She was a reserved girl, timid and careful. She was wary of everything, always keeping her head down and her guard up. She was constantly trying to keep herself out of the spotlight. Being noticed was the last thing she wanted.

    The girl was alone more often than not, hiding away in libraries or coffee shops, places where someone such as herself would likely go unnoticed. Books and journals kept her obscure to the world, and that's exactly how she prefered it.

    But, unknown by everyone, the girl had the most unique wings hidden beneath the surface. They were almost entirely black, specks of gold scattered about. The wings were enormous, spanning the length of half a football field. Instead of standing great and powerful, though, the wings stayed crowded against her back, out of sight.

    Long strips of the wings were ripped and torn, and the remains hung in shreds. They were broken, dragging behind her on the ground when she outstretched them. Scars ran down the length of the damaged yet magnificent blessings.

    Despite the corruption of her fascinating wings, the girl still managed to occasionally push them away from her body, extend them into the air, and soar like she was the most confident being on the earth. When she flew, the wind swept over her wings and made them feel whole again. When she was in the air, she was in control. She was free.

    For a long time, she flew only when she thought no one else was watching. If she was alone, there wasn't the chance that someone could grab her wings and rip them from her, as many had tried before.

    Her efforts to keep her wings a secret proved to be futile when a boy her age - a lovely boy, she had to admit, with sky blue eyes and dark curls - caught her stretching them out in the woods.

    She had thought the woods were a desolate area, that she was safe to do as she pleased without interference. She had been badly mistaken.

    By the time she noticed the boy creeping out from behind an old redwood tree, it was too late. Her wings were exposed, and so was she. She was so frightened that she held her breath, became a statue.

    The boy, however, seemed completely at ease. His expression was one of allurement, not fear.

    Slowly, he stepped forward, reaching his hand out toward the girl. Not to her wings, but to her hand. Sensing no danger, she vigilantly offered her hand, and he tenderly took it.

    Unlike all the others who had seen her wings, the boy didn't question her about them. He didn't ask why she had them, didn't call her a freak of nature. He simply accepted them, only really acknowledged them when he told the girl how stunningly gorgeous he found them to be.

    Her mouth fell open when the words 'stunningly gorgeous' passed his lips. She was baffled as to how he could deem such words for the marred, limp atrocities that were attached to her back.

    At his compliment to the wings that she thought so flawed, she could feel something happen to them. It was like a warm, comforting, invisible cloud wrapped around one of the wings. She turned her head, half expecting to find the wing in more disrepair than before, but what she saw was the exact opposite.

    Some of the mangled parts of the wing had been, in fact, mended. Scars still lay in a jagged line where the wing had been put back together, but it was fixed nonetheless.

    Two unnecessarily kind words from the boy had been enough to heal a small portion of one of her wings, and the girl was beyond grateful.

    After only their first meeting, the boy rarely ever left the girl's side. They were constantly with each other, the boy never ceasing to coax a laugh or a smile from her.

    The panic of letting someone new in usually settled within the girl, made her push people away. But only content and bliss came as she got closer to the boy. And love. Love flowed through her body and seeped out into the atmosphere around her.

    As time passed, he healed her wings effortlessly and unknowingly. Affectionate words patched up blistering wounds. Gentle kisses reconstructed crushed bones. Loving smiles erased deeply-embedded scars.

    The boy restored the girl's wings wholly.

    With him, she could fly fearlessly, no thought of anything other than how he treated her like she was the most important person in the world. And with her newfound dauntlessness, she taught the boy how to fly, too.

    They loved each other, and they flew together. Infinitely and courageously.