Marked For the Kill (On Hold)

Chapter 2

Marked For the Kill

Chapter 2

My cheeks puff out like a child's as I blow the flickering candle's light out. Another year gone by and I still am as terrified as I always have been of being Marked.

I put my worries aside though and put on a mask of strength for my family. We eat the cake together in silence, and by the time we finish the sweet fluffy dessert, the lack of conversation is so uncomfortable that when my mother gets up she practically runs to get my presents.

When she returns, she hands Anemone a package and holds one herself. They were both small and wrapped in tissue paper with a simple string holding the ends together.

Anemone steps up to me first with a radiant smile in her face.

"Happy birthday, Tigress," she hands me her package. "I picked it out for you."

I pull back the string and ruffle through the paper until I find the gift. It was a small, clear sphere, see through like water. Frozen inside was a pretty, blue flower, my favorite actually. They grew in the woods, and I was always sure to pick one when we went for food. There was a hole through the sphere above the flower.

"You can string it on your necklace with your tiger so that you can always have one."

It is a very thoughtful gift. I pull her into a tight embrace.

"Thank you Anemone," I release her ,"It's beautiful."

She smiles, pleased that I like her gift. My mother goes next. She hands her's over as she explains.

"We," she looks at my sister ,"Wanted to collaborate on gifts."

I open the paper and pull out a smooth river stone. It too has a hole drilled near the top, and when I turn it over, I see the intricate design of a star craved into it.

Before my father had died, he would take me out to the woods to hunt. Often times it would become dark, and I would worry that we wouldn't be able to find our way home.

He told me that as long as I knew how to read the stars for directions, I could always be able to find my way home. We would sing as we walked to calm me against the sounds of the night, sing of the stars and how they watched over us.

What he said was true; I learned to read the stars. I've been caught by myself out in the woods before or since his death. I still to this day sing on my way out of the woods until I am within the safe arms of my home.

"Oh thank you Mother," I hug her tight. She only nods, but I can tell that she's holding back tears. She and my father were so in love, the rare kind of love that could reassure anyone that no matter how bad the world got, there would still be beautiful and non understandable things. My father used to sing to her too.

We pull Anemone into our embrace and stay in the safety of each other's arms for some time and then pull away at the same time.  My mother announces that it is time for bed. I string the flower and stone on the leather strip that holds my tiger.

There, I tie the necklace back around my neck, safe and sound. I curl up in bed, but I know that I will get no sleep tonight.

I doze in and out of sleep in that dreaded and uncomfortable in-between state. When I do find sleep, I am woken by the paralyzing fear brought on by the nightmares.

Creatures stalk me through the night woods. The sky is black and I can't find the stars, can't find any light at all. I run through thick, silvery-grey fog that floats over the ground as fast as my legs will allow, but the wolf is too fast.