Fly Away With Me

The cold air bites at my skin as I walk quicker. Rain still falls heavily. I walk along a bike track that cuts through the local national park. This track hides me from the road. I’m tired and sore. This little stretch of my wings was a stupid idea. Finally I am getting close to my house. I must have been walking for thirty minutes at a near jogging pace. I’m so exhausted I barely lift myself over the fence. Once I climb in my window I replace the screen then collapse on the bed. Alex is fully awake. He jumps on my chest and paws at my face.
“I’m fine” I mumble but he remains on my chest. .
He isn’t convinced and as I bring my hand up to bat him away he licks one of my numerous cuts. I fall asleep shortly afterwards.

My alarm terrifies me the next morning as it blares loudly in my ear. I jump and fall out of bed tangled in the sheets. The sheets are covered with dirt and blood that had clung to my skin from last night. I’ll have to clean them. I get to my feet and all my muscles ache. I groan. This will be a long day. Alex is curled up on my bedside table and stretches out. As he does he knocks the alarm clock off. He has got such a funny personality. I guess that wouldn’t make much sense to people unless they owned a cat themselves. After I placed the alarm clock back on the table, I shake my head as if to shake out the useless thoughts. With a wince I make my way over to the bathroom.

After I am showered, dressed and ready for school I gently slip my bag on to my shoulders. It hurts a bit but nothing could compare to the pain last night when my wing was set back into place. Wait, last night? I groan. Lucien is going to be bugging me all day about it. He knows too much. I need to move, but I have nowhere to go. Would it be right to just run away? My thoughts are interrupted when Sophia throws the door open. Without thinking I throw a blanket over Alex and stand in front of him. Sophia can’t know about him, she’d just drown him in a bucket.
“What have you done to my linen you whore?” She demands only seeing the dirty sheets.
I bought those sheets myself, they aren’t hers.
“I’ll wash them when I get home” I reply
“I know you will” she snaps at me.
I notice a white envelope in her hands. She sees my eyes rest on it and sneers.
“You got mail cow” she drops the envelope on the ground and strides out of the room.
“Get to school and out of my house” I hear her yell from down the hall.
I uncover Alex then walk over to the envelope. Who would send me mail? No one even knows where I live. My heart drops. What if he has found me? No, he wouldn’t send forward notice. My fingers close around it and I study both sides of the envelope. The front was blank but on the back a small black and white sticker sealed the envelope. It was black with a picture of two matching wings in white. My fingers tremble slightly as I stare at it. Should I open it? What will I find?
“GET OUT OF MY HOUSE WHORE!” I hear Sophia screech from nearby in the hallway.
I jump with a start. Guess that answers my question. I’ll have to open later. I fold it then slip it in my right pocket. After opening the window I walk out of my room and close my door twice.

My walk to school seemed to take forever as questions about the envelope plagued my mind. As I walk to my locker I keep receiving glances from a group of guy and girls. I just ignore them. Maybe they heard another rumour about me. I am nearly amused by the rumours I hear. Apparently I am a vampire, a mental patient, a drug addict and the last one was that I was an elf. I might be a mental patient, but they don’t know that. Hardly anyone knows about what happens in my mind. The rumour about me being an elf was started because I once wore my hair tucked behind my ears. It seems the same screwed up gene that gave me wings also gave me pointed ears. I hate myself.

My locker must be the most organised. Everything is stacked neatly and has its place. I really am strange. Who would actually keep their locker clean, well who other than me? I grab the books I need and shut my locker door before reopening it and closing it. Only after I have clicked the lock shut do I realise there is a sticker on my locker. It is scarily familiar. My books fall to the ground and I raise one finger to trace over the white wings. This isn’t good. My eyes dart around the area looking for anyone who would do this. It must all be some massive joke. Anger fills my being as I push myself to my feet.
“YOU SNIVELLING COWARDS!” I yell at the top of my lungs “IT ISN’T FUNNY! YOU ARE PATHETIC!”
Students around me are shocked at my outburst. No one would expect the quiet, studious girl to be full of such rage. No one is laughing though. If this was a joke, shouldn’t they fall to the ground wetting themselves laughing? I gather my books quickly and dart to home class.

Everyone has heard, my first two classes were filled with strange looks and hushed conversations in which I was pointed at numerously. I sank down in my chair. I haven’t seen Lucien yet, I’m not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. What if he is behind this? No, he wouldn’t do that. As soon as the class ends I am out of the door. I dump my books in my locker and don’t bother getting morning tea. I’m not hungry. I am full of too many conflicting emotions and stress to care about hunger.

