White

Chapter 1: White.

A blinding light greeted Maggie when she slowly opened her tired eyes. It revealed tiny snowflakes that fluttered in the weak and cold breeze. She could feel the chilling bed of snow she was laying on through her coat. Since sitting up seemed to be an unbearable task at the moment, she resorted to reaching up to the endless white above her. The light exposed her red and numb finger tips that were probably chilling in the ice while she was unconscious.
'How long have I been out here?' She wondered. Upon searching her groggy mind for anwsers, she soon realized that her memories were as blank as the bloodless color surrounding her.
Panic fueled her body's depleted energy as she scrambled to get up. 'Oh...oh no what is going on?! Why am I in the middle of a forest?!'
A throbbing pain put an immediate stop to her racing thoughts. Her hands automatically clutched the source of the pain, which was right in the center of her forehead. At first when she felt it, it seemed like a simple head injury. But that theory soon proved to be wrong, for it felt like there was something trying to get out from underneath her skin. At any given moment it could burst right through her skull.
While she was immobilized by pain, a shadowy figure landed inside the nest of leaves in a big oak tree nearby.
A cold chill raced down Maggie's spine when she realized something was nearby. She held her breath and scanned her surroundings for movement. As her heart pounded against her ribcage she prayed that whatever or whoever was out there wasn't planning on picking her bones clean.
"Oh hoo hoo! You humans are all stupid hoo!" A modulated voice chirped from behind some leaves.
"Loosen up hoo! I'm no monster!"
Clenching her teeth, she slowly turned her head to where the voice came from.
There right in the snow tipped leaves were a pair of glowing beady eyes, staring right into Maggie's very soul. In-between it's eyes was a yellow curved beak.
It was an owl.
"Hoo hoo! It was me! I was the voice!" It's beak moved up and down with the sound, therefore proving that it did in fact talk.
A wave a nausea hit Maggie like a kick to the stomach. 'You're... kidding. I'm...I'm insane. That owl...' her thoughts came to an end when the owl opened it's beak again.
"Hoo! Your eyes are not playing tricks on you Hooman! Hoo hoo! You're not insane!"
Bile burned her throat as she soon realized the owl knew what she was thinking.
'You...you...'
"...can read minds?" It finished her thought. "Yes hoo! Now why don't you use that pretty voice of yours to speak to me? This is very tiring to keep up with." Maggie grimaced as a slight ringing noise entered her ear. 'Well, talking to myself is better than talking to a dumb bird...' The owl rustled in the branches, sending flakes of snow into the air.

"Hoo! Watch your tongue girl or I will have it! Do you even know who you're speaking to?" He hissed with venom in his voice. "Hoo...do you do this to everyone you meet?..." His head turned to his left side as he whispered, "Maybe that's why you're here...".

While desperately turning to fight the urge of finding the biggest rock and landing it right into the center of his skull, Maggie took a deep breath and tried to release some of her pent up anger. 'I can't speak anyway, bird.' She responded inside her mind. 'I was born mute.'

The owls head rotated to his right side as he pondered her last statement. "Hmm...born mute...blonde hair..." His voice trailed off into a tiny whisper. "Aha! Hoo! I now understand! You came here because you cannot speak! You probably had such a hard time making companions...It makes me wonder how lonely you must've been..." Something about his words made a chill run up and down Maggie's spine. She had no recollection of her life up to the point she woke up in the forest, so why did this ring a bell? She could fully synthesize with that he was saying, yet she never remembers it ever happening. The weird feeling of Deja vu was just adding onto her overwhelming unease. She was broken out of her trance by the sudden movement of leaves and snow when the owl came out of his leafy cloak and fluttered to the ground. The pale sunlight revealed his brown and gray feathers with black charcoal speckles scattered across them. The colors and patterns on his body made him blend in with the trees so well that if he was standing right in front of you, you wouldn't be able to tell him from the tree.

"Hoo! You are one sad and pathetic hooman!" He sneered as he shook excess snow from his feathers. Even thought the cold air was seeping through her jacket and threatening to chill her to the bone, a fire in her throat was burning her alive. 'You should be glad I was born mute...or the things I would've done and say to you...'

The owl let out a hoot that sounded more like a snotty laugh a rich man would make at a party if a 17 year old teenager who looks like he lived out on the street asked him if he could spend time with his daughter. A laugh that made Maggie more enraged than before. "Hoo hoo hoo! You are quite the hoot! I think I'm going to enjoy your visit." His neck extended almost unnaturally to get a closer look at Maggie's stature. "Tell me your name please."

'Why should I tell you my name? If you already know everything I'm thinking, you should know my name too.' She thought angrily. The owl unexpectedly seemed to grow in size and the feathers on his head furrowed, making it look as if he was scowling at her. "Hoo! Don't underestimate my powers! I could tear your already dysfunctional vocal cords out and force you to scarf them down!" Each word that escaped his beak sounded more malicious than the last. If Maggie wasn't stranded in the forest without her memory, then she would've laughed at his insult. But, she was indeed stranded in the forest, and her fear was stronger than her already massive ego and pride. My...my name is Maggie.' she thought hesitantly.

"Maggie, hoo? What an adorable name Maggie!"