I looked out my window, as I had been for a good two hours. By now my family would be asleep. I thought about the events of the night. If I hadn't had it bad before, I did then. My dad was probably fuming before he fell asleep and was then dreaming of all the things he was going to do to me. And my wings, they didn't go away. I still had them, folded tightly against my back. I decided then that I was going to leave. I grabbed a small bag I had and put a pair of shorts and a t-shirt in it. I had taken off my dress and was wearing jeans with less rips and a long-sleeve shirt. I pulled on a sweatshirt. I was about to exit the room when the door opened. My little sister, eight at the time, stepped in.
"Lindsey!" She whisper-yelled. "I was so worried about you. Dad said some really mean things to you and-"
"Listen Taylor. You know dad has done some pretty bad things to me, right?" She nodded. "I can't deal with it anymore. And now that I know I have a second part to my… You know…"
"You don't have to say it." She reassured me. She truly was a blessing.
"Well, I can defend myself with that. So I'm going to ask you a favor."
"Anything for you."
"I need you to act surprised tomorrow when mom and dad discover I'm missing. Can you do that?" She nodded. "Thank you. You're going to be good for me right?"
"Of course!"
"Awesome. Mom and dad will probably forget about me eventually, but can you promise not to forget?" She nodded again and smiled. "That's my brave girl. I love you." I gave her a hug.
"I love you too."
"You know Tay, maybe someday I'll see you again."
"You will. I know so." I kissed the top of her head and stroked her blond curls. She kissed my cheek. "Good luck."
"Thank you. Now go back to bed." She nodded and scurried back to her room. I wiped away a tear from my eye. No more tears. I thought. I slipped down the stairs, swiftly and quietly, and into the kitchen. I stuffed my bag with various foods that wouldn't spoil from the cupboard and a couple bottles of water from the fridge. I went over to the panda bear cookie jar and removed the lid. Taped to the lid was five hundred dollars. I pulled the bills off and stuffed them in the small pocket on my bag. I almost stepped out the door, when I remembered something. I snuck through the house to my dad's office. Above his desk was a decorative, but insanely sharp, dagger. I surprised myself when I reached up and took it from its hangar. I unsheathed it and looked at the blade: cold, shiny steel. And yes, it does hurt. I sheathed it and placed it in my bag. I quickly grabbed the pack of matches from his desk and put them with the bills.
I walked back to the door and very slowly, opened it. I stepped out into the rain, and shut the door behind me. I walked down the road and onto the dirt road. I didn't know what I should think about. My next move? Nah. I thought about my identity, who is Lindsey Smith? Well, I'm fourteen. If I went to school I would be in the eighth grade. I'm around 5'1" and I wasn't sure whether I was tall for my age or not. I have blonde hair and blue eyes. Well, I think they're both blue. I always cover one of my eyes and don't like to look at it. I'm a mutant, very freak-like according to almost everyone. I originally thought that my mutation (I hate that word by the way) was I could sing and make anyone feel almost anything I wanted. My favorite was the lullabies. I now know that that is simply a perk, and I was part bat. I have scars all over my body my worst being-
I never got a chance to finish that thought. I ran straight into a tall boy, about my age. I fell back right into a puddle. He gave me a look that could cut straight through you, so out of self defense I sang an off-tune couple of notes that gave him a temporary headache. He clutched his ears and I stood and began to run.
"Wait! I'm like you! Come back!" He shouted after me. I turned back for just a second.
"Prove it!" I screamed, the tears coming back. Ugh, I was so damn emotional. He began moving his hands in a strange motion, like he was bundling string or something. The shadows around the trees disappeared, sucked towards him. He began to do something that looked like he was modeling something with clay. What I guessed were gathered shadows became a physical matter. A monster-ish-thing that sort of looked like a child of giants dressed as a ghost for Halloween, with a sheet and everything, but you know, with claws and fangs. As it disappeared, shadows returned to their original owners, and the kid began to fall to the floor.
I ran back, he had hit before I could catch him and he was panting. I knelt down next to him, but he didn't say anything. His eyes were closed.
"Hey, um… shadow guy? Are you ok? I can see you aren't dead, because you're breathing. Please be ok though." He didn't get up, even when I shook him. I actually got a chance to look at him then. He had dark hair; I couldn't tell if it was black or really dark brown. It was long and stuck to his forehead from the rain. His nose was dotted with freckles. He wore all black, jeans and a t-shirt. I gasped. I knew how to wake him up.
I began to sing. Soft and sweet at first, and as his eyes began to flutter open the song became more happy.
"Ugh, my head hurts. I had the weirdest dream. I was at school and then… something happened to… and I ran and there was another mutant! She was really pretty and…" That's when his eyes opened. "Oh, that wasn't a dream… Just disregard what I said."
I giggled. "It's ok. That… thing you did seems to have sucked you of your energy. My name's Lindsey Smith." He sat up and clutched his knees.
