*Tangled Up

Chapter 5

Sorry the update was a little later than expected, but I had some stuff to do which gave me limited time to write the chapter. 

But anyway, here you go.

Mareena was happy with the new pair of boots, since the ones she had were already peeling at the soles. When they were set to leave, she used her arrows to climb down.

Noticing that the boy was hesitant to leave, Mareena called out, "You coming, Long Hair?"

Cal was annoyed with the nickname, so he answered, "My name is Cal, actually." Though he doubted the correction would do anything. He watched as Mareena disembarked the tower, the sounds of stone embedding in dirt fading slowly.

He took a deep breath, and did what he usually did when he felt nervous. He sang.

"Look at the world so close,

and I'm halfway to it.

Look at it all, so big.

Do I even dare?

I just have to do it.

Should I?

No.

Here I go."

Hooking his hair above the window—as he always did for Mother—he hopped off and felt the rush of wind as he fell towards the ground. Suddenly he was only three feet above the grass, and was once again hesitant to take his first steps outside.

Again, he took a deep breath, and let go of his hair.

Mareena continued climbing down with her arrows, and was somewhat annoyed with the better and faster method Long Hair—erm, Cal—had.

When she was halfway down, she could hear him singing. Normally she wouldn't care, but his voice was a mix of bright and dark tones, rich in a way that made a shiver travel down her spine to her toes.

She nearly lost her grip on the arrows, then when he finished, she shook her head and repositioned her feet on the stone.

A blur of black and gold caught the side of her eye, and Mareena remembered how she was supposed to have been annoyed. She forgot about it again when not five minutes later, Cal started to sing again. And was that—music in the background? Where did it come from?

"Just smell the grass, the dirt,

Just how I dreamed they'd be.

Just feel that summer breeze,

The way it's calling me."

Mareena heard little splashes of water, and laughed to herself, imagining how childish he would look. Not, she kept telling herself, because she needed something to hear other than his voice and the music that went with it.

"And for the first time ever,

I'm completely free."

Cal followed the birds into the cave that must have led out of the area as he freestyled another verse.

"I could go running, and racing,

And dancing,

And chasing, and leaping,

And bounding.