Rarae Aves

“Why the hell are you still standing here for? I thought I told you I wanted you out of my sight.” Amber’s stepmom, Delia, scowled, her eyes hard as they looked over her. The fifteen year old girl didn’t respond. “What? What is it that you want? Quit staring at me like some kind of creep, you little brat,” her stepmom snapped again.

Amber swallowed, mouth tightening into a thin line as she willed herself to keep looking straight into the woman’s eyes. She wanted to say, “I’m leaving, and I’m not coming back because I hate you so much.” She couldn’t bring herself to doing so, though. Instead, she just settled for saying, “…Nothing.”

Delia sighed, pursing her lips. “Always acting like something’s wrong with you. Why can’t you be normal? I’m seriously considering taking you to get tested for some kind of mental illness.” She made sure to say the words “mental illness” with a tone of disgust in her voice, suggesting that she didn’t think highly of people who had them. She continued, “God, if you do, that explains a whole hell of a lot. Maybe we can put you on some pills or something to make you less of a messed up freak.”

Just then, a rush of anger gathered in Amber as she stopped herself from cursing and also from saying, “If I’m messed up, it’s because of you.” She didn’t know if she was up for the chance of a verbal fight to turn physical. She glanced at Delia’s crutches that were propped up against the wall next to Delia’s chair, wincing at the thought of possibly being struck with one of them. In all of eight horrible years, Amber’s stepmom never once laid a hand on her, probably just to avoid any legal punishment that would result, but things were different ever since the divorce and the accident. Delia had grown more cruel than usual, and Amber had begun to worry for her safety.

“What?” Delia hissed, “Staring at my crutches? If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t need these damn things.”

“You’re blaming me?” Amber had finally gathered up a bit of courage, “You’re the one that kept slamming your foot on the gas pedal.”

“Only because you were going to take all damn month just to drive us around the corner, you idiot!”

“Maybe if you weren’t drunk and yelling, I wouldn’t have been so nervous!”

“I have to drink in order to half-way tolerate your wretched existence! In fact, I never drank, except for socially, until you ruined my life and made Keith leave.”

“Oh, so it’s my fault you have crappy taste in men, now?” Amber stood firm, feeling less afraid, at last getting to say what she always wanted to.

“Keith was the best thing that happened in my horrible existence, and you drove him away,” Delia spoke, voice getting lower.

“You’re the one that told that loser to leave,” Amber pointed out, though she was glad that Keith was gone.

“Loser?” Delia growled, “That loser treated me like a queen, much more of a man than your greedy father ever was.”

Amber’s hands tightened into two clenched fists as her teeth grinded against each other. Her face became hot with anger. It took all of her inner strength to not jump on top of her stepmother and beat her unconscious for saying that. How dare she have the audacity to bring her deceased father up, especially in a negative light, when he had been nothing but good to that horrible woman? “Don’t…you…dare…” Amber grunted out in fury. Never in her life, had she hated Delia so much; this was an entirely new, unexplored level of abhorrence.

“What are you going to do about it? He didn’t love me. That man only cared about himself; all I was to him was a new mom for you and his new sex toy.”

“He loved you!” Amber yelled, “He loved you so much, though I’ve never been able to figure out why! He deserved someone so much better than a monster like you! You…you…you bitch!” Both of the gasps that followed seemed loud enough to be audible throughout the entire house. Delia gasped, surprised that her timid, inferior stepchild would disrespect her in such a manner. Amber gasped because she couldn’t believe she had actually said something like that. Dear God, Delia was going to murder her. Amber put her hand to her mouth, not sure what to do. “Oh, God, what did I just do? Why did I just say that? I’m in so much trouble. Okay, okay, just beg her for forgiveness. Get on your knees and start crying. Start rubbing her feet and promise you’ll never speak unless spoken to ever again. Lie and tell her you love her and you’ll do anything she wants…just do what she wants and…” Before Amber could finish her thoughts, a stinging sensation met her right cheek. For that moment, the sound of Delia’s hand against her face seemed like the loudest noise in the entire world. Placing her hand gently where she had just been slapped, Amber back away and muttered, “I wish you weren’t my stepmother.”

That was followed by an ever-so-classy, “I wish when you crashed my car, you ugly idiot, that it had been enough to kill you.”

