Broken Wings: Chapter 1

 

Love. Such a small word. It’s funny how such a small, four letter word can create such powerful feelings. Hate. Another four letter word. It is the complete opposite to love, and yet it works in much the same way. The dizziness, the boiling blood, the dry throat. Two completely different emotions, but they both make our bodies react in the same way.

 

Kaylee observed this through wide eyes. She sat every day in the corner of the dark, smelly cave where she and ten others called home, and watched as her best friend fell deeper in love with the boy Kaylee hated.

 

He’s a liar. He isn’t right. Kaylee hated him, as much as Rayne loved him. Kaylee had no way to justify her claims. She could just feel it. She could just tell he was lying about something, something important. Kaylee hated being the one no-one listened too. She tried every day to tell Rayne the truth, but she wouldn’t listen, no-one ever listened! It’s amazing how much people do, or say, in frount of someone they think is crazy. Kaylee knew more than any one could have dreamed. She knew she was getting worse, she knew every one had given up hope. She saw the sadness in Rayne’s eyes as she poked more holes into Kaylees skin with needles. Rayne might say that it was so the doctor could do more blood tests, but Kaylee knew that was a lie. The real reason Rayne took her blood every day was to make sure she still was bleeding, that her heart hadn’t given up hope along with every one else.

 

Another funny flaw in the human race, Kaylee thought as Rayne took her temperature. They never really look. When any one looked at Kaylee, they saw an empty shell. Am echo of the girl that might have once been there. But they never really looked. Kaylee was still there, clinging to the last fragment of her sanity. It was just easier for them to think she was gone, that the school, and the tests, had broken her soul, destroying her forever, than to think that maybe, just maybe, they had failed to save what was still hidden inside.

Rayne smiled. She loved being in love. She loved every thing about it. She loved Matt. His eyes, as deep, and as dark as space, could see through her acts. He knew that Rayne was hurting for her friend, and he helped take care of Kaylee, even if she hated him and screamed every time he went near her. The thought of her friend brought tears to Rayne’s dark eyes. Ever since Rayne had broken Kaylee out of the Academy for the Gifted, she had done every thing she could to help her friend, but it didn’t seem to be enough. Every day Kaylee talked more nonsense, and she was slipping further out of reach.

 

Rayne found herself starring at her friend. Kaylee was starring back with curious eyes. Sighing, Rayne stood and left her spot with Matt by the fire, and walked over to the end of the cave, where Kaylee was sitting. Kaylee’s eyes hadn’t moved, and where starring at Matt.

            “How are we tonight?” Rayne sat, feeling her friends forehead for a temperature, and found one. “You should be in bed.”

            “Slept so much. Stick a needle in me and I sleep. Nightmares come and take me back there. I don’t want to go back.” Kaylee’s voice cracked and tears ran down the well known  tracks of her face.

            Rayne put an arm around her friend, and pulled her into a tight hug. “It’s OK, little Kaylee. You know the only way you will be going back there is over my dead body.” After that, Rayne just sat there, hugging her friend, and watched helplessly as Kaylee slowly cried herself to sleep.

 

Just as she had predicted, the nightmares returned to Kaylee that night. Memories of her life before she was pushed into the Academy made her smile, as a five year old Kaylee, and a six year old Rayne ran through the forest, playing hide and seek. Then came the school. The white corridors, the needles, the cold hands. It was like being stuck in the doctors surgery for three years. But these were evil doctors, as cliché as it sounds. These were doctors who wanted to make you worse, not better. They jabbed and prodded, poked and pulled. They pushed you past the point of no return and beyond. Crazy. That’s what they were. Kaylee cried out in her sleep as more needles pierced her skin and then her dream self was shoved back into the white cell where she was kept. As the door slammed shut, Kaylee’s eyes snapped open. It was dark, the fire had been put out, and Kaylee had been moved to her small mattress of a bed. Kaylee’s cat-like green eyes adjusted quickly to the dark, and she did a quick head count. Eight. Two people were missing. Rayne and Matt. Silently, Kaylee stood, still fully dressed in her long sleeved black top, and her green overalls that came down to her knees. Stepping over the sleeping bodies, Kaylee walked bare foot out into the night, in search of her friend and her enemy. 

