Photo Contest

My Favorite Photo (I’ve Ever Taken) 3 Brickfish

My Favorite Photo (I’ve Ever Taken) 3 Brickfish

My Favorite Photo (I’ve Ever Taken) 3 Brickfish

My Favorite Photo (I’ve Ever Taken) 3 Brickfish

I have entered a photo contest in hopes of winning a new camera and some cash for college.If you like please vote :) Votes can be made everyday until the contest is over and they are much appreciated.Thank you!!

Teenage Life~Written 9/20/06

Why is life so hard? So mean?
Why must it tear my heart at the seam?
Why can't it just bring peace?
When all it brings is weeping
Weeping, Weeping, hate and hurt.
Why can't I just make this work?
One dream to dream, one life to live,
That's what everyone is asking me to give.
This isn't what I planned, this isn't what I want.
All I ask for is the happiness and wellness of my friends,
What they want.
I will them life, love,laughter and joy, the answers to all their dreams.
For someone to help them sew up their seams.
Life should be fun, full of adventure, friends, laughter and birthday cake.
Not pain, tears, death and heartache.
You say you know, that you went through it
But you haven't gone through all our shit.
Walk a day in our shoes, you wont make it.
You can't choose.
The teenage life is the hardest one,
But maybe, just maybe, some good will come.
Save us from ourselves, save us from everyone else.
Live our life, and you'll see...
We're the strongest teens we can be.

Points of view:Crash

First Person
I awoke with a sheering pain in my head. Glass. Smoke and dust thickened the air around me, making my lungs cry out for air. My ears were ringing and my memories were spinning around inside. Rosalie? Where is Rosalie? Where is my wife? I looked to my right where she had been smiling only moments before as she played with the baby in the back seat. She wasn’t there. Cries reached my popping eardrums from the back seat. Tyler. I reached back to check on my son, relieved to see his tears streaking threw only the dirt on his face, and not threw blood. Where is Rosalie?
“Shh Tyler, it’s ok. Everything’s ok, daddy’s here.” I breathed to him, trying to calm his racing heart.
I crawled into the back, wincing at every movement, every waking pinch of the previously contracted muscle in my body. I released my son from his savior in his imprisonment, pulling him close to my chest, checking over every inch of his tiny body. More and more sounds began to impose themselves into my consciousness. Sirens. Women screaming. My son’s crying, the banging on the windows by firemen, telling me not to move, the screech of shredding metal as the jaws of life tried to free the door from its hinge.
I looked around again for Rosalie as the memory of the last 420 seconds began to flash in front of my eyes as tears began to blind me.
Her smiling. Tyler laughing as his mother took off her seat belt to reach back and tickle him. The Semi in the next lane over. My wife, so beautiful, smiling at me. Her waved blonde hair dancing around her face, blown gently by the air conditioner on this hot Arizona morning. She’s so beautiful. My wife.
The screeching of tires. The horn of the semi, loud as a train engine as a car turned ever so sharply in front of it. The cracking of axles as the semi turned to avoid the blue van. Screeching. Breaks smoking beneath us, reaching for Rosalie as she reached for Tyler. Jerking the wheel away from the truck. The guardrail. Twisting metal, Sparks,
Crash Crash Crash. Glass shattering, screaming. My wife, falling. The windshield shatters and my wife is gone, over the embankment. Bam, head against the steering wheel then back against the window. Shatter. Glass. Dust. Smoke. Cries, Darkness.
Smoke, sheering pain in my head. Glass.

Third-person limited omniscient
It was any other day for Susana as she made her way to her hated job of a sales manager, just off the highway. She was already late as she put on her eyeliner in her van, looking in the dingy mirror as she sped past cars.
“Shit, come on already! The speed limits 75 jackass!”
She passed the tan car in front of her, she couldn’t be late for work again. This was her last chance and everything depended on it. Her family needed this money, especially after her husband got laid off from Safeway.
Now foundation. She applied it in quick circular motions to her cheekbones to hide the sunspots and wrinkles. As Susana speed past another car she spotted the perfect spot, an emply lane, no cars, her get away. Her freedom.
Susana smiled and jerked the wheel over to the empty lane. “Finally” she thought as she moved over, failing to see the semi inches from her bumper. A loud honk awoke her from her delusion of her wrinkles in the mirror.
“Shit!” she speed up just as her heart did. “Where the hell did you come from”? Fucking truck! Shit!” Her anger boiled up inside her as she just drove faster away, not even checking in her mirror a second time to see the horrific crash that had developed behind her, because of her, nor did the sound of twisting metal catch her attention as she turned up her music and made her way to her exit.

Third-person objective
Rosalie smiled at her son in the back seat, still new to the mothering thing but loving every minute of it. She reached back and tickled his stomach, making him laugh and coo. Her husband smiled in the driver’s seat as he carefully weaved their tan car through Sunday morning traffic. The air conditioner was on and the sun was already beating down on the Arizona ground, but it was a nice day, perfect for taking the one year old to the zoo. As they drove they were relieved when their little car pulled up beside a semi, just for a bit, so that the shade cooled the car and blocked out the glare of the sun.
“Ready for the zoo Ty Ty?” smiled the mother as she tickled her son again, laughing as his smile stretched across his chubby cheeks. The husband chuckled at the sound of his sons laugh and his wife’s giggle, watching the road carefully, particularly a blue van that had been weaving in and out of traffic since they got on, and good thing too as the van swerved around them.
“She’s doing her makeup. What a freaking idiot. She’s driving like a drunk.” Said Rosalie as she looked at her husband, an annoyed look on her face until she looked back at Tyler and smiled. “Never drive like that, ok baby?” She smiled as she tickled him again.
Just then the blue van cut off the cooling semi beside them, making it slam on its breaks and swerve into incoming traffic, including the couples little tan car.
The husband acted quickly as he hit the brakes and reached his arm out to protect his wife as the little car swerved off behind the semi, avoiding hitting it.
The guardrail came up quickly as the husband tried to swerve again to miss it, but with no luck. A loud crash echoed through the morning as the tan car hit the rail hard with the left front side first then pulling hard, hitting it head on with great force. The husband kept his arm out to stop his wife from the windshield but his head found it first and his arm fell limp as his wife’s body was launched out of the front windshield, over the hood, over the rail, and down the embankment, lifeless. The boy cried in the backseat, safe from harm, saved by his car seat as he waited for his father to wake up from his head trauma, his screams fell on deaf ears for two minutes before his father reached back for him.

