10

      I look about in fear. All the hues I’ve known my whole life are gone. Unknown hues dance before my eyes, I’m dizzy from it all. I flare my wings in an attempt to stay standing. I feel the feather fan and manage  to stay up. I have no names for these colours,  because they are not the blue and green shades of I’ve always known. I stare in shock and feel my knees going weak. I set Vienna down quickly and my world becomes grey again. I yelp in terror and she does too. My wings twitch in my anxiety, the feathers cold as they spasm around. I look at my feathers. I cry out again, because these feathers are not normal feathers, but they’re made of a mixture of black smoke and sand. I flap my wings, the smoke twirling around in the sand feathers. I have to find Mez!  I scoop up Vienna, and my world resumed to be in those queer shades. I flap my wings once, twice, and fold my wings in. I see the stairwell, and rush to the door. I throw the strange coloured door open and rush into the red brick stairwell. It flickers, then turn a similar hue to red. Unfortunately,  I know that is not red. Red is a dull, dark shade,  like every other colour is. I flap my wings and jump. From this altitude, I just need to glide. Vienna squirms, and I cling tighter. Something wieghs on my back, and I feel a spark of agony. I begin to fall, my brain in overdrive. I feel my skin light with agony, and my bones breaking. I shiver and Vienna croaks in terror. I see the stairwell doors open at the bottom, and cry in terror. What the hell is this Mèlomanie doing to me? I warn, “Stop it!  I’m sorry for yelling!” She stays silent, almost in a stunned way. I feel my fingers changing before darkness consumes me. I come around perched on the railing.

    Vienna cries, “Bärchen! Are you alright?” I shake my head and stare at the stairwell below.

    I reply, “What happened?”

    She replies, “You blacked out and you became that dragon except for real. I got off of your back and you became you again.” I stare in shock, and remember that it’ll be school in a few hours. I turn to Vienna and hop off the railing. I approach Vienna, but Nick comes streaking from nowhere and comes between us. I catch a whiff of smoke and look around. The stairwell is alight with black flames. I can’t figure why I became a dragon, but I know someone who will. I turn and take to the sky. Actually, I leap and fall down the stairs like a retard. I lay on the bottom, staring at the smoke. I hear the stairwell open, a critical voice snarling, “Aha!  It was YOU who lit a fire? Of course it would be powerless pest.” I landed on my wings, so he can’t see them. I stare up, tears welling as I crush my wings. He laughs and walks away. He dashes up the stairs, taking Viennas’ hand. I see a blinding light and look away. I feel something under my back, and roll over. A pile of sand rests where I was. I shake my wings, back to the light. I turn back and see a pair of wolves rushing up the stairs. I close my eyes and my wings crash to the ground. I turn and slam the door, and I hear Nick calling me to come back. I storm to the top of the house and go through the forbidden door. My old room was blocked after Chantrea died. They say that her ‘ghost’ haunted the room. My wings go up in black flames and I sit down on the floor. I lean my head on the wall. I gaze at the broken window, a thought formulating. I remember something about world leaping through shattered windows. I then remember that you have to be a Full Fledged to do that, and I don’t have feathers right now. I sit on my bed now, stretching my wings out and looking at the pattern on the new feathers. Black with red smears run down the feathers, the nondescript colour mimicking blood in appearance. I let my wings hang down, and my arms fall below my wings. I plug into my phone and let the music flow. Tears well and fall to the floor. My legs stretch out and I go totally corpse like. I hear someone rattle the door, probably Nick.  I look at the door and sigh. I growl,  unlocking the voice activated door, “Open.”

    A voice from my past gasps, “Bä… Bärchen?” I freeze, body rigid. I thought the sheets were too messy for this to still be my room.  

     I growl, “What?” She gasps, stepping back. I retort, “You should repair that window. Someone might fall.”  She stares at me with shock, I can feel it. I look down and see that my flight feathers are starting. I smile. If I had more feathers, I’d jump out the window, but I can’t. I slide off the bed and land on the broken glass. Now I’m glad for my socks,  because otherwise this would hurt. I stride towards the monster in the doorway. I fold my injured wings in, eyes narrowed.

