Terri's Troubles

Prologue: First Day of School

Welcome to my story! Before you start reading I just want to say thank you for choosing to read this, I really appreciate it and I hope you love reading it just as much as I love writing it! And just a little insight that in this prologue, Terri is six years old and then in chapter one, it skips ahead to when she is fifteen.

"Muuumyyy, do you know where my yellow sweater is?" Terri yelled out to her mother from the top of the stairs.

"I think I saw it on the couch sweetie" Mrs Faulkner replied as she placed Terri's lunchbox inside the school bag. Terri bolted down the stairs in search of her favourite sweater.

It was her first day of school today and she was bursting at the seams with excitement, she was ready to meet kids her age, make friends and just do normal kid stuff for once. Ever since Terri could remember she wasn't allowed to go outside resulting in her being homeschooled by her mother, this was because of her extremely unusual... 'situation'. She has a pair of wings coming out of her back. But Mrs Faulkner decided that it would be alright for her to go to a public school so Terri can be a regular kid, if only for a day.

But Terri wasn't aware that it was only for a day, her mother thought it best not to tell her and let her truly enjoy her one day of freedom.

"Now Terri you need to remember not to take this sweater off" she explained as she pulled the sweater over her daughters head then rested her hands on Terri's shoulders.

"Why?" Terri moaned, slouching. Secretly knowing why but wanting it not to be true.

"You remember why we moved here from Plenkath right? Because that young girl saw your wings."

Terri was silent for a moment, sadness clouded her eyes as she recalled the moment in which  Jane, the only friend she had ever had, looked at her in utter terror after opening the door to Terri's bedroom as she removed her jacket to scratch an itch on her left wing. The moment when the men in black suits took Jane away, and the day Terri overheard her mother on the phone saying Jane moved back into her old house. She ran to Jane's house but when the door opened Jane's eyes were swimming with confusion. And the words she said still echoed inside Terri's head to this day.

"... Uh ... Who are you?"

Terri shook her head, not wishing to think about Jane any longer. But an image stuck with her, the view out of the small oval aeroplane window as she looked down watching her small home town of Plenkath get smaller with dried up tears in the corners of her eyes. Terri scrunched up her eyes to get rid of the image then looked back up at her mother.

"What happened to her?" Terri's voice was filled with sorrow. Mrs Faulkner thought for a moment, contemplating violating conduct by telling her the truth of what happened to the girl. But ultimately decided against it, the time had to be right and Terri was too young to handle this kind of thing.

"I'll tell you when you're older dear ... now you'd better get going, you don't want to be late for your first day of school do you?" And with that Terri forgot all about her sadness which was replaced with excitement once more for the day ahead. She ran off to collect her school bag and back again to the front door where her mother was waiting.

"Have so much fun, honey, and remember-" She was cut off by Terri.

"Don't take off my sweater, I know, I know" Terri interrupted. Her mother smiled sadly down at her and placed a kiss on Terri's forehead.

"Byyyye" Terri called over her shoulder as she ran down the path to the pavement, all the while Mrs Faulkner stood in the doorway waving with a hand over her heart. She felt a pang of guilt for lying to her only daughter, but she kept reminding herself that it wasn't technically lying if she was only keeping the knowledge from her, and not giving her false information.

This thought is what stopped her from cracking and telling Terri or anyone else everything. She told herself this every day ever since Terri came home with tears streaming down her face, after seeing Jane for the first time since she got back. Her agreement with them lasted until Terri turned fifteen and they were always watching, they saw everything.

With a sigh, she re-entered the house and softly closed the door behind her. She slowly traipsed through the house heading for her bedroom where there hung a framed photograph of Terri on the wall.

It depicted a very happy 3-year-old Terri in a purple elephant onesie with holes cut in the back for her wings, she was hovering in the center of the living room of their old home in Plenkath.

As Mrs Faulkner gazed at the photo a single tear escaped from her eye but didn't get far before she swiftly wiped it away. One day she would tell her. On Terri's fifteenth birthday the phone call would come and she would tell her.

She would tell her everything.