\tAn angel screams. I am told she cries for me, that she takes my pain upon herself. She hopes to save me, it is said. She cares.<\/p>\n
\tIt is a sweet gesture, unexpected, kind. But I am long past saving now. I made my pact long ago, and have spent the years since searing my soul, burning it away thoroughly. I do not care.<\/p>\n
\tThis angel loved me. Watched me in my crib, caressed my cheek when no mortal hovered over me. All through my childhood, she guarded. <\/p>\n
\tPerhaps too well. Perhaps too poorly. Either way, I turned from her light. Mayhaps my soul broke when I did, but I think it was broken before, and needed only confirmation in fire. <\/p>\n
\tI killed. Men, women, children, animals. They were life. Life ends. After each death, I tapped the gun against my temple, wondering if I had earned my release.<\/p>\n
\tAll that, and still she cries. I would comfort her, tell her not to cry, but she cannot hear through her pain. My pain.<\/p>\n
\tShe lifts her eyes and looks into mine. I look back, sad. I pity her, that she pledged her life in service of another, only to be rejected. But the life was mine to live, and I did.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An angel screams. I am told she cries for me, that she takes my pain upon herself. She hopes to save me, it is said. She cares. It is a sweet gesture, unexpected, kind. But I am long past saving now. I made my pact long ago, and have spent the years since searing my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[36,4],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pRIK4-9c","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":493,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=493","url_meta":{"origin":570,"position":0},"title":"Our Land","date":"May 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Armies clashed that day on the field, as magic tore into mundane. Bow and arrow met flintlock, and fire from the mages was countered by the roar of cannons. Elves there were, and trolls too, and for once they fought on the same side of battle, the sylvan creatures using\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Flash Fiction"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":262,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=262","url_meta":{"origin":570,"position":1},"title":"Hollow Rage","date":"September 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The ideas that occur while showering... I raged against the dying of the light, but it was an empty rage, a hollow rage. All but the last glimmers of the sun had gone, and the death that is twilight stole over the land. I knew this time had to come,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Flash Fiction"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":97,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=97","url_meta":{"origin":570,"position":2},"title":"Heaven","date":"April 12, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Not quite my usual fare for a flash fiction, but I was feeling a little more pensive than usual, so it probably reflects my mood. Let me know what you think. The boy wandered down the aisles of the church, his mind it all at ease and wander. He had\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Flash Fiction"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":574,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=574","url_meta":{"origin":570,"position":3},"title":"One Day","date":"December 2, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I can hear the world reach for me. I can feel it claw at my soul. I can sense it as it runs scaly claws down my back. It will not have me. I could fight. Perhaps. I could resist. It's a possibility. I could rebel. A failure, certainly. But\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Flash Fiction"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":432,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=432","url_meta":{"origin":570,"position":4},"title":"Imaginary Friends","date":"February 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"There exists among all things a strange connection, one that cannot be defined. Philosophers will argue its existence, physicists will try to test for its presence, but none cannot prove it, or even truly explain it. Yet ask a little boy, and he knows, for he can see beyond the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Flash Fiction"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":466,"url":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/?p=466","url_meta":{"origin":570,"position":5},"title":"Old Friend","date":"April 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"A hand swept across the earth, taking in a great plain, little more than weeds and dirt. \u201cThis was our home, once. A city stood there. It was stripped bare as the fire came. Those of us who fled remember the smell of burning, the screams of pain of all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Flash Fiction"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thefourpartland.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}