When A Life Is Lost (NaNoWriMo 2013)

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Ania sat for a moment, shocked by what had happened. It was only yesterday that her life was normal – getting caught out in the rain, struggling with money – and now it seemed to be changing, and it was out of her control.

She looked around the van. From what she could see, now her eyes had adjusted, the truck was empty, except for a dark shape on the ground. Further inspection showed it to be a rough blanket.

Ania shook her head, suddenly feeling angry. How dare her mother do this to her?

She leapt up – as fast as the moving truck would let her – and bashed on the door that had closed behind her. She began to shout and scream in unison to her fists. She banged for what seemed like hours, before collapsing on the floor, all energy defeated.

She couldn’t believe that she had been tricked so easily. She should have known not to trust her mother; especially after she had left her so heartlessly two years ago.

I suppose I just thought it would be like it used to be.

Ania shook her head. She had to get out of here. She pulled herself off the ground – as much as she could in the van, before remembering the small dagger she had tucked into the waistband of her jeans. Her subconscious knew that she would need it somehow. She had taken the dagger from the counter – in a move that probably saved her life. She felt the cool metal of the blade, before putting it back in the waistband. There was no use for it now. She’d have to figure out a way to make them open the door before she struck.

As she looked around again, she noticed a small slit on one of the walls of the van. It looked almost like a slit in a cell door. She assumed that it was for the drivers in front to check up on the prisoners behind. She began to bang on the wall in front, shouting as before.

“Shut up!” A gruff voice came from the other side of the wall. Ania was startled for a moment and stopped, but soon began, even louder than before.

“Let me out!” she screamed, banging harder on the wall.

The slit slid open with a low screech, revealing a pair of light blue eyes, partly covered by brown hair.

“Shut up!” he snarled, his eyes furious.

There was a pause for a moment, before Ania spat in his face, venting her anger at him. The slit shut with a thud, whilst Ania could hear soft swearing from behind the wall.

”What happened?” She heard a new voice ask.

“Bitch spit in my eye!” the gruff voice yelled, whose speech was followed by a stream of curses.

Ania heard a sigh.

“Grow up, Tomus.”

Her eyes fluttered closed for a moment before she forced them open, displaying her exhaustion. Although she wanted to annoy her captors a little more, she would need all the energy she could get to escape.

She lay down, using the rough blanket as a pillow to rest her head. Just as she became settled, the van hit a bump and Ania was tossed up and away from the makeshift pillow, hitting her head on the cold metal. She winced, before sitting up. Sleep was not going to happen at the moment.

She sighed. Why did her mother have to do this? What could she possibly hope to gain? Other than her mother, Ania was the only succakgu – that she knew of – that was left after the fall of the High Council. Her mother would not need to use her – her own powers would have sufficed enough for whatever job she wanted.

Ania hugged her knees, touching the soft feathers of her wings which were pulled tightly against her body. They ached – she wanted so badly to go flying. She wished that she was able to go flying with her mother. When her wings started to grow, she was ordered by the High Council to go for training. There was no time to go flying with her mother. Hardly any time to even say goodbye. After she returned, her mother had run off, abandoned her. She’d left her all alone.

The van swerved around a corner – what felt like a corner – and Ania’s thoughts were interrupted as she was tossed around the van.

She should at least try to get some sleep – there was no telling how much energy she’d have to use tomorrow.

Again, using the makeshift pillow, Ania tried to lie down and sleep, but she knew she was in for a restless night.