In The Tower

Chapter 2

(Still 6 Weeks Left)

    I stand on the roof with Ash beside me, feeling the cool breeze tug at my clothes once again. I've already gone and changed into loose fitting clothes. I'm going to shift again tonight. The idea came to me as I looked out over the fields empty of human life. No one's out there right now, and no one will be out until sunrise.

I'm terrified. Even though it's been almost a year and a half since I've last flown, I can still remember the last time clearly. Sadly, I can also remember what caused me to stay on the ground.

~~~~~

    It was a perfect, sunny day when I was only 19 years old. I was twisting through the air, laughing. Shooting through the clouds, I twirled and swooped. I was free. It was the best feeling in the world. I decided it was time to land, so I flew to my tower and gently landed on the flat top. I shifted back to my human form before climbing inside.

     Normally, Ash was sitting in my room or waiting on the roof for me to come back home. He wasn't either of those places. I started to search the house for him. I found Ash sitting in the living room looking worried.

     "What's wrong, Ash?" I said while kneeling on the ground beside him. He turned to look towards the door and meowed. I slowly got up and looked at the door, wondering what was going on. Silently, I peeked out the small window by the door to see a group of men waiting there. I remember feeling dread at what was to come. Nothing good could come of men at my door. I knocked on my own door before slowly opening it up a crack.

     "Hello, how can I help you?" I said in a very polite voice. I'd learned to treat people with power over me with respect. One of the men quickly reached out and grabbed my arm before yanking me outside.

    "What's going on?" I yelped.

     "We have reports saying that you've been out flying," a man at the front of the group said. I recognized him; he was also the one that got me locked in here. I frowned, what was wrong with that?

     "And? So what?" I said with a bit of sass. My tone must have upset them, because the man holding me gripped my arm even harder.

     The man that spoke before quickly answered me sounding very annoyed, "You're not allowed to do that. You must stay in the tower at all times." My heart dropped into my stomach. Flying was my favorite thing to do. It's what kept me sane. I couldn't believe that they were taking this away from me. I was crushed.

     "Okay," I said quietly. Inside I wanted to fight back, to protest, to do something. I wanted to scream, get away, or hurt them. I wanted to try to convince them that there had to be something, anything, to let me keep flying. I wanted to tell them that I would do anything. But the look on their faces told me there was nothing I could do. So I just gave up.

     They shoved me back inside before slamming the door in my face. They yelled through the door, "And don't forget that, dragon, or next time will be much worse."

~~~~~

     I've never forgotten, and it's been over a year now since I've flown. I kept shifting inside the house to try to suppress the urge to fly, but it only made it worse. I stopped shifting at all on the day of my 20th birthday, which was about six months after they confronted me.

That incident put me back into the state I was in when they first locked me in this tower. I was depressed, no better than I was before. At sixteen I had thought about killing myself, at nineteen I actually tried. I almost went through with it, but hearing Ash's panicked meows from the other side of the locked door made me drop the knife I held in my hand. I've tried to keep myself better since that day. I try not to think the same thoughts that drove me to the edge last time, but it's hard. Some days are better than others, and today was a bad day. Maybe that's why I'm standing on the roof in the middle of the night.