/ phantom /
a figment of the imagination
"She was like a dark wave crashing upon the bright shores of his horizon."
Anne Wheeler. An outcast. A loner. A street orphan. A disregarded, disgraced child born out of wedlock. A broken girl waiting for a s...
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Anne was up at the crack of dawn.
As the fiery ball of yellow and orange popped up from behind the tall buildings layering the streets of New York, Anne awoke to the sound of her brother scraping around in the kitchen.
Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Anne left the warm covers of her pallet before tip-toeing past the still sleeping form of her grandmother.
Shivering at the cool gust of air blowing in from the crack beneath the front door, Anne hurried over to the kitchen stove. As she warmed her hands up next to the smouldering embers, she tilted her dark, curly head back and studied the tall, muscular frame of W.D.
"Good morning," she whispered as she straightened up.
W.D turned to glance at her. "Good morning. I have some porridge here. You should probably eat something before you go to practice."
Swallowing, Anne nodded and accepted the bowl of steaming oatmeal from her brother's outstretched hand. "Thank you."
As the two of them settled down at the table, W.D motioned to the poster lying near Anne's seat. A sharp intake of breath escaped her lips when she realised that she'd forgotten to dispose of it previously.
"You're going there? Alone?" he queried, his eyebrows raised distrustfully.
"No," Anne shook her head. "Deng Yan is coming with me. We're going after practice."
"And what exactly are you planning to do once you get to the museum?" W.D asked, concerned. "You're not going to sign up for this nonsensical act are you?"
Anne hesitated. "Well...I'm not planning on it..."
"Anne!" her brother reproved.
"I'm only going to see what all the fuss is about!" she protested. "This man has been all over the papers of New York. Aren't you even a bit curious as to why?"
W.D rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Very well. I'll accompany you. My shift at the blacksmith's doesn't finish until later this afternoon. I can meet up with you and Deng Yan afterwards."
"Sounds like a plan," Anne agreed.
Quietly, so as not to disturb their grandmother, Anne and W.D cleared away the breakfast dishes, donned their coats and slipped from the apartment.
As the two dark-skinned siblings left the alley, they parted ways; W.D to the smith shop on the south side of town and Anne to the gymnasium situated on the north side.
As she hefted her bag, containing her gymnast outfit, through the double glass doors, she was greeted by a crowd of preppy rich girls decorated with swirls of colourful glitter and bright-coloured leotards.
