Jackie Smith was laying in her bed reminiscing about her odd encounter with a particularly shy rainbow- haired new girl in town. She had just moved into town a week ago; Jackie was out to buy supplies for her sister's new year at The University when she'd met her for the first time that day.
She was an awkward girl, pretty though, with an angelic face. She was well dressed in an pleasant yellow sweater and top quality blue kapris; which seemed out of character for her introverted nature and scruffy rainbow- hued hair. They had a light, although strained conversation and shared names before the mystery girl hesitantly headed for her new home on the highest hill near the edge of town.
"Beau..." Jackie sleepily mused to herself, smilingly. She wouldn't have minded meeting that shy little thing again soon, she did have some beautiful wings on her. For a girl, er, a Bast. Jackie nestled into her pillows with quiet anticipation, slowly dozing off thinking of her next chance encounter.
Until she heard a scream that chilled her blood. A scream that oddly enough was right outside her house.
She let out a scream as the small blade of the hatchet dug into her back with a dull thunk. She was just outside of a large old wooden farmhouse when she felt the burning agony that had just torn into her. She'd been running from one edge and across town, up a three mile dirt road to the sleepy orchards of Sweet Apple Acres covered in cuts and bruises; though now on the ground she had no choice but to face the sadist slowly making his way to her.
"Thought you could leave huh?" asked the cold voice of a monster as he lifted her to her knees with all too human hands. He smiled a malicious grin and jerked the hatchet out of his victim's back, severing any remaining sinew and muscle as he did. Grabbing the bloody hair beneath him he chuckled and relished his victory until the front door swung open to reveal a very confused farmgirl with a very large shotgun.
"What the HELL is goin' on out here..." the words died in Jackie's throat as she took in the sight before her. "Okay, what the FUCK are you doin'?" she screamed with renewed aggression at the stranger holding the hatchet.
"Discipline." he responded with no hint of remorse, excitement, or any kind of emotion. As he spoke he rose his weapon above his head; it's blade a sickening shade of red.
"Don't even think about it buster!"Jackie roared as loud as she could, waking the other members of the household who could be heard shuffling along in a sleepy daze until an ear-splitting gunshot rang out.
Three rushed figures stormed downstairs, terrified as to what could have possibly happened. An elderly old woman quickly hobbled her way downstairs, soon outrun by a frightened young girl no older than ten and walking giant of a man who could've by all right been three hundred pounds of raw working muscle. They all reached the door to witness a horrible display. A man lay dead not fifteen feet from their porch, his head and right shoulder torn to nothing by unyielding lead; and their family on her knees trying to wake up a bloody mess of a girl. A tattered convulsing wing and a gleaming hatchet lay not far from them.
"MAC! Call the HOSPITAL! She took a shot to the neck!" Screamed Jackie in an adrenaline-fueled panic; her t-shirt and underwear were soaked in red. She could feel the heat leaving the girl in her lap. Bloodshot eyes begged for help as she choked and sputtered, trying to speak. "T-Thank....Y-Y...." she weezed until a gentle hand found her ashen cheek.
"Hush now sugar, no talkin' till we get ya fixed up." Jackie cooed to the shaking form in her arms.
"AJ! They're on their way! Be here in a jiff." Her brother, Mac, was back in the doorway and blocking the view of their little sister Annabelle.
"Y'hear that?" Jackie asked sweetly, "Help is on the way!" she was having a hard time looking at this girl's pleading eyes and holding back her own tears; she couldn't fall apart, not now when someone's life was depending on her.
"Granny, tend to Annabelle." Mac requested in a deep and thickly accented voice. He briskly stomped over to his sister and knelt down. "Jackie..." Mac whispered trying to get the girl's attention. "Jackie? Jackie...Ajax!" he yelled, snapping her back to reality. "What happened here?"
"Man, over there," She answered mechanically, "He...chopped her wing off." she looked to her brother her face empty of expression but her eyes told everything; fear, anxiety, guilt shame, rage, and pain all swirled in a chaotic vortex inside her teary emerald orbs. "So I shot him."