Amber swallowed hard and managed to squeak out the word, “Fine,” before running towards the laundry to go downstairs into the basement. When she got in the basement, she went into the little room that had been sectioned off down there. It had recently become her room when Delia demanded she stay down there and moved in all of her stuff. She locked the door and sat on her bed, tears starting to fall. “I can’t do this anymore,” she thought, as she buried her face into her palms, body lightly shuddering. She had had enough. “No more, no more.” Lifting her head up, she wiped her eyes dry and sniffled. After letting out a long, shaky side, she whispered a promise to herself, “That’s it. No more playing around. This is going to happen tonight, no matter what.”

~***~

Never did Hana think that doing nothing could be so draining. For two weeks, she’d been doing nothing but lazing around and slumping about. It was really all she could do anymore, all she was allowed to do. “328, 329, 330, 331…or wait, did I already count that one?” Hana was lying on her pastel pink bed spread, attempting to count all the little lines on the ceiling tiles above her. A terrible sigh that evolved into a frustrated growl erupted from her throat. The young fairy had her head near the bed’s lavender foot board, and her feet were propped on the head board. She let out a second, much quieter sigh as she crossed her ankles. Hana felt tired and lazy, her body aching a little from lying around in bed so much. “This isn’t fair,” she complained to herself.

She was nothing more than a bird in a gilded cage; trapped in her large, luxurious home, not allowed to leave. It hadn’t always been that way for the little fairy. Hana used to be able to ride her bike throughout the kingdom, go to school, and fly to the forest, as well as other things. That all changed two weeks earlier when her father that she had fairy ointment hiding in her room. Fairy ointment was illegal, and any other offender would have been imprisoned for having such paraphernalia, but supposedly being the king’s daughter had its advantages. So instead of being arrested, she was just punished by having to stay in the castle all day, every day. A warm, beautiful castle with multiple rooms was more pleasant a place than a dark, dreary dungeon. However, the crushing hopelessness and lack of freedom of both settings were equally matched. “How is literally being grounded for life any different than being locked away in prison?” she thought.

She closed her eyes and placed her palms above them, her father’s harsh words still in her head. “And you will never see the light of day or the night sky ever again!” he had yelled at her, “You will be schooled at home from now on, and your bike is being destroyed as we speak. We’re tightening up security, too, so you’ll never get away.”

“I…hate you,” Hana cried, upset from the memory, “I hate me. I hate everyone.” She sobbed harder, shoulders shaking. The light in her room still managed to slide its way in under her hands and illuminate her closed eyelids, making them appear a bright pink. It was annoying, she wanted darkness now. She went and turned off the light, the room turning grey. Salty tears streamed down her face as she crawled into her bed. All she wanted to do was build a cocoon of blankets around her and hide away from the world forever. She hadn’t actually slept much in those two weeks, due to her mind constantly racing and always being upset. She couldn’t help but be angry at herself for getting herself into this situation.

If only she were like all the other fairies, she wouldn’t have let her curiosity get the best of her. If she were normal, she wouldn’t have become fascinated with humans, the alleged enemy of all mystical creatures, in the first place. She should have listened to her parents all of those times prior when they warned her about how unsafe it is to be near humans. After all, according to their history books in school, the humans had betrayed the fairies and forced them into hiding, despite all that the fairies had done to help them.

Hana remembered how silly she thought that was. What the humans did had happened centuries ago, the world had changed since then. They couldn’t still be prejudiced towards her kind, right? There had to be at least one human that would be willing to befriend a fairy. At least, that’s how she used to feel. Now, she wasn’t so sure. Maybe there was a reason why fairy ointment was illegal, to protect fairies from harm. If she had only obeyed her parents and conformed to the standards that were expected of her, she wouldn’t have been punished. After all, her dad said he and her mother were doing this to keep her from meddling, to keep her safe. Whether it was to protect her or not, being confined made her miserable. She cried and cried until her jaw was sore. Once she was empty of tears, Hana did something she hadn’t been able to properly do; she drifted off to sleep, dreaming of a way to escape.

Hours later, the beautiful fairy awakened from her slumber, feeling slightly better. She yawned and rubbed her eyes, a bit of mascara smearing on her hands. She looked to see that mascara was on her pink, frilly pillowcase, as well. She rolled out of bed, face and hair disheveled. After flipping on the light switch, she made her way over to her vanity and assessed the damage. In those two weeks, she had completely neglected herself. Large knots were woven all throughout her greasy hair, old makeup remained caked up on her face, and she did have a slight displeasing aroma lingering off of her. It was definitely a low point for her. She felt empty and didn’t care about anything anymore. A slight chill tingled up her spine, causing her arms to break out in goose bumps. A slight breeze had blown in and caused her to shiver.