Tick

Tick-Tock-Tick-Tock. They said it was all in my head. Tick-Tock-Tick-Tock. Everything's echoing, back and forth, back an forth; sounds reverberating off my ear drums, screaming so loud.Tick-Tick-Tick-Tick. Blinding lights, swirling, dazzling, painful lights. Tock-Beep-Tock-Beep. Pain, so much pain. Tick-Beep-Tock-Beep. They said it was all in my head, Danny was a nice boy, they said. Beep-Boop-Beep-Boop. So much pain. Everything rushing around. Iron. I taste Iron. Beep.-Beep...Beep.Beep.


Time of death, 2:27 A.M.

I watched as the doctors and nurses frowned at eachother, as they patted eachother on the back saying "We tried."

"We tried." They said, leaving me lifeless on the gurny. The Tick-Tock of my watch echoed deafly into the stark white walls of the hospital room in St. Joes. The blinding lights shown down onto the sheets like a ray of hope, lost to the darkness surrounding.

I stood in the corner of the room, dumbfounded and lost. I knew I existed, but i felt nothing. Just a constant tingiling throughout my body. The pain of the gaping hole in my chest was no longer agonizing,or even present as I stood there.

I took a couple steps toward my body. My body; my cold, bloody, dead, body. They said Danny was a nice boy.

I lifted the sheets, once pure and delicate now heavy with the scarlet red of despair. My face was sad, my eyes had sunken back and my skin had been stained with white and red. I could see what had happened now as I pulled down the bedding further.

Bam!

...A bullet wound to the chest.

Bam!

...Another to the neck.

They said Danny was a nice boy. They said it was all in my head.

Gypsy: Chapter 7

Naomi was calling my name no longer just in my memories. She took hold of my face firmly in her warm hands as the tears swelled into my eyes. I was banished for burning the village down. I remembered. A sob escaped my chest as well as pathetic mumblings of grief and sorrow as well as begging cries of forgiveness. But she just sat quietly; brushing her thin fingers threw my disheveled hair, not saying a word, the rhythm of her heart calming the child in me.

All this time I had forgotten…all this time, I thought I had been alone…The Desert Rose, I just wanted to help her, I wanted her to help me find where I belonged. Her being here is my fault, and yet…I am here because of her.

Gypsy: Chapter 6

My eyes shot open in the darkness, the gypsy woman was curled against me, her body warm, but the smell of death wouldn’t leave my throat as I got up and rushed to the stream, throwing up. Death lingered in my mind, the image of my mother burned itself against my forehead as the tears fell into the rushing stream. My mother. I remembered my mother. My mind was at a loss and ungodly wails escaped from my lips. My mother.

The Rose awoke and crawled over to me, wrapping her arms around me. She had known all along. Her exotic aroma drew me back into a memory and I tried to fight my way out. I didn’t want to remember anymore, I didn’t want to know but soon a new darkness engulfed my mind and my mother’s body lay on the dirt floor before me.

~*~

The wailing escaped my mouth and the woman chanted louder, everything was spinning. I was spinning. I screamed at the women. They killed my mother, they were supposed to help her, they killed her, the village killed her. I screamed and grabbed the grass draped across the reeds, keeping the night air out. I pulled them down, tearing holes in the foundation of death. I threw them into the little flame, kicked away the stones and screamed. The fire danced and danced until it took half the hut into its swaying body. Women screamed and the chanting stopped. Shouts and cries surrounded me but I just watched the fire. I fed it more and more, enticing it to dance with me through the forest, to take the death that haunted me and engulf it into the eternal. Naomi screamed my name from outside the hut but I just watched the fire as it danced its way to me, the heat burned hotter than the noon sun and felt calming against my cold, trembling skin. The colors popped in the darkness; golds, reds and yellows all sang a sweet melody in my ears. A hand gripped my wrist and I was dragged out of the medicine hut that held my mother. It was Naomi, a firm grip on my forearm, tears and anger reflecting in her eyes. She was shouting at me, I could see her lips moving but I all heard was the fire. Everything around me was a blur. People running to the river to fetch water, others were starring in horror, Naomi was screaming. I just watched as the dancing fire swallowed my mother and then lept into the trees, swinging itself from one branch to another and then to the next hut. I was being shaken violently, my name echoed hollow in my mind. Thoughts rushed around repeating their nightmares. I burned the village down. I killed my mother. I burned the village down. The Desert Rose is my fault. I burned her village down.

Everything had vanished from that day. I had made myself forget... I didn’t flee my friends during the war…I was the war. My mother was there…I burned the village down…

Gypsy: Chapter 5

We ran until the voice of the rat was completely drowned out by the beetle bug’s song and the pink and orange lights broke through the changing leaves. My body was exhausted and my legs shaking with fatigue, but the Rose just continued like she was inhuman. Not a word was spoken as we ran, and it remained like that until we stopped at a small stream to rest and drink. I watched her as she scooped the clear water into her hands, sipping gracefully. I watched her, thoughts racing through my mind. I had tried to remember my memory of the village as we ran, but it was just out of reach. It was like the keys from a prison cell, you could see it hanging there on the wall, but you remained trapped only wishing someone would slip you the tools of escape. I believed that the Rose was those keys. She had the answer to my memories but she was acting like a warden, shielding me from even the vague hope of revelation.

“What is your real name?” I asked her, catching her off guard. She looked up from the spring but never at me.

“Naomi.” She answered simply, and then continued to drink the life from her delicate hands.

Naomi, I thought. It was so familiar and I buried myself in it. I lay back against a large conifer, my body fatigued but my mind very much alive. I searched for her name in the darkness. Flashes of the river and the people’s sad faces etched themselves against the back of my eyes. Naomi I repeated it rhythmically.

The dead grasses beside me cracked and hissed as a warm body lodged itself to mine. The sweet smell of chai engulfed me again and the name Naomi began to draw a face, bright and warm against the cold unconsciousness of my mind.

~*~

The Rose stood there in the river, smiling back at me, much younger and lively then the Rose who lay against me now. The warmth of her body reflected the sunlight against the sparkling water. A flash, and the river is gone and I was walking again. I looked around at the sad faces and up at the hand on my shoulder. A man, Naomi’s father and chief of her clan walked beside me grimacing. He was stern, I remembered, nothing like Naomi but I had much respect for him. He brought me to a small hut pushed together and bound by reeds. I stood at the opening, my heart ached and pounded, I knew what was inside, I knew what was happening in my memory but it was not whispered into my consciousness anymore then a feeling of dread.

The chief pushed me forward slightly into the darkness of the hut, the only light saved was in the corner, a small, blooming little fire. I stared at it, dancing around in its designated home. It kissed the loose stones around it gently, trying to convince them to let it out of its prison, let it grow and dance wildly through the night. But the stones were not waved by its pleas and they held steady. I just stared at them, pain sinking deep into my chest, guilt bubbling up into my heart. The hut smelled of sickness and death, but I just watched the fire.

