The Light of Dawn

Chapter Two

     CHAPTER TWO

       My eyes open to the light blue carpet that I've had in my room for years. I am lying on my stomach right next to my bed, and I blink, momentarily confused. Did I fall of my bed? As I lay there on the ground, paralyzed, I remember the night before. The searing pain. The ripping of my back. Falling off my bed...

       Shakily, as I raise myself on my hands, a glimpse of gold catches my eye. I turn my head to see a mount of black and gold feathers going up the side of my bed. Feathers? Why the hell are there feathers on my bed?!

       I dart to my feet as lump forms in my throat. There is a light tugging on my back, but it's not painful. The feathers are now off the bed, and piled up by my side. I spin in a circle, only to find the feathers are spinning with me, accompanied with more tugging on my back. With my whole body shaking, I slowly make my way towards the mirror.

       My hands fling to my mouth to stop the scream from escaping. They are pressing so hard against my face I can barely breathe. My eyes begin to water as I examine my alien body in the mirror.

       Behind my back, stretching across the floor, are two long wings.

       The top of the wings are a sleek, dark black. Underneath the huge amount of black are another set of smaller feathers. These ones look as if they are made of pure gold. Even through the fear, the confusion, and the feeling I might be sick, the feathers are stunningly beautiful. 

       I don't know how long I stand there. It feels like ages. Eventually, more light begins to pour through my windows, signalling that school will be starting soon. I unclench my hands from my mouth, now almost certain neither screams nor vomit will escape it. I trace one of my hands up my back, and notice that it seems to concave in. My spine feels bent, but it's not painful. Biting my lip, I slowly raise my hand further up until I feel the feathered mounts coming from between my shoulder blades.

        "Holy shit..." I whisper. I glance behind me again, racking my brain on what I am going to do. Certainly I can't tell anyone, because then they would think I was a freak. Who knows what they would do to me? I need to find a way to hide them, but that would involve getting them to move.

        As I stand there, staring at the wings that are lying on the floor behind me, one begins to twitch. Watching it twitch, I begin to become aware that I have feeling radiating down to the tips of each wing. And if I have feeling, that means that I can move them. It shouldn't be any harder than moving my arm, right?

       I concentrate on each of the wings, imagining them stretching out beside me. I move my shoulders up and down, trying to see if that would stimulate the feathered monsters coming out of my back. Beginning to get frustrated, I quickly stretch my arms out, only to have the wings do the same. There is a crashing noise as the right wing knocks off some books off the bookshelf on the right hand side of the wall. I exhale in pain as the left wing crashes and bends against the left hand side of the wall, right next to the only window in my room.

       My breath hitches in my throat, once again, as I examine the wings stretched out behind me. With the room being 14 feet wide, the wingspan had to be at least that. 14 feet of feathers that most certainly should not exist. At least not from my shoulder blades. 

       Once again concentrating, I eventually get the wings to bend and curl beside my body. Then I extend them. Bend, extend. Bend, extend. After I feel like I got the hang of it, I curl the wings up so they are pressed against my back. I felt up my back again, realizing that the back on tank top I'm wearing was completely ripped to shreds. Grasping the ends of what little remained of the tank top, I tie one large knot, making the rest of the tank top hug my body again.