For as long as I could remember, I had been on the run.

I never made friends. I only showed myself to the outside world if absolutely necessary. I never small-talked to anyone.

I can't afford to make friends, or surround myself with people who like me. Love is a weakness. I could hurt them.

Nobody knows how I truly am.

On the outside, I was ordinary enough; resembling a black haired, warm-skinned girl with eyes like onyx beads. My only clothes were a rough fabric shirt with jeans and boots. I normally wore a cloak and a hood over my head. My hair tumbled down my shoulders, messy and unkempt. The only oddity one could see was my height; I was unnaturally tall for my age, about six feet.
I ignored anyone who tried to talk to me, though not many ever bother to. 

I was roused from a troubled sleep by a nightmare. My eyes adjusted to my cramped surroundings – my current place of residence is an incredibly small water-tower, abandoned since years ago. My only companion was a black cat, who had been jeered at by everyone else. My black cat, Curse. I called her that because I saw her as a reflection of myself: a hex, an inconvenience, a malediction to everyone who laid eyes on her – apart from me, of course. 

I see her green eyes stare at me from the darkness, a tiny sliver of moonlight illuminating them, making them flash like emeralds in the inky blackness.

I gave into her glare, sighing as I rolled over and let her cuddle up next to me. The exhale of breath bumped against the rusty tower interior, clattering around like it had bene magnified.
Curse's small, warm body felt comforting against my stomach. I hadn't felt that kind of comfort in a while.
Shocked into a memory, tears pricked my eyes as I re-lived the nightmare.

I stared at the blackness above me as recalled it in my head.

The disaster.

During one of my travels to the market, I had met a girl the same age as me – and she was my height, too. I remember that, it was unusual. Her eyes were as white. And she was the only one who had ever been friendly to me. 

I had been making my way back home in a shadowed alleyway when she walked up to me. I remembered her happy-go-lucky demeanour, her funny laugh, her kind eyes; her determination. I tried not to blanch as I remembered her warm, soft voice asking me, "hey, are you okay?" As she stared at me with real concern in her pearly irises.

"No," I had answered, my reply in its normal low monotone. 

She smiled warmly at me, trying to be comforting. "I can help." She had held out her hand. "I'm Lumin. Would you like to tell me your name?"

I remember visibly stiffening, uncomfortable, a slight pang of sadness that I usually kept buried unearthing suddenly.

"No, I would not," I stated. "I need to go." I tried pushing past her, but she grabbed my shoulder. "Please!" She pleaded, her unnatural eyes boring into mine. "Let me help you."

I stopped, staring at her. It was kind of hard to process. This beautiful girl wanted to help me? She could be doing anything else; why waste her time on me?

I felt a sob but swallowed it down quickly, horrified at myself. 

Do not let her in. You know what will happen. Keep her out.

"Please," Lumin asked again, her voice soft. "I know you're hurting. Let me help!"

I growled, shrugging off her hand viciously. "You can't help," I gruffed, glaring at her. "No one can."

I whipped around and took off, needing to get away from her. Because she had seen the demons in my eyes. And it was too late to hide them from her again.

A meow from Curse brought me back to the present, and I glanced down at her. She was licking my cheeks, and I pet her.

I soon realised why she was licking me; I had began to cry.

Another sob bubbled in my chest, threatening to jump out, but I clamped it down.

I stroked my only friend in the world. Why did my life have to be like this? I wanted to be normal. 

But for my safety, and everyone else's, I couldn't.

I never found out why. I just knew if I ever made friends – well, human friends, as was evident with my furry companion – chaos ensues and people die. I didn't know how. It'd just happen. Seemingly spontaneous accidents. Natural disaster and natural selection.
I was walking bad luck.

I realised I was crying freely now, tears trickling down my face as Curse nuzzled against me, rubbing her furry cheek against mine.

I jolted as our inhumanly keen ears heard footsteps climbing the water tower ladder.

I leapt to my feet, ducking just before my head bashed the ceiling. Curse scattered to the far side of the tower.

There was no way someone had found us.

But the footsteps continued... until the hatch twisted and opened, the air becoming star-kissed and breezy as a crack of the navy blue sky revealed the intruder.

Pearl eyes met mine.

"What are you doing here?" I hissed, venom trickling through my voice. The tin of the tower magnified the sound; lucky it was a walk from the village. 
The only bit of good luck.

"I had to meet you somehow," Lumin replied. She hoisted her legs over the side and hopped down. She didn't close the hatch behind her. The impact of her arrival shuddered the atmosphere.

"Get out."
Was all I could say.

My heart was thumping. No, no, no.

Keep her out! Out out OUT! 

"No." Lumin stood rooted to the ground as Curse curled up in between her legs, drifting into sleep. "I'm not leaving until you let me help you."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The nerve.

"Nobody can help me!" I snarled, my voice rising dangerously high. "Get out of here!"

She stared at me, nonthreatening. "Please." Her voice wavered, tear-wracked.

I pointed up, stabbing my finger towards the deep blue night. "Out."

Lumin stared at me with a quizzical expression, like she'd never be able to figure me out. And she won't, my mind snarled.

"What can I say to get through to you?"

"NOTHING!" I bellowed. "Nobody can help me because I'm a curse! I'm a walking, breathing curse! Every human that meets me has the worst luck for the rest of their lives! Everybody avoids taking to me and I'm not NORMAL! I'm a demon! I'm wicked, I'm evil. Don't you understand this is for your own good? You have to leave me alone!"

Lumin stared, shocked at my outburst. Tears escaped my eyes, and finally, I broke down crying. 

The ugly kind of crying. The type of sobbing you can't control, as it shudders your shoulders and wracks your ribcage. Gasping for air because it's so jagged and so full and so suffocating.

"Please," I pleaded through tears. "I don't deserve to be helped. You're too... precious to be paying any attention to a useless scrap of evil like me."

Curse meowed sympathetically, sleepily. She swished her black tail and stretched, moving her emerald gaze from me to Lumin, though she looked blurry in my pooled vision.

I couldn't stand it anymore. I didn't resist as Lumin pulled me into a hug, letting me cry freely into her shoulder. 

Curse climbed to my shoulders, nuzzling my cheek.

I took a shuddering breath. I had finally opened up.

"How about we start over?" Lumin asked after we pulled apart. "And... thank you for opening up."

I let out a tear-wracked laugh, smiling sadly at her. "Hello, Lumin. I'm Arcane."

Things got so, so much better after that. Lumin moved in with me and Curse. We became sisters to each other. She made me laugh every day. She made me forget, for hours at a time, what I had been through.

I soon learned the reason the "chaos" hadn't ensued yet was because Lumin wasn't exactly... human. Neither am I, for that matter. We're both Angels.
Well... Lumin is.
I'm a Fallen Angel (which, as you can guess, is an Angel that spiralled into darkness). Lumin never judged me, I never judged her. We went out to the market daily. We laughed and sang and cheered and cried tears of joy.

And Curse? She still lived with us, happy as ever.

We changed her name, though.

It was Lumin's idea. I agreed because I was crying too much to disagree... and it brought me so much happiness.

So now, whenever we come home from the market, we always spend the rest of the day with Chance.