Chanting seeped into my ear drums and begged me to turn my head away from the fire. My mind wandered but my eyes remained focused. I couldn’t stand to look in the other direction, to look at life dying before me, but the chanting continued and slowly my head turned toward the darkness of the hut. The looming scent of death made my stomach sick and my heart hurt. Slowly my eyes adjusted and the image of a skeleton appeared on the floor before me. Not a skeleton, a woman, my mother. The sickness ravaged through me and passed through me until I threw up. The women in the hut chanted sorrowful words, trying to coax me and the soul of the dead woman before them.

Gypsy: Chapter 4

“You and your mother came to my village. She was ill…we tried to help her. We would go and play in the river Daniel, looking for the emerald crystals. Remember? The emerald crystals Daniel, for your mother…”

“I never knew my mother, I’m an orphan.” I stared at her.

This was impossible. How could my memory of her feel as real as she claims our friendship, and yet, everything is so dreamlike? I grew up as an orphan. They had told me my mother had died when I was born and the doctor just handed me over, without a family I was forced to leave at the age of 16 when I set off on my own.

That’s when my disgrace began. When the war broke out, all was lost. The village I called home was burned to the ground as the people fled. I left them. I left and did not return until this year of my 24th birthday. In that lost time I had traveled all over the worlds, searching for an answer to an unknown question, drinking my way back into sanity; which is how I came across meeting this Desert Rose. Her face was so familiar, and yet, that of a strangers.

I looked at her as she stared at me with disbelief and sorrow. Her jeweled eyes sparkled with the threat of tears. She just shook her head; the shield displayed in her eyes was lowered as a surrender. She stepped closer to me, embracing me with her sweet aroma. Her arms were warm and her scent intoxicating. I let my mind drift into memory as my eyes slowly closed, a wave of calmness engulfing my senses.

I remembered the scents in the village with the singing carts. It smelled like her…all of it. The people frowned at me as I walked down a narrow pass into the trees next to the river. I was smaller, everyone seemed so large to me. My heart was pounding. I looked around at the trees and the people; they were all foreign to me. The faces were kind but sad as I was lead to a little shack between the trees. I knew what had happened. I knew what was going on. I looked at the river beside me as it began to dance and blur with hot tears. What’s happening?

~*~

The Rose began to pull away but I clung to her, wanting the memory to continue, I needed her. I had needed her and I couldn’t remember why. I had to remember. “Please…stay.” I whispered to her, the pictures in my mind started to fade and soar away, I reached for them, trying to cling to their lighted trails as they danced into the blackness of my consciousness, but it was for naught. It had faded and I let go of the Rose, careful not to make her wither any further, but her tears still remained.

“I know you didn’t mean to do it Daniel…but, it happened…and you were banished from me…from everyone. You can’t follow me Daniel. I told you never to follow me…”

The haunting voices began to echo again in the distance and the Rose’s eyes darted, her feet poised to flee but I grabbed her arm, begging her to stay but her eyes had read my thoughts and had already come up with an answer to her own liking.

“Come with me, just tonight. Into hiding…but that’s it. You can’t follow me back to my village; no one must know we’ve met. You’re better off if my people believe you’ve died.” With that her feet leaped from the fallen log they had rested on and we ran into the darkness, blindly.

Gypsy: Chapter 3

I opened my eyes, the scents of the carnival gone and the fresh air full of pine and musk replaced them. I tried to grasp around, get my placing when I felt the pine needles and grasses dragging against my back. I was being pulled by the gypsy girl deep into the forest, the faded voices of the rat and his followers heading into the distance. My body felt heavy like a weight was placed on my chest and my muscles had forgotten to work. A sickening groan broke the silence of the forest and I realized it had come from deep inside my throat drawing the Rose’s gaze back at me, then forward again as she continued to drag my limped body over the roots and rocks around us.

“That potion was meant for my master. But no, you had to come along and breathe it all in. Don’t worry, the symptoms should ware off soon. You’ve been unconscious for over an hour.” She looked back at me, her mouth curled into a scorn. “Why did you follow me?

Her accent was thick in my ears, and my mind was still reeling from the unconscious buzzing. She looked back at me then forward again as she continued to drag me. She struggled with my weight taking short strides and then stopping for a bit, looking around like she was lost. I could see her quickened breath in the chilled air as the tingling started to return into my toes. I threw up my arms trying to grasp a root, a vine, anything to keep her from pulling me further.

“I told you never to return to me.” She continued, paying no regard to my struggle.

“What are you talking about? I’ve never met you before!” my voice was raspy and weak, my throat tight from the spices that had surrounded me earlier.

“Shut up! Please. We have to be quiet now…” her voice turned into a harsh whisper.

“I’m sorry if I upset you, which I obviously have… but I just wanted to help you. I feel like I know you Rose, please just let me go.” I could feel the tingling in my toes moving up my legs as the numbness and paralysis began to wear off. She just dropped my feet abruptly with an angry cry from deep within her.

“How do you know me?” My arms felt as weak as the voice escaping my lips, I struggled to sit up, my stomach like a pudding. She just put her hands on the colorful scarf slung around her waist; her eyes darted around frantically. She was lost, and out of breath. I managed to stand with my legs quaking beneath me, the sting of pine needles aching at my arms and neck.

“I remember you and your mother in my village. We played in the river Daniel, I remember your face.”

I stared at her, my mind reeling from confusion and the soggy musk that cleared my scent from nutmeg.

“You really don’t remember me do you?” Her eyes grew sad but quickly hardened again.

“I used to believe that I was exquisite at remembering faces, especially one as beautiful as yours… I feel strongly as if I know you, but I’ve searched my mind and have found nothing…”

We looked at each other for a while, the cool air nipping at the fall grasses. The night grew darker as the crickets and the beetle bugs began to sing in the weeping pines of the forest.

“As children Daniel, we played as children by the river, remember?”

I searched my mind again for any sign of a river or of this woman’s beautiful face. The beetle bugs sang louder, their song echoed from my feet, entrancing me, distracting my thoughts. I kicked at the ground in frustration. Why can’t I remember…?

Gypsy: Chapter 2

A week had passed before I built up the courage to visit the traveling show that held the celebrated Dessert Rose in her iron cage, but in this week not a moment passed where I didn’t see her image in my mind’s eye. Her beauty shown throughout the days and her movements made me yearn for her.

It has been a long while since I’ve been home, and I believe that it is fate that has brought me here now, with her. I visited old friends who seemed glad to see me but I could tell that inside they were indifferent; after all, I left in the greatest time of need. I left my friends to fend for themselves in this village like a coward, and although I was accepted back with kindness I could never give back the shame that I have earned.

