Grace Feckterhight

Chapter One

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Present day

I stood above the city, my eyes reflecting all of its lights like sparklers. The skyscrapers surrounded me, their height still impressing me. I'd been living here for a long time, and the city still amazed me. Kistra, the City of a Thousand Buildings, was my home. I had a deep-rooted feeling that it always would be.

I dropped onto the fire escape, my journal in hand. I knew that tonight would be an amazing night. I had a new song in mind, and a new drawing in my head.

I sketched for a little bit, capturing the lights all around me. My pencil was a silver majestic classic that had been a gift from the organization I worked for. They loved creativity.

I smiled. I'd been so lucky to get such a good place to take me in.

I sang the notes I'd pondered all day. There. I thought with satisfaction, smiling to myself. Yeah, that was it. The words came out of a place in me that was always giving me life and purpose, a place that my creativity flowed from.

"Color finds me first

gives my eyes the light of birth

it weaves around my soul

makes my past pain the only hole,"

My voice cracked, the old scar in me throbbing with new pain.

"Her parents, gone

crosses on a lawn

it won't be long

until she trips and breaks

with tear tracks down her face

This pain, she knows,

her color, she flows,

the place of darkness, she won't go

though she's felt the temptation head to toe

The way she chooses is hers alone

without a doubt, this way she'll go

past the dark with no thoughts to flow

she'll live her life despite the pain

she'll move on from the mounting strain

her past a haunting ghost

she'll make it unlike most

stronger than you'd know

Kistra she calls home"

My song complete, the notes feeling right, I write it down in the soft glow of the neon signs of my city. Night washed over the place like rainwater through a dam. The mood of the expansive bustle hushed, leaving only the remains. A high moon, a sleeping collection of apartments, and an extensive variety of lights created a new image. The time that I was awake, the only thing I lived for.

The dark concrete of the city was damp from the back half of the day's rain. Perfect weather, according to me. A cool breeze topped it all off with satisfaction. I leaned back, my head gently touching the iron behind me. To most, the fire escape was an almost useless piece of twisted metal, but to me, it was a perfect perch. With an incredible view from about fifteen stories up, it was hard to resist, especially for someone like me.

I hugged my knee and let my other leg dangle over an entire building of empty air. It would scare most people, but then again, I wasn't most people.