Secret Wings

01||Prologue

Present Day

Artemis sighed as she collapsed on the couch. Projects and impending assignments clouded her mind. Her eyes burned from constantly staring at her bright laptop screen. Her body reeled in pain from sitting for so many hours trying to understand the lectures she received.

Tears threatened to stream down her cheeks. Her throat felt swollen with emotion.

What happened to her days as a dreamer? 

She used to have so many ideas and could get lost in her fantasy, now all she thinks about is school and her insomniac ways. Deep, purple under circles lined her hazel eyes. A constant feeling of fatigue plagued the twenty-one year old woman. 

The urge to leave the dorm increased as time ticked away. She felt like a caged bird ready to fly away and never come back. No one would notice her absence. Her watch showed the blurry numbers 11:30pm. 

With a huff she lazily got up from her pitiful position and walked towards the nearest convenience. The air felt heavy with humidity as she trudged through the lit streets. Her eyes glazed over in envy as she stared at the different people in restaurants and shops. She desperately wished she could enjoy the same feeling of freedom. The convenience store finally came into view, she had been there so many times she knew the store like the back of her hand. The "OPEN" sign flickered with age and the store looked dingy, but they had the best mango popsicles in town. 

A blast of cold air enveloped her body causing goosebumps to appear on her exposed skin. She ran her hands up and down her arms trying to generate warmth but to no avail. The store was empty. Strange. A loud alarm bell was ringing in her head as if to tell her to run. It was peculiar not to see any tired college kids roaming around spending the few cents they had to their name. A sinking feeling weighed on her heart as she made her way to the back of the store where the freezer section was located. 

The store manager, Mr. Chen was surprisingly absent, the man never missed his shift no matter rain or shine, Christmas didn't even factor into it. The register looked wrong without him there, with his eagle eyes and usual frown. He would always yell at his customers if they took too long looking around for fear that they were stealing from him or planning too. His was a paranoid man to say the least.

"Strange." She whispered to herself, her eyes darting around the store. The alarm bell was still ringing in her brain, but she ignored it assuming it was the lack of sleep getting to her.

Nerves were eating at her and her mind was strongly urging her to flee. A steady drip sound echoed through the desolate store. A shudder ran through her and the urge to run grew steadily. Maybe Mr. Chen left the water on, she sighed and walked towards the ominous sound. 

A scream died in her throat as her eyes laid upon Mr. Chen. He was sickeningly laying on the store racks as his slit throat dripped crimson liquid on the floor. Bile rose in her throat, if she would have eaten at all that day everything would have been on the ivory white floor. Tears poured out of her eyes. The longer she looked at the man the more she wanted to throw up. 

Who could do such a thing? 

Suddenly, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up, a violent shiver ran down her spine. Footsteps filled the silent store. Before she could defend herself a shot rang out. Searing hot pain was all she felt. Ringing filled her ears as her body dropped to the ground from the impact of the bullet. She didn't even feel the pain from meeting the ivory floor, her brain was still in shock.

Warm liquid dripped in her eyes as she wheezed for a breath, angry tears streamed down her colorless cheeks. She never got to live the life she wanted, she was always slave to the desires of others. Everything she did in her short life was to please others.

"I wish for a different ending." She prayed to any deity that would listen. Her heart pounded trying to pump blood to different parts of her body, but it was no use. She was slipping faster and faster into the arms of darkness. 

This couldn't be how she ended. No shot in a convenience store. 

She shakily lifted up her watch, it read 0:00 before everything went still.

At 0:00, Artemis Thorne died.