I stood at the gates, watching the men push passed me to get a glimpse of what I had seen. There were posters of her surrounded by the other acts on the trees left in the clearing and on the sides of the trailers, I felt myself slowly walking forward, drawn in by her invisible grasp like she was calling to me. The Rat faced man was smiling at the men as he showed them inside a colorful tent in the middle of the clearing, his eyes gleaming with greed. My stomach began to churn and the guilt bubbled up into my chest, I could not be here with these men who wished to use her for their own satisfactions, to watch her abuse the dance of her people and yet, I wanted to join and it sickened me. I had to save her from her fate, to take her away from this place, that man. It had to be destiny, it had to be why I was here, there could be no other reason that I would accept. I looked around, the clearing almost empty of people and creatures alike, all of them piled into the luminescent tent that sang wildly with voices. Now was my chance to find the Rose and save her from this so she can save me.

I saw her outside the yellow trailer, her chains locked securely around her ankles. She looked sad as she was tying the coined scarf around her waist. I watched her as I stood in the middle of the clearing, just staring at this Rose as she put her costume on. The vibrant colors surrounded her like an aura, a halo. Her beauty was beyond compare and my heart cried out for her. I couldn’t understand why or how, but I felt like I had known her before. I reached deep into my mind for a hint of her beautiful image but nothing was recalled.

Her hair was long and golden like the finest copper. Bright beads and tightly woven yearn decorated those copper waves as they fell over her delicate shoulders. Her head lifted and met my gaze and my heart began to race. I stumbled toward her a thousand words rushing threw my head but never seeming to find my mouth, the simplest and weakest ‘hello’ slipped from my lips as she just stared. As I moved closer to her the warming scent of chai and nutmeg filled my nostrils and dizzied me into a memory of when I was a child. It lasted but a second but I remembered a bustling village, filled with dancing people and the singing wheels of fruit carts as they were pushed past. I blinked and found her just staring at me like I had done something wrong, like I had frightened her and she could not understand.

“I’m sorry, Miss Rose, but…I don’t think you should go in there.” My plea sounded pathetic and fake, but inside I was begging. Something was going to happen even though nothing was making sense. My head was spinning from the herbs and incsceants and her eyes just remained wide and afraid, I tried to continue.

“I’m sorry if I am intruding but I mean you no harm, I’m not like the other men you dance for…no disrespect to you of course…shit. I’m sorry, it’s just…” everything sounded like an echo in a cave as my ears began to ring a tuneless lullaby and I felt my consciousness slowly slipping away.

She took hold of my shoulders and pulled me in what seemed all directions at once; she was calling my name and speaking in a foreign tongue. Everything seemed hollow and unreal. Where am I…? Darkness quickly surrounded me and I felt like I was slowly drifting threw a sea of freshly churned cream, everything was smooth and gentle and I felt like I was wrapped in a warm blanket of satin. The spices of earlier drowned me in their potent scents and I felt sick. I opened my mouth to speak but again the words could not find my lips, and slowly the calm drifting turned into a violent dizzying spell that I couldn’t be woken from. Confusion engulfed me as the sounds of the world seeped slowly back into my consciousness, calls of men, the screeching of birds, the crackle of the dry pine needles, and a woman’s voice.

Imagination

The Writer

This is a great work by Diana Golledge. I think it captures a writers' thoughts really well :)

Surface

I'm weak, I swear.
I cry a lot, I'm insecure.
I have so much to say.
And yet, nothing at all.
I say Yes when I mean No.
I say Yes when I mean Yes.
I'm childish, and a daydreamer.
Who chooses make believe over reality.
I fake my smile, and I let it all out.
If you know me, then you know this.
I try my hardest, and I repress my thoughts.
MY SILENCE IS A CLUE.
Maybe you should pay attention.
Stupidity is not an option.
Its a disease.
And no one has the cure.
I do what I want, but mostly,
I do what is wanted.
My mind escapes me, and I lose my patients.
And when its gone, its gone.
Your motives will only work on the surface.
Art is my escape, life is my nightmare.
Judgment is only passed if you deserve it.
Everyone is entitled to their own suffering.
Some may just share it more then others.
And still, some may care more then others.
This only skims my surface.
And for now, my surface is a window.

Gypsy: Chapter 1 :The Rat and the Rose

~Chapter One~

The Rat and the Rose.

The sway of her body was hypnotizing. The ting of her chains hitting each other created a steady rhythm to the chaotic music all around her. She danced with her eyes closed, as if she didn't care that she was the center of a large crowd of bruiting men. Their eyes focused on the movements of her body, piercing gazes as they tried to see every last enticing movement. She danced the dance of her people, the dance to celebrate life and to bring forth a new and prosperous year to those who were blessed, but these men did not understand. The dance they saw was seductive and exotic and the only meaning they saw behind the graceful sways of her arms was that she must go to bed with them. They gawked at her, cheering and raising their mugs at the young girl in mere rags as she danced on the bar. Coins and liquor were thrown at her chained ankles as she swayed and popped to the drum beat and hollers. Her owner just watched and smiled as he greedily scooped up the silver and put it into his sack, a sickening grin etched across his rat like face. The music ended and the gypsy girl opened her eyes just to remember where she stood, old, drunken men at her feet clawing at her like rabid lions,wanting a piece of her golden flesh.

The rat faced man jumped onto the bar beside her grabbing her wrist and bowing, the patched and worn tunic practically hung of his bones. The pale snicker and the greed in the mans eyes were masked by the kind yet frightening smile that stretched across his face, showing his rat like teeth as they jutted out in every direction.

"Gentlemen! Gentlemen, the beautiful Dessert Rose!" he said gesturing to the slave who was soon after rained down on with coins and booze. "Thank you, thank you." he said kindly. "Now that you have had a little tease of what my show presents i can expect you all to be there right?!" his little voice was drowned out by the hoots and hollers of the drunken party, but the girl just closed her eyes again, a slight sway in her hip.

I watched the girl as the stood on the bar, her eyes closed and her hips gently swaying like a breeze in the Knepler Fields. The Rat pulled her down from her perch and drug her through the wave of hormones. Men groping and fumbling to touch the exotic deity, and desires were shouted without sensors.

The Rat just pushed her through, swatting away hands that were too anxious, laughing. “There will be a time for that if you come to my show gentlemen! The Dexirious Traveling Train, here for the month, if the income is well. Come! Come see my goddess! The Desert Rose, plucked at her blooming from the exotic sands of Berinese, here for your pleasure. And I do mean all of it!” he chuckled and threw his hand to his face as if to tell a secret, but sang out loudly despite it. “But that’ll cost you extra.” He danced around the men with the girl, showing her off, advertising his life.

