Fallen From Heaven

Chapter 1

BRAPBRAPBRAPBRAPBRA-

Cuinn's alarm clock abruptly stopped as he smacked the off button. He looked aver at the clock. 4:30 am. He smiled slightly before getting up and stretching.

"Early bird gets the worm"

He headed over to his closet, grabbing his camo, rapidly putting it on. He smoothed out the front, grabbed his small knapsack, full of the days ammunition and basic first aid supplies. He moved his bow to the side and grabbed his .22 and his camera. He turned, heading out of his room. He briefly stopped in the kitchen, taking his medication, and taking himself a poptart for breakfast. As he ate, he looked outside for anything that might ruin or interrupt his hunt today.

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Cuinn aimed his gun at the fat, slow squirrel. He breathed out and squeezed the trigger. He watched as the squirrel fell to the ground.

"First one of the day." He said as he went and collected his kill. "Big one too."

He picked it up by the tail before putting it in a bag he'd brought with him. He then continued walking through the trees, keeping his eyes up, watching for more squirrels. Most of the ones he saw were still small and he'd decided he'd let them grow a bit more plump. He hadn't gone squirrel hunting for a while but remembered not often getting a large amount of adequately fat squirrels. He enjoyed the hunt but not for the killing, but for the outdoors, the feeling of complete isolation from society. He enjoyed being close to the animals, even if it was ever so briefly. It made him feel closer to the earth. Plus on a good hunt, you can get enough food for a while, and a few good stories. These woods hadn't been hunted in years as his family had slowly become more and more busy before finally moving away, leaving him the land and house. His dad and mom had moved into a nursing home, his brother had taken the farm animals to his own farm, and his sister had helped to move the equipment to his brothers farm or sell it. The farm was over 300 acres, but only about 50 of them were unwooded. The forest had been an escape for him since he'd been a kid. He'd planned on one day selling the farm, but it'd sort of grown on him. He couldn't bring himself to sell this place of memories. He'd learned when he was a child that these woods were full of animals. He probably could've lived off them alone if he wasn't so addicted to processed and sugary foods. He spotted another squirrel and took aim, but before he fired, the squirrel quickly scurried of in panic. He chuckled quietly.

"Guess some are smarter than others."

He looked around, seeing a ton of animals, birds, rabbits, squirrels, even a coyote or two, fleeing in the same direction the first squirrel had gone.

"What the-," he'd never seen anything like this. He'd heard old stories of similar things: large amounts of animals fleeing from a danger in a stampede. As he was thinking, watching the small animals run through the trees and the ground, he looked down and narrowly avoiding being trampled by a two huge racked bucks. He fell to the ground, rolling out of the way.

"What the hell is going on!?"

Why we're they all fleeing en masse? What could have caused this? He started looking around, holding his rifle tight, hoping to see what caused the animals mass panic. Yet, he saw nothing that could have caused this.

As he looked up into the trees, he suddenly heard the sharp sound of branches breaking and saw a figure falling toward him at a great speed. He didn't have time too move before it smashed into him, throwing him back on the ground, forcing the air out of his lungs, and slamming his head to the ground. The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was a perfect, pure white feather fall in front of his face. Then it faded to black.

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Hours have passed since Cuinn was knocked out. The sun is high in the sky by the time he finally stirs. His eyes flutter as he opens them, expecting to be staring at the tree tops. Instead, he finds himself staring at a girls face that was way too close to his.

He thought, I must have hit my head hard. I'm imagining girls in the woods.

He chuckled softly and raised his hand to the face, anticipating his hand going straight through it. He almost screamed in shock when he felt his hand impact warm, soft flesh.

"W-who are you?," he asked.

"I don't know", the girl said as she shrugged and moved closer to Cuinn, filling his vision.

He backed away quickly and briefly saw two large... things, like strange feathery lumps on the girl's back, protruding from her shirt. Before he got a get a good look and ask about them, she was back in his face.

"Who are you?", she asked.

"I-I'm Cuinn..."

He had this feeling in his gut that, while this girl seemed sweet and confused, she was anything but. He could just tell there was an air of danger, if not death, surrounding her.

"Cuinn? It's a very nice name." She smiled.

"T-thanks... So, uh, what are those things on your back?"
"Huh?", she looked at her back, as if confused by the question, "oh these?"

After saying this, the lumps quickly unfolded into pure white wings, charred at the ends, with a wingspan of at least 15 feet, tip to tip.

Cuinn looked upon them in horror. His mind raced through many conclusions. I'm imagining this. No I couldn't touch her if it was in my head. I'm still asleep then. Maybe. Or I'm dead... No I'm definitely alive.

"Are you okay, Cuinn?"

Cuinn was clearly not okay. He was feeling nauseous and the ground was spinning. He started to take on a faintly green hue. He turned his head to the side and vomited in some bushes.

"Nope this is real...", he moaned.

"Are you okay now?", it... she said.

He didn't answer. Instead, he started pulling himself away from her, before climbing to his feet against a tree.

"Why do you have wings?"

All she did was shrug. "I don't know. I only remember a home and then talking to someone and then crashing."

Cuinn thought about that. "You have Amnesia. Hopefully, it'll pass soon."

Cuinn thought, why am I comforting her? I don't know her.

The girl smiled and said,"Thank you."

Cuinn cautiously collected his stuff. "You should probably go home... I mean if you remember where home is. You don't wanna get caught in the woods at night."

Before leaving her, he thought, let's just hope I wake up...

He walked away leaving the girl in the woods, not noticing her light footsteps behind him.