Dancing Wings

Looking up at Life

Chapter 1

It's funny how life gets you in mysterious ways, but the only mystery in my life is, Who am I? Why I'm Mina, the one and only Mina. But I can't help feeling like a part of me is missing somewhere, somehow. All I do know is that I'm a nobody, especially at school, I'd die today and nobody would know or arrange my funeral, or even cry for me. It hurts to know that, that's all I'll ever be, invisible.

Though, there is one person who I'll always miss if I get adopted one day. When I was left in nothing but a blanket on Mrs.Clayson's doorstep (I know, so cliche), she took me in and cared for me as if she was my mother. Mrs.Clayson is a small, thin women in her late '50s, she has blonde hair that's graying at certain places and hazel eyes. She always felt so fragile, as if you could break her with a single touch. She is the foster home caretaker, she always was so fit to be one. She made the girls there feel special and wanted, as if they really did have someone. Somehow, I got the feeling that my birth mother knew who Mrs.Clayson was, knew that she could be the perfect person to make feel wanted. I never thought of my real mother when I was with Mrs.Clayson, never thought that my mother didn't really want me, because Mrs.Clayson always filled that empty space. But when I did think about her, I cried thinking why? She was always in a small part of my head everyday, but I always think she had a good reason to give me up. I believed she was a good person if I ever met her, It was just another small part of me that knew. I always got that feeling she was watching out for me, somehow, some way.

So after those years of getting used to my wings that only grew 3 years back. I learned to dance with them, to spread them out wide and be as graceful as possible. I always loved ballet, it was one of those things you know your naturally good at. The first time I saw those dancers on the tv when I was 5, was the day I stuck to it like glue. They were so, so graceful the way their legs and arms swept slowly in difficult motions, so beautiful the way their elegant and fit body moved about. I started turning on the dancing channel every day to practice their dances, that I became as swift and as graceful as them. "I want to become a professional dancer someday," I said when someone asked me that question one day in elementry school.

I was so confused at 13 when my wings sprouted from my back, I didn't know what to do or how to close them. I stayed there 2 days in the woods trying to figure them out. I went to a stream and started to clean them with my undershirt, blood soaking through, staining it. I tried several times to make them move, but when I did, they flapped wildly and took me in the air a few feet before dropping me down and making scrapes and bruises on my knees. When I finally did get them to close and disappear so nobody could see them, I gladly walked back to the foster home, exhausted and starving from the lack of food and sleep. As soon as I came through the door to find a worried Mrs.Clayson sitting in a chair by the door, I could remember Mrs.Clayson running me down and hugging me and asking me if I was OK, but after that she gave me punishment of a weeks worth of washing dishes. From there on out, I decided to go into the woods to learn of my wings, get them to fly and open and close. The first time I got in the air, high enough to drop me to my death, I screamed but then I told myself to calm down and relax before I got myself killed.

After I got used to the fact of being in the air without having a heart attack, I started to fly on my own. Soaring through sky felt amazing, like being the only one in the world, to touch the clouds with your fingers, rubbing the mixture of water and mist between your thumb and index finger. It was ecstasy whenever I could get the chance to fly, I was an angel. I felt like one.

~o~

When I came through the door of the foster home, Mrs.Clayson immediately walked up to me. "Mina, honey, look who we have here," Mrs.Clayson gestured to a couple in there early 30's. They were both beautiful, the women having a slender figure, with chocolate brown eyes, blonde hair, and high cheekbones. The man having a lean and muscular body, sandy brown hair, and an attractive face that could still earn him a fews looks every now and then. They looked at her and smiled, the wife walked towards her and spoke, "Hello, I'm Claire Hastings and this is my husband, John Hastings." she said as she took hold of her Mr.Hastings arm. I looked at both of them and shyly smiled as I pushed my spectacles up on the bridge of my nose with my index finger. I was always so shy in my years of life, it got to be so frustrating when it came to trying to make friends, I wanted to be strong and confident. "Hi, I'm Mina," I said as I waved nervously, "nice to meet you." "Nice to meet you too, dear. I've heard wonderful things about you from Mrs.Clayson here." she said as she gestured to Mrs.Clayson who smiled proudly. "I would love to hear more from you though," she said as she looked past me at Mrs.Clayson. Mrs.Clayson straightened up and led them to the living room where they all sat down on the two couches that sat across from each other. As we all started talking, I began to think that things were looking up. Slowly.