"Kaleb Reed." He said with slight struggle.
"Well Kaleb, if you don't mind my asking, what are you doing in the middle of nowhere on a dirt road?"
"Running." He said simply.
"Me too. I don't plan on returning. Do you?" He shook his head. "Well, we're only lost children. How about we stick together?"
"Well I wasn't planning on trying to find a friend, but sure."
"Cool. So as fellow freaks, I will offer my help to you."
"Ok then." I helped him up and we began trudging through the forest. We walked for a solid half hour before my new friend, Mr. Reed, spoke.
"Do you even know where you're going?" He asked.
"Yep and we're almost there. My family used to go camping there." We entered a clearing with the exact campsite I mentioned. There was a fire pit towards one side, surrounded by wood logs for chairs. The other end was supposed to be for the tent, but neither of us had one.
"I'm going to collect wood for the fire. Don't move around too much, that obviously took a lot out of you." He just nodded as I walked around the site collecting sticks and pinecones. I walked only a few steps into the forest area surrounding us. I came back and placed the collected stuff on the pit. The trees above covered most of the rain and I was able to use a match to light the wood and wood-like items. I sat down a few logs away and just sort of looked him. His eyes were a deep brown and the fire made them sparkle. We were perfect strangers; I had only just met him an hour ago. But here we were, around a fire, each of us knowing perfectly well what the other is capable of. And yet we were still sitting near each other, not even caring! I had known my parents, quite literally since the moment I was born, but they still treated me like I was a freak. I vowed right then to try and someday make the world see that we weren't really so different.
"Thank you." Kaleb said suddenly.
"What for?" I asked puzzled.
"For helping me. And being my first friend."
"Well your welcome. Thank you, for being my first friend." Kaleb smiled. I noticed he was sort of shivering. I walked over, taking off my sweatshirt, and placed it in his lap. He looked at me with an expression I couldn't read.
"Why are you giving me this?" He asked.
"Because that's what friends do."
"Oh. I've never had a friend, so this whole concept is new to me." He put on the sweatshirt and snuggled into it.
"Green is definitely your color." I told him. He gave me a weird look, like I was insane. "Black is good too though."
"Are you going to be able to sleep tonight?" He asks me after a few minutes.
"Are you?" I ask. He shakes his head. "Me neither." But eventually we do. I end up sleeping in the dirt where the tent should be, but isn't. Kaleb needs three logs just to fit his whole body, though he looked incredibly uncomfortable. I fell asleep wondering if everything was going to turn out ok. Probably not…
I woke up early, as I always did. I was slightly confused as to why I was laying in the dirt, rather than in a bed, then I remembered the events of the previous night. I sighed as I sat up.
"Ugh, I need food." I reached into my pack and pulled out a package of Pop-tarts. I ripped it open and pulled one out. "Better not eat too much." I tore it in half. "Better wake up Kaleb." I looked over, expecting to see him asleep on the logs, only to be scared half to death with him sitting right next to me. My first reaction was to scream of course, so I did.
"Try not to scream too loud, it would be a real shame if someone caught us out here."
I took a couple deep breaths to calm myself down. "Ok, please don't do that again. Would you like half of a cinnamon Pop-tart?" I held it out to him. He took it and started eating it. I held out one of the big water bottles out to him "Little sips, I'm trying to make this stuff last." I said taking a sip of mine.
"You got a plan? You know, as to what we're going to do with this little situation we've put ourselves in?" Kaleb asked.
"Not exactly. What do you think?"
"I say right now, we just get away. I want to get away from Cove and Oregon."
"Sounds like a plan. Georgia's the next state over right?"
"Well I'm not the greatest student, but I know that's not correct."
"We need a map." I decided. "As soon as we're away from this town."
"All right, let's start walking." I shrugged on my backpack and we headed back to the edge of the road where we met the night before. The rain had let up over night and only a few puddles remained. As we walked I found myself staring at Kaleb. There was something about him; I couldn't quite put my finger on it. The way his dark hair went a little over his eyes, or maybe it was his mysterious personality. Maybe it was his confidence, but I wasn't sure because I had never had this feeling before and couldn't name it. I thought, maybe this is a special feeling you have for a true friend.
"Why are you smiling?" He asked.
"Am I smiling?"
"Well you have been for a while." I felt my face get red with embarrassment. "Whatever. It looks like we've left Cove and we're coming up on the next town. We can get a map there." I nodded and looked around. We had left the cover of a forest and were in a little more like a desert area, and coming up on another town.
"Where does one get a map anyway?" I asked as we entered a little area with a town center and little shops and restaurants. "A map… store?"
"How about a book store, or library." I nodded. "Keep an eye out, we don't know how hard it's going to be to find." It took me about ten seconds to spot a large building with the word "library" on it.