Mac sat there as his normally unbreakable sister wept into his shoulder; quietly watching her suffer through her storm.
The ambulance and police arrived shortly after and rushed off with the girl in seconds. Jackie just stood there in a daze as the police asked her question after question; forcing Mac to try his best to answer.
"Do you know the victim?" a short, heavy set officer asked in a bored voice.
"Well, no sir..." Mac started
"Ah do." Jackie answered dejectedly, speaking up for the first time since everyone had arrived, "Her name's Beau."
"Might ah ask sir." Mac spoke up, " Who was that man?"
The officer looked back to another ambulance loading up the remains of the man in question before returning his attention to the brother and sister. "Well according to records..." he answered lazily, "He's the girls' father."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Well the shrapnel missed the arteries in her throat but, her voice box was badly damaged..." Beau's vision slowly faded into focus to see a bald elderly doctor speaking with a tall blonde girl in an orange flannel shirt and an old worn Stetson. She recognized this girl, she'd met her in town the other day.
She was the one who'd saved her; the one who'd killed her father. "I don't know if she'll ever speak again," the doctor continued, "but if she can, it won't be very loud."
"That poor girl..." the farmgirl sighed looking over to the ragged form strapped into a hospital bed with various tubes and wires in, on, and around her body. Her pretty face was obscured by a clouded oxygen mask and her own matted technicolor hair. "What about her wing?" she asked. What was this girls name? What did they call her? AJ?
"We did what we could, but we've never seen anything this...extreme." The doctor answered while looking over his charts, "we...couldn't save the wing."
"Thank ya doc." AJ somberly replied, "Do ya mind if ah sit in here with her alone fer a bit?"
"Not at all. Visiting hours end at six pm so stay as long as you want." the doctor curtly exited the room and gently closed the door with a soft click.
Jackie was quiet for a minute. She surveyed the layout of the room and finally opted to take a seat in the chair next to Beau's bed. She looked over to the still resting patient and broke down. "Ah'm so...sorry Beau." she sobbed, "Ah've ruined your life! Ah couldn't save ya fast enough and yer pa is gone because of me." she was holding her face in her hands weeping uncontrollably now; she almost didn't notice the feathery touch of a pale hand on her shoulder. She looked up slowly, her face soaked wet from bitter tears, but what she saw made her heart catch in her throat.
Beau was smiling at her. Her neck and torso were wrapped tight in gauze and her face was pale, sickly, but her eyes were a vibrant chaotic swirl of rich blue and fiery red; and her smile was like an angel's. Jackie couldn't help but smile back.
"Th.....Than...k you..." Beau sighed in a raspy breath, "you....s-s-saved...me...AJ."
Jackie couldn't help but smile at the use of her nickname. Everything would be okay
Sweat rolled down AJ's face as she hoisted another massive storage crate full of freshly picked apples.
It was midday in the summer and the heat was almost intolerable, but the country belle wouldn't have it any other way. She loved her farm and that was that.
AJ loaded her cart with the last crate, adjusted her stetson, and started the slow ride to the storage basement beneath Sweet Apple Acres with her family's livelihood.
For AJ, being an Earthbound was a privilege; they were a people tied to the living magic of the earth and the most physically powerful of the three races. To AJ, that meant she and her family had an obligation to tend their life-giving farm to ensure the survival of her small town along with seventy percent of the southern provinces in the Sovereignty.
It was something Jackie took pride in; her Granny Smith always told her that Earthbound had healing hands. Able to mend plants, animals and even people with enough skill and concentration. AJ believed that also; she could always feel the trees in her orchards grow and improve under her careful tending.
On her slow return trip back to the barn, Ajax's thoughts drifted to the friend she'd made only two months ago: her new and dearest friend, Beau.
Beau was an oddity among her kind, the Bast. A winged race that controlled and manipulated the weather in service to their fellow Trinitans. They were, for the most part a loud, rambunctious, and free-spirited people; Beau wasn't, at least not anymore.