My legs carry me as fast as they can to the spot I sat at yesterday. It is incredible how much can change in just a few hours. Lucien isn’t there. I sit in the exact spot as I did yesterday. Students are slowly walking past, I few point at me and whisper to their friends but I don’t take any notice. I am here to see Lucien, get this sorted out. The same group that were glancing at me this morning pass by slowly. Only now do I look closely at them. There is five in total and I only recognise one or two from my math class. There are three boys and two girls. The person who stands out the most is the girl with bright pink hair. How does the school allow her to keep it like that? The school tried to make me dye my hair back to its ‘original’ colour because they thought I dyed it black. I have never dyed my hair before, it is just a very dark brown. The group stops walking a sits on the grass across the open space from me. They all have their backs to the path and look up at me every now and then. What is their problem? Can’t they just leave me alone? That’s it, I am going to tell them to go away now. With a huff I get to my feet. I clasp my hands together as they all look at me. Quickly I cross the open space with glances over my shoulder every now and then. My confidence and anger leave me. They look at me expectantly.
“Took you long enough” A guy with black and green hair.
His hair is mostly dyed black but his fringe is green. It actually looks much better then it sounds.
“To what?” I snap at him.
There’s my anger.
“Come to us,” He says smiling then his smile falters “You did get the note, right?”
I look at him confused. What note? I have never spoken to him before. His lips make an o shape and he gets to his feet. The rest of the group follows his example and gets to heir feet.
“Sorry for any problems we caused you, but talk to me when you get the note” He says as the rest of the group moves off chatting happily “We never turn one of our own away”
Then he jogs off to join his friends leaving me utterly dumbstruck. Questions races through my mind then I feel a tap on my shoulder. I scream shocked and turn around. Lucien’s smiling face meets my eyes. I hit his chest and walk away quickly.
“Lilly! Wait!” Lucien calls after me making me stop dead in my tracks.
I spin around and he nearly runs into me.
“I, am, not, Lilly!” I yell at him putting emphasis on each word.
He backs up a step surprised by my anger.
“Sorry, I forgot Lillian” He says sincerely.
I am too sore and tired to handle this.
“Where were you?” I ask still angry.
“I took so long because a teacher named Mr. Stein or something kept the class behind” Lucien explains.
I nod satisfied with his excuse and start to walk away.
“Wait Lillian, you said you would answer my questions” Lucien says.
Just the thought of explaining about my wings makes me walk quicker. Wings! Finally it clicks in my brain. The note he was talking about. It must be the letter I received today. Why would he know where I live? My thoughts spiral out of control fuelled by my paranoia. Only then do I become aware that someone is waving their hand in front of my face.
“Earth to Lilli-an” Lucien says nearly calling me Lilly again.
“What?” I ask shaking my head.
“You zoned out” Lucien says pulling his hand away.
“I have something important to do” I tell him walking away for the second time in the last five minutes.
He catches my hand peaking the attention from nearby students. I pull away and glare at him.
“Yeah, giving me answers” He says.
“I will soon” I tell him “but something has happened that needs urgent attention”
He sighs and hangs his head defeated.
“Fine, but I will force answers out of you soon” he says with conviction.
I nod and hurry away. There isn’t only one mildly safe spot in this school I know of. Next place I try is down by the creek which is hidden amongst overgrown trees. There are benches to sit on around the slow moving water.

I can hear the chatter of students before I start to creep down the leaf riddled path. With a sigh I turn back and walk towards the Library. I might be able to sit between the building wall and air conditioner units but might is the key word in that sentence. As I approach I see no one around and duck through the gap. The air conditioner units hum to themselves as I sit with my back to the wall. My hand slips into my left pocket but I can’t find the letter. Where’d it go? This is terrible! Wait, my right pocket. My fingers meet the tip of the paper as soon as they enter my right pocket. I pull out the now crumpled paper. Without hesitation I rip the sticker, serving as a seal, off. I pull out the letter inside and begin to read.

Dear Lilly,

My name isn’t Lilly!

My name is Christian. I am just like you as well as my friends. We may not be exactly the same but all alike because of the glorious feathers that lift us higher than any other person can reach.

I swear my heart stopped. How could they know? This must be some joke.
“No” I whisper shaking my head “this is some joke, no one else knows about me”
I angrily ball up the paper and shove it in my pocket.
“That isn’t very nice” A voice says
I nearly scream in fright as my eyes dart everywhere looking for the source of the voice.
“We even offered you to join us” The guy continues.
Suddenly he drops from the roof to the ground beside me. I back away then get to my feet.
“Who are you?” I demand as anger bubbles to the surface.
“I’m Zachary, but just call me Zach ” He replies smiling.
His teeth are perfectly straight and bright, why can’t I have teeth like that? His skin is tanned. How does he have such an even tan? His hair is deep red that doesn’t look like a natural hair colour.
“Why were you spying on me?” I ask as my eyes narrow in suspicion.
“I wasn’t spying merely checking in to see you got our letter” he replies “Did you read the whole thing?”
Of course he was one of that group. Why do they all get to have such great hair?
“Who’s Christian?” I ask ignoring his question.
“He spoke to you earlier, he’s the one with the green fringe”
I nod in understanding as my brain processes everything.
“You sent the letter?” I ask slowly once I have calmed down.
“Obviously, well actually it was Christian but it was on behalf of the group” he gives me a dazzling smile with those brilliant teeth “So did you read the whole thing?”
“Of course not, this is a joke” I say brushing my bangs out of the my eyes.
“It isn’t a joke, we are just like you” Zach says in a calm tone.
I shake my head being stubborn.
“I know, we are all purely human and that is all we have in common” I say then pull my best smile.
Zach frowns.
“We both know that we are not purely human and we both know that no regular person would use the term ‘purely human’ ”
Now it was my turn to frown.
“You don’t have to tackle this on your own” Zach promises me with sincere eyes.
His eyes are mostly blue but the edge has a ring of deep green. Something in those eyes holds me locked in place. I want to shake my head, I want to scream in his face and most of all I want to turn then run from him but I can’t. Suddenly I am completely calm and I can only think of agreeing with him. He must be right. My frown disappears and he smirks slightly.
“Just come and meet the group” He tells me then slings his arm around my shoulders.
Everything seems to make sense. He seems to be the only one who can make sense. I was so confused now he has made everything clear. My muscles feel so relaxed. All stress has disappeared. The threat of him is nothing because Zach has made everything clear. I was so wrong to disagree with him.