"We have snake charmers from afar, a two headed monster from the south, the gorgeous No Tongued Loua and of course, more of my secret beauty” he said holding the girls arms up. “See her hypnotizing curves as she swings them to the beat of every man’s heart in this room” he grinned running his pale, aged hand down her body, the golden glow from her skin made his look dead. His hand floated out away from her as a gesture but his eyes remained glued on the girl’s face, her eyes closed and she seemed as if she were in a daze or a dream at peace. Not here, not in this tavern where she is thrown about indecently for this man’s glory

The man’s rat nose scrunched at the foulness of defiance. “I said; see her hypnotizing curves as she swings them, my flower…”

I watched the girl, part of me hoping she would not move, that she would stand there in her entirety and keep her pride. But another, more animalistic side of me begged her to do just that. I wanted to see her move, to see the grace and the power of her hips as she isolated them, to see the movement in her stomach as the coins of her scarf chimed an enticing melody. To watch her as a story unfolds, to see the movements echo throughout her body and the secret joy of her face, but she just stood there. The men around us began to shout and taunt, doubting her ability and the Rat man’s integrity which made the Rat’s face change in color as he shouted cruel and threatening words to the men and then back at the girl.

Her eyes slowly opened and my heart dropped. A rare, exotic beauty stood before me and her eyes were stunning but dulled with a lack of emotion, and were undoubtedly beautiful. The teals and violets of the scarf reflected in her eyes like an ocean of amethysts, the finest cut amethyst that a man could buy, plus some. I stared at her as she began to dance for the men and for her owner, but her mind appeared empty, her eyes emotionless and her body intoxicating.

Falling Home

Snap!

I awoke with a searing pain that shot up my back. I could hear the gasps and screams all around me. My eyes shot open as adrenalin began to surge through me. Everything was white, blinding.

My wings.

I couldn’t let them be seen. The hunters. I sat up quickly to fold them back in against my spine, but the sting of shattered bone and flesh knocked me back.

Shit!

I tried to focus, and slowly color began to seep back into my memory. Sonya. Where is Sonya? Faces were all around me, most likely belonging to the hunters who had followed me into the cave.

Shit! Shit! Get up!

I swallowed my pain and jumped to my feet, almost throwing up from the shock, forcing the oncoming tunnel to subside from my vision. I scanned the ground again. Sonya? I wasn’t in the cave anymore. What happened? Where are the hunters? My beloved…Flashes and clicks echoed around me, gossip and unearthly growls whooshed past me, reverberating off my ear drums.

These are not hunters…

I looked around me at what appeared like strangely dressed humans guarded by tall warriors, their armor gleamed brightly in the sun’s rays, blinding me so I could not see their faces. All around me were strange creatures with colored shells of different sizes and shapes. They all speed past me and the crowd without a care in the world. There was a scream and my attention was forced back to the odd humans that surrounded me. Hunters?

“Grab him!” am man shouted as he lunged at me and I bolted. The pain surging through my body was enough to flat out knock me over but I had to find Sonya. This was not the cave. Everything was wrong as I ran.

Where am I?

As soon as I asked I was taken in darkness, captured by an on looking human as I ran and then shrouded by a heavy cloth that covered by back and head.

“Let me go!” I shouted only to find my voice weak and hoarse, my head pounded.“Where is Sonya?”

“Shh… I’m trying to help you.” It was a woman’s voice. She was strong as she held me against her, stronger than myself in my present state, so I had no choice but to follow as she led me through the darkness.

I heard a door open and I was led inside gently then sat down as the heavy cloth was removed from my head and shoulders. She knelt in front of me and I could see it was an older woman. Older then I was at least. About 40 or so I would guess. The age of a mother. She had curly brown hair with little hints of silver shining threw. Her eyes were hazel and warm.

She can’t be a hunter…

Her eyes were worried, scanning me for God knows what. She smiled kindly at me and spoke soft and slow.

“My name is Barbra. Barbra.” she repeated again even slower. “Do you speak English? Can you understand me?”

I nodded, and just looked at her. Of course I can. I’m not stupid. Her smile got bigger as she looked at me. She was a strange human who asked strange questions, I’d give her that, but, she didn’t seem evil.

“Oh good! What’s your name? Where are you from? How did you get here?” she seemed fascinated with me and yet cautious, like I was the one hunting her. I looked around the room in which I was continued and everything was strange. My head pounded. Where am I?

“Are you an angel?” giggled a small voice.

Startled I looked in front of me where the little voice chimed. It was a young girl, 4 or 5 maybe. Her fine blonde hair wisped around her little face catching the light that broke from the windows.

Shit. She saw. Shit. Shit!

I just stared at her as the older woman started to speak again.

“That’s Courtney. My daughter.” She grinned and looked back at me. “Please, tell me your name. Listen, I’m sure you’re frightened, but believe me, we mean no harm. Won’t even hurt a fly.” She grinned. I swallowed, not about to give my identity away. Where is Sonya?

“Where am I?” I managed.

“San Francisco, California. United States of America. Year 2009.” She kept grinning. “Home sweet home. Where are you from?”

I couldn’t believe any of this. I had never heard of San Francisco, California or United States of America, and I’d been to all but three of the kingdoms plus some deserts and islands. I stared at the floor below me. It was strange. It looked like tile but it was shiny and definitely not made of stone. I’m lost… What happened? I closed my eyes, trying to reach back into my jumbled memories, trying to sort out what happened before I came to San Francisco. I was walking…with Sonya…there was a deer…then the hunters. They saw me with my wings out. They knew what I was. I was definitely worth more than that stupid deer… I ran into the cave below the willow tree…it was dark. I fell. Hard. My wing crumbled under me then…a bright light? There was a flash and I ended up here. Where ever that is. San Francisco. Shit. The humans didn’t seem like hunters, I hadn’t seen arrows or daggers being wielded to cut off my wings for gold. Just strangely dressed humans…Where is Sonya?

“Well, honey, you don’t have to tell me yet if you don’t want.” She smiled at me and stood, walking across the room to the wall. She picked up something black and began to push at it, making it beep loudly as she stuck it to her ear. I watched her cautiously. What is she doing? I looked at the young girl who knelt in front of me, smiling wildly.

“You’re an angel huh? Mama said that angels are special. Are you special? Did you come here ‘cuz I prayed for a brother? I thought I would get a baby brother.” She smiled at me and I could hear her mother talking into the strange black device from the wall.

“Yes honey. Yes. Courtney and I found him on the sidewalk. He just fell from the sky. Yeah…I think he’s the answer to your research. Yes he does…mhm. Yeah there were people, I’m sure a picture was taken. Yeah. Well you own the biggest newspaper print in San Francisco so I’m sure if there was pictures it would go to you. Yeah. Well maybe a little damage control. We don’t want to government to take him. No. I haven’t told anyone.” Her gaze was turned to me as she continued to talk into the strange device. “No, I don’t think he is. No. Don’t worry. Ok. Come home soon. I love you too.”

