Cloudless~

Chapter One - Concrete

I have re-re-redone this chapter YET AGAIN! This version’s a little more interesting than the last, though quite similar at first. Something that’ll come in handy later is in the newly revised ver. 4 (this one) that’d make you confused if you didn’t read the content below, like, RIGHT NOW. Enjoy~

Don’t give me that look, missy.

Saedy stared at herself in the mirror, still wondering. Why did everyone say that? She tried to make an angry face, but she ended up looking confused. When she tried a sarcastic grin, she looked sad. An attempt at relaxation ended with a frustrated look.

What look were they always talking about?

Saedy sighed and walked out of the bathroom, grabbing her notebook off of the shelf. It didn’t matter. Nothing much mattered. Plucking a pencil from the back of the book, she headed outside to observe the clouds.

The weather had always been interesting to her. How all the different kinds of clouds affected the temperature and humidity and such. . . it was all so crazy, but fit together perfectly. It always amazed Saedy.

She stepped outside and began searching for anything in the sky, but there seemed to be nothing. Pursing her lips, she walked over to the creek so that she might get a better view. Shielding her eyes from the sun with one hand, she searched the blank expanse of blue again.

“Clear skies with a light breeze to the north,” Saedy mumbled to herself, jotting down notes for the day. She included the probable temperature and humidity percent using her senses to guess. If her mother, Nagem, or Gem, had enough saved, she could get something that could get accurate results.

She flipped her wrist over and checked the time. The mail would be arriving soon. And in the mail was probably the wind map she’d always begged for . . .

She snapped the book shut and clipped her pencil on the back cover, turning to move back towards her home. She absently walked towards the apartment building’s main door with the concrete overhang. She strolled leisurely along the cracked sidewalk to the door, looking out at the abandoned grass place with the creek running through it. She vaguely wondered why nobody was running around, playing a game or having a picnic. It was such a beautiful day, she thought to herself, looking again at the gradient of blue above her. Maybe when the mail arrived she would go outside and read a book, or invite Zeek over to play a game of some sort.

Saedy pushed her hand against the door to open it before realizing it was a pull door. Derp. She used the door at least five times a day! She was really spacing out . . .

Reality caught up with her as she heard a loud cracking sound resonate from above her. Her head slowly turned up to look at the concrete overhang above her head. The more vulgar part of her brain cursed inwardly.

She made a move to step inside as the concrete cracked completely and a huge chunk of the stuff crashed down. She attempted to dive for the lobby, but her whole lower body had already been crushed by the chunk. She cried out in pain as she found it impossible to move at all; the door wanted nothing more than to swing shut and was resting against her throbbing head. Her palms and nose were bleeding from the face-down impact against the ground and tears mixed with blood as she cried out for help. Where the hell was everyone?

Pain shot through her body, seemingly an effect of the hundreds of pounds crushing the bones below her waist and cutting off circulation to her legs. Her body seemed to shift though she didn’t consciously move. Saedy cried out again as she almost . . . transformed . . . into something new. Her spine moved and lengthened as her face did the same. She screamed and clutched at her now discoloured, blue skin as her hands turned to paws and a mane fell over one eye. She screamed out of pain, confusion, and fright while she turned into something unthinkable.

--

They’re myths, Saedy. They’re not real, the girl thought desperately as she pulled herself out from under the crushing chunk of concrete by two front legs. A mane of dark blue hair kept falling into her eyes as she began to drag herself away from the apartment building, her back legs and tail useless. She had no idea where she was going, but she knew she had to get away. Somewhere safe. She left a trail of blood in the grass.

Saedy heard a scream and, looking up, saw an old woman up on her balcony rush inside her home. A moment later she heard the faint sound of a telephone being dialed.

They don’t exist, she continued to chant in her mind, denying the truth that was now her own body. Dragons are mythical.

An idea festered in her head as if long ago formed but pushed back by inputs of more information. It now rose to the surface, acting like a base instinct. It was really only one word.

Fly.

In a second, she was hovering above the grass at about the height of the nearest apartment building. She saw a pair of Helixes on the horizon, racing towards her. Just before she began to try to fly away, she saw something else rise from below. It was close to Zeek’s house and bleeding badly from one arm -- er, front leg. The Helixes spotted it and turned to the stripy creature since it was closer to them. One Helix shot nets at the thing which replied with a dodge and a barrel roll. The Helix driver seemed to become frustrated and sped towards the striped thing, hitting it upside the head with one of its whirring blades. Saedy’s vision began to blur from pain and blood loss as the second Helix shot a net and captured the falling creature, reeling it back in as it turned towards Saedy. It shot a new net her way as she began to fall out of the air, unconscious.