Vagary

Chapter six

Cold crept through my clothes and I shivered. I was wearing a t-shirt and jeans with no further protection from the icy winds that chilled me to the bone. It was dark too, since my band practice had finished late and I had taken a faster way home through the park. The inky blackness cloaked everything making even an innocent tree branch look like the outstretched arm of a murderer or thief. I hurried along my shoes squeaking slightly on the wet grass making me cringe. I knew this was only a memory but I was reliving it as though it was actually happening. 
   There was a crunching sound behind me and I turned. A little old man probably only about 4 foot 8 was watching me with curious fascination. He had wispy silver hair that was thinly spread across his head but layered generously in his long beard. His eyes or what I could see of them, were very interesting, they were a rich shade of purple which seemed to swim around with it's own intentions. His clothes too were unusual, a pair of loose green trousers and a long golden cloak that reached his knees. A strange pendant hung from his neck which looked birdlike but was encrusted with jewels. It was probably worth more than me. That was a very unwelcome thought at the current moment
"H-hello," I stuttered nervously. 
"Bird I found you," he grinned looking at me like I was the biggest present under his Christmas tree. His voice had a heavy accent which I couldn't place. 
"I'm sorry there's been a err mix-up, my name is Christian."
"Don't try to fool me bird I know what you are," he smiled again though this time it was slightly reprimanding. 
"I think you should go home mate, you're drunk." I said this a little more gruffly hoping to scare the vagrant off. He was not scared off on the contrary he looked hurt. 
"Do you know who I am."
"I already said, I'm afraid not. "
Then his eyes lit up with a kind of knowing. A knowing that neither he nor I liked. It was a knowing filled with grim determination. From a bag I had not seen him carrying before he pulled out something impossible. It was a huge feather the size of a bike though from the way he lifted it I could tell it was no heavier than a normal gull feather. The whole thing looked as if it had been dipped in silver and sprinkled with magic. The stalk too looked like it had been made from pearl and Ivory though came to a menacing  point at the end. It was the sort of feather that should belong to a griffin or phoenix in a fairy tale so why was it here? 
  "If you can fly little birdie now is the time," he chuckled a gruff harsh sound that chilled me to the bone. I turned around to try and run but instead felt an explosion of pain erupt from my back. It was the same pain I felt from being impaled on the fence. I could see crimson ribbons of blood snaking down to the ground as I fell to my knees. 
   The man walked round to face me and smiled as I gasped for air. I could feel one of my lungs filling with blood and I chocked. He took out an old battered phone and made a call. He spoke some words I didn't understand but at the end simply said, "the plan has changed. The bird has lost his wings. He will have them again soon enough."
   I felt all the life being squeezed out of my body. The old man wrenched the feather from my back and I blacked out instantly. 
  I woke once more in the back of an ambulance while people ran around shouting. Everyone was making too much noise and I shut my eyes again in the hopes quiet would surround me once more. It did
   I remembered now waking up in hospital a week after the accident. They told me I had died on the operating table and returned to life. They told me it was a miracle but I didn't believe them. That strange man had unfinished business with me and that's why I woke up. The police came and asked me to describe my attacker but when I did they exchanged a knowing, pitying look and said that was all. I got many pitying looks when I mentioned the strange old man and I loathed them. I stopped talking about the incident just a fortnight later. Then the dreams started. 
   With this realisation I sunk deeper into unconsciousness.