With that she hung it back on the wall from where it came. I stared at her, an uneasy feeling starting to sink deep into my stomach. I’m not safe here…who was she talking to?

“Are you hungry?” she smiled kindly at me and went over to a huge white box split down the middle and she opened it like a cupboard but it was not made of wood or metal. It was deep on the inside and filled with food and drinks, it reminds me of the storage boxes we have back home, except those are flat on the ground and filled with ice…this stood up and seemed to be just filled with sustenance. My stomach rumbled at the thought of food. How long has it been since I’ve eaten anything besides berries…? I nodded slowly, afraid to trust her. What if this is a trap? What if she really is a hunter? Is she going to poison me? I glanced back at the black box on the wall trying to figure out what had just happened. She must have seen my confusion because she took food out of the strange storage unit and followed my gaze.
“Oh that? That’s a telephone. Do you have those where you come from? You use them to contact people. Like, I just called my husband, Dan, at work. He works for a very popular newspaper. Do you know what that is? Um. Its how a lot of people get their new here; learn about what’s happening in the world. And, that includes you.” She smiled “Your big news for sure, and you being here proves my husband’s theory.” She smiled as she prepared what looked like a sandwich. “He’s very excited to meet you. He’s been studying about other worldly creatures. Like you, if you’re really an angel. Are you from another world?” She asked as she brought me a plate and set the wonderful sandwich on it. It looked like a normal sandwich… bread… meat, cheese, lettuce, but still. My stomach growled again and I felt like I had to hold it to keep it silenced. The sting of my shattered wing and the throbbing of my shoulder and head somehow just amplified my hunger to where I couldn’t stand it. I gripped the sandwich and took a bite half of me expecting to fall over dead, and half of me not caring. To my relief it was the best sandwich I have ever had.

She sat at the table and watched me as I scarfed one sandwich down after another and she started to explain things to me. She told me that I had fallen from the sky into San Francisco and that her husband was doing research on the possibilities of other universes and other worlds unknown from her own. She said the fact that I had wings has to mean something because people with wings just didn’t go around San Francisco or anywhere in her world. It reminded me of home. Even there I was one of the very few angels left after the war... After four sandwiches my stomach stopped rumbling and I felt like I could sleep for days, but my wing still ached and I had no idea what happened, and I had no idea where my Sonya was. I couldn’t remember…

“You get enough to eat hun?” She asked cautiously, like I would eat her next. She took my plate back to the storage unit and placed it beside it. I nodded and was about to tell her my name and ask if she saw Sonya when the door in the next room opened and a man dressed differently from Barbra came in smiling.

“Is this him?” he said looking me, setting his things down on the table at which I sat. Barbra nodded.

“Yes. He said he can understand English but he hasn’t told me his name or…really anything.” She sighed as she took her seat across from me again. I looked at the man. He was in all black with his hair neat and slicked back. His eyes were kind like Barbra’s and Courtney’s and I could feel the tension starting to leave my muscles, but I wouldn’t let myself drop my guard fully.

“My name is Dan. How are you? Where are you from?” he knelt in front of me, examining me like Barbra had done earlier.

Well my wing is broken and my arm is numb and I have no fucking idea where I am or really where I’m from anymore and I’m exhausted and confused and alone. I can’t remember what happened completely and I don’t know where the love of my life is or if she’s been kidnapped by the hunters as a ransom for my wings, or worse. How the hell do you think I feel? I continued to watch him carefully, if I were really in another world how does he know about me? I was sure it had something to do with his newspaper. It had to be some foreseeing device or…window to other worlds. Maybe he wasn’t a human as I had believed. Perhaps he was a wizard or warlock. I could feel my muscles tightening again as the feeling of safety threatened to run.

“I need help.”

I bit my tongue at that. I hated to admit it but it was the truth. If I were home again I wouldn’t have a problem, even with a broken wing. I would have been able to find my way around and chances are I would find somewhere I’ve been before. Years of traveling and scavenging had thought me a thing or two about survival, but things here are so strange. If Dan was a wizard, he didn’t seem evil…just…strange.
Dan smiled at me and closed the door, his eyes told of his excitement but his voice was level. My wife, Barbra, told me over the phone that you had wings. Is this true?
“Yes.” The heightened danger began to ripple on my skin. He wanted my wings.
“May I see them?” he asked with pure curiosity. I stared at him. There was no bloodlust in his eyes and he hadn’t mentioned anything about gold.

“Why?” I asked simply.

“I just want to know if your real. You have no idea how long I’ve waited to meet you. Please?”

I sighed quietly and pulled down the cloth from my shoulders. He rushed over to me to examine them as I let them out slowly, cautious of the situation and of the hollow bone that jutted out the side. The pain was excruciating but I swallowed it down, having to force away the oncoming tunnel yet again. I closed my eyes as he gently extended it fully, examining every inch of it. Barbra was behind me doing the same and I could feel Courtney’s presence in front of me, but I kept my eyes shut, wincing at every movement.

“You’ve definitely broken it. What about your other one?”

I answered simply by extending my right wing fully. I opened my eyes and looked at Dan. His mouth was agape as he and Barbra stared and Courtney clapped, giggling. I looked at my wing. It really wasn’t that impressive…it was about 14 feet long and a dull grey color. Nothing spectacular. Sonya used to say that it made my blue eyes stand out. I never really understood that. Barbra had gone and gotten bandages before I closed my wing in again.

“Poor darling, you really fell hard didn’t you. You must have come a long way.” She said softly as she bandaged my wing. I could only manage a small nod. “Don’t worry, we’ll have you fixed up in no time. I’m a vet. I’ve dealt with broken wings before, never this big or on a boy…but wings never-the-less.” She smiled.

I had absolutely no idea what a vet was but she was gentle and seemed to know how my wing extended and where to place it. “My name is Kal-el.” I said looking back at them. If they hadn’t killed me yet, maybe they wouldn’t, and, if I was going to survive and find my Sonya, I needed people I can trust on this…United States of America. They both smiled at me, like it was the one thing in the world they wanted to hear so they could die happy. Dan sat me back down at the table after my wing was bandaged. It felt awkward and heavy against my body. I tucked it back into my spine as well as I could but the bandage was now too big to go in. Barbra had gotten the cloth from earlier and placed over my shoulders yet again.

“The coat will keep you from going into shock.” She had said smiling.

“Well Kal-el. Where are you from? If you don’t mind but I really need to know.” The excitement once contained in Dan’s eyes was now shining through his smile and practically vibrating off of him. “I’ve been researching just this sort of thing for years. You have no idea how important you are Kal-el. There are going to be big changes. People will believe me now. I mean, just look at you!”

