The international singing sensation, Ghost Bird, is a name known around the world. No one knows who the mysterious singer is, but everyone knows her music.
Sang Sorenson sings to escape the reality of her hard life. Locked in a house with her mother...
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"What do you mean 'go?'" I ask, my voice wobbling with fear and nerves.
"Oh, hush," Cleopatra sings out. "Just follow me, darlin' and all will be revealed."
This is just like it was with Mother. I got freed, only to be sold. In this new place, the locks make sure I never leave. Here, I am being shipped off just like the way that Mother cast me aside. The way that she left me to rot. Mother never cared for me, she sold me to the highest bidder, not even paying attention to me. She left me at the first opportunity. Maybe I just have problems with being left, but I can't help but feel like I am about to be abandoned. And it is not a good feeling.
"Am I being sold again?" I question quietly, choking back the tears that are starting to burn.
"What? No! How would I benefit from that?" Cleopatra laughs before turning serious and barking, "Now move!"
I quickly follow her out the door. We get in her convertible and race down the roads, going far faster than should ever be legal. Cleopatra pulls into a parking lot and hops out of the car. I get out slowly and take my bag from Cleopatra who is weighed down by her many, many bags. I don't even offer to help her. Maybe it is wrong or cruel, but I don't want to help her. My anger is growing and I am furious that my life just seems to be on a loop. This time, I thought things were actually going to get better for me. I guess that's where everything started to go wrong.
Like I have been doing so often, I follow Cleopatra. We go around the building and down to a runway where a small plane waits for us. Cleopatra tosses her bags in and I do the same before sitting down and buckling in. Cleopatra gets in the pilot's seat, and fear begins to fill me. I really don't trust Cleopatra to fly a plane with me in it, she seems to be a bit on the unhinged and reckless side.
But I can't do anything to stop this and we are taking off. The gentle rocking of the plane quickly lulls me to sleep.
When I wake up, I am in a dark and damp room made of stone and steel. I get off of the crate that I was sleeping in and find the door. I reach out and try the doorknob. Thankfully, the door opens and just that is enough to make me tear up; I don't want to be a prisoner again.
I move soundlessly out of the room and enter a hallway with no other doors. I follow it nervously and the hall opens up into a larger hallway. Aimlessly, I wander through the place. It is a maze of stone floors and steel walls that never seem to end. Finally, I find someone.
"Excuse me?" I call timidly, my voice bouncing off of the steel walls. "Can you help me? I have no idea what I'm doing here, or where I am going."
She turns around I see that she is a tall and strong woman, probably in her thirties. She has dark hair and brown eyes that scream with an intense fire.
"You must be Sang. My name is Cecile. I am here to train you," She tells me, striding forward with confidence. "You are to be a weapon, a tool to be used by the Wolves."
"What?" I say. It is the only word that I can manage right now.
"You heard me! Now follow me to the gym! " Cecile booms before muttering, "We need to get some meat on them bones."
I have to jog to keep up with her long and hurried stride. I am barely able to keep track of where we are going and what turns we are taking.
"Why do they want me to be their... their weapon?"
"Honestly, I have no clue, shrimp. But I intend to find out."
That doesn't sound very reassuring. At all.
"Don't worry, though! I'll push you to your limits and train you to be the coldest killer in existence!"
I stop abruptly.
"I-I don't want to be a killer," I say, my voice wobbling.
She stops and whirls around. Grabbing me by my throat, Cecile lifts me in the air.
"I did not come here to put up with a wimp!" Cecile roars, her dark eyes filled with rage as she tightens her grip on my neck. "I don't care what you want! You don't have a choice! Now, you can train with me willingly or I can torture you until you agree! What do ya say?!"
I look her in the eye and spit, "Never."
I refuse to be a killer. I refuse to be cold-hearted. I will never be like Mother and Father. My conscience, my humanity, they're all I have left. And I will not lose them. I've been tortured all my life. There is nothing that she could possibly do to change my mind. I'm already broken.
"Then let the torture begin!" She snarls, throwing me to the ground.
I jump to my feet, only slightly sore. A throw to the hard floor? Nothing.
She tangles her large hand in my hair and yanks, dragging me backward through the hall and down a painful set of stone stairs that bruise deeply and open a gash on the back of my head. Cecile opens a new door made of metal bars and throws me into a cage.
"You will stay here until I feel like it," Cecile laughs. "You thought you could go against the Wolves. Well, you thought wrong, very wrong. You will show me that you are ready to be a killer. In fact, I bet that you don't even last two days here."
She slams the door closed and locks it behind her. Her laughter echoes as she leaves.
