Dark Everglades: The Rising Sun [BOOK ONE] {BEING RE-WRITTEN}

Arina

Arina's POV

I wait in my room, a small mattress in the corner and some blankets is really the only things I have except for the small closet and bathroom.

I slowly make my way to my mattress, crawling in and turning to the wall.

I wait five seconds before the door opens lightly. I shut my eyes, hearing my father walk silently across the room towards me.

He kneels down, sighing as he tucks my hair behind my ear, hesitating before bringing the covers over my shoulders and kissing my temple lightly.

My heart aches to hug him, but I stay still just like every other day. I would have thought he would be getting tired of coming in here, just seeing me in the same position every day. But he doesn't. He keeps coming back.

"I'll fix things my Dandelion," He whispers and I keep myself from trembling.

Dandelion is what my mother would call me for fun, saying that I was her wish that came true.

Dandelions stopped growing in Ruskya years ago and all plants in general. But my mother said when she was young and living in Ruskya, she picked up a Dandelion from her mother's garden and wished for a beautiful daughter.

And that supposedly was me.

Every morning she called me Dandelion when she had me, she smiled each and everyday when I looked her in the eyes.

But that all stopped once she got sick.

My father gets up and slowly walks to my door, exiting and closing the door lightly.

I open my eyes, turning over and reaching under my pillow. I take out a small locket, sighing each time it's still there. My stepmother will take any gold she sees, and this locket is specially made my the Domiel's over in Zephon.

My mother met the Domiel at the border, breaking many laws and traded a large loaf of bread for the locket with her and my face in it.

It was the last loaf of bread we had at the time.

I open the locket, staring at the sharp features of my mother. The picture is in black and white but her eyes seem so bright. She's holding me with a large smile as I sleep soundlessly.

She told me I was never a troubled child, and that I was fairly easy to take care of. My father said the same when he was still around.

I close the locket, tucking it back under my pillow and sitting up. I rip the blankets off me, quickly changing into new clothes and walking over to my door. I rest my ear against the surface, hearing my fathers footsteps and my stepmothers loud yapping before the I hear the front door close.

I quickly run over to my window, popping it open and grabbing onto the stairway latter. I jog back up the stairs to the top of the building again, laying low as I watch my father exit the complex, and walk steadily back out into the open.

He never sleeps either.

Once he is out of sight, walking through the crowds of Demlions that surround the floor now I turn to the next building on my left.

I smile, closing my eyes and picturing a Mountain Lion.

I feel myself shrink, growing a long tail, and my fangs extending and I land on all fours.