I sighed. It seemed like I was going to be here a while. At least long enough for my wing to heal and to get my bearings in this strange world. I hope Sonya found a family to stay with as well…or better yet, I hope she didn’t fall with me.

“I’m from everywhere…Except here I guess. I traveled a lot. I was orphaned as a child and from then on I’ve belonged to a group of orphans…runaways…thieves. Misfits. We would travel from town to town, kingdom to kingdom…fighting to live and trying to fit in… A lot of the angels like me died in the war and a lot of other children were orphaned like I was, we all had joined together…but, the last place I was before here was the Elvin kingdom.”

“Elvin kingdom? You know elves?” Dan’s excitement was almost uncontrollable and I couldn’t understand the strange question he asked me.

“Of course…don’t you? Elves are the most widely populated of beings. They have the largest population next to the Riders…”

He just shook his head, but his smile continued to spread as he listened. “Elves don’t exist here Kal-el. You’re on planet Earth. Don’t you see? You’re unique! Something the people here can only imagine. You’d make quiet the story Kal-el. Elves and angels, well, they’re just figments of fairy tales here. What other creatures do you live with? What’s your world called? What is it like? Are there many angels? Is it a democracy or something else? What about the war, was it-?”

“Honey.” Barbra smiled. “Breathe.”

“I’m sorry. I’m just excited, I’ve always thought there were other worlds and now here you are.” He smiled. “Sorry, I’m just really excited.

No kidding.

“Well…I don’t really know what you’re talking about…but no…there were no other angels…none that I knew of or had ever met. They were all killed in a war about a twenty years ago…” I looked down, the thought bringing up all of my old questions of where I came from and where I belong…and now I’m here. Great. I need to get home. Home. Where my Sonya is, I hope. My heart felt like it would split and my head ached. I couldn’t remember what happened with my Sonya. I closed my eyes almost begging to remember everything before I fell, but the rock that I hit my head on in the cave had claimed a lot of my memory of the last few hours. What if it wasn’t hours? What if I was in another time? Sonya. My Sonya. Where are you?

Dan opened his mouth to express the sympathy etched across his face when the front door swung open, slamming against the wall, making everyone jump.

“Evelyn Jane!”

“Sorry ok?!” the door closed and a girl came into the kitchen, and in spotting me she stopped dead in her tracks.

My heart felt like I had died. My beautiful Sonya, my beloved. She couldn’t be gone. I have to get home. I have to go home.

“Mom. Who is this? You didn’t bring home another hobo did you?” she shook her head and stormed past us to the ice chest. I watched her, her fury written all across her face and yet she was probably the most attractive human I’d seen so far in this strange world. She had chestnut hair that was pulled away from her face so I could see her honey colored eyes. Her bone structure reminded me of an elves but she was far too short to be one. Courtney ran over to her with her arms raised for a hug.
“Me and mommy found an angel sissy.” She said pointing to me. I looked at the girl called Evelyn Jane and her eyes narrowed into a sinister glare.

“Oh you’re an angel are you?” I just stared back at her, unsure if I should answer or prepare for a fight.

“He is sissy! He has wings I sawd them. Daddy was right!” she giggled with a warm-hearted, innocent smile, her arms still reaching for her sister who just sighed and shot a glare back at me.

“So where are they then?!” she yelled looking at me and then to Barbra who frowned. “You know better than to let dad influence Courtney!”

“Excuse me? Don’t you raise your voice to me young lady.”
“But he does sissy! I sawd them!”

“Yeah well you also see imaginary friends!” With one last huff she slammed the ice box making its contents rattle and she ran past us up the stairs with Courtney close on her heals.

“I’m sorry about her…her boyfriend just broke up with her yesterday…she’s still a little sour. Do you know what a boyfriend is?” I shook my head as I looked up the stairs after her.

“What about lovers?” he continued. “Soul-mates? Do you have those in your world?”
“Beloved?” I looked back at him. My heart sank. Sonya…

He nodded and smiled. “Yeah, a beloved. Do you have one?”

“Yes…Sonya. Have you seen her?” I looked to Barbra and my soul was almost pleading. “She was with me in the cave, when I fell. Was she with me? Was she here? I- I can’t remember. She has blonde hair…she was wearing a purple gown…"

Barbra frowned and my heart sank. She’s not here.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t see where you fell. You ran into me…but I didn’t see anyone in a purple dress.”

“Why were you in a cave?” asked Dan as he stared at me.

“The hunters. They wanted my wings. We had ran and there was a cave, then…I don’t really remember…I fell. I fell into the cave after hitting my head and I landed on my wing…there was a bright flash..and I ended up here. Where is Sonya?”

“A bright flash?” Dan stood and went to a shelf in the next room, I watched him as he fumbled through what I thought were books until he had found what he was looking for. “Were there glowing symbols? Symbols like this on the walls?” he returned and held a page up for me. There were symbols written on it. Elvin.

“I thought you said elves didn’t exist in this world.”

He looked confused as he glanced back at his book. “They don’t. Is this Elvin?”

I nodded and tried to remember, everything happened so fast. There was a blue glow as I fell. It sped past me body as I crashed to the ground. I nodded again.

“We’ll according to this book. That was a portal used to travel from one universal plane to another.” He smiled wildly as his excitement began to leap off him into the air surrounding us. “You found a portal! A real portal, that’s how you’re here! I can’t believe this! I have to tell somebody! A real portal Barbra! Time and space travel are possible! There has to be a portal on somewhere in San Francisco. We have to find it. This is amazing!”

“A portal here?” I asked and hope began to press into my mind. “That means I can go home right? Please, please help me find it. I have to find Sonya. Where is it? Is it close?”

Barbra frowned and looked at Dan. “We don’t actually know any of this Kal-el…it’s just what makes sense. Because, if there wasn’t then how did you fall here?”

“Please! I have to find Sonya!”

“We’ll help you, ok? Tomorrow. We’ll search for your Sonya after you’ve had some rest and your strength is up. It’s late and this has been an exhausting day, so lets go to sleep and we can start searching tomorrow. Alright?”

I bit my lip. I needed to find Sonya now. She could be in danger and I’m not even in the same world as her, I need to get back…but Barbra had been right. I was weak and needed rest before I started to look for my beloved, so reluctantly I let her show me to a room and some clean linens.

I was shown up the stairs to the guest room next to Evelyn Jane’s with new sleeping pants on and my wound freshly wrapped. Barbra had gone in before me to explain everything to Evelyn who, judging by the muffled screaming coming from behind the closed door, did not believe her. Barbra had said that Evelyn should apologize for being so rude but by the sounds of it, that wasn’t going to happen. Dan walked by after putting Courtney to bed and handed me a warmed, dampened cloth.