She was very easy-going and forcibly quiet-spoken due to her past. Yet, despite all that, she was still in love with the sky. She couldn't fly, only hover, but that didn't stop her from being an incredible athlete. After the death of her mother, Beau's father ruthlessly trained her into an apex specimen of physical prowess; since age twelve, she had destroyed records in every school she'd ever attended in events ranging from track and field to full contact sparring. Her entire childhood had been an abusive regimen of brutal punishment and frightened hatred. Even then, she loved the competition.
They called her "The Dash" or "The Grand Champion" for her unmatchable speed. Now, a lot of that was gone and AJ blamed herself for it.
"Heya AJ!" exclaimed a whispery, slightly scratchy, female voice from behind the daydreamer. With a yelp of surprise, the farmer leapt from her seat and nearly fell off of her cart. She jerked at the reins to pull herself back into her seat, much to the dismay of a protesting workhorse.
"Dammit Beau! Are ya tryin' ta give me a heart attack?" A fit of airy laughter was her only response. Jackie looked back to see a very amused rainbow-headed girl lying on, and helping herself to, her freshly picked apples from one of the many open crates.
"Get outta there, ya varmint!" Jackie scolded, the anger in her voice betrayed by her widening grin.
"Aww. C'mon, AJ!" Beau whined, "A little generosity never hurt." She rolled off of the precious red fruit and leaned her legs over the edge of the cart as a cool breeze rolled through the orchards cascading the pair in it's refreshing embrace. Jackie looked up to see Beau serenely relaxed, something she rarely did, and especially not in public. On the rare occasions that she would let her defenses down and really became herself...
"Hey, AJ?" a voice broke her from her thoughts, "Who...wha? Yes, Beau?" stuttered the farm girl.
"How long have I been staying here?"
"Awhile now, why?"
Beau looked down at her feet, her features betraying her inner conflict, "I have something I want to say."
AJ's heart stopped, dread creeping into the corners of her mind.
What could she say? Will she say she hates me? Blame me?
"AJ? You okay?" Jackie looked up to see Beau hovering above her, staring at down at the farmer inches from her face. AJ's heart was racing.
"Er...yes? What's on yer mind?" her face flushed in an instant and she looked down, grabbing her trusty Stetson and pulling it down to cover her reddening cheeks. She felt a pair of smooth, soft hands lift her face to a radiant and smiling rainbow.
"I love you, AJ." the farmgirl looked back at this beautiful stranger pulling her in slowly for a kiss.
Then AJ woke up.
Jackie looked over to see her digital clock, quietly informing her it was two fifteen in the morning. These dreams had been coming for the past week now, plaguing her nights with almost intimate encounters. She was hot, flustered, and confused; and Beau was her friend, her responsibility.
There's no reason to be havin' those kinds of thoughts about a guest, anyways.
She groggily sat up, rubbed her eyes and headed for the shower. Since there was no way she was going back to sleep she decided she may as well try something to clear head.
~~~~~~~~~
The hot water was relaxing on her toned, worn-out body while it silently wiped the troubled dreams from her mind. Though, it seemed that small relief only made way for equally troubled thoughts.
What's wrong with me?
Why am I having these dreams?
Do I really feel that way about Beau?
AJ dispelled the torrent of questions while silently finishing in the bathroom, getting dressed, and stepping out into the hall. She looked through to the open door to her guest room; Beau's room. Reality came back to her in a much grimmer mood.
Most was true, the former champion had been staying for the better part of two months, slowly recovering. She'd completely lost her voice; the words she'd spoken to AJ in the hospital intensive care being her very last. Nowadays, she could sit up, even come downstairs and have breakfast on occasion, but she still had to go to the hospital once every three days for rehabilitation and examination. She needed her bandages checked and changed every six hours, but that was no chore, and had to endure a careful regimen of powerful painkillers. AJ smiled to herself as she thought of the countless mornings that her little sister, Annabelle, would insist that she help bring her new friend, Beau, breakfast.
