Light as a Feather

Chapter 2

I sipped the warm tea again. It burned slightly as it made its was down my throat. It's been a month since I was able to leave the hospital. Yet none of them had the answer to my question.

Who am I?

I was given a name though, Scarlet. My last name was Hudson, after the people who had taken me in. The married couple that found me in the woods, after the first time I opened my eyes.

No one knew what to do, no one knew what even to say. I felt like I wasn't even alive before  I woke up in the woods. I don't even know where I came from. They told me I was physically in between 17 years to 20 years of age, but I felt as if I have never even been... birthed? I don't know, it doesn't make sense. 

Daniel walked in as I took another sip of my drink. "How are you feeling today?" He asked gently with a kind smile that showed his dimple on his left cheek. His dark brown eyes caught the light of the kitchen, Daniel was fairly tall and black hair with a couple of grey stands. He always had a calm look on his face that always settled my nerves. I couldn't be more grateful for him and Sarah, they had taken me in. They had found me in the woods, they had let me live. The nurses and doctors at the hospital said that they looked through records and even sent photos of me to the local police stations, but still, no one knew who I was. Even a couple articles were written on me. The girl who came out of nowhere. The girl, the ghost. 

Daniel and Sarah told me to ignore them, that is was nothing but people trying to get clicks. I tried to ignore them but, who really was I then? In the articles they said I was probably abandoned or that I ran away, but who was I abandoned by? And what did I run away from? 

The comments weren't any better, in one of them they called me an attention seeking whore and that everything was just an act to get attention, it's still hard for me to stomach the words of someone I don't even know. 

"I'm alive which always helps," I smiled back placing my cup back down. "It still just all feels so unfamiliar to me," I said looking down

"It will be like that for awhile," he walked over and patted my shoulder "you'll get used to it." He sent me another warm smile as he sat down at the counter. 

"Hopefully, thank you again for everything," I smiled up at him again.

"Did I hear you say thank you again," Sarah practically sung as she walked in to the kitchen. I smiled sheepishly "What have I said, you don't need to thank us," she laughed

"How can I not?" I said quietly laughing softly "You guys have been so kind to someone you don't even know." Her blue eyes shone down at me, her light, brown, curly hair tied in to a messy bun on top of her head. Sight wrinkles on her forehead and next to her eyes indicated her slightly older age, she leant on Daniels shoulder as he replied. 

"It was the right thing to do, the man up stairs put you in our life and who are we to question him?" Daniel smiled and leant over to Sarah, kissing her on the cheek. "I'm off to work, I'll see you all tonight," he smiled at me as he walked out of the house.

Sarah looked after him as he closed the door before turning to me. "Ready to get to work?" She smiled again as we started to head out the door also.

She worked at an animal rehabilitation centre. We had all kinds of animals come in. I helped her out whenever I could, not wanting to stay alone and wait for that figure to come back.

I patted a puppy softly as it slept. He was a stray that recently came in healing from a broken leg. His white fur was short and curly. Clumps of dirt clung to the knots in his fur. he had brown spots sprinkled through out the mattered hair.

I scratched behind his ear as he slept peacefully on the able, twitching slightly. I smiled down at him as Sarah walked in

"Hey Scar, I just have to quickly go stock up in cat litter, I'll be back soon," she gave me a smile as I nodded in response, looking back down at the puppy. "He'll be just fine," she said also looking down at the small dog.

She soon left, the sound of rain carried through the door as it opened and closed after her. The dog whimpered slightly and opened his eyes.  I stared back in to his dark brown orbs as he started to shake.

"Hey, hey. There's nothing to be afraid of," I whispered as I stroked him comfortingly. He seemed to calm down and drift back off to sleep.

I walked to the table and grabbed my phone, seeing it was only 4:30. The rain continued to get heavier as I waited for Sarah to come back.

I jumped as a loud crack of lighting echoed throughout the streets and a large flash of light flooded through the windows, the cats and dogs whimpered and yelled as the lightning flashed in the dark sky. 

I ran around to the cages trying to keep them calm as another flash of lighting bellowed through the sky followed by the intense sound of rain hitting the roof and soaking the windows. An uneasy feeling pressed across my chest. I continued to run around cage to cage trying to calm the animals.

The lights flickered slightly and I clenched my fist. Imagining red eyes in the dark shadows of the room. I swallowed hard as I continued to shush the distressed animals. Everything is fine, it's just a bad storm, I let out a breath of air. 

The lights flickered again, but it just had to be the storm that was doing that. I kept repeating that in my head as I tended to the sacred animals around the room.

It was just the storm.

Another loud crash of thunder pulsated in the sky, the lights in the roof sparked and blew out. I searched frantically for my phone. The whimpering and calls of the animals merged with the loud sounds of rain hitting against the building.

The quiet rumble of the storm settled throughout the sky as I tried to calm myself down. It's just a power outage due to the storm, I swallowed hard again leaning against the wall behind me. It's just a storm.

I collapsed to the floor. Heaving. My hands shook as I clenched them in to fists.

"Stop!" My voice cried out as tears welled in my eyes. I let out a scream and bunched my hair up in my hands. My chest felt as if it was on fire. Scorching flames seemed to roll down the inside of my throat and burn my lungs

I let out another scream, accompanied by the loud screams of the storms and the frantic yells of the animals.

I felt something soft yet rough rub against my leg. I could barely open my tear infested eyes to see the small, white puppy rub against me. I tried to let out a steady breath as I reached out a trembling hand to pat its fur.

I let out another loud yell as the small dog bit my hand. I jumped back, smacking my head on a near by cage. I looked back to the small dog as it's once innocent dark eyes clouded with the red eyes of my nightmares.

"Stop! Please just stop!" With the flash of lighting the dog had vanished. The wind wailed outside as the rain pelted against the windows. The loud booming of thunder soon followed after as the light flickered on. 

I scrambled to stand up, my breath hitched as I took a slow turn around the room.

The once white walls were covered in smears of red and chunks of pink. The smell of rotten meat infested my nose as I took another step back.

My foot hit something as it did so and I looked down. My scream burned my throat as I tripped and fell back.

I looked at the white head of the small dog. The rest of his mattered, fur bodied was gone and blood seeped from his neck, pooling on the floor.

I looked back at the walls, the blood drizzled down the white paint. A certain one caught my eye as a saw a clump of the once white fur fall with the guts of the dog to the floor.

The wet slap on the tiles caused my stomach to tighten and churn. Bending forward I began to vomit as the foul smell continued to linger in the air.

A scream caused me to look up from my vomit that laid on the floor before me to Sarah's wide brown eyes. Her hands clasped around her mouth as she dropped the bag of litter she previously had clasped in her hands.

After her fearful eyes finished looking around the room, they landed on my hunched figure crouched on the floor.

"Jesus! Scarlet!" She yelled and ran over to me. Her arms wrapped around me as I began to shake violently.

What just happened?