"Why am I not surprised?" I asked no one in particular, staring out at the darkness around me.

I glanced over at the light in the distance, and before it stood my mother. She seemed to be farther away than before, and the light behind her seemed brighter, warm, inviting.

"Selena," my mother said, drawing my attention away from the light and to her saddened face. She had tears rolling down her cheeks. "Why did you let him do this to you? Why did you not fight?"

My stare turned cold. "Because I'm done fighting. Mom, just look at me! I'm pathetic! I don't know what to do with myself anymore! Everything would be fine if I hadn't insisted on going with you that day ten years ago. If I hadn't left home when Dad had already ordered me not to. Now that I can't take any of that back..." I fell to my knees on the nonexistent ground. I cleared my throat, then tried to talk around the large lump that had formed. "Now I'm better off dead, and out of everyone's way."

"Selena," my mother said softly, comfortingly, but she wasn't able to hide the overwhelming sadness in her voice. "Do not allow yourself to think such horrible thoughts. Your father, Maria, and Finnian all love you dearly. As do I, but you belong in the world of the living."

"What can I do there besides be a burden to everyone?" I asked, lifting my head to meet my mother's gaze. "I'm constantly in pain, and always need to be protected! I'm nearly sixteen! I should be more help than this!!"

"My darling, you are not a normal teenage girl. You are very special. And special people, it seems, tend to have the hardest of lives. Please, my child. Do not give up yet."

Mom's voice broke as she finished her last sentence, and she suddenly broke down sobbing.

I had never seen my mother cry like this. She was always full of smiles. I longed to comfort her, as she had always done for me, but I couldn't go too close without getting trapped. I couldn't let that happen. I had something else in mind.

I stood and took a few steps toward her. She looked up from where she had been crying into her hands and stared at me like I was insane. "What are you doing, sweetheart? You will be trapped here."

"I'm not walking to you, Mom," I replied, starting to walk again. I felt tears begin to wet my cheeks. "I told you: I've had enough."

She was up in a heartbeat. "Selena, please! Reconsider this! If you go there, you cannot escape!"

"I know," I answered through a broken voice.

"Dear, you are crying. You do not want this, I can tell."

I stopped walking and faced her, tears now running down my face and dripping from my chin. "I may not want this, but it's better for everyone else this way. I don't want to burden them anymore."

"Angel, you are just depressed. Leave this world, go back to the living. Enjoy your life. For the both of us."

I continued forward. "Dad will find you. Live for yourself."

"NO!" she screamed, startling me. "I won't let you do this to yourself!"

And with a wave of her hands, the world faded, along with the warm light had seemed to be drawing me in, and my mother, looking sadder than ever.

***

I dreamt of my childhood. Playing with my parents, my mother grooming my wings, her death, finding my father in the woods after her death, and playing only with him a few months later. It felt like the real thing, but I knew it was only a dream.

I didn't want to wake up. I had wanted to never wake up again. Did my mother have some control over the world she was trapped in if she was able to cast me out with a wave of her hand? I didn't know, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to find out.

I awoke with my eyes still closed to a horrible pain in my side and wings. I was lying on a bed, but it felt like my head was in someone's lap. They were stroking my cheek lovingly.

I could hear Maria crying, and felt someone else holding my hand. They all thought I was going to die, just like I had wished. It pained me to hear them so upset. I squeezed the hand that was holding mine, and felt soft gloves.

Dad, I thought, tears filling my closed eyes.

I heard him sigh, and Maria stopped crying long enough to ask what was going on. Clearly she couldn't tell if it had been a good or bad noise. The hand that had been stroking my cheek stopped and rested on the bed.

"Sebastian?" Finny asked, his voice coming from above my head.

My father said nothing. He only squeezed my hand in return. I couldn't stop the small smile that took over my lips as a tears escaped my closed eye Everyone noticed and sighed in joy and relief.

They care this much? I had thought they would be a little sad, but overall fine with letting me go. I guess I had been wrong. At least I've found one reason to continue living, I thought with an inward smile before letting myself fall back to sleep.

***

I slept off and on for what felt like forever, but I never once opened my eyes. I wasn't ready to face them all and tell them of what I had nearly done.

The entire time I slept, I had crazy dreams, and they all included just about everyone I had met over the past few months. I didn't understand why, but they happened. A few of them were so horrible, Finny had to shake me awake with his gentle yet urgent hands. I would awaken and calm down, but I had still refused to open my eyes.

My father and Maria, from what little I had overheard, had continued their search for my mother. They had gathered nothing except for the places she wasn't, which I guess counts for something, if you think about it.

On the day I decided to open my eyes, I made sure Finny was the only one in the room. It sounded and felt like her was lying next to me, flipping through a book.

I opened my eyes and immediately regretted it. I was instantly hit with rays of blinding light. I closed my eyes and felt my hand automatically cover them as I groaned.

Finny threw his book away from him and sat up, and I knew he was staring at me. I pulled my hand away from my face and cracked open my eyes. Gradually, the light became bearable and I put my hand by my side and looked over at Finny. He was beaming.

"Good to see you," Finny said happily.

"You too," I replied with a smile. "How long has it been?"

He thought for a moment, staring out the window. "Five days, considering it's almost dusk."

I blinked. Five days? Really? It had felt like so much longer than that, but I was glad it hadn't been, or else the others might have given up on me.

"Help me sit up?" I asked.

Finny's face went from all smiles to overflowing sympathy. "It might reopen your wound."

"Yeah, you're right. "I yawned. "Maybe I should just go back to sleep."

"Alright," Finny said with what appeared to be a forced smile. He seemed to want to talk more, but he didn't want to force me if I was tired.

I closed my eyes and tried to go back to sleep, but I was so well rested already, I didn't really want to.

Just as I felt myself drifting off maybe half an hour later, the door to the room opened. I woke back up, but kept my eyes shut.

Finny moved slightly, probably turning to see who was at the door.

"Quiet," he whispered to them, and I relaxed knowing it was my father and Maria.

"Anything?" Maria asked hopefully.

"She woke up," Finny said, his voice still only a whisper. I felt him stroking my head lightly with one finger, as if he didn't want anyone else to notice.

Maria muffled her happy squeal and my father sighed with relief. There was a brief moment of silence, then I felt his gloved hand gently take mine.

"Then why is she asleep again?" asked another voice. A voice that sent chills down my spine. A voice that made me open my eyes and sit up. A voice that was worth have a few wounds rip open if I could figure out why it was there in the first place.

As I sat up, I ignored the pain in my side as the stitches ripped apart and pointed, weak and scared, at Maria's ex husband.

"What is he doing here?!"