To Catch a Falling Star (Steve Harrington)

(1.1) The Escaping of Zero

The room was cold. It is always cold, but I was used to it. The walls could not hold any form of heat, and the floor could hold even less. The thin paper dress that I have worn for as long as I could remember is useless as well, and the only form of heat that I could even find was my own breath, and that was barely warm.

It was the rooms fault. It was not even the dress' fault. It was mine.

I was always cold, some days I could feel it. Other days I could not. This was a day like the former, unluckily for me. I was waiting in the cold, it always seems like I was waiting. Waiting for the people in white coats that would come and get me, to poke and prod me.

They like to pluck my wings.

My wings were the only part of me that were wonderful, two great big white feathery ones that sat on my back. They creaked when I moved. Loud, hair raising creaks. It is because of the room I think. It was not very big, I had never been in a room big enough to spread them wide. They were tired, and so was I. I wanted to be able to spread them wide, to fly above the, well, above anything.

I do not know much about the outside. Once, some time ago I found a door, a small one that you could see through, but could not go through. I would get out of my room at night, and look at it. The image never changed, but I could see bright spots, and sometimes a massive bright spot. It was pretty, but it was not always there which was strange. But they figured out that I was getting out and now someone waits outside for me. I am attached to the wall with metal around my wrists.

I am curled up, against the corner of the room. My arms are tucked over my knees, the metal digging deep into the skin and weighing them down. My wings wrap around me to protect me. I rock back and forth, a steady movement until a sudden noise catches my ears. I perked up, my wings lifted me to my feet as I stumble forward pulling at the metal on my wrist. It kept me from getting all the way to the door, but I still pulled trying to listen to the hallway.

Pitter-patter came down the hallway, passing by my door. Shouts echoed, but the feet stop beside my door. Suddenly it creaked and twisted, I stumbled backwards nearly falling to the floor when the door flew off of its hinges. In the space that used to be the door stood a girl, her hairs were short, and blood poured from her nose. She was tiny, smaller than me, not that I was very big.

"Come." Her voice was firm when she spoke, I held out my hands, and she broke them easily. I followed without any hesitation. She ran like she knew where she was going, she probably did. I kept up easily, matching her steps with mine. She could do things I could not, and I found it easy to trust where she was going. Suddenly we were not in white hallways anymore, we were in an open space, with no more ceilings, and no more locked doors.

We were free. People shouted from behind us, but I had a sudden surge of energy, the wings that had so long been trapped against my back shot open. Lifting me into the air with three shaky strokes, I dived, grabbing the girl from under her arms and lifting her with me. The flight was anything but steady, something to do with the missing patches of feathers was my guess. The girl held on tightly, as I flew above the trees.

We flew far and high, but I could not do both for very long. I lost speed, and I lost height, and before I knew it we were crashing into the tops of the trees and onto the ground. As we fell I held the girl close to me, wrapping the both of us in my wings for protection. They took the brunt of the fall.

When we stood, I recognized her, and she me. I had been here for a long time, and so had she, but I was there in the lab for longer. She was Eleven, the last, and I was Zero, the first. She turned the corners of her mouth up at me, a smile I believe, before walking onward. I was close to follow, concentrating mostly on the ground beneath my feet. It was not long before we found a place that smelled good, a growl sounded from the girl. I thought for a second that she was angry, but she was not, she was hungry. And at realizing her hunger, I recognized my own.

I grabbed her hand, before walking towards the building. She stopped me from going further, pulling me behind a tree, and messing with the back of my thin paper dress. I felt her hands on my wings, and shuddered at the feeling, but followed her instructions nonetheless. Once my wings were underneath the dress, we continued forward. Eleven was faster than me, so she ran inside, grabbing food off of the counter tops. I stood in the doorway, listening closely for any sounds of danger. Shouts caught my attention, and when I ran inside a large man has a hold on Eleven.

"Think you can steal from me boy?" Eleven is swinging around trying to break free. "What the hell?"

The man lets Eleven go as I join her, holding her behind me. The man looks confused, and sighs loudly shaking his head and motioning for us to follow him. I was not going to, the door was so close, but something was telling me this was okay, so I held Eleven's hand and together we followed the man.

"Stay here." He holds his hands up, before going back towards a different doorway. He speaks to some people, repeatedly saying the word "sorry," though I do not know what it means. A few more minutes pass before the large man walks back into the room. "Are you two hungry?"