A sigh broke her from her reverie. Snapping back to reality, AJ peered into the room to see Beau's face trickling with tears as she shook with silent sobs. Jackie quietly hurried into the room and knelt down next to the bed. She fumbled with the lamp on the bedside table, hunting for the elusive light switch, until she finally illuminated the room in a soft amber glow with faint click.
"Beau?" she cooed softly, "Beau baby it's okay. Wake up."
Her confused and bloodshot eyes snapped open, searching for the terrors which haunted her dreams. Before AJ could get the next word out, Beau wrapped her arms around the farmer's torso and wept silently into her shoulder.
After a while, Beau stopped crying and sat upright in bed. She adjusted her pillows meticulously, to Jackie's never-ending amusement. Her chuckles earned more than few indignant looks from her houseguest who promptly patted the empty spot to her left.
"Wanna talk?" AJ whispered as she crawled under the covers. Beau nodded her head vigorously and slowly, achingly, turned to reach down under her nightstand to grab her notebook. AJ noticed this and jumped out of bed, hurried around the bed's perimeter, and grabbed the notebook before handing it to the intensely irritated Bast glaring daggers into her very being.
"Now, don't give me a look like that!" AJ defended, " You're still a patient, sugar, and we can't have you over extending yourself and tearin' open any wounds." With a huff, the rainbow headed athlete slumped into her pillows while AJ crawled back into bed.
The girls always enjoyed their little conversations; it was the only time Beau felt like she had a voice. AJ just enjoyed being there with her, equally silent, only reading and writing her responses; it made for an equal ground, she thought. Beau pulled out her pen and began their talk with a simple note.
"You're such an ass."
AJ chuckled as she read the note and wrote back, "That's no fair! Why do you say that?"
"You know I hate being babied." was the reply.
"Is this because of the notebook?" AJ shot a curious glance to her friend before passing the notebook back.
"Not just that." Beau stopped for a moment, taking a steadying breath, "It makes me feel useless."
"How?"
"I've always tried to be the best; for that that bastard tried to kill me. And now, I'm stuck in this bed being pampered and a burden."
Beau watched intently as Jackie read her lengthy answer. AJ looked her in the eye for a moment before quickly jotting down a note and passing the book.
"Beau, in our home, you'll never be a burden."
Beau smiled as the two sat in silence. She scribbled a small sentence as the page became stained with a tear and slowly handed it back.
"Thank you, AJ."
AJ cleared her throat after reading, trying to clear the choking tightness. She fought to remain calm and opted to try to reinvigorate the conversation. "Mind if I ask you something?" she wrote.
"What's up?"
"Why were you crying earlier? Bad dream?"
Beau froze after reading; she just sat there without moving until she gradually put the pen to paper, "I don't wanna talk about it..."
Perplexed, Jackie decided to push on; whatever was bothering this girl, she was determined to help her through it.
"It'll make you feel better." she went for the nurturing approach and leapt internally when Beau sighed and began to write.
"My dream had you in it, and I told you something. You didn't like what I said and you told me you hated me and wanted me to leave." Beau scowled after writing her answer and left the notebook in her lap before the farmer next to her gingerly retrieved it.
AJ stared at the note baffled. She looked at Beau who only turned away to hide her face as if she were ashamed for admitting it.
"Beau I couldn't hate you...why would you think I would? What could you say that was so bad?" She handed the notebook back to Beau who only shook her head at the question.
"I can't tell you. Not now, at least." was all she wrote.
AJ put the pen down and spoke, breaking the tense quiet that had settled between them. "Whenever you wanna talk, Ah'll be right here for ya."
The Bast simply nodded, her head hanging low before she smiled back and hugged her friend for what felt like forever until a series of feverish knocks interrupted them.
"Beau? Are you awake?" Annabelle's muffled voice emanated from the other side of the oaken door, "Is AJ in there with ya? You want some breakfast?"
"Yeah, sugar," Jackie chuckled and answered with a sigh, "Ah'm here."
