Feathers That Won't Fly

Chapter III Breaking the Wall

Azlyn got into the car, shaking. Memories dipped itself in ink, writing the past on her mind. The pen dropped blackish-blue ink in unwanted spots, leaving a smeared mess. The pen kept writing. It connected the present to the past, all leading back to six years ago. Cars. Gasoline. Fire. Death. Then the pen wrote something different:

And so, with a shaky breath I have accepted my fate. With my heart beating all the while, I see my past laid out as my future. And so, with a final breath I see my bound and certain destination.

"No! It's never going to happen again!" Azlyn screamed.

"What?" Haddix asked.

"Nothing. I just, don't like cars," Azlyn replied, realizing that she had spoken aloud.

The group had pasted themselves with more arch-human blood. The smell was smeared across the Haddix's car. They had biked a few miles to the house of Oliver and his family to stock up with food, tools, clothes, and a car. Haddix sat in the front with his father, and Azlyn rode in the back with Lilly. Lilly was scared and refused to sit anywhere but Azlyn's lap.

They rode in silence, which was deadly to Azlyn. When people were silent, Azlyn's brain could not focus. It went in every direction, like a fly looking for an exit, merely succeeding in smacking against a transparent window several times. Her brain buzzed and all she could think about were the things she had shut out of her mind. The wall between her present and her past was cracking with every blow she gave it. Her past was seeping through the cracks, trying desperately to fit in with her present, and maybe even further. Her brain connected thousands of things that shouldn't be connected. She couldn't stop it from thinking, so she let the flood begin.

She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, there sat her adoptive father. Azlyn remembered how he looked when she first met him. He had a genuine smile, and the light added a sparkle to his cheerful eyes. His cheeks were rosy, his lips thin. There he sat; right next to her. It was beautiful. Then his whole face morphed. The smile turned into a frown, the eyes were red, screaming with fury. The color of his cheeks had blended with his skin and his whole face was burning red hot. Worst of all, pure hate radiated from him, grabbing onto Azlyn's shoulders and shaking her whole body. Hate burned her and clawed at her, trying to rip tears from her eyes. A clenched fist was raised by the hallucination, and Azlyn screamed. She unbuckled her seatbelt, undid the lock on the car door, and jumped out of the car. In fear that Lilly would be hurt by Azlyn's father, Azlyn pulled a crying Lilly with her. Her back scraped on the pebble-strewn road, creating criss-cross patterns, much like the ones on her left arm. She held Lilly up, away from the danger, and Lilly cried harder.

Azlyn looked back at the car. It had stopped and Haddix was running towards them. Azlyn looked in the backseat. Her father was gone. She built the wall in her mind once more, and let her brain buzz around in there. The fly smacked against the window for the last time, and then fell with crippled wings.

Haddix had reached Lilly and Azlyn. He picked up Lilly and brought her back to the car, leaving Azlyn alone.

"Dear God child, you're still alive?" a voice asked rhetorically. It was confident and cocky, just like...

"Tom!" Azlyn cheered.

"How do you know me?" Tom asked.

"It's a long story."

"I thought you were dead."

"Well, here I am. And I need your help."

"You let your family die, and you save yourself? I'm not helping you."

"Bulls---, of course you're helping us." Haddix appeared. He gave Azlyn a quizzical look, obviously confused by the recent events. Azlyn ignored this look.