Autumn was nearing. The days were still pleasantly warm, but the nights were becoming cool. Hana looked over at her bedroom window. “I didn’t know I had left you open,” she spoke softly, going to close it. Before she did, however, she couldn’t help but get lost in the moon’s glowing beauty. The large, cratered orb hung in the sky, surrounded by sparkling stars. She reached over towards its direction, pretending to grab it in her hand and pull it towards her chest, right above her heart. She longed to go outside, to be in nature. A stray tear fell down her cheek. It was then that she made a decision; she had to leave, if only for a little while. Her heart began to flutter about nervously. The thought was scary, but she had to do it. She was going to do it. She wanted to breathe fresh air once again. Thoughts of the lake, her favorite place in the world, swarm around in her mind. She had to go there just one last time. Just one last time. She clenched her fist, determined, and went to the bathroom to tidy herself up.

~***~

She had done it. She finally did it. Amber had decided that on that very night, it was going to happen. No more talking about it or daydreaming about it, nothing but simply doing it. It was strange, though; something wasn’t right. She had thought that the feeling of liberation would be overwhelming. However, sneaking out and running away from the place she called home, even if it was an unhappy place to be, made her stomach tighten.

When night fell, she had packed up her things and snuck out of the basement, creeping along ever so quietly. Her heart was racing. “I should just forget it, turn around and just go back to bed,” she thought. She was about to step out of the laundry room. She gulped and looked back at the entrance to the basement. “No,” she thought, furrowing her brow, “I’m not staying here and that’s final.” After all, she had gotten along pretty far already…well, further than she thought she would, anyway, though that wasn’t saying much. She had managed to pick the lock to the basement, the one that Delia had installed to keep her locked in. It was tricky, she didn’t think she would honestly be able to do it, but after a while, she did. All it took was two paperclips, the same two that Amber was shoving into her pants pocket as she tip toed out of the laundry room and into the downstairs hallway. Constantly looking out, hoping she wouldn’t get caught, she could feel a sense of dread coming over her. She made it to the end of the hall. Yes! Almost there. Closing her eyes, she let out an inaudible sigh, mentally reminding herself that anywhere in the world was a better place for her than there at the lake house. Opening her eyes again, she sucked in some air and clenched her fist in determination.

She made it into the dining room. Everything seemed to be going pretty okay. That is, until she accidentally stepped on one of the squeaky floorboards. It let out a horrible squeal, causing her to quickly lift up her foot and completely freeze up. She stood still for a few seconds, making sure she hadn’t been heard. That was close. She extended her leg so she could step over the board. After creeping out of the dining room, she only had one more room to go: the living room. She quickly darted across the room constantly looking around to make sure it was safe. She was so close now. The problem was, the closer she got to escaping, the more afraid she became.

All she had to do was disable the alarm and leave. The only problem was that she had to punch in the code, and every time a button on the keypad got pressed, it would beep. What if Delia were to hear? Maybe this was all just a big mistake…

It seemed that her hands and her mind were not in sync with each other, for her brain was screaming, “Go back, forget it!”, but her hands were already putting in the code. Finally, it had been disabled. Just as she was about to unlock the door, the sound of footsteps could be heard upstairs.

~***~
After a nice, hot shower, Hana washed her face and dried her hair. “Let’s do this,” she said to herself as she looked at her reflection. She went in her room and made her bed, the first time it had been made since she had been punished. She refused to let the maids, or really anyone, for that matter, come in her room. The only exception would be when Oren, her butler, came to give her something to eat at meal time. He would hand the plate to her, and then open his mouth in an attempt to console her, but she’d stop him and say, “Please go now, Oren. I just want to be alone in silence.” After the first ten times of her not wanting to listen, he eventually gave up, and didn’t bother trying to say anything. She felt bad; he was the closest thing she had to a friend, and yet, she had been ignoring him and acting annoyed with his presence. She’d have to make it up to him; she made a note to pick him a beautiful flower while on her journey. He simply adored flowers.

