In the dark

The rest of the day, I spent reading. I was amazed by this series, I even started calling it nonfiction-their situation seemed real enough. I didn't fall asleep until well late into the night, and my sleep was dreamless. When I woke up, I didn't even bother to change my clothes, just keep reading. I was on the last book, 15 pages left, when breakfast came. It slid in the usual way, under the steel doors. It was the same as always, goo and slush. But somehow livened by my surreal mood. I ate while reading the last of the book, nearly choking at one part. I coughed, my eyes watering, reading the last few words. When done, I sat back, finished my meal and thought it over. Our situations were tied, but only when she was in the school. She got away with Fang, Iggy, Angel, Nudge, and the Gasman.... I don't know anyone here but the idiots, my tutor, and I barely know my parents.

Why would tutor say our lives were so similar, when they couldn't be more different? They were free, I was stuck here. They know a lot of people, I don't know anyone. They have lives, I don't. They can fly, I can't. Well, I thought it through, I had never really tried to fly before.... I stood up. What a perfectly horrid idea, I scolded myself but still bent my back. I then realized why I had slits in the back of my shirt, to let out my wings. I pulled off my jacket, throwing it onto the bed. Since the idiots hadn't tried to stop me yet, they were probably not watching me or wanted me to let out my wings. I tried and tried again, bending my wings into many different, uncomfortable positions before they finally slid out. They weren't anything great, since I had never used them in my entire life. They were a dull black, the feathers hanging a little limply. Not to mention how skinny they were, they looked as if they were bone, but I had moved them- so they did indeed have some measure of strength in them. I spent the next few hours pulling them in and out, in and out. That was one of the best ways to learn, applying it over and over. Soon, it was easy as if I was asleep. I then tried to do different things, starting with the least complicated. I first started to flap one wing, then the other, until I was flapping both wings. I then tried turning my wings different way, bending one and not the other. I tried folding them around myself. I even tried to lift my weight into the air, only making it five feet before I bumped my head and decided to stop.

I was so concentrated I didn't even hear the doors open, and those doors are loud! I was facing the glass mirror that was one way, and that way obviously wasn't mine. That was when I was them standing, gaping at the appendages that were moving from my back. They were a white coat, carrying a tray filled with different types of lotions and conditioners. I stopped immediately, folding my wings tightly against my back and facing them. She twitched and said in a dazed voice ,"U-uh... take out your wings again. I need a few feathers." I let my wings hang at my sides as she came to collect the feathers. I sucked in a breath as she plucked the first one, then the next. She was doing it too hard. I turned around to face her, carefully placing a hand on my mouth, she nodded, realizing I needed to speak. "Your plucking too hard, may I do it?" She knit her eyebrows together and nodded. She was about my height and watched carefully as I carefully slid a black feather from the top parts, the fuzzy ones. I handed it to her and she placed it on the tray. I took several more before she stopped me, saying she had enough. She left, taking the feathers with her. The door closed with a bang. She was a new one, I thought warily. She's not demanding like the rest of them.





That night, I lay awake in bed, waiting to put my plan in action. I had thought it up when I had dumped the breakfast tray down the trash shoot. It was deathly silent, the air still and frigid. I was staring into the dark, pretending to sleep. I had to be sure all the idiots weren't watching the monitor. They were too lazy to stay up all night just to watch me, a supposedly obedient girl who had never attempted at escape before and apparently didn't plan on it. After I was sure it was at least four in the morning, I slipped out from under the sheets. I had my journal in hand, two pens in my back pocket. I slipped the tiny journal into my front pocket, creeping along the wall,  searching for what I was looking for. When my hand hit the cold metal, I stood silently in front of it. I took a deep breath, stretching the top half of my body into the garbage shoot. It was just large enough for me to fit, and I pulled myself in. Almost instantly, I dropped through the tunnel like a rock. My sides hit the walls that were covered in a green, black slime. There came a bend in the pipe and I hit my right shoulder on the hard, slippery metal. As soon as I turned the corner, junk from other shoots pelted me. Food, broken beakers, makeup, more food covered me and I shut my eyes tight. The shoot had opened up a little, so all the freaking stuff people threw out could fit. Suddenly, there were a bunch of twists and turns, making me hurt several places.

Then the shoot opened up and I landed in something soft and slimy, the other stuff from the shoot came out and hit me again. I crawled out of the way, gasping in pain. I cleared my eyes,  trying to stand up. I could barely see anything in the little light provided. The light came from a lamp that glowed a dull orange. I slipped on a banana, how ironic. I fell down the pile of decaying things, stopping only when I ran into the edge of the dumpster. Gripping it before I fell over the side, I peeked around. It was the backside of the building. Across the cement ground was the other building, aglow with lights and people running around. That was at least a half mile away though, no one but the stars could see me. I was officially in the dark.