having his own private conversation in his head before finally continuing the conversation with Caitlin.
“How about this, I’ll look into it and if I find something, I’ll show you, but you run at the first sign of danger.” Luke suggested.
“So, you’ll put yourself in danger, but I have to run away from it? Why do you think that’s a good idea?” She protested
“Because I’m your big brother and it’s my job to protect you. Besides, I can take care of myself and I have friend who can help me whenever I can’t.”
Caitlin was about to say something, but her brother spaced out again. He had been doing that a couple of times after the first time they’d reunited. Whenever she brought it up, Luke would just brush her off and say that he was tired. Caitlin knew that there was more at play there, but she couldn’t figure out what exactly was making Luke space out.
“I’m sorry, Sparky, but something came up and I have to leave.” Luke told Caitlin.
“What? Why?” Caitlin asked not understanding her brother’s sudden change in demeanour.
“I think something happened with Clarissa.” Luke told her.
He hadn’t even checked his phone, so how could he suddenly know that? The name Clarissa did spark something in Caitlin’s memories though.
“That friend of yours that convinced you to talk to me?” She asked. Luke nodded. “Okay, wish her well from me.” Caitlin hugged Luke goodbye before turning to walk back home.
That was about three years ago now. Luke had never found anything about the man with wings and Caitlin had let it go like she’d promised. She had also never seen the blonde man again, but that night, everything would change.