The young fairy got dressed in a pair of dark blue pants, a white shirt, and a thin royal blue sweater. She slipped on the first pair of shoes she could find and grabbed her backpack, which she took with her whenever she left the house. Stopping by her vanity, she looked at her own reflection. She looked a lot better than she had prior, but an air of sadness still lingered among her features. Her eyes were dark and lifeless; her skin lost its glow. Her lips were constantly dipped down, refusing to form a smile. Also, her posture was so stiff, so unnatural. Her shoulders were raised and tight, as if she was trying to hold up some great load. She just couldn’t seem to relax.

In the mirror’s reflection, she could see some of her room. Her beautiful, soft bed, her large open closet full of racks and racks of gorgeous clothes, and shelves full of lovely hand crafted trinkets and plush animals. She looked behind her. She had aesthetically pleasing paintings on her bedroom walls, most of which depicted pictures of her magnificence, others were of pretty outdoor scenes; all painted by the best artists in the kingdom. In one corner of the room was a huge, four-layered platform full of stunning, expensive shoes. She had dozens of jewelry boxes, multiple necklace racks, and a bookshelf full of books, most of which she hadn’t read yet. She even had a soothing indoor fountain in her room. She looked up at the immaculate crystal chandelier above her, the one that lit her room. She sighed heavily. Any other girl would have been contempt with all of the fabulous things she had. Why was she still unhappy? Why did she always feel like there was something more, something missing in her life? What was wrong with her?

“Well, if I have to spend the rest of my life sad, I might as well have one more night of enjoyment,” she decided in her mind. She was about to climb out the window, when she saw a couple of guards outside a few feet below, both of them moving from one side to the other, walking back and forth, passing where her window was. “Oh, what am I going to do? They’ll spot me for sure. Unless…a freeze frame spell? Yeah, that should work,” she spoke softly. So she got one of the books that she got from her new teacher for her homeschooling, and searched for the right spell…

…”Okay, let’s try this,” she declared, hoping that this would be one of the few times that she didn’t totally mess up a spell. She waved her wand, and tried her best to focus on what she wanted to happen…

~***~

“Oh God,” Amber panicked internally, “She’s going to kill me, she’s going to hack me up into a bunch of pieces and kill me. I have to go back.” She honestly tried to go back to her room in the basement, but it was like her feet were nailed to the floor. She couldn’t move, she just couldn’t move. The footsteps stopped for a brief second, then stopped, then continued. Something about the way they sound was strange. Delia wasn’t heading for the staircase; she was just going to the bathroom. The sound of the bathroom door closing confirmed Amber’s theory. She bit her lip, praying everything would be fine, that Delia would just return to bed after she finished in there. The door opened, and the footsteps got more and more quite as they headed off in the opposite direction, towards Delia’s room. Once the coast was clear, Amber finally let out a breath that she had been holding in the whole time. Cautiously, she put in the first number of the code. She looked up towards the stairs nervously. Nothing. She pushed the second button and checked again. Still nothing. She managed to will herself to just quickly finish typing in the code and quickly undid the deadbolt and locks to the door, and ran out onto the front deck.

“Wait, don’t run, not yet, she’ll hear you.” Amber slowed down to a snail’s pace and put one foot in front of the other very slowly. Every time she went down a step, she paused for a second. She kept on doing it until both feet were on the ground. And that, that is when she ran the fastest she ever had in her entire life. The driveway was snaky, full of twists and curves. The canopy of trees above blocked off any form of light that the moon would have provided to illuminate her way. Not to mention, the path was still a little bit unfamiliar to her, dud to the fact that she hadn’t lived there all that long. In the face of all these obstacles, she still kept running, desperately wanting to reach the end.

“Oomph!” she exclaimed as she fell on the rocky ground. She had tripped over a dent in the driveway, scraping her knee and her hands. She quickly got back on her feet and continued, trying to be more careful as she ran. Finally, she made it to the end, the road only inches from her toes. She stopped and leaned against the mailbox, propping her elbow against the top of it. Amber panted, her breaths uneven and choppy, heart hammering away in her chest. She looked back, apprehension swirling about deep inside. The woods blocked off the lake house from view. This didn’t feel right; she was still so unsure. Once her breathing went back to being somewhat normal, she turned to face the road ahead, cautiously placing her right foot on the pavement. She crossed the street to the grass on the other side.

She went to the right, the direction towards town. She wasn’t sure why, it just seemed to make sense. In the opposite direction the land became more and more rural and more and more isolated. She probably had a better chance of survival in a place near people. After all, she was more used to city life, anyway. Before they had moved, she had always had to travel around the big city all by herself. If she could do that, there was no way any little hicky mountain town would be too much for her to handle.

