The Crown's Obsession

Madeline was staring at her younger self, hoping her grandparents would do something about the pain, but they looked as if someone had mass murdered people. Dread started to fill in Madeline's grandfather's face, and he whispered,

"This is not supposed to happen. T-The wings."

"Fallen angel's don't have wings," her grandmother staggered back in shock, "What does this mean?"

"This is worse than I thought," murmured her grandfather under his breath, "I would have never guessed it. No one has ever turned out like this, but there have been whispers about it. I thought it was a myth, a rumour. An angel with wings is only the one who resides up in the heavens. A fallen angel with wings is nothing less to an ill omen. He will come for her...We need to take her to Walter right this instant."

"He?" asked her grandmother and even Madeline was curious to know who her grandfather was speaking about.

"The first fallen one," answered the man, a shuddered breath escaping his lips.

"I will cover her, and we can go to Walter," suggested her grandmother. She brought out a cloak and helped the girl to wear it, to cover the wings that formed a big bump on her back.

Madeline didn't get to see what happened after that because the room she stood in started to dissolve itself and she was now in the cemetery. She could hear the sound made by hammers that was hitting the wood.

Following the sound, Madeline found her grandparents who were busy driving the nails into the coffin to make sure the person inside would not come out like last time. Once they were done with it, they put the coffin inside the cemented grave that had her name on it and pushed the lid on the top to secure it.

"With her wings removed, and with the spell, I have casted, she will not wake up. If she does, it would be only after sixteen years," said her grandfather, wiping the sweat that had formed on his forehead.

"Did you see that? The girl," asked her grandmother, and Madeline stepped closer, "She looked just like that girl."

"Which one are you speaking about?" he asked before carrying the box of hammer and nails they had got.

"The girl who Madeline killed today, and the one who died before, they almost look the same." This was something that had been bothering even Madeline. Why did the two girls look so similar, and they both died in her hands. Did it mean something?

Her grandfather shook his head as if he had no answers for it, "We should get back home. Forget what happened."

In the next blink of her eyes, her grandparents had disappeared from in front of her, and the graveyard was filled with mist. As the wind blew, the mist drifted in the direction of the wind. There was no one in here, at least that is what Madeline thought until she heard the sound of the breaking sound of the wood. Quickly she ran near her grave to see the cemented lid that had been pulled open and so was the coffin's lid. Her ears picked on the light footsteps on the ground, and she tried to follow it only to lose it.

Returning to the coffin, she found it to be empty. Furrowing her eyebrows, she looked around for her younger self, but she was nowhere to be found.

Suddenly Madeline felt pain on her back returning, and she fell on the ground. It was not supposed to happen right now, thought Madeline to herself. She writhed on the ground, her back agonizing as it felt like something was trying to come out, but nothing came. She closed her eyes, trying to handle the pain, which started to inch through every part of her body that made it hard for her to think or move.

She wanted to get back to the present time. Laying flat on her back on the ground while the mist hovered around her, she stared at the sky that was covered in clouds.

Taking a deep breath as her chest heaved for air, she closed her eyes and the next time she opened her eyes. She had returned to the candlelit room, which was warmer than the temperature in the cemetery.

Tears slipped past her eyes, and Calhoun who had been staring at her while she was gone, waiting for her to return was quick to go to her side.

"M-my back hurts," whispered Madeline.

"Stay here with her," Calhoun instructed Raphael who was more than pleased to do so. Taking Madeline in his arms, Calhoun carried her out of the room.

Madeline didn't remember them walking through the corridors as the pain had overtaken her mind, and she bit her lip to stop herself from screaming. She held onto Calhoun's neck and heard the doors open.

Calhoun heard Madeline's whimper, and he held her even closer. His first thought was to dip her in warm water to soothe the pain, but instead, he walked towards the bed and sat down at the edge whilst holding her. Her hands dug into his shoulders.

Carefully, he placed his hand on her back to move it up and down to distract her, Calhoun said, "It has been more than two hours since you slipped into sleep. I was wondering if it was going to take more time before I could get to stare back into your beautiful brown eyes."

He continued to speak to her gently, "You know when I was small, I had made up my mind that I would not give my heart to anyone because of what happened to my mother. I saw her tear up many times, and I came to believe that people are not worth loving. Then I met you, and everything changed."

The whimpers reduced, and the pain slowly subsided in her body, but she didn't stop clinging on to Calhoun. The place she had stepped into was supposed to be her home, but she had felt it to be nothing less than foreign there. A place like she didn't belong compared to where she was right now.

"How was the walk in the past?" asked Calhoun once she had calmed down.

"Not good," she replied, pulling herself away from him so that she could look at him.

"I thought so."

When Calhoun wiped the tears that had streaked down on her cheeks, Madeline's heartache. The tenderness that her family had not shown towards her in what she had seen, she felt it from Calhoun.

"We don't have to speak about it right away. It can wait until morning or whenever you are ready," said Calhoun as he continued to hold her. Madeline doubted, she felt as bad as the first time when she had found out about herself. Having already known how her grandparents were, it came less of a shock. She had tried to learn more about what had taken place in the past.

Madeline said, "I don't know if I saw from Beth's perspective or not, but I did see from mine."

Calhoun took note of how Madeline kept dazing in and out as if she was recollecting those memories and pondering over it.

"There's something I had to ask of you. That is if you remember," started Calhoun and Madeline's attention came back as her gaze met his, waiting for him to continue, "Do you believe in the four cloverleaf which brings luck?"

"Don't most of them believe it?" Madeline furrowed her eyebrows and said, "Mother spoke about cloverleaf."

Calhoun frowned, "I hope it is not your mother whom I met." Since Madeline had stepped into the past, Calhoun had started to think about a few things, and he remembered the cloverleaf. It was a distant memory, but somewhere it had him question if it was her.

"What?" asked Madeline, slightly confused at what Calhoun was speaking about. She said, "Back there, mother asked where the cloverleaf went which I had with me." This was before her mother had taken her away from the alley to her grandparent's house.

At the same time, Calhoun who had been frowning, his expression turned to a broad smile, and his eyes twinkled.

"Why are you smiling like that?" asked Madeline.

"You are my four clover leaf."