When A Life Is Lost (NaNoWriMo 2013)

Prologue

Prologue

27th March

When I was nine, I wanted to be a dancer. I’d seen all the older girls jumping around, creating obscure patterns and choreographing dances to show off to their friends and family. I wanted to join them, dance alongside them. My mother took me to all sorts of shows, from musicals to ballets. I had dance lessons once every week, with a group of girls around my age. Soon after, I broke my ankle climbing in the playground, and the doctors told me that I couldn’t dance for a few months, and my interests changed.

When I was eleven, I wanted to be a vet. I had seen animals on TV, in the streets, and had wanted to help them in any way that I could. I went to the vets with my puppy, asking all sorts of questions, which they answered. I was sure that they were laughing at me behind their hands when I left. I would help out any animal I could; injured birds, stray cats and even the odd dog. I was truly dedicated to the work of a veterinarian, before I had to dissect an eyeball at school, which fully put me off any career to do with treating animals or humans.

When I was fourteen, I wanted to be a guard. I had just arrived in Sufsjpa after my wings had grown for training with the High Council, and was inspired by the work of the guards. They protected both the High Council and the surrounding students from attack. I once saw a guard disarm a man, before punching him so hard it threw him into the opposite wall. Even in training, they were like that. I never saw any real villains in my time there – probably due to the amount of security. I was so sure of what I wanted to do. I had Malus, I had a career. I was happy. But my training ended a year later. My memory was altered and I was transported back to Gevola.

When I was fifteen, I just wanted my father back. I came home to a shattered life: my mother gone, my father dead. My home was nothing but a pile of dusty and charred rubble. They told me that my mother had done it; burned down the house after my father passed. She had left me a small suitcase, full of clothes, a few of my prized possessions and a picture of my father. I missed him. I remembered him taking me to the park. I remembered him picking me up and carrying me when I broke my ankle. I remembered him buying the last minute presents to the birthday parties I always forgot were coming. I remembered his love for baking, and the fact that he always sang at the same time. The house would have seemed so quiet without him, if it was still standing. My new house seems empty, even with the sounds of my husband and son playing.

When I was seventeen, I didn’t know what I wanted. I just know that my life hadn’t turned out the way I wanted it to. I wanted to learn. I wanted to have my father walk me down the aisle. I wanted my mother to wave me off as I drove off to university. But I guess nothing turns out the way you want it to. Especially in my life. The life of a half succakgu, half human. The winged woman, the angels’ child.

No matter what I thought would happen, the events of my seventeenth year shocked even me.

My life changed, but for the better, I’d never know.