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Rayne watched as Matt striped down to his undies. It was about four in the morning, Kaylee was asleep, and Rayne had snuck out with Matt to go for an early morning swim. Laughing, Rayne dived into the pool. It was a beautiful little pool, at the base of a water fall. Staying below the surface, Rayne waited for Matt to join her, the ice cold water sticking into her skin like needles. A ripple to her right alerted Rayne of it’s presence. A large fish swam past, ignoring her as it went about its business. A bigger splash scared the fish off as Matt entered the water. Laughing and letting her breath out, Rayne grabbed hold of her friends ankles, and pulled him below the glassy surface.

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A wolf stood, as still as a statue, her nose raised as she caught onto the human sent. Kaylee stepped out of the forest, starring back at the wolf, her eyes challenging it to make the first move. Kaylee could tell the wolf wasn’t angry, and she could hear Rayne’s laughter snaking though the trees. Kaylee watched as the wolf disregarded her and sprung back into the darkness of the trees. That was one good thing about Kaylee’s size. She was so starved that she was just skin and bone, as she refused to eat anything after she had escaped from the Academy. The voices taunted her day in and day out, and it was hard for Kaylee to function, let alone eat. Her dark brown hair hung limply around her boney shoulders, and she looked weak, just an innocent little girl. The truth was far from this. Kaylee was trained to be a killer, though she had never killed. The school she had been forced to attend had trained her as an assassin. Kaylee wasn’t seen unless she wanted to be.

            Blinking tears out of her eyes, Kaylee silently continued towards the waterfall. Rayne’s laughter, and Matt’s voice, became louder with every step Kaylee took. As graceful as a cat, Kaylee sprung up into one if the trees. Positioning herself so she could see but not be seen. Peering out from the branches, Kaylee watched as her friend dived from a rock into the black abyss of water. Kaylee was careful not to be seen, but she didn’t have to be. Rayne was to busy having fun to be looking in any of the trees, and besides, as far as she knew, Kaylee was still safely asleep back in the cave.

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Rayne was having fun. This was a feeling she had almost forgotten. Ever since Rayne had started the Rebel group against the Academy for the Gifted, and broken Kaylee out, she hadn’t had time for fun. Kaylee was lost in her own little world, and it scared Rayne to see her friend in such bad shape. Matt had changed every thing though. Since they had met, Matt and Rayne had escaped for a few hours each morning, and just hung out. Talked about old times, had fun.

            “It’s getting light. We should go back. You know what Kaylee’s like, she’ll be awake and probably run off and get herself hurt or caught by the police if your not there to calm her.” Matt pulled on his shoes, and waited for Rayne to reply.

            “She’s getting better. She’s been sleeping longer lately. But your right, she’ll probably have a night mare.” Rayne stood, tying her long black hair back so it didn’t drip all over her. Smiling at Matt, she lead the way back through the forest, walking straight underneath the branch were Kaylee was hiding.

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 Sliding down from her hiding place, Kaylee ran silently back through the forest, passing Rayne and Matt easily, beating them back to the cave. She sat down outside, in the cold morning sunlight, and waited for Rayne to catch up.

            It took longer than Kaylee expected, and she found herself dosing slightly in the warming sunlight. “Kaylee?” Rayne stepped out of the forest, worried about her friend. Kaylee opened one eye a little, and saw Matt standing with his arms around Rayne. Ignoring the both of them, Kaylee, rolled over and continued to dose. Kaylee could hear some of the others waking up, and she guessed that she only had a few more minutes before she would be confined to the cave, and she planned to make the most of those few precious minutes.