    The figure begs, “Spare me.” I stop, and my wings bristle. My skin crawls and my eyes water. My heart stops and my palms sweat ice. I begin to shake out of control.

    I reply like a broken track, “Sp… Sp… Sp… Spare y… Y. Y. Y. Y. Y. Y. Yy…… Ou?”

   She nods and cries, “You’re a murderer, Bärchen. A monster.” I stare back and I feel the years melting away…

     The scream was pain filled, agonized. The kind drawn out by imense suffering. I take off running. She never follows, but I know what happened. She’ll accuse me for this. Tears run down my face and I slam the door. I slide down my door, tears in my eyes. I try to convince the others I didn’t do it, but it only makes it worse.  Soon, she becomes ballzy enough to be public about my reprimand for being ‘out of control’. She waves her burn in my face, growling that I need to ‘Calm my ass down’ for taking a deep breath to calm down. I am forever a monster to myself now… Forever a beast.

         I see the knowing look in my exs’ eyes. They all know my complex surrounding that word. I never killed Toby. I could never kill my own flesh like that. I growl, voice not my own, “I’d never hurt anyone.” She laughs so cold my heart freezes in place.

       She laughs, “What about me? What about Chan? Oh, what about Alex?” My heart tears apart and tears flow down. I feel a coldness in the air, but factor it because of the window.

      I whisper, a million thoughts converging into one, “You cheated. Chan lied to me. Alex was my best friend. I’d never hurt him.” She smiles cruelly.

     Her voice rings in the dawn mist that fills that condemned room, “Oh, but you hurt every single one and more.” I feel my mind shut, my emotions lock, everything I’ve ever felt be successfully locked into a metaphorical suitcase. I hear her scorn, “I win. School in five. They sent me to collect you.” I suddenly lapse into a dismal, depressed state. Everything is numb and distant, so I just follow the bitch out the door. I storm down the hall, wings twitching. I hear a shattering, and turn around. I knocked over a glass again, apparently. I glare at it,  and black sand swishes over it. The glass repairs, and I shuffle my wings in confusion. I look up and see Vienna and Jay. Jay sneers, his hand in Viennas’.  A hot knife stabs my heart and twists with every smile they share. I storm away from the glass, and enter the kitchen. I sit on the island, and eat an apple. I hear the triangle toll, and my eyes ignite. I growl, “New. New. Kid.” I hop off the island, and head to the door. I open it wide, caution in the wind. A man is there, rigid with fear. I stare into cat like eyes and see the fear of rejection there. It isn’t a power of mine, it’s just that I know that look too well from the looking glass.

     I comment, “What is your business here?” The rejection grows in his eyes, so I know why he’s here. He wants a place to be safe and stay for a while. He calls something from behind him. It’s a small cat,no bigger than three pounds. The brilliant sapphire eyes glow in the morning light as I gaze at this odd pair. I ask for their powers, and they smile at each other. The cat rubs on the boy,  and the boy turns red. He refrains from touching the cat at all.

     He asks, ‘May we come in? We’re looking for Mez.’ I nod and question the cat.

     I ask, ‘Is this cat yours?’ He nods, rubbing his arm nervously.

     He comments, ‘My girlfriend turned into a cat and she’s stuck that way.’  I nod, because I’ve seen weirder things come in here. I lead them through blue halls and reflect on how lucky they are to be together. I stick to a dead expression and bang on the humans door. She takes them in, and I realize I’m fucking late. The only way I can make class is to fly. I see a blur go by me and something painful occurs to my wings. I fall to the floor and my vision blurs. I feel the fire ooze into my body, the heat filling my wings and searing them. I screech in agony and flap my useless. I growl and groan, my wings changing somehow. I feel my arms giving out and hit the floor. The cold tiles are hard against my chest as I fall. The fire moves to my chest. I hear a scream, and remove my face from the tiles. The flames engulfing my chest are enraged by the sound of Mez and Vienna. I scream out, afraid of what is happening to my body. I begin to shake, wings expanding and twisting on their own. I close my eyes and feel like I’m falling and pass out.

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