Awakening

Chapter Two: Stars

Babylon sat upon a tall building somewhere in Chicago. She looked down at the people moving beneath her.

No one noticed her.

She couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to be noticed, to have someone pay the least bit of attention to her.

She was attractive enough. She had eyes of a pale grey and waist length hair as white as the snow in the middle of the winter. She wasn't short but she wasn't tall either. Usually, she only wore a knee-length white gown, but the small dress had worn down centuries ago. She now wore a billowing black cloak, befitting of her and her duties. She made a languid movement and pulled the hood back from her face, revealing cascading hair which gleamed faintly in the sunlight and flawless pale features; a straight nose, slightly long but suiting her countenance, lips that were a tad too thin, and high, well shaped cheekbones. Her eyes were large and watchful. Yet still, she could not stop but wonder what it would be like to have an existent conversation with someone rather than herself.

She sat there thoughtless for a few moments before another questionable thought appeared in her mind.

Could there be... was it possible that...

What if there was another person out there, just like her?

She quickly shook her head at the ridiculous thought. She was well and out of her mind, but centuries of loneliness and having no one to converse with but yourself did things to a person.

She leaned forward just enough that she fell from the ledge that she had posted herself, and plummeted towards the ground. She laughed aloud as the breeze caressed her body. It made her hair flow outward. She reared upward as her wings caught the force of the wind, slowing her speed as she enjoyed her fall towards earth. She landed lithely on her feet, knees slightly bent.

Nothing could harm her.

She stood, searching for something to do, bored. What hadn't she seen in this small world? She had been there when people had gone from living in caves and huts, to houses and buildings. When technology had been but a wire key tied to the string of a kite, to the wires and rods that now lined the roads and streets of today.

She'd also seen many different and ridiculous scenes. She had been there, bearing witness when merciless bombs had been dropped on house and home killing many innocents. She had been there when people had hijacked planes, crashing them into landmark buildings killing millions, without even blinking twice. She had borne witness when the unscrupulous traders had mixed excessive chemicals into their food products to gain larger profits while thousands of people died because of this food with cancers and many other incurable diseases.

With pain.

Children were abused by their own parents. People murdered by their trusted friends and partners.

What had they done to deserve all of those unfair treatments? She had thought that the mundanes had learned their lessons what with the World Wars, external aggressions and internal chaos.

Through her eyes, she witnessed hatred, discontent, and resentment.

A beggar in his sixtees walked by her. She decided to follow. She looked closer, paying close attention to the air that surrounded him. It was a mottled amber.

He was ill. He would die soon. And there was nothing that she could do to stop it. Death, a close and personal friend of hers, was coming for yet another victim.

The beggar stopped only to rummage through an old garbage bin. His white mustache followed his lips as he consumed what little remained of whatever was left in the bin. His face was pale and white as a sheet.