Angel

Louise's POV

Yesterday was heaps of fun, especially spending time getting to know Ed. Currently, he was teaching a music lesson but was due to finish in ten minutes.

I, however, was finished with cooking dinner. I hoped the contents of this one wasn't sprawled out across the floor like yesterday's lunch was.

I left the kitchens and walked outside. Every patch of land was smothered in thick, icy snow. Each step I took created a 'crunch' sound beneath me.

I saw there was some sort of a forest to my right, I hadn't noticed it before. Trees stood with their bare branches which were licked with snow. There was a little path ascending through the huddled trees. I wondered where it went?

I checked my phone. I guess I had a few minutes to spare before Ed finished.

Curiosity overcoming me, I walked towards the path which had blackening snow trailing down it due to the mud beneath it.

Feet cold and numb, I stepped on to the path an began to languidly walk up it. I had never seen so many trees before.

There were no plants or animals around; just trees, grass and snow. I decided to leave the path and go left, then right, and then right again to see if anything else was around.

I inhaled a sharp cold breath, allowing the ice cold breeze to flow around my lungs. It seemed easier to breath around here.

There wasn't really much here so I decided to walk back. Wait, which way was back? I had no idea. I spun around looking for ways out, but all I could see was trees.

I began to shiver as tiny snowflakes floated to the ground. I was well and truly lost.

Suddenly, I heard a low growl travelling towards me. It was coming from behind me. Swiftly, I turned around.

"Oh fuck."

Ed's POV

"You're all free to go." I smiled at the class that I had been teaching.

"Awesome lesson man." One boy said whilst leaving the room.

"Yeah, sick tunes and stuff." Another person added.

"Proper good teacher you are dude." Someone else said.

All these nice comments uplifted my confidence. These teenagers were supposed to be rude and horrible, but they weren't. They were just misunderstood people. They had all found a love in music like I did and found a way to express themselves in it. And I was the teacher who helped them.

That made me feel good.

The room emptied and I was about to leave to go and see Louise when I saw a girl huddled up in the corner of the room. She looked sad.

"Hey, are you alright?" I went up to her and sat beside her.

"Yeah." She pretended to smile. Something was wrong.

"Come on, what's the matter?" I gently spoke.

"Like you even care."

"Hey, of course I care. I don't like to see people sad." I said.

"You won't understand. You're not a low life, waste of space like me." She sulked.

"Woah now, come on. You're not a waste of space."

"How would you know? You don't even know me and I don't know you." She told me.

"Hi, I'm Ed." I held out my hand for her to shake.

She looked up to me and then down to my hand as if contemplating something. Finally, she shook my hand.

"Angel." She replied.

"That's a very nice name."

"Well it's the complete opposite of what I am." She said.

"No one's perfect." I told her. "You wanna talk about it?"

"You're only going to think I'm a slut." She replied.

"No I won't. I promise." I told her.

I looked at her. She looked so fragile and hurt. She was only about 12 years old. The camp ranged from 11-16 year olds who needed a new start. She looked like she desperately needed one.

"My mum's making me go and live with my uncle Dan." She spoke.

"Oh right, and you don't want to leave her?" I asked.

"I don't know. She struggles with stuff, like paying rent and things. She can't really handle a child. Sometimes we had no money and I would have to go out and make money for ourselves." She explained.

"What do you mean 'make money'?" I questioned getting suspicious.

"I'm not proud of what I did but we were desperate." She looked down in disgust. "You think I'm a slut."

"No I don't. I think you're a very brave girl." Was I hearing correctly? When she said 'make money' she meant it as in... prostitution? She was only 12 for goodness sake!

"They made me do stuff that I didn't want to do. I didn't want to go." She was fighting back tears. "They... they even forced me to... take heroin. I didn't want to, but they made me."

"Oh gosh." I put my arm around her and hugged her. She flinched. Okay, maybe that wasn't the best of things to do. I pulled back.

"I got addicted. I used to go mad for a couple grams. Coming here is sort of like rehab in a way. I've been clean for 18 days." She told me.

"Wow that's really good. Well done." I said. "So why don't you want to live with your uncle Dan?"

"Because I'll miss my mum and I don't really know uncle Dan." She told me.

"Well I'm not one for giving advice but I'll tell you this: everything will be okay in the end, if it's not okay, then it's not the end." I shared my words of wisdom. She thought for a few seconds, deciphering what I just said.

"Thanks." She smiled.

"Now you're going to put the past behind you and start again. A fresh start as they say. No more being sad." I told her.

"Alright."

"Now let me see a smile. I know it's in there somewhere." I playfully nudged her in the shoulder.

She let a smile escape her lips.

"Much better." I smiled at her. "Now, I'm sure you have an activity to go to now."

"Yeah I better go." She stood up. "Thanks for listening to me, Ed. No one ever does."

"I'm glad I could help." I stood up too.

We both walked to the door and I opened it as the cold breeze whipped around us.

"It's too cold outside." She shivered.

"I know." I replied as snowflakes fell. "Will you be alright here?"

"Yeah, I'm only going round there." She pointed.

"Well if you ever need anyone to talk to, I'm in Room 18. If not I'll be in the kitchens." I informed her.

"Thanks," She smiled. "See ya."

"Bye." I waved and we went our separate ways.

A random lyric popped in to my head.

"Crumbling like pastries." I sang. That sounded cool.

I got out my phone and typed it down on my notes when another lyric popped to mind as the snow fell.

"Breathing in the snowflakes." I sang aloud. Sick.

Because not only is it cold and snowing, but snowflakes look like white powder: heroin. And Angel took it. She was 'breathing in the snowflakes'.

Angel. Her name was Angel.

I typed that down as well. This was going to turn in to one awesome song.

I wanted to mention the fact that she was only 12 but decided against it. I didn't want anyone to know the song was about her specifically. She could be... 18.

"Been this way since 18," I sang. Yeah, that sounded good.

I typed it all down and walked to the kitchens. I opened the door expecting to see Louise rushed off her feet, but she wasn't there.

Everything looked ready and all the washing up was done. Maybe she didn't really need me in the kitchens. She obviously finished early.

I walked out of the kitchens and back out in to the cold. She was probably in her room. I was on my way there when I heard a scream.

"Help!" A familiar voice screeched. The voice was coming from the forest.

I ran up towards a little pathway which ascended deep within the trees.

"AHHHHHHHH!" The person bellowed. They were in trouble. And in an instant, I knew who it was.

Louise.

                           ****

Heyyy! So was this chapter okay? Because I feel like the level of my writing is beginning to drop. I'd love to hear some feedback :)

Vote, comment, be epic... <3