Meghan: Token

Shivers ran up her arms and she rubbed at the goose bumps that rippled across her skin. Letting out a breathe she leaned against the wall and stared into space. The loss and pain of the room bit at her soul like ice, she could practically see the waves of emotion clouding the air above the bent heads and hunched shoulders that crowded the room. When would it end? The waiting was worse than if something awful would just happen already. That last thread of hope that barely floated within each of them brought on a pain worse than death. Eyes downcast, she shuffled her way to the desk that they all made their way to.
“Name?”
“Valentine.”
“Life?”
She blinked at the shrewish woman clutching the endless paperwork, “My life? Well I—“
“Good or bad.” The woman said shortly, “Nothing else.”
“Oh. Good?”
“Hmmm…” the woman eyed her doubtfully over the edge of her glasses, “Fine, take this.” And passed her a dove.
The living bird fluttered in Valentine’s hands and she pressed it to her chest, uncertain. No one else had birds; she had seen many different tokens; gold coins, rubix cubes, paperclips, but no birds.
“Next.” The woman said dully, looking down at her papers once more.
“Ah…” Valentine murmured in a questioning tone.
“Next.” The woman’s voice had a faint growl to it. Valentine rushed away from her desk with her dove.
“Pretty bird.” A voice hissed in her ear and she turned to it, startled. The man it belonged to grinned, showing cracked teeth.
“Wanna trade?” He held up a golden coin and waved it back and forth so it caught the light.
“N-no thank you.” She said and clutched the dove tighter, backing away. She hit the wall and tried to slide down it through the crowds of people but she was stuck. With a gasp she fell through sludge that had once been a wall. She reached towards the familiar light of the room but she was falling with her bird flapping angrily in her arms. She landed with a soft thump in another room where everything was colored in soft gray tones. She curled her legs under her and looked around for whatever happened next.
“Get up stupid; you’re not broken are you?” Valentine looked to the voice to see a little girl perched on a soft dark-gray easy chair, swinging her legs back and forth. Valentine just gaped wordlessly and clutched at the bird in her arms. The little girl’s eyes lit up at the angry coos of the dove.
“You’re one of those?” she clapped her hands in delight, “They haven’t sent me one in ages I thought you were dying out.”
“One what?” Valentine asked. But the girl just plopped down beside her and held out her hands for the bird.
“Let me see.”
Valentine handed over the dove without thinking about it. Unlike with the man in the waiting room there was no threat here.
“Ooohh pretty thing.” The girl purred to the dove. She looked at Valentine with bright, interested eyes, “So would you like to know your fate?”
“Yes please.” Valentine said in relief, finally someone would tell her.
“You’re going to be an angel.”
Valentine blinked, “Ah…”
“Yep, wings, battling evil, protect the good, that whole thing.”
Valentine winced at the description and the thought that it was possible. It was just too…cliché? Unbelievable? She almost preferred the waiting room to this one where creepy little girls told her crazy things.
“I am not creepy.” The girl said grumpily.
Valentine didn’t reply, her tolerance for weird was close to gone.
“Well then you’re not going to like this.” The little girl said and threw the dove into the ceiling. It pushed out its flat surface in a way similar to the putty-wall, creating a tunnel.
“Up you go.” The girl said, beaming.
“This is not happening.” Valentine breathed as she stared at the ceiling.
“Whatever makes you feel better.” The little girl said.
The gentle sucking that Valentine had felt from the tunnel turned into a roaring vacuum. She swirled into the air and heard the girl call after her.
“Come visit when your training is done! Kill a demon for me, one with lots of horns!”
Valentine opened her mouth to reply but the ceiling putty slid over her mouth and eyes, pulling her up and away.


-Meghan