When A Life Is Lost (NaNoWriMo 2013)

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Ania was running, her wings spread out at her back. When she tried to fly, she would be pushed down by an invisible force. As she looked behind her, the Ruby Guard and her mother were chasing her, getting closer and closer. As she watched, they all drew out guns and shot, catching her wings and limbs with the bullets. She fell to the ground, crying with the pain. The Guard and her mother crowded around her, their bodies blocking out the night.

The next thing she knew, she was in a barred cage and the door was closing too quickly for her to run towards. She tried anyway, but as she reached it, the bars transformed into smaller bars and her entire prison was now a bird cage. She looked around – her mother was standing in front of her, smiling, but she was now enormous, towering over Ania with a smile on her face. Ania flinched and pulled her wings around her, closing her eyes.

She woke up with a start, sweat pouring down her face. It took a few moments for her heart to return to a normal pace, but she still felt refreshed. The aches from yesterday had all but disappeared, and she felt like she had sufficient energy to do anything. She checked the bandage on her arm, and knew that she had the energy to heal it. She fixed it with a few words, and the pain was gone almost immediately.

She stretched her wings and arms behind her, groaning. She pulled her wings in and put her jacket on. She didn’t really want people to see her wings – they were too recognizable. Not many seventeen year old girls had wings – none that she knew of at least. It wasn’t exactly a common occurrence.

She closed the hotel door behind her and locked it, walking out of the inn.

The market was still there – the stall owners still shouting, the canaries still chirping. She bought a green shirt from one of the stall holders, and ignored his attempts to sell her a jacket that “would look lovely with your eyes miss.”

She popped back to the inn to change into the blouse, before throwing the old one in the bin and going out again.

Feeling hungry, she bought a small loaf of bread and a chunk of cheese, to spread onto it. She walked a little further until she found a bench to sit on, and began to eat her meagre brunch. She realised a few moments later that she had sat opposite a group of children. They ran around the pavement, whilst another group of children sat drawing with chalks on the concrete ground.

Ania watched the children for a while, before someone sat down on the bench beside her, distracting her momentarily. She glanced over for a moment, but otherwise ignored them.

“Adorable, aren’t they?”

She turned towards the voice – it was the man beside her. It was the man that she had asked where the inn was. The dark haired, dark eyed man from yesterday. Now she saw him up-close, she noticed the light brown streaks in his hair, similar in style to the natural streaks she had in her hair, the ones that matched her wings.

He had tan skin, and was quite a bit taller than she was, although he didn’t look so threatening.

It almost felt as if...as if she already knew him.