As she quickly walked alongside the lonely road, every step had Amber looking back, feeling nervous. She couldn’t be scared, right? Wondering if she was making a mistake, she was constantly making sure everything was okay. Was that how a person was supposed to feel in that kind of situation? Was she that ruined by her stepmother’s mistreatment that she’d feel fearful about leaving for good? She shook her head violently, trying to rid herself of all her doubt. Everything would be fine; she had to believe that. When she made it past the intersection, she rapidly tugged on her t shirt, which was starting to cling to her form. The nights were starting to become cool. How was is that she was so sweaty and hot? Must’ve been due to her nerves. Grabbing onto the shoulder straps of her black backpack, she started her way up a hill, an uncertain future ahead of her.

~***~

Hana still couldn’t get over the fact that she had actually performed a spell successfully for once. The young fairy princess was sneaking around, ducking down low and hiding behind any and all objects she could. She didn’t want any citizens of the kingdom spying her. Little did she know that being caught by her fellow fairies was the least of her concerns. She had no idea that someone else, something else, was watching her every move.

Once she made it past the border of the fairy township and felt it was okay to do so, she took flight, heading towards the direction of the lake. She giggled innocently as she swirled and twirled throughout the night air. She was free; all of her problems seemed to melt away. “I forgot how pretty the world was when cloaked in darkness,” she stated to no one in particular. She looked up, “Oh, how much I missed this.” There wasn’t much wind that night, but she was flying about so quickly, that she was creating her own. The wind tore through her hair, making it a disorderly mess. It didn’t matter at all, though; nothing did. Her grin was wide, stretching from ear to ear as she removed a strand that was blocking her vision.

The trip to the lake was always such a long one, but it was worth it. It was her most favorite place in the world. Besides, the journey was fun, always an adventure. She could tell she was getting close, for the atmosphere became faintly laced with the scent of fish. The lake was home to so many of the magnificent freshwater creatures. Hana couldn’t quite figure it out, but for some reason, she felt that the abundance of fish had something to do with why humans would often go in the water on those motorized...boats, were they? The humans would often ride those things, creating waves and ripples in the lake, and they often brought those poles with rope dangling from them, too. She wasn’t too sure what they were doing, but it involved the fish somehow. Humans were so strange, but yet…she couldn’t help but be intrigued by them.

That’s what made her different from the rest of the fairies. While they feared and wanted to avoid humans, Hana always yearned to learn more about them. It was true that they had tainted the Earth, Hana knew that, but still, she couldn’t help but feel that humankind had its good side. “No, no,” she told herself, “Stop thinking about humans. That’s what got you into trouble in the first place. Just forget about them.”

She couldn’t control her thoughts, however. For when she arrived at her destination, the idea of humans consumed her mind. She sat on a large grey rock inches away from the edge of the water. Pulling her knees up to her chest, she smiled. The lake air smelled amazing. How much she had missed being there. Hana stared at the moon’s reflection in the natural mirror, the water. The moon appeared bumpy and wavy as the water slightly rippled. The sounds of crickets chirping and owls hooting could be heard.

“I just can’t help it,” she exhaled, “I just can’t help it. Humans are just so…intriguing. I wish I could understand them a little bit better. I still secretly want to meet one. That’d be so cool.” She closed her eyes, enjoying the sounds and the feel of nature around her. Becoming lost in memories, she remembered the first time she had ever seen humans. It had been on the opposite side of the lake, and it had happened years ago when Hana was only eight years of age. It was on a beautiful, summer evening. She had seen two humans around the bank, near the dock. One was tall, over six feet tall, and male. The other was a tiny girl, and she was holding the man’s hand as they walked along the water’s edge. They were the two humans around at the time. Hana came to the conclusion that they were father and daughter. She could tell by the way they interacted with each other, with love. Hana remembered wishing her relationship with her own parents was more like that. Humans can’t be all that horrible if they can love, right?

Tears streamed Hana’s face as result of the memory. She shook as she wept softly. That was when she felt something being placed across her mouth. Her eyes became wide as she tried calling for help, but the object upon her lips stifled her screams. Someone grabbed her, and she kicked and thrashed about, but escape was impossible. Last that she remembered was everything turning to black as she was stuffed into a sack and carried away, still struggling…

…But before I can tell you what happened to either of these young girls next, first I must start from the beginning…