“Put this over your shoulder and wing when you lie down. It should help relax the muscle a little. And don’t worry about Eve…she’s not as mean as she’s making herself look.” He smiled at me and bid me goodnight, retiring to his room when Barbra came out. She smiled at me and kissed my forehead encouraging me to enter the room, “Evelyn has something to tell you. If you need anything just let me know alright? Or let Eve know and she’ll help you. Goodnight Kal-el. Get some rest.” and then she too retired to bed.

I stood in Evelyn’s doorway waiting for her to yell at me for something I wasn’t aware I did but she didn’t even glance at me. She just pointed to a pile of blankets on the floor. For bed I presumed. I sighed and went over, and bended down to gather them up but the strain on my shoulder made me rethink my plan. I stood again and looked at Evelyn Jane. But she never looked back.

“I’m sorry if I upset you.” I said after a while in silence.

“Just shut up. You’re only here because my dad thinks you’re an angel. You know that right?”

“I don’t believe in lying Evelyn Jane. I am an angel. And I am grateful. I was fed, bandaged, and tomorrow I am to look for my beloved, and the portal from where I fell.” I said.

She glared at me. She didn’t believe me and I couldn’t understand why.

“Just shut up. Those are your blankets. Now go to your room and leave me the hell alone you freak. And I’m not going to apologize for something I didn’t do.”
She turned her back to me and stuck something into her ears. I watched her. She was a very beautiful human, no doubt about that, but she seemed to hate me for no apparent reason that I could grasp. Her personality reminded me of my Sonya, stubborn and hardheaded, but Sonya made up by being kind and loving…my beautiful Sonya. When I thought of her my heart clenched and threatened to stop, sometimes I wish it would, so that I could die and find my beloved again.

“Will you help me lift these, please?” I asked but she didn’t turn or even recognize that I was still standing there. With a sigh I and let my eyes wonder around the room. It was dull to say the least and yet fascinating. There were figurines on shelves and pictures of random men hanging on the wall. I glanced back at Evelyn to find her looking at me. Our eyes met.

“What are you looking at freak? Why are you still here? Get out.”

“Your room. Who are those men? Past beloved?”

She looked angry and confused at the same time as she shook her head and lay on her back. She brushed one of her delicate fingers over a face.

“They’re movie stars.” She stared at me. “God you’re really out there aren’t you. You know, movie stars. George Cloony, Ewan McGregor?”

“What are movies?” I bit my lip as her face began to change color from porcelain to crimson.

“Seriously?! Stop playing this stupid game Kal-el. A Superman reference, really? What the hell is your name?”

“My name is Kal- el, Evelyn. Why would I lie to you about my name?”

“Hmm, well let’s see, maybe because you’re lying about everything else?” She stood her eyes fiery as her voice. “I know my dad is a little weird but he seriously believes in angels ok? So stop making fun of him and my family and just get the hell out. You’re not funny.”

I couldn’t stand her ignorance anymore and I stepped closer wincing at the tare in my side.

“Don’t you dare come any closer. My parents may trust you but I sure as fuck don’t” she grabbed the blankets and stormed into the guest bedroom and then back into hers, pointing furiously out the door. “Get to your room freak.”

“I DON’T lie Evelyn, I told you that. Why can’t you just believe that I am an Angel? I am.”

“Angels are not real KAL-EL!”

I shook my head , taking off the shirt that Dan let me wear to open my wings. His shirts were solid in the back so I couldn’t. I looked hard at her, tired of being doubted. I opened my wings as wide as they would extend. The left drooped a little from the bandaging but I stretched it as far as I could, staring at her as her eyes got wider and wider until she began to hit me furiously.

“Get out! Get out! You’re not funny and I don’t believe you now leave me the fuck alone! Get out!”

I glared but didn’t have the strength to fight back, and besides that, she was a human girl. Her ignorance was spiteful but if I we’re really in another world then she couldn’t be blamed. I simply blocked her hits and said calmly, “I didn’t mean to scare you… I just didn’t want you calling me a liar anymore.” I admitted as I retreated back towards the door. She just watched me, her eyes furious.
“I’m sorry I scared you Evelyn…goodnight.” I walked back into the room that I was given and laid beneath the covers, setting the cloth on my shattered wing. The warmth soothed the tears and I began to relax. I thought about Sonya, my lovely Sonya. Soon I will be home…and calm darkness enveloped me in its arms.

Snap!
A scream.
Snap!
Another. Where is she?
Sonya! Sonya where are you?! Watch out for the arrows! Sonya!!
Snap! An arrow flew past my head into her back.
Crack! Through her ribs and her chest.
Momentary silence rushes my brain as I fall to my knees. She lay dying in my arms and there was nothing I could do. The poison had spread throughout her body and not even the best healer or divine power could save her. Her eyes were glazed over and staring blankly through me. I whispered her name and her gorgeous, dying, blue eyes focused on me once again. I watched as my beloved drifted away into permanent sleep, as her lungs froze and her loving heart stopped. I clung to her; I clung to the fading warmth of her skin, to the lost sound of her song and to the calming sense of her touch.
My beloved, my beloved…
I wept for her, begging God to return her to me, just for a moment. I needed a moment to tell her she would be ok, that I loved her and I would see her again. I needed that one last moment that was robbed from me by the devil himself. The hunters. I grab Sonya’s lifeless body and retreat to the cave under the weeping willow. It wept for Sonya. A sorcerer could bring her back. Survive. Survive!
Crash!
Tumbling uncontrollably into darkness. Crack! My head against a rock, Sonya no longer in my arms. I fall.
Snap!
My wings! I can’t let them be seen.
Flash! Blinding.

I awoke with a start as tears welled into my eyes and fell uncontrollably. My Sonya. My beautiful Sonya. Dead. She didn’t fall. The hunters. I remembered. They had gotten her in the opening of the cave. The arrow had burst through her chest as she began to fall to the ground. Sonya. My Sonya. My sobs echoed in the dark emptiness around me. I was alone. Alone. Sonya has been gone too long to be saved by even the greatest sorcerer. Alone. I am alone. This is my home now. Home. The sound fell deafly on my heart, I didn’t want to except it but this is my home now. I am the only one left of my kind.

There was a creak at my door as a thin line of light grew into a child sized glow. Courtney came into my room and climbed onto my bed, curling her small body against mine. I held her tight as the tears rained down from my eyes.

“Don’t worry big brother…mommy and daddy will help you get home.” She whispered.
I swallowed my pain, and the numbing of my heart began to swallow my soul. I watched her as she lay there. Unafraid and caring. “I am home.” And I let the numbness swallow my pain, at least for tonight.