Cotton-candy clouds floated overhead as the sun dipped low on the horizon. The skyline was black against the orange sky, the hills in the distance grew less and less visible by the minute. Creatures of the night came out to play in the unkempt grounds of an old amusement park atop a hill bordering the great city below. This once marvellous place of mystery was now a wreckage of rusted rides and shuttered stalls. Sometimes the teens from the city would come here to smoke, drink alcohol and mess around.
A figure climbed the hillside, it looked like a wild animal at a distance, but when it straightened up it was clear it was more human than not. It walked under the flickering light at the entrance to the hall of mirrors and revealed the curious face of a girl. She wore a grey crop top and skinny jeans that were faded with time. There was a slight blush on her face from the climb and her pale lips were pursed while she looked around for something. Her blue eyes glinted in the light and flitted from side to side like a deer being hunted. Her blonde hair blew around in the gentle breeze and protruding from it were two black ears, not dissimilar to those of a wolf. From her fitted jeans flicked a bushy tail of the same colour.
Suddenly, her ears turned at the sound of the rustling leaves behind her. She crouched lower to the ground. Something moved in the shadows and the girl's face contorted into a snarl. Then, as if she were nothing but air, she was knocked off her feet and to the ground. Screams filled the air for a second, breaking the peaceful setting. Then, giggling.
"Meri!!" The first girl coughed after getting her breath back.
"Calm down, Cinna! It's just a little playing around." The second girl stood, pushing her short blonde hair out of her grey-blue eyes. Adjusting the strap of her white tank top, she held out a hand to help Cinnamon get up.
A few seconds later a third girl appeared. She shook her pink bob as she watched her friends fight like cat and dog, which was quite accurate since the first girl was part wolf and the second part cat. This girl had long, rabbit-like ears with a little white puff poking out of her black skirt. Her rosy cheeks contrasted with her pale skin. She sat on the grass and patted the spot next to her as the other girls joined her. They looked out on the concrete jungle and Cinna rested her head on the third girl's shoulder.
"When do you reckon we'll be allowed to roam those streets as free people?" Meri pondered aloud.
"They said when we were eighteen, Meri, not long now."
"Are you mad?! Two years is a long time, B!"
"Whatever, it could be longer." B groaned and leant her head onto the head of her friend.
After hours of sitting and talking the girls realised they needed to get back before he got suspicious. They ran down the hill and came to a row of houses on the outskirts of the city. Cinna pushed a fence panel to the side and they all climbed through into a ginnel between two houses. They ran through it and came out on the backstreet behind their 'house'. On the outside, it looked like you're average detached, three-story house. However once inside you realised it wasn't quite like that. Little things gave this away, such as locks on the outside of the bedrooms. There was only ever enough food in the house for exactly three meals that day. And only enough food for four people. The only outsider allowed in was Dr Handson but he never stayed for long. He came with the daily groceries and two daily checkups.
The girls climbed the drain pipe and through the bedroom window of Meri's room. They knocked on the locked bedroom door and then heard a shuffling outside and then a click. The door swung open revealing the tired face of their friend Sugar. Her crimson hair fell into her face, her pale skin looked even paler in the moonlight streaming through the window. She rubbed her dark eyes and turned back to her room. They locked Cinna's door after them and then Meri locked B and Sugar in their rooms too. Meri got to her room and closed the door. She grabbed the weird stick thing she kept under her bed and stuck it under the door. She managed to latch it onto the bolt and push it along so she was locked in. He wouldn't suspect a thing.
