Stricken

Chapter 2

I starred observantly at the feather turning it over and over in my hand with each soft stroke glistening my palm sending sparks of electricity up my arms. The only thing i could think of was the boy in the blue shirt and the men in black. The men had accused the boy of having some sort of feather and now just an hour later a freakishly long black feather appears in my purse? The craved voice of the man who had spoken earlier ringed in my ears. If this was somehow the same feather he was talking about, I had a feeling he would do anything to get it.

Maybe I was just in and over my head. There's plenty of other explanations of why this feather could be in my purse. A big bird with twelve inch wings could have swooped over my head sometime earlier shedding a feather that just so happened to land in my purse. Totally reasonable.

I did a quick glance around my room. Should I throw the feather away or hide it somewhere? I decided in a quick 2 seconds I should hide it. For some reason I couldn't bring myself to throw it away, I felt as if I almost needed to protect it. If this was the same feather, the boy didn't give it to the seemingly bad men for a reason. Whatever the reason I didn't want to take my chances.

I ran downstairs and received some duck tape from a junk door in the kitchen. I did a double check on making sure both front and back doors were locked then sashayed back up stairs. I stroked my chin with the tip of the feather, where should I hide it? Somewhere no one would ever guess, a place where it can stay buried for a long time that I can just forget it's existence.

Something about the feather was... off. It held some sort of bad vibe, I could feel it. How did a girl like me end up with this burden? I just wish it would disappear!

I jumped up onto my bed and gently took down the circle mirror setting it on my bed. I stripped a long piece of tap off and placed the feather against the back of the mirror and sealed it to it. It might not have been the most concealing hiding place, but it would do for now.

I snuggled up in my covers, set my alarm, then let myself go free into peaceful unconsciousness.

I awoke when I heard the first creak of a stair. I sat up strait in my bed my heart racing, my palms growing sweaty. Another came then another. Had someone broke in? My parents wouldn't be back till tomorrow afternoon so it couldn't be them.

The squeaks came quicker and quicker with only pauses of no more than 5 seconds. I felt the coldness of tears stream off my face and i realized I was silently crying. I laid back down on my bed pulling my cover up to my face me eyes peeking above it. The footsteps had drawn closer till they were right outside my bedroom door. I squeezed my eyes shut lost in my own fear. A deep roar of a laughter from a man came from outside my door and I felt like screaming. I made a quick decision to hide under my bed. I eased my self off the bed and almost fell right onto my butt my body was shaking so fierce fully. I got to my knees and quietly plopped down onto my stomach and slid on my belly till i was in the middle of me bed laying horizontally.

With a long squeaky groan the door was open. Heavy foot steps carried out into the room. The man wore black boots and black jeans. From underneath the bed I watched as he strode in the direction of the bed. He stood directly in front of my nightstand and paused.

Everything went silent and for a minute I let myself pretend somehow the man had vanished, but that thought quickly disappeared when an earsplitting sound broke lose and the shatter of a mirror. The man had forcefully thrown the circle mirror into the floor breaking it into hundreds of pieces. Glass shards skid everywhere around me. I had to bite my tongue to keep from screaming.

Out of the pile of broken glass something caught my eye, the feather! I had completely forgotten about it! A hand wearing a black glove reached down to grab it and the feather delicately pulled out from under the glass. The man began to walk to the opposite side of the room. Did he know I was under here? Did he come for the feather? Was there something more he wanted?

The footsteps had stopped and my heart beat raced faster and faster. I felt the paranoid feeling he was watching me. I hesitated then turned the opposite direction to where he had walked to the other side. This time I didn't hold my scream. It flew out of my mouth before I could take in what was even happening. A boy with black hair laid peeking under my bed 6 inches away from my face. I couldn't distinguish his exact features for the darkness, but I could feel the dark wicked grin piercing his face and his black eyes absorbing me.

"Peek-a-boo" he tilted his head sideways while he said it. Fear shot through my body and I tried to scoot backward, but my body wouldn't move.

He raised the feather infront of his face." I see," his wicked grin grew wider and he tilted his wrist making the tip of the feather touch my nose, "you." he whispered.