"There it is!" I pointed out. Kaleb sighed and we walked in. The inside was filled with people but it was completely silent. And everyone is looking at me and I'm in my weird bat form and everyone is screaming and running and calling me a freak and mutant and my dad is in the center of it all and he's coming at me and I can't take the pain anymore and even Taylor hates me and-
"Lindsey?" Kaleb put his hand on my shoulder. His touch brought me back. None of that happened, I had just freaked out. "Are you ok? You just stopped and started crying."
"Yeah, I'm fine." I lied. "Just, something in my eye." I wiped my eyes and started walking in. "You coming?"
"Yeah." He had a look on his face, like he knew something. He followed me in and we stopped at an empty table. "I'm going to one of the computers to look at a digital map. See if you can find an atlas. We'll meet back at this table, ok?" I nodded. He smiled and headed over to a desk with a computer.
I had never been to a library before, and had no clue as to where I should start. I went up and down the aisles. Stacks and stacks of books were on the shelves. The only thing I had to go on was that the book would say atlas on it, as I had never seen one. I went up and down every row and none of them said atlas.
"Ugh." I grumbled to myself. A girl, maybe a year or so older than me, came over to where I was standing.
"Having trouble?" She asked.
"A little." I told her.
"What are you looking for?"
"An atlas. Would you happen to know where they are?" She started giggling.
"I can see your frustration!" She continued to giggle. "You aren't going to find an atlas in the fiction section! If you head in that direction you'll find a whole bunch of atlas'." My face got red for the third time that day.
"Oh… thank you." I started walking in the direction she pointed out.
"No problem." I got over there and hey, what do you know! A whole shelf of atlas'! I picked one up and hurried back to the table. I opened it up on the table to a map of the U.S. Oh, the state next to Oregon is Idaho!
I was only sitting there for a few minutes before Kaleb came back in a hurry, carrying a few printed pieces of paper. He shoved most of them in the atlas, closing it. He dropped one piece under the table and reached down to get it, taking my bag and the book with him. He squatted under the table, and shoved the book and piece of paper in my bag messily.
"What are you doing?!" I whisper-yelled at him.
His mouth barely moved as he talked. "Just calmly take your bag, put it on and walk calmly toward the exit. Don't act suspicious, just be normal." I took the bag and did as he told me. He walked slightly behind me and we walked through the doors and down the street. I stopped a few feet away from the library.
"What the hell was that all about?!" I yelled.
"SHH!" He put a hand over my mouth. Out of instinct I licked his hand and he pulled away. "Keep walking! As soon as I tell you, run like your life depends on it." I did as he told me. He seemed pretty confident in what he was doing. We walked until we were towards the other end of the town.
"Ok, run now." We both started sprinting down the road. As we ran we came upon a highway. "Stay off the freeway at all costs! Just follow me!" I followed Kaleb as he ran onto the dirt, he started running down a hill next to a lake. He kept his balance. Me? Not so much. I tripped on a rock and was sent into the air. I screeched and closed my eyes, ready to hit. But I never did. I opened my eyes and I was hovering, well sort of. I was just falling a lot slower. My back muscles were working and I was a bat again. I was flying! I was actually flying!
"Woohoo!" I shouted as I flew. I saw Kaleb watching in awe as I dived and rose back up again.
"Lindsey?! That's really cool, but you have to get down! Someone's going to see you!" I didn't want to admit it, but he was right. I headed down and crash-landed next to him. I stood up and began to brush myself off as my bat features disappeared. Except the wings, they stayed.
"Oh wow! I did not know I could do that! I mean, I knew I became a bat when I get excited or scared, but flying? Man! I wish you could have done that with me. Remind me to take you with me next time-"
"Yeah, that was cool. But it's really dangerous, someone probably saw you and they're already calling someone."
"Well they can't do anything to us just because we're… what we are." I told him.
"Yeah, but they can bring us back to our parents or take us to separate orphanages. No wait, there are no more orphanages. Whatever! I don't think I can deal with losing anyone else." That was the most emotion I'd ever seen him show.
"Anyone else?" I asked.
"My dad died when I was ten. I still had my mom, but she was so detached. Then she discovered my mutation and stopped caring about me." A tear was streaming down his face. I wiped it away with my thumb.
"I'm not going to leave you." I told him.
"I won't leave you either." He wrapped me in a hug. I didn't want to let go, I wanted to be safe in his arms forever. But hey, we couldn't sit there all night, so we eventually let go.
"We should probably set up under the highway; it'll provide some cover tonight." Kaleb nodded and we headed a few yards over to the underneath area. We sat down in one of the less damp areas and I passed him a piece of beef jerky. There wasn't enough wood and it was too wet to start a fire, so we had to sleep a little closer to one another. Just before we fell asleep Kaleb voice echoed around the cave-like place.
"By the way, we walked all